Stephen Eichhorn: Cats & Plants & The Looking Glass Gardens

Carrie Secrist Gallery is pleased to announce a special viewing opportunity at Carrie Secrist’s Looking Glass Gardens. Located in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago. Secrist’s Looking Glass Gardens is a sprawling walk-through garden that has been populated by recent Stephen Eichhorn Cats & Plants sculptures.

Viewing times are from Tuesday through Saturday from 2 – 5PM with 30 minute slots available for groups no larger than 4. Face masks and physical distancing is required. If you’d like to schedule a visit, please contact the gallery at info@secristgallery.com and we will provide the address. Visits will also be bookable via TOCK in the coming days.

Chicago-based gallery artist Stephen Eichhorn has been developing his Cats & Plants series for over a decade. These pairings of magazine model cats balancing finely cut out plants of varying species on their heads first existed as small collages executed in the same style as his larger bodies of work (cacti, succulents, orchids and other plants collaged onto paper or acrylic boards). As these small paper studies proved immensely popular with friends, colleagues and the online masses. Eichhorn went on to create small 6 to 12 inch tall foam-core models that appeared at book signings and other events. These too proved very popular and caught the eye of collectors and a book publisher (Zioxla). The infamous French boutique Collete displayed several in their store window, which caught the eye of the fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld (deceased). Those are now in his collection.

Stephen Eichhorn’s debut book Cats & Plants was printed and distributed by Zioxla in 2017. The first edition sold out in under a year. The 2nd edition was released in September of 2018 and is currently being distributed throughout the country. Copies of the book Cats & Plants will be available at Looking Glass Gardens.

In preparation for Stephen Eichhorn’s debut solo exhibition with Carrie Secrist Gallery in November 2018, Eichhorn took his Cats & Plants series to another level, literally and figuratively. Debuting at EXPO Chicago in 2018, these strangely over-scaled indoor/outdoor sculptures are less than a 1⁄4-inch thick and occupy such a visceral way that it causes most viewers to do double takes. Seen from the backside, the works are painted in a monochromatic color chosen from the original magazine cut out, creating an abstract form that belies their origins.

The growth of this project, from small paper cutouts to outsized indoor/outdoor sculptures, mirrors the conceptual challenges of the Cats & Plants body of work, while strengthening the personal studio challenges Eichhorn sets for himself. Please do schedule a visit to see for yourself.

In addition to Cats & Plants & The Looking Glass Garden Eichhorn’s current Online Viewing Room Portals | Voids | Stacks may be viewed here.