In nature as in language, roots exhibit a dynamic between growth and limitation - that which keeps a thing tethered also facilitates its expansion. The paintings in this show play with similar notions of structure and expansion as they relate to the written word, theories of place, flora, and everyday quandaries.  

Marine Tempels is a Belgian-American painter living in Chicago, IL. Her paintings explore questions such as, What does it mean to understand a place? What does it mean to take the time to understand a place? What systems have left us feeling unrooted? 

Ben Garbus is also a painter in Chicago. His paintings supplement an interest in grammar and making and breaking one’s own rules. He grew up in Massachusetts.