Mia+Máire, Sad Girls Club TV and the new Maggots Club TV, installation view. Image courtesy of LITHIUM.
Lin Aojie, Starbucks Left (2016), installation view. Image courtesy of LITHIUM. 
Millennial Millionaires and the Survivor’s Club, installation view, 2017. Image courtesy of LITHIUM.Millennial Millionaires and the Survivor’s Club
October 13 - 29, 2017, with Public Programming
CHICAGO - LITHIUM is excited to announce the grand opening of its gallery space and inaugural exhibition, Millennial Millionaires and the Survivor’s Club, which brings together witty works by five international artists, Fang Di, Lin Aojie, Mia+Máire, and Angeliki Tsoli. Funny but honest, with a dash of bittersweet satire, these works reflect our contemporary experiences under uneasy economic and social pressures: the financial struggles of being an artist; the products of cultural invasion; losses due to displacement; and the omnipresence of media and advertisement. Revolving around the -ism that starts with the letter “C,” this is a feast with your fellow “millennial millionaires” you will not want to miss.
Opening reception on Friday, October 13, 6-9pm.
Fang Di is a Chinese artist based in Shenzhen, China, and Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. His works delve into the evolution of urbanization and reflect upon the rapid and chaotic changes in today’s society. Fang’s work has been exhibited internationally, including at Vanguard Gallery, Shanghai (2017); Today Art Museum, Beijing (2015); Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou(2015); and Museum of Moscow, Moscow (2014). Fang received a BFA from Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts and a MFA from Maryland Institute College of Art.
Lin Aojie is a Guangzhou-based artist who previously worked as a painting assistant and product packaging specialist. As a multimedia artist, he transfers personal stories and experiences to photography, video, drawing, and installation. Lacking no humor, his work examines the power plays of the art world and the relationship between art and artist. Lin participated in the Shanghai Biennale (2016) and was shortlisted for the Huayu Youth Award (2016). Lin received his BFA and MFA from Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts.
Mia+Máire are the collaborative twosome Mia Ardito and Máire Witt O’Neill, based in New York and Chicago. Via their television network, Soft Pants Studios, Mia+Máire create and perform in the conceptual surreality TV shows Sad Girls Club TV and the new Maggots Club TV. Ardito received her BFA from Maryland Institute College of Art. O’Neill received her BFA from Maryland Institute College of Art and MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC).
Angeliki Tsoli is an interdisciplinary visual artist and Fulbright Scholar from Athens, Greece, currently based in Chicago. Her work explores the political, poetic and displaced body through actions in public space, photography, video, installations and experimental writing. She is interested in radical education through the medium of performance. She received a Diploma in Visual and Applied Arts from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and is pursuing her MFA in Performance Art from SAIC.
A public screening on Friday, October 20th, 6-9pm, will feature Infinite Loop (2014) by Double-Color Balls Group (Lin Aojie + Yu Yiyi). The three-hour video pieces together the daily routines and conversations of the artist duo over one month. While trying to save up for an iPhone 5s by working as hourly painters, they wait in vain for their lump sum payment and come up with hilarious money-saving strategies. Infinite Loop poignantly critiques the economy of artistic labor while alluding to millennial poverty as a broader social issue.
October 2017