Patrick W. Welch
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Patrick W. Welch is a visual artist and art professor who currently lives in Chicago, Illinois USA.
His career has spanned the applied arts (he worked in animation and illustration), the fine arts (he is most noted as a painter of miniature paintings), and publishing (he has produced a large body of printed works and ephemera).
He is currently a professor of Media Arts and Animation at the Illinois Institute of Art in Chicago, and was chair of the Sequential Art department at the Savannah College of Art and Design in the 1990s.
Welch is represented by the Gallery Gescheidle in Chicago. He has had a number of solo exhibitions with this gallery (most recently "Art Destroys"), and has been shown at a number of major art fairs (Art Chicago, Art LA and Scope).
He currently has a number of works in a travelling exhibition with the Illinois State Museums, called "Think Small!".
Welch is perhaps best known for his "Miniature Hate Paintings" which evoke a strange combination of childhood nightmare and adult neurosis, drawing on references from contemporary fine art, comic books, and science fiction. More recently his "Miniature Insult Blocks," painted on 1" x 2" blocks, detail English playground childhood insults in the saccahrine colours of boiled sweets.
Commenting in Chicago's Newcity critic Micheal Workman writes:
"Welch has been on a ride into the infinite regress of his distaste for human existence for years now, and it's a testament to his obduration that he's managed to keep lively each self-reference as the fecal discharge of famous mainstream artists. Most successful, however, are the grid of even tinier acrylic panels, "Mini Insult Blocks" as he calls them, each emblazoned with an insulting word such as "plonker" or "bumbandit." Every time I encounter these paintings, it's never the frothy sense of loathing that wins me over, but the undeniable, laugh-out-loud funny humor of them all, an aspect of the work that no doubt has the capacity to elevate them even further into that stratosphere of the imaginary world beyond."
Welch is also known for his work with Carrie Golus in creating a number of non-fiction political/social comics for such publications as New City and UR Chicago.
Welch is currently in the process of founding a new art movement, "The Micromentalists," with a planned launch date of February 2007. The first show, and the unveiling of the manifesto will be held at Dogmatic gallery in Chicago. The Micromentalists movement features a number of noted contemporary artists including Friese Undine, Eric Doeringer and Paul Nudd.
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[edit] References
http://www.gescheidle.com/view_artist.php?aid=12 http://dnr.state.il.us/pubaffairs/2005/March/thinksmall.htm http://www.newcitychicago.com/chicago/4942.html http://www.eichgallery.dabsol.co.uk/04robmason/pw1.html http://www.mydeath.net:8080/users.php3?uid=92a045706a39a9e6c686b0402e9fa535 http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1248/is_7_92/ai_n6183875/pg_10
[edit] Publications/reviews
[edit] 2006
- Artner, Alan. Opportunity to see Puryear's Refined Work is not to be Missed, Chicago Tribune, January 13
[edit] 2005
- Workman, Michael. Eye Exam, Border Patrol, New City, December
- The Basil H. Balkazzi Foundation: a celebration of twenty years association between the Foundation and the Royal College of Art, Royal College of Art Press, illustrations pages 60 and 61
[edit] 2004
- Sill, Robert. think small!, Illinois State Museum Society, (catalogue), page 17, 64, illustration page 52
[edit] 2002
- Camper, Fred. Hated/ Liberated, The Chicago Reader, Section 1, page 26, September 20
- Sanders, Seth. An Artist's Revenge, The Chicago Reader, Section 1, page 9, September 13
- New American Paintings, Open Studios Press, Boston, MA
Smith, Ulysses. Chicago Reader, interview, Section 1, page 30, January 18
[edit] 2001
- Keller, Julia. 9/11 adds new urgency to strips, Chicago Tribune, review/interview with illustrations, Tempo, Section 5, December 27
Crouse, Charity. Exhibit Explores America's Fascination with Guns, Streetwise, Street Scene, December 17
- Hawkins, Margaret. Gallery Glance, Chicago Sun Times, Section N5, June 15
- Keller, Julia, Sketchy Reports, Chicago Tribune, review/interview with illustrations, Tempo, Section 5, pages 8-9, June 20
- Green, Nick. For the Love of Comics, Chicago Social, interview with illustration, page 30, June
[edit] 2000
- Mason, Robert. A Digital Dolly?, Norwich: Norwich School of Art and Design Press, Norwich, Eng., pp. 44-45, 54; illustration 22
[edit] 1998
- Vengas, Margarita. Georgia Guardian, review/interview with illustration, May 21
