Chicago artist Ann Toebbe builds her compositions from lived feeling as much as from floor plans. \u00153I find that when I work from my emotions and experiences, I make a more powerful image,\u0019 Ann Toebbe writes. A recent review of her exhibition at Hyde Park Art Center by the writer Elisa Shoenberger sharpens the core idea at play: \u00153pace is the physical location, while place is the meaning we bring to it. It\u0019s the difference between thinking about the physical location of your house (space) and the feelings, history and emotions tied up in your home (place),\u0019 Schoenberger writes.<\/p>\n
Rendering interiors and cross-cut buildings in meticulous detail, Toebbe concentrates on a particular sensation or mood, then constructs architectural compositions that extend from that theme. Preliminary sketches and more elaborate drawings scaffold what becomes a final work on panel, often combining gouache, oil paint, paper collage, and colored pencil. While reference photos inform the scenes, each piece emerges with a manipulated layout and her signature skewed perspectives. \u0015I might extend a wall or include indoor and outdoor elements to make a layout snap together. I am always messing with how baseboards can divide and connect walls and floors. I might stack a composition or unfold it like a flattened box,\u0019 she says. \u0015I love creating transitions with flow, and I try to avoid abrupt cropping.\u0019<\/p>\n
Toebbe\u0019s stylized interiors typically mix reverse and parallel perspective\u0014the former enlarging objects as they move farther away and the latter keeping objects the same size\u0014plunging viewers into an uncanny world where pattern and texture reign. \u0015I like to change up working methods to give myself a new formal puzzle to solve,\u0019 she adds. \u0015I usually have an idea of the materials I want to work with at the start, but everything is up for grabs as I work.\u0019<\/p>\n
In Chicago, a group exhibition at Andrew Rafacz features some of Toebbe\u0019s works on view through October 31. Recent and earlier titles trace the breadth of her approach, from intimate rooms to expansive, cutaway architectures:<\/p>\n
For more from the artist, Toebbe shares additional work on Instagram.<\/p>\n