Doug Fogelson

Doug Fogelson’s show smells like dirt—in a good way. The Chicago artist invites us to experience nature up close, to sit on a tree stump and flip through the books on his work Table (2010), a rustic piece of furniture made from a reclaimed tree trunk. Its rammed-earth surface reflects Fogelson’s research into an ancient, sustainable building method, in which sand, soil and clay are compressed into a solid material.

The CUAS makes a great fit for “Field Work.” Its spacious gallery accommodates the 2,000-plus pounds of earth and clay that Fogelson’s interactive installations require—and gives viewers plenty of room to explore them. The artist’s studies of soil samples and root structures at his rural Indiana studio also yield vibrant color photograms (pictured): gorgeous images that evoke nebulae, the surface of a lake, the faint outlines of a forest, iron filings or molten rock. The artist made them by scattering soil on transparency film and exposing it to light. While large-scale prints of these works hang throughout the gallery, I prefer the dozen 8" x 10" originals in a birch veneer light box, which benefit from being displayed together and beautifully demonstrate Fogelson’s mastery of photogram techniques.

“Field Work” is playful, too: The artist arranges steel planters to resemble the Chicago flag, growing onions in the stars and clover in the bars. As it continues Fogelson’s “Seasonal Project” series, the summery show makes me eager to see what he’s planning for fall.

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