The Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art presents art of Mike Helbing and Roxane Legenstein, two contemporary Chicago artists working with metals in innovative ways.

Mike Helbing’s sculptures exist as the material state of the spirit of play. He uses many found elements, so many of his pieces are additive and the first step in his sculptural process is collecting materials. After he finds a piece of metal of exactly the right shape and size, he balances or plays off one shape against another as he builds his structures.

While line works to describe and mark out the boundaries of volumes and activate space around Mike Helbing’s sculptures, line is Roxane Legenstein’s protean element, it changes from a formal element capturing our attention with its simplicity, traveling through the black ground, moving from one side of the surface to the other, with slight changes in direction along the way and shifts into tree and flower forms. Legenstein keeps color to a minimum, using just copper, gold, silver and iron filings on vinyl, a process she originated herself, inspired by the black sand she encountered on Lake Michigan’s eastern beaches.

Exhibit Dates: August 19 – October 6, 2011

Cost: Free Admission, Donations Welcomed.