October 3 - November 16, 2019
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Is It Time Yet
Leonard Suryajaya

Opening Reception: Thursday, October 3rd from 6-9pm
Gallery Hours: Saturdays, 12 – 4PM & by appointment 

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Specialist Gallery is pleased to present Is It Time Yet, an installation by Leonard Suryajaya, made in collaboration with students from Cornish College of the Arts. Is It Time Yet examines intersecting notions of labor, manifested through Suryajaya’s experience as a queer immigrant, artist, partner and collaborator. For this exhibition, Suryajaya worked with a team of student collaborators to wallpaper the gallery, creating a self-contained space reminiscent of a stage or waiting room. Against this backdrop, elaborately staged photographs, wrapped objects and video create a dialogue that investigates intimacy and imposed ideas of value, belonging and self-worth. Is It Time Yet is one installment of Suryajaya’s ambitious project False Idol, an ongoing body of work mapping Suryajaya’s journey as an immigrant from his native Indonesia through his same-sex marriage and lengthy greencard process.

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Leonard Suryajaya (Chicago, IL) uses photography to test the boundaries of intimacy, community and family. His works show how the everyday is layered with histories, meanings and potential. Suryajaya earned his BFA in 2013 from California State University, Fullerton; his MFA, 2015, from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago; and was a resident at Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in 2017. Selected exhibition venues include the Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago; Benaki Museum, Greece; Photoforum Pasquart, Switzerland; National Library, Singapore; Wrightwood 659, Chicago; Barney Savage Gallery, NYC; Shane Campbell Gallery, Chicago; Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago. His work is included in collections such as the Art Institute of Chicago, Museum of Contemporary Photography, Joan Flasch Artist Book Collection, Mana Contemporary and the Center for Photography at Woodstock. Suryajaya’s awards include the Artadia Awards, Robert Giard Foundation Fellowship, New Artist Society Award, James Weinstein Memorial Fellowship, Claire Rosen and Samuel Edes Prize for Emerging Artist, and The Santo Foundation Fellowship.