Stan Shellabarger pays intense attention to the body’s everyday activities, particularly walking and breathing. At WX, Stan will drag his hand across the gallery walls for 6 hours every Saturday, eroding a groove through the drywall, eventually exposing the pink styrofoam panel insulation behind the wallboard. Stan will also present artist books that reflects an obsessive-compulsive approach to cataloging the body: a year’s worth of fingernail and toenail clippings, hair collected from the bathtub drain, 3 years worth of butter wrappers used by Stan’s husband Dutes Miller in everyday cooking. Despite the visceral nature of these books, they are surprisingly elegant. In the past year, Stan has celebrated both the vernal and autumnal equinox by walking in a circle for 12 hours and during an 8-hour performance, documented every breath he took by marking the exhalation with charcoal on 26 sheets of 18 x 24 paper. These drawings and documentary photographs of the walking performances will be a part of the show.
Shellabarger’s recent activities include two walking performances in Chicago’s Humboldt Park, on the both the Vernal and Autumnal Equinoxes, a crocheting performance with husband Dutes Miller at the 2004 Stray Show, an installation and breathing performance at Chicago’s Suitable Gallery as well as performing and showing sculptures in “Here and Now” at the Chicago Cultural Center. Shellabarger and Miller were featured artists of the Twelfth Annual Cleveland Performance Art Festival and Stan was presented a special exhibition award at the Second Annual Indianapolis Installation Festival. Stan received the Blockstein Emerging Artist Award from the Madison Art Center, in conjunction with his inclusion in the 1996 Wisconsin Triennial exhibition. Stan received a MFA from the University of Wisconsin in Madison in 1996 and his BFA from Illinois State University in Normal in 1991. He lives and works in Chicago, Illinois