John Preus

An artist and furniture maker, John Preus straddles the line between sculptor, painter, and craftsperson. Preus’s practice focuses on materials, appropriation, ethical norms, and the clash of cultures. His work reconstitutes materials salvaged from sites such as recently demolished Chicago public schools. Preus expresses his skepticism for the author by selecting apprentices who have a relationship to the salvaged materials, thus making each sculpture a collaborative process with a lesson from the craftsman to the apprentice as its catalyst. Preus co-founded SHoP, a community art space in Hyde Park Chicago with Laura Shaeffer (2011), and Material Exchange with Sara Black (2005). Preus collaborated with Theaster Gates on the Dorchester Projects and was project lead for 12 Ballads for Huguenot House at Documenta 13, the culmination of a six-year collaboration with Gates.