Better, Still: New Work by David R. Harper

Press Street’s Antenna Gallery is pleased to present Better, Still– an exhibition of new work by Chicago based artist David R. Harper. Harper was chosen from several hundred applications during last year’s Antenna: Open Call ( This year’s application process is underway right now! ), and we are very excited to have his work launch the exhibition program at Press Street’s new home, 3718 Saint Claude Ave.

From the artist:
“Playing off of the imagery and ideas surrounding the notion of “Still Life”, this body of work uses unfamiliar tactics to address our notions of death. The collection of works chosen for this exhibition, in some way or another, address death not by focusing on the loss of life, but what remains when life is no longer present.

Instead of simply focusing on death, these works celebrate what remains posthumously –the object and signifiers that stand in for what is lost.

The things, the ephemera, the markers that remind us that something is no longer there—these are the moments that are explored in this exhibition. Do we glorify or condemn these substitutes? How can they bring us closer to what is gone? These works specifically focus on labor and ornamentation as an act of remembering, illuminating the intricacies of mourning, the squirreling away of grief, to celebrate the beauty in our coping and denial.”