Patrick Miceli and Darren Oberto present paintings, prints and sculpture influenced by the macro and microcosmos, exploring the celestial as a way to look beyond the struggles of everyday life. Through layered surfaces, shifting scales and expansive color, both artists use the language of painting to explore celestial and interior space. Both work in interdisciplinary media rooted in the craft of traditional painting.

Darren Oberto was born 1978 in Ann Arbor, MI. He received a bachelor of fine art degree from Kendall College of Art and Design in 2001. Following his formal education, Darren relocated to the Rogers Park neighborhood of Chicago. He then entered into a rewarding apprenticeship with his mentor, Christopher Molloy, who fostered a creative niche at the Alley Gallery in Evanston, where Darren is now co- owner and resident artist. His work is multidisciplinary but radiates from a nucleus of traditional painting. He is interested and concerned with all media and conceptual horizons that are defined by art, science, and the human experience. He considers himself a “maker” and has an obsession with creating that permeates every aspect of his life.

A lifelong resident of Chicago, Patrick Miceli began to study art at the University of Illinois, SAIC and Columbia college.  He received  a BFA from the University of Illinois in 95 and an MFA from SAIC in 97. During this he began teaching classes at LillStreet Art Center.  Over the interviewing years he taught a variety of visual art classes at The Hyde Park Art Center, The Evanston Art Center, Highland Park Art Center, Columbia College, and City Colleges. He has exhibited work both locally and nationally and has work in the following collections, The new Museum of Contemporary Art, IBM and the Quincy Art Center with work on permanent display in the Keoline Museum Collection at Oakton College in Des Plaines and the state of Illinois At McCormick Place.