Jackson Junge Gallery is pleased to present Cuckoo. I’m not crazy you are, a solo exhibition featuring the work of featured artist and co-owner of the gallery, Laura Lee Junge. The exhibition coincides with a performance that provides a look into Junge's creative process and the things that inspire her diverse collection. With varying mediums and subject matter, this body of work fully represents Junge and who she is as an artist.

Laura Lee Junge has become a staple in the Chicago arts scene and continues to grow and evolve in her career. Her vivid color palette and surreal imagery has become a recognizable signature in her work and continues to captivate audiences. Junge has recently been named Choose Chicago's Artist of The Year and was awarded featured artist for the 2025 Wells Street Art Festival. Beyond Chicago, Junge has shown her work nationwide at various art fairs and has recently taken the international stage at Miami Art Week, showcasing at Aqua Art Miami and Context Art Miami.

Cuckoo. I’m not crazy you are offers a glimpse at some of the more vulnerable parts of Junge and her artistic practice. "I have spent the majority of my life believing that I was the crazy one. It has been in just the past few years I had the realization that maybe that wasn’t completely the truth. As an artist the term crazy is quite often applied and most often it is accurate. There is a bit of insanity in spending hours working on something never knowing if it will turn into something worth showing others. The insanity goes even further when you are trying to make a living doing this. Not knowing if something that one puts so much time, energy, emotion, care, and thought will translate into something that can be financially wise and worth it is a constant question. Putting yourself, your thoughts, your ideas, your dreams into a form that can be critiqued, judged, and commented freely on is pure madness. But then I look at you- the one who judges, casts opinions freely, comments and questions what it is that I do. I watch as you follow along the lines that society has drawn for you. The lines that tell you what should make you happy and successful. And when I look closely, you don’t look happy…".

This exhibition explores various themes, one of which being time and the concept that time spent equates to worth or value. "By far my most often asked question is 'How Long Did This Take?' as if that makes it more or less valuable. If I were to say five hours for a piece, there would be a disappointment even if that is all that it took. Never contemplating the thousands of hours of learning and practicing so that 5 hours is all that is needed.” Junge’s three-dimensional installation piece titled It’s cuckoo time explores a surreal portrayal of time with various elements including functional clocks and hand-sculpted balloons, running water droplets, and a queen bee with her swarm. Junge will also allow viewers to see how time is spent during her creative process by creating a "nest" in the exhibition space, where she will live and work at the gallery during the exhibition’s opening week. A large digital clock will count the minutes spent in the space, marking the minutes that pass and the minutes until release.

Another theme shown in Junge's work is animals and the connection she feels towards them. "I often turn to animals for my ‘emotional support’. They are the ones that I feel like I connect more to than humans. There is a simplicity to their life that I often envy while at the same time they can be so unbelievable vulnerable and innocent." Pieces including Marshall feels and The unbalancing act offer a surreal and whimsical depiction of animals, personifying them in a humorous and playful manner. "The use of animals in this work is a way of asking us to look at ourselves through their eyes. Listen to their warnings and in saving them we might be saving ourselves."

Beauty is a theme in Junge's work that most viewers can easily acknowledge. Her use of color and technique used in her work displays itself as beautiful, but Junge explores beauty in multiple ways - the beauty of insanity, the beauty of florals, the beauty of the city, the beauty of time passing. Pieces including Tulip time reflect the beauty of Junge's home of Chicago and the vibrant colors of spring, while Time for a little more lovin reflects the beauty of time and how it passes. Some argue beauty is subjective, but Junge shows through this exhibition her perspective of what makes life beautiful.