The central present from Chicago Exhibition Weekend is a fancy, thought-provoking show of artwork that requires time and an open thoughts to digest.
Guests will cope with the presence of paper drawings which have been reshaped into an enormous, summary and virtually menacing determine. They’ll work to seek out which means in a five-channel video set up broadcasting competing narratives about one historic occasion. And they’ll research the growth and contraction of inflatable, crescent moon-shaped items of rubber that mimic the act of respiration. And that isn’t even half of what the present has to supply.
Titled “Over My Head: Encounters with Conceptual Artwork in a Flyover Metropolis, 1984-2015,” the exhibition opened Saturday and runs by means of Oct. 11 at 400 N. Peoria St. in West City. It options works that had been as soon as produced, exhibited or offered in Chicago, highlighting the relationships between artists, curators, sellers and collectors. The present was a most important attraction on the third annual Chicago Exhibition Weekend, offered by the civic and cultural company Gertie. The occasion showcased the artwork scene by drawing hundreds to 50 collaborating galleries and areas. It additionally coincided and collaborated with the continued Chicago Structure Biennial, which celebrates revolutionary design work.
By showcasing Chicago’s artwork historical past for worldwide audiences throughout these occasions, “Over My Head” strengthens the town’s repute as an essential artwork metropolis.
And it’s a case that must be made, in line with curators Gareth Thomas Kaye and Iris Colburn.
“I’ve spoken to so many artists who’re like, ‘I used to be in Chicago for a layover,’” mentioned Kaye, Gertie’s director of curatorial affairs. “So many individuals that I’ve labored with internationally say, ‘I’d love to go to, I’ve simply by no means been. I’m all the time flying over it, although.’”
The notion that there are higher alternatives in Los Angeles or New York has marginalized Chicago, which is seen as having an “asterisk” subsequent to its identify, Kaye mentioned.
“Doing exhibitions at this scale is proof that we don’t must have that asterisk or that caveat related to the town anymore,” he mentioned. “There are very severe folks and artists dwelling and dealing right here, and there have been eternally. It’s only a matter of asserting that a bit of bit extra loudly.”
“Over My Head” spotlights work from a variety of previous and present-day Chicago galleries and establishments, together with the Donald Younger Gallery, Museum of Modern Artwork Chicago, the Artwork Institute of Chicago and Robbin Lockett Gallery. These areas haven’t solely supported native expertise however attracted nationwide and worldwide artists to Chicago through the years.
“Robbin was one of many first folks in Chicago to indicate those who at the moment are family names within the artwork world,” Kaye mentioned. “She was very invested in work that was being produced in each New York and Central Europe — Germany, particularly.”
Wendy Jacob is among the many artists who had been featured on the Robbin Lockett Gallery, which closed in 1992. Jacob’s inflatable rubber items — constructed from truck tires and powered with classic hairdryers — are displayed in “Over My Head.” The “Untitled” piece is the primary in her “Respiratory” collection of inert objects and architectural parts that seem to inhale and exhale.
Colburn mentioned she hopes the exhibition advocates for extra monetary help for galleries, that are shuttering throughout the sector. One native instance is the Rhona Hoffman Gallery, which closed this 12 months after working for half a century. Now on view in “Over My Head,” the late Dara Birnbaum’s video set up, “Tiananmen Sq.: Break-In Transmission,” made its Chicago debut at Hoffman’s gallery in 1991. Every display screen reveals footage concerning the lethal 1989 protests in China.
“Rhona not solely offered this work, she co-commissioned it,” mentioned Colburn, who’s a curatorial affiliate at MCA Chicago. “So it is a lovely second during which you see how a gallerist is supporting artists, and the way Chicago has proven unimaginable work that has been actually pivotal to artists’ careers.”
Some guests to the exhibition could acknowledge Kay Rosen’s vibrant pink “Elvis Elvis” mural, which was put in in 1994 on the outside of MCA Chicago’s former constructing on East Ontario Avenue. Positioned on the second flooring of “Over My Head,” it overlooks the remainder of the works, together with Tony Lewis’ phantom-like determine, constructed from drawings on pink butcher paper coated with graphite powder. They’re reshaped every time they’re exhibited. Beforehand displayed on the Shane Campbell Gallery, one of many works, “Untitled 5 (2015–),” was impressed by the “bogeyman” determine in Francisco de Goya y Lucientes’ “Los Caprichos” collection of prints.
Guests may acknowledge Rashid Johnson’s work, “Remembering D.B. Cooper,” which was displayed within the storefront home windows of the Monique Meloche Gallery. The piece references the person who, in 1971, hijacked a Boeing 727 and disappeared after parachuting into the woods in Washington state with $200,000 in ransom cash. It options picket chairs, shea butter and vegetation suspended from the ceiling. Johnson, a Chicago native, presently has a main solo exhibition on view on the Guggenheim.
If company leaders and policymakers are amongst these viewing the artwork, then Chicago Exhibition Weekend may have achieved its goals, in line with Gertie founder Abby Pucker. She careworn the necessity for extra funding within the arts sector whereas talking on an arts panel on the Chicago Athletic Affiliation on Saturday.
“Folks don’t perceive the significance of it, although it generates an enormous amount of cash for cities and states and for our nation yearly,” she mentioned. “So a giant a part of what I’m making an attempt to do is introduce these folks in these positions again to their metropolis otherwise.”
