Chicago Exhibition Weekend's central show stresses the global significance of city's art scene
The central show from Chicago Exhibition Weekend is a complex, thought-provoking display of art that requires time and an open mind to digest.
Visitors will contend with the presence of paper drawings that have been reshaped into a giant, abstract and almost menacing figure. They will work to find meaning in a five-channel video installation broadcasting competing narratives about one historic event. And they will study the expansion and contraction of inflatable, crescent moon-shaped pieces of rubber that mimic the act of breathing. And that isn’t even half of what the show has to offer.
Titled “Over My Head: Encounters with Conceptual Art in a Flyover City, 1984-2015,” the exhibition opened Saturday and runs through Oct. 11 at 400 N. Peoria St. in West Town. It features works that were once produced, exhibited or sold in Chicago, highlighting the relationships between artists, curators, dealers and collectors. The show was a main attraction at the third annual Chicago Exhibition Weekend, presented by the civic and cultural agency Gertie. The event showcased the art scene by drawing thousands to 50 participating galleries and spaces. It also coincided and collaborated with the ongoing Chicago Architecture Biennial, which celebrates innovative design work.
By showcasing Chicago's art history for international audiences during these events, “Over My Head” strengthens the city’s reputation as an important art city.
And it’s a case that needs to be made, according to curators Gareth Thomas Kaye and Iris Colburn.
“I've spoken to so many artists who are like, ‘I was in Chicago for a layover,’” said Kaye, Gertie’s director of curatorial affairs. “So many people that I've worked with across the world say, ‘I would love to visit, I've just never been. I’m always flying over it, though.’”
The perception that there are better opportunities in Los Angeles or New York has marginalized Chicago, which is viewed as having an “asterisk” next to its name, Kaye said.
“Doing exhibitions at this scale is proof that we don't need to have that asterisk or that caveat associated with the city anymore,” he said. “There are very serious people and artists living and working here, and there have been forever. It’s just a matter of asserting that a little bit more loudly.”
“Over My Head” spotlights work from a number of past and present-day Chicago galleries and institutions, including the Donald Young Gallery, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, the Art Institute of Chicago and Robbin Lockett Gallery. These spaces have not only supported local talent but attracted national and international artists to Chicago over the years.
“Robbin was one of the first people in Chicago to show people that are now household names in the art world,” Kaye said. “She was very invested in work that was being produced in both New York and Central Europe — Germany, in particular.”
Wendy Jacob is among the artists who were featured at the Robbin Lockett Gallery, which closed in 1992. Jacob’s inflatable rubber pieces — constructed from truck tires and powered with vintage hairdryers — are displayed in “Over My Head.” The “Untitled” piece is the first in her “Breathing” series of inert objects and architectural elements that appear to inhale and exhale.
Colburn said she hopes the exhibition advocates for more financial support for galleries, which are shuttering across the sector. One local example is the Rhona Hoffman Gallery, which closed this year after operating for half a century. Now on view in “Over My Head,” the late Dara Birnbaum’s video installation, “Tiananmen Square: Break-In Transmission,” made its Chicago debut at Hoffman’s gallery in 1991. Each screen shows footage about the deadly 1989 protests in China.
“Rhona not only presented this work, she co-commissioned it,” said Colburn, who is a curatorial associate at MCA Chicago. “So this is a beautiful moment in which you see how a gallerist is supporting artists, and how Chicago has shown incredible work that has been really pivotal to artists' careers.”
Some visitors to the exhibition may recognize Kay Rosen’s bright pink “Elvis Elvis” mural, which was installed in 1994 on the exterior of MCA Chicago’s former building on East Ontario Street. Positioned on the second floor of “Over My Head,” it overlooks the rest of the works, including Tony Lewis’ phantom-like figure, constructed from drawings on red butcher paper coated with graphite powder. They are reshaped each time they are exhibited. Previously displayed at the Shane Campbell Gallery, one of the works, “Untitled 5 (2015–),” was inspired by the “bogeyman” figure in Francisco de Goya y Lucientes’ “Los Caprichos” series of prints.
Visitors may also recognize Rashid Johnson’s work, “Remembering D.B. Cooper,” which was displayed in the storefront windows of the Monique Meloche Gallery. The piece references the man who, in 1971, hijacked a Boeing 727 and disappeared after parachuting into the woods in Washington state with $200,000 in ransom money. It features wooden chairs, shea butter and plants suspended from the ceiling. Johnson, a Chicago native, currently has a major solo exhibition on view at the Guggenheim.
If corporate leaders and policymakers are among those viewing the art, then Chicago Exhibition Weekend will have achieved its aims, according to Gertie founder Abby Pucker. She stressed the need for more investment in the arts sector while speaking on an arts panel at the Chicago Athletic Association on Saturday.
“People don't understand the importance of it, even though it generates a huge amount of money for cities and states and for our country every year,” she said. “So a big part of what I'm trying to do is introduce those people in those positions back to their city in a different way."