Public Programming Addresses Absence of Human Touch During COVID – at Hyde Park Art Center
Major Exhibition on intimacy and queerness by married artists and longtime collaborators Dutes Miller and Stan Shellabarger
Hyde Park Art Center has announced a robust roster of free public programs for new major exhibition, Loving Repeating: New Work by Miller & Shellabarger by married artists and longtime collaborators Dutes Miller and Stan Shellabarger, who will premiere their largest multimedia installation to date, on view April 10 – September 3, 2022. Loving Repeating addresses the presence and absence of human touch experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic, in an immersive installation incorporating the artists’ signature style featuring silhouettes of each other’s bodies.
Since 1993, the two Chicago-based artists have been creating works on paper, performances and installations that draw attention to the human condition experienced through the queer perspective. Their artworks focus on the underlying concept of the infinite feeling of connection, loneliness and loss felt throughout long-term relationships over time. Loving Repeating will include three new major works created in response to the Art Center’s gallery space: a twenty-foot tall by eighty-foot wide hand-painted mural; a multi-channel video projection made in collaboration with Steve Reinke; and a fifty-five-foot long cut-paper garland. This is the first time for the artists to create a painted mural, which will occupy the entire large wall of the gallery. The artists will also present a participatory performance for the first time: As art imitates life, the end of the exhibition will be celebrated with a bonfire to burn the paper artwork. The ashes will be placed and sealed in a pine box and added to the artists’ series of work titled Burnt, which will also be on display.
The free public programs–ranging from performances, artmaking workshops, to artist talks will run from March 23 through July 16. For more information, please visit www.hydeparkart.org.