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Marvel-Exhibition
ArtAutumn 2021Museums

Marvel Up Close and Personal

Patrick Curran

Growing up, my friends and I all had our favorite, go-to Marvel Comic superheroes.  The number of which is a long and varied. Spanning over 80 years, with iconic heroes like Captain America, Spider-Man, The Thor and Black Panther and larger-than-life villains like Doctor Doom, Magneo and Thanos, the library of super-personas emanating from the Marvel universe has always offered great fodder for escape, creating written storylines that have gone one to become part of American culture. Today more than ever, that is true, with the library branching out into the cinematic universe. Marvel has become more than just a niche escape for fans of comic fantasy seemingly influencing everything from commerce to culture.  It’s contemporary popularity notwithstanding, Marvel Comics and characters have actually been influencing popular American culture, in some form, for over the last 80 years.  A new exhibition at The Museum of Science and Industry (MSI) entitled Marvel: Universe of Super Heroes and its curator, Ben Saunders, hope to enlighten visitors about Marvel’s true influence while bringing to life the legendary characters we’ve all come to know. 

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Art

21c Museum Hotel Chicago Announces Lineup for “Curator Conversations”

Isaac Jacobs

21c Museum Hotel Chicago today announced the lineup for the first in-person edition of “Curator Conversations,” a free monthly discussion series. Taking place on Tuesday, July 20 at 6 p.m., in the hotel’s Main Gallery, the event will feature Chicago-based artist Emma McKee in conversation with Adia Sykes, 21c Museum Hotel Chicago Museum Manager. “Curator Conversations” brings together Chicago-based curators and artists for in-depth discussions to highlight Chicago’s rich arts community. 

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ArtMuseumsSpring 2021

Immersive Van Gogh on view at Lighthouse ArtSpace through November 18, 2021

Isaac Jacobs

Have you ever wanted a bird’s-eye-view into the minds of the great masters of art or music?  Ever tried picturing how a Mozart or Picasso envisioned the world around them? It’s an intriguing thought. The Immersive Van Gogh exhibition on view through November in Chicago’s Old Town just may give you such insight into the mind of Dutch post-impressionistic painter Vincent Van Gogh. One of the most influential and iconic artists of the modern era, Van Gogh’s tragic life preceded what would emerge as nearly unprecedented fame and influence in the world of art. 

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Gabriella-Villa-Exhibition
Art

Hyde Park Art Center to Present The Metamorphosis of Gabriel Villa

Oscar Peterson , 

Hyde Park Art Center, the renowned non-profit hub for contemporary art located on Chicago’s vibrant South Side, will present The Metamorphosis of Gabriel Villa and a related virtual artist talk. This major new solo exhibition introduces the Chicago artist’s new direction in installation and clay sculpture created during his 2018-19 Jackman Goldwasser Residency at the Art Center, along with a selection of his earlier paintings. Curated by Allison Peters Quinn, Hyde Park Art Center Director of Exhibition & Residency Programs, the exhibition—which is available for in-person viewing—runs through July 17, 2021.

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ArtWinter 2021

Patterns in History: Bisa Butler Portraits at The Art Institute

Isaac Jacobs , 

Creating a historical narrative can easily become an artform all its own. Weaving a cultural narrative with the potent messages worthy of conveyance from one generation to the next is no light pursuit. Transform that narrative from written language to a visual tapestry, and you bring real depth to history and culture merging into the realm of artistry. This winter, The Art Institute of Chicago will present a new exhibition that showcases the kind of artistry that makes history come alive. Bisa Butler: Portraits, on view at the museum through April 19, 2021 showcases 22 quilts in four galleries and engages viewers with poignant themes of family, community, migration and the promise of youth, artistic and intellectual legacies. Meticulously stitched with vivid fabrics that emerge in painterly portraits, Bisa Butler’s quilts convey rich, one-of-a-kind, multidimensional narratives of Black life.

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Jonathon-David-Katz
ArchitectureArt

Wrightwood 659 Collaborator Jonathon David Katz Awarded Prestigious Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Grant

Patrick Curran ,  , 

Wrightwood 659 recently congratulated its friend, curator, and collaborator, Jonathan David Katz on the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation’s announcement of a $5M award for the proposal Dispossessions in the Americas: The Extraction of Bodies, Land, and Heritage from La Conquista to the Present.

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The-Long-Dream
ArtAutumn 2020

Surreality: Preview of “The Long Dream” at MCA

Isaac Jacobs ,  ,  ,  ,  , 

Equal parts farce and harsh reality, the year 2020 has been something of a surreal moment for most of us. Few, if any, can boast of lives untouched by the events that have thrown our nation, nee world, into flux these past eight or night months. On our hands, we’ve got a worldwide pandemic which has amassed millions of victims worldwide and killed more than 200,000 (and still counting) in the U.S. alone; public unrest has mounted quickly over what is seen as unjust, state-absolved killings of unarmed African-Americans at the hands of police; shutdowns from coast to coast that have upended any sense of normalcy for most households; pulsing upticks in white-nationalism have taken place in the public square; and on top of all of that, we’ve got a contentious presidential election on our hands.

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