Art

ArchitectureArtMuseumsWinter 2022

“Houses of Tomorrow” to Lead Elmhurst Art Museum’s 25th Anniversary Programming

Throughout the Elmhurst Art Museum’s 25th year anniversary effort to inspire its community, the museum will host a year-long celebration with a focus on the three major hallmarks of its mission: architecture (Spring), education (Summer), and art (Fall). Central to the Spring season is the new multimedia exhibition, Houses of Tomorrow: Solar Homes from Keck to Today. The exhibition is open February 5 through May 29, 2022 within the museum’s galleries, with an accompanying light-based installation by Chicago-based artist Jan Tichy within the museum’s historic McCormick House. 

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ArtMuseums

Chicago Set to Experience FRIDA: IMMERSIVE DREAM

Lighthouse Immersive, North America’s leading producer of ground-breaking experiential art exhibits, and Maestro Immersive Art announce their newest immersive art installation, FRIDA: IMMERSIVE DREAM. On the heels of their critically acclaimed show, Immersive Van Gogh (now on-view in 15 cities), Lighthouse Immersive and Maestro Immersive Art have set their sights on the art and life of Frida Kahlo (1907-1954), the beloved 20th century Mexican artist best known for compelling self-portraits and radiant pieces inspired by her life in her native country of Mexico. The exhibition features some of the artist’s best-known works “brought to life” by the world-renowned master of digital art, Italy’s Massimiliano Siccardi, again accompanied by composer Luca Longobardi’s resonant score. Vittorio Guidotti is the show’s Art Director. A brilliant, bold and uncompromising painter, Kahlo’s work is globally recognized for its raw emotional vitality, vibrant color work and unflinching intimacy.

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ArtMuseums

Hyde Park Art Center Presents Biennial Exhibition, “Dream”

Chicago’s Hyde Park Art Center has announced Dream, an exhibition of new works culminating the Art Center’s biennial Center Program, a professional development program for the elevation of emerging and mid-career artists, now in its 10th year. Guest-curated by Asha Iman Veal, this exhibition will occupy the entire first floor galleries from December 12, 2021 – March 20, 2022, featuring works by twenty artists from Center Program’s 2020-21 cohort.

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ArtAutumn 2021Museums

Marvel Up Close and Personal

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”

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

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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Art

Hyde Park Art Center to Present The Metamorphosis of Gabriel Villa

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

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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