Art exhibits closing and opening in April

It’s arguably hard to keep up with all the exceptional art exhibits put on in Chicago area museums without some kind of program card. Hopefully the following list for April 2019 will help.

Don’t miss

At the Chicago Cultural Center

Arts of Life artists among exhibits ending this week at the Chicago Cultural Center. (Photo courtesy of Chicago Cultural Center and Arts of Life)
Arts of Life artists among exhibits ending this week at the Chicago Cultural Center. (Photo courtesy of Chicago Cultural Center and Arts of Life)

April 7,2019  is closing day for these three exhibits in Cultural Center’s first floor galleries.

“Furtive,” curated by Filter Photo, is a photographic exhibit that explores  personal and collective memory by Daniel Hojnacki, Karolis Usonis, and Krista Wortendyke.

“Forgotten Forms” is an exhibition of works by artists exploring everyday objects to tell a story about neighborhood identity and urban life. The artists are members of the Chicago Cultural Alliance the National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts & Culture and the Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art.

“In Good Company” is a group exhibition is from seven artists and four volunteers of the Arts of Life  studios. Visit artsoflife.org/events/in-good-company.

The  Chicago Cultural Center is at 78 E. Washington St.. Chicago. For more information visit Chicago/Dept/Cultural Center.

 

Detail) Kurt Schmidt, Construction for fireworks, from the Stage Workshop, 1923, lithograph / Reproduction 2017. Photo: Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen (Screen short photo courtesy of Elmhurst Art Museum)
Detail) Kurt Schmidt, Construction for fireworks, from the Stage Workshop, 1923, lithograph / Reproduction 2017. Photo: Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen (Screen shot photo courtesy of Elmhurst Art Museum)

 

At the Elmhurst Art Museum

The Whole World a Bauhouse,” an internationally traveling exhibition making only one stop in the United States, is at the Elmhurst Art Museum just through April 20.

The exhibition marks the 100th anniversary of the famed Bauhaus school in Germany. Even though it operated from 1919 to 1933, it had a revolutionary influence on art, architecture and industry. Instructors included such influencers and artists and Mies van der Rohe, Walter Gropius, Wassily Kandinsky, Josef and Anni Albers, Paul Klee, László Moholy-Nagy and Lily Reich.

The Elmhurst Art Museum is at 150 Cottage Hill Ave., Elmhurst. For more information visit Elmhurst Art Museum.

 

'The Great Wave' by Hokusai will be on view for a short time in a special Japanese prints exhibit the Art Institute of Chicago. (Photo courtesy of Art Institute of chicago
‘The Great Wave’ by Hokusai will be on view for a short time in a special Japanese prints exhibit the Art Institute of Chicago. (Photo courtesy of Art Institute of Chicago)

 

Opening

At the Art Institute of Chicago

“The Great Wave” by Holusai will be among the prints explored in Connoisseurship of Japanese Prints  in Gallery 107 beginning April 6, 2019.

“The People Shall govern!,” opens April 24 in Galleries 1-4. This is the first North American exhibition on the Medu Art Ensemble begun in late 1970s to oppose South Africa’s apartheid.

The Art Institute of Chicago is at 111 S. Michigan Ave. For hours, admission and other information visit ARTIC.

 

Jonathas de Andrade Still from Jogos dirigidos (Directed games), 2019. HD video (color, sound). Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago Commission. (photo courtesy of Museum of Contemporary Art )

At the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago

Jonathas De Andrade: One to One” opens April 13 with photographs, installations and videos that reflect his take on a northeast area of Brazil.

Can You Hear Me Now,” opening April 27, deals with communication problems in a divisive political climate.

The Museum of Contemporary Art is at 220 E. Chicago Ave. For hours, admission and other information visit MCA.

Jodie Jacobs

 

 

 

 

The many facets of EXPO Chicago

Celebrate Chicago EXPO Week Sept 11 through Sept 17, 2017.

What is it?

The week features EXPO Chicago, a top quality, annual exhibition in Navy Pier’s Festival Hall. Visitors can see what is being shown by top galleries across the world and in the U.S., Sept. 14 to Sept. 17.

Navy Pier, at the east end of Grand Avenue host EXPO Chicago.. Photos by Jodie Jacobs
Navy Pier, at the east end of Grand Avenue, hosts EXPO Chicago.
Photos by Jodie Jacobs

It’s also a time when Chicago art galleries and institutions usually start new exhibitions. The Program site on EXPO Chicago lists several area art shows.

It’s a chance for art lovers to visit galleries that will stay open past their usual hours. Many of the galleries are opening new exhibits on Sept 12 with evening receptions. Others will stay open from 6 to 9 p.m. Sept. 15. See Art After Hours on EXPO Chicago.

This year, EXPO Chicago also partially coincides with the city’s Architecture Biennial which primarily fills the Chicago Cultural Center with past, present and future architectural projects and initiatives beginning Sept. 16, 2017 and continuing to Jan 7, 2018. There are also special exhibits and installations off site.

So, put on the walking shoes, save these links to the smart phone calendar and figure out where to go and when to take advantage of Art Week.

 

At Navy Pier

EXPO Chicago (International Exposition of Contemporary & Modern Art) at Navy Pier opens Sept. 13 with Vernissage, an evening benefit reception for the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. The EXPO features 135 internationally known galleries.   See tickets  for EXPO hours and admission costs. Navy Pier is at 600 E. Grand Ave.

Special Exhibitions by regional, national, and international non-profit institutions, museums, and organizations will be on the main exhibition floor of the exposition.

 

Around Town Exhibits that tie in with the show.

‘Past Forward: Architecture and Design at the Art Institute’ opens Sept. 12. Also see “Color Studies.” The show also relates to the Architecture Biennial. The Art Institute of Chicago is at 11 S. Michigan Ave.

The Modern Wing of the Art Institute of Chicago has architecture galleries.
The Modern Wing of the Art Institute of Chicago has architecture galleries.

Palais de Tokyo is holding “Singing Stones,” an exhibit of emerging Chicago and French artists, in The Roundhouse at Du Sable Museum of African American History, 740 E. 56th Place, Sept. 13-Oct. 29. Also at the DuSable Museum is “Chicago: A Southern Exposure,” Sept. 12, 2017–Mar.  18, 2018.

Go over to the Peninsula Chicago Hotel, 108 E. Superior St. to see “What it is to be Human,” an exhibit of artist/ architect Gaetano Pesce curated by Salon 94 Design that ties in with EXPO Chicago and the Chicago Architecture Biennial (Sept. 16, 2017-Jan. 7 2018). The exhibit is on the ground level lobby and 5th floor lobby, Sept. 11-Oct. 9, 2017.

The Sullivan Galleries at the School of the Art Institute, 33 S. State Street (7th floor)  is doing ‘Apichatpong Weerasethakul: Serenity of Madness’ Sept. 15 through Dec. 8, 2017.

The Arts Club of Chicago, 201 E. Ontario St., has an opening reception for “Roman Ondak: Man Walking Toward a Fata Morgana” Sept. 12. The exhibit goes through Dec. 9, 2017.

At the Emhurst Art Museum and Mies van der Rohe’s McCormick House, 150 Cottage Hill Ave., Elmhurst, “Hebru Brantley: Forced Field”S is Sept. 9 through Nov. 26, 2017.

DuPaul Art Museum,  935 W Fullerton Chicago, features “Ângela Ferreira: Zip Zap and Zumbi” Sept. 7 through Dec. 10, 2017.

The John David Mooney Foundation, 114 W. Kinzie St., is participating in the Art After Hours with a reception Sept. 15, 2017 for an exhibition of works by modern Vietnamese Artists and particularly the paintings of Bùi Xuân Phái.

The University of Chicago’s Neubauer Collegium for Culture and Society, 5701 S. Woodlawn Ave., is doing “Terence Gower — Havana Case Study,” Sept. 12 – Dec. 15, 2017 in conjunction with the Architecture Biennial.

The Smart Museum is on the University of Chicago's Hyde Park campus.
The Smart Museum is on the University of
Chicago’s Hyde Park campus.

The Smart Museum of Art at the University of Chicago has several new exhibits. “Emmanuel Pratt: Radical [Re]Constructions” is Sept. 12, 2017 to the summer of 2018. “Revolution Every Day” is Sept. 14, 2017 – Jan. 14, 2018. “The Hysterical Material” is Sept. 14 – Dec. 17, 2017. The Smart Museum of Art is at 5550 S. Greenwood Ave.

“Materials Decoded” is Sept. 10, 2017 – Jan. 7, 2018 at the Hyde Park Art Center, 5020 S. Cornell Ave.

Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art, has an opening reception for  “Darger + War” Sept. 15. the exhibit continues through Dec. 10, 2017.

“Michael Rakowitz: Backstroke of the West” is at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Sept.16, 2017 – Mar. 4, 2018.

“Let Me Be an Object That Screams” is Sept. 8 – Oct.21, 2017 in Gallery 400 at the University of Illinois at Chicago University of Illinois in the Chicago Art and Design Hall, First Floor 400 S. Peoria St. (at Van Buren Street).

Graham Foundation Sep 14, 2017 – Jan 06, 2018

The Graham Foundation in the Madlener House, 4 W. Burton Place, is showing David Hartt’s “In the Forest,” a new, multi-part installation in conjunction with the Architecture Biennial.

Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art, 40 Arts Circle Drive at Northwestern University’s Evanston campus, is featuring “Carrie Mae Weems: Ritual and Revolution” with the opening reception Sept. 12. The exhibit continues through Dec. 10, 2017.

For more information visit EXPO Chicago.

 

A museum where pinball machines mix with Chicago artists

Ed Paschke, "Blackout," 1980, Private Collection. Photo by Jodie Jacobs
Ed Paschke, “Blackout,” 1980, Private Collection. Photo by Jodie Jacobs

 

If you are the director of an art museum and are planning on showcasing art of the 1960s, 70s and early 80s in Chicago, particularly that of the Hairy Who and the Chicago Imagists and you want an era-appropriate, eye-catching exhibit to put with it, what would you choose?

 

 

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