Art Review Archives - Chicago Reader

a large 2D work hangs on the left hand gallery wall, and sculptural works on the right wall. The center of the image shows the gallery's gleaming black floor, with floor sculptures in the distance. A window is at the far end, with greenery seen through it.

Desire lines

by Pia Singh November 29, 2023November 29, 2023

One of the most enduring legacies of colonialism is found in architecture, often built on the basis of separation. Divide-and-rule policies inform social structures in former colonies like India, where the separation of communities on the basis of class, caste, and creed is linked to the separation of laborers from their points of origin. Forming […]

On a white background is a circle of green paint. A 3D branch grows out of the circle, covered with vines, mushrooms, and ladybugs. On the branch sits a small brown fox.

Arts & Culture

Jackson Junge Gallery’s fix for an insatiable visual appetite

by Avery Heeringa November 9, 2023November 9, 2023

Works by over 300 of Chicago’s emerging and seasoned artists are on full display in “TEN by TEN” at Wicker Park’s Jackson Junge Gallery. Spanning styles, mediums, and themes, the exhibition features over 400 bold and intricate pieces. Guidelines for submissions were limited to only two requirements: each piece must be 10 inches by 10 […]

A black and white image with a fuzzy black circular image at the center, surrounded by drawn black concentric circles and typed words.

Art Review

Abstract language and sacred knowing

by rachel dukes November 6, 2023November 3, 2023

In Kameelah Janan Rasheed’s solo exhibition “Unsewn Time,” curated by Grace Deveney, letters and words are isolated, and punctuation marks are paired with incalculable calculations to form new sentences. Using her body as a writing instrument, Rasheed devises a new language that flows from the soul and a spiritual sense of knowing. “Kameelah Janan Rasheed: […]

Installation view shows a large gallery space with brick walls. On the wall to the right hangs a circular painting in a black frame. To the left is a purple pyramid of boxes on the floor and other, rectangular paintings on the left wall. The paintings are abstractions in purple, orange, black, and blues.

Arts & Culture

Del principio hasta el final/From the beginning to the end

by Cristobal Alday November 3, 2023November 2, 2023

Much of Louis De Guzman’s practice involves his signature geometric abstraction style, which creates worlds within worlds, often blending the past and present into one. “Along the Way” is the Chicago-based Filipino American artist and designer’s first solo exhibition in over three years. It comes after many collaborations, including “SpongeBob SquarePants x Louis De Guzman […]

Pink-hued photo shows a nude figure with their face in a toilet and their legs suspended in the air behind them. The toilet is full of soap bubbles. Another person stands on top of the toilet back.

Arts & Culture

Jimmy DeSana’s luscious suburban wastelands

by Micco Caporale October 17, 2023October 17, 2023

If you want to experience the body as an object of disruption amidst suburban wastelands, look to the images of Jimmy DeSana. The Detroit-born photographer was a fixture of the East Village art scene in 1980s New York, and his work demonstrates a studied awareness of gay image makers and forefathers like Andy Warhol and […]

Gallery view shows a row of colorful abstract paintings hung on the left wall. The facing wall has an oversized abstract painting. A large window is in the back, filled with greenery.

Arts & Culture

Soft light

by Alan Pocaro October 11, 2023October 10, 2023

Painter Scott Wolniak’s delightful new exhibition “Crosscurrents” at Goldfinch is a lot to take in. With nearly 20 works of various sizes hung close together in the modest space, the exhibition is like a salon-style dive into the visual deep. Viewers used to sparse white walls and serious square footage between works might find the […]

Three white soft sculptures sit on the gallery floor, in front of a half false wall. On the wall hang six framed images of people interacting with the sculptures. To the left, on another wall, is a mirror and a hung poem on white paper.

Arts & Culture

Finding a connection through art and poetry

by Xiao daCunha October 3, 2023October 2, 2023

Americans continue to live through a silent epidemic of loneliness where over half of minority and low-income populations feel isolated and alone. “Threads,” on view at the Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art (UIMA) through October 22, invites visitors to reconsider how humans develop emotional ties and find new ways to emphasize compassion and connectivity. “Threads” […]

Color photo shows the torsos of two people standing. both are in jeans, one wears a blue shirt, the other a yellow, and their arms are hooked through one another.

Arts & Culture

Pools of time

by Isaac Vazquez October 2, 2023September 29, 2023

What narrative can we tell of a fractured life when gleaned through the nature of the anthropogenic? Possibly a fragmented story of being. “Life Cycles,” a group show curated by Ionit Behar at the DePaul Art Museum, gathers more than 50 artists in various mediums whose work shares a common border in exploring subjectivity through […]

Black and white image shows two breast-like shaped made of cut-up photo collages. In the center of the breasts are X-acto blades.

Arts & Culture

Look but don’t touch

by Kerry Cardoza September 27, 2023September 27, 2023

“Life in this society being, at best, an utter bore and no aspect of society being at all relevant to women, there remains to civic-minded, responsible, thrill-seeking females only to overthrow the government, eliminate the money system, institute complete automation and destroy the male sex.” So begins Valerie Solanas’s incendiary, prophetic SCUM Manifesto, SCUM of […]

Gallery view shows a lantern covered in a silk, tent-like shape, with four steel legs. The lantern is on (via a plug) and the room, is dark.

Arts & Culture

The sacred and profound in Stephen Burks’s ‘Spirit Houses’

by Vasia Rigou September 19, 2023September 19, 2023

“Each morning I make my way to the large east-facing windows overlooking the Harlem River. Sage, photos of my Beloveds, candles, water and items too sacred to name adorn my makeshift altar—an antique wooden liquor stand turned ‘spirit house.’ . . . Imbued with the stories it holds and lives it has lived, my altar […]

Gallery view shows walls and partial floor covered with rectangles of abstract images, reflective material, and mirrors.

Arts & Culture

Iridescent illusions

by Vasia Rigou September 15, 2023September 15, 2023

The minute you step into the gallery, the clock starts ticking: you only have 30 seconds to experience María Burundarena’s world—if you choose not to return, that is. The line outside the door says otherwise. People are lining up, eager to get back in for another half-minute solitary experience that is what you make it—a […]

a circular grid of vagina-shaped coin purses, in a multitude of colors, hangs on a wall.

Arts & Culture

Vagina, vagina on the wall

by Xiao daCunha August 29, 2023August 29, 2023

Are those vaginas on the wall? Rest assured, your eyes didn’t trick you. Coin Cunts, created by Louisiana-based artist Suzanna Scott, are colorful kiss lock coin purses sewn into the shape of a vagina, fearlessly presenting the organ that brings women pleasure and pain, pride and shame. Do you look away, or do you admire […]

A clothesline on a stand is positioned in front of a large window in the gallery. Green lawn turf is on the floor below. On the line hangs a jacket and squares of material with photos on them.

Arts & Culture

Material as memory

by Annette LePique August 21, 2023August 21, 2023

Working with fabric necessitates a certain type of intimacy. How you move through the world is punctuated by what you were wearing; fabric changes you, it can define your day. Fabric, whether it’s worn or transformed, can thus become a complicated act of memory and storytelling. “A thread through a past life,” up at Middle […]

In a corner of the gallery is a beautiful altar, decorated with streamers, candles, and flowers. Surrounding the altar is a plethora of hung work made by incarcerated artists, including pencil drawings, collage, and paintings.

Arts & Culture

Honoring the incarcerated

by Kerry Cardoza August 18, 2023August 18, 2023

“Makes Me Wanna Holla: Art, Death & Imprisonment,” on view at the Logan Center Gallery, makes visceral the impact COVID-19 had on incarcerated people. The experience begins with a re-creation of a prison cell installed at the front of the main gallery. Designed by Chanton Bun, the “cell,” about the size of a parking space, […]

Installation photo shows a purple-seated metal chair in center of room. On the wall to the right is a huge decal of multi-colored, cartoon-like people. To the left are two smaller paintings, one of pink flowers. Other works are seen in the adjoining gallery.

Arts & Culture

Savoring culture

by Vasia Rigou August 11, 2023August 10, 2023

Celebrating the rich tapestry of Black and African identities, “Gumbo,” reveals the multifaceted narratives, cultural nuances, and poignant perspectives of the Black experience by bringing together 20 artists whose work spans mediums and scale. The works are carefully arranged within the Fulton Market gallery and rightfully so—each one demands a closer look so sufficient white […]