The Midwestern landscape is so boring! No mountains—or canyons, or cliffs—just the endless, unbroken horizon left behind by glaciers 12,000 years ago. But not the way Jeff Aeling paints it. His land is dark and powerful—his sky is deep and luminous. The total effect isstark, lonely, meditative. No people, no roads, no houses, no animals, not even any fancy brushwork—just the basic stuff: earth, sky and occasionally fire or water, like a trigram from the I-ching. Some are large (four-by-eight feet), some are small (fourteen-by-ten inches), all are arresting and powerfully horizontal—though still articulated with delightful manipulations of space. Landscape painting began in Chicago back when the first professional artists organized the Chicago Academy of Design 150 years ago, and it’s still going strong. Very strong, but meanwhile, whatever happened to figure-painting? It was never that popular in the Midwest to begin with, and then it got stomped by the iconoclasm of the postwar art world; while in Chicago, the figure survived only by being repulsive or ironic. Exhibited here are three postmodern figurative visions that hesitantly, awkwardly approach the attractive. John Goodman’s work is the most compelling, as it seems to be a kind of life drawing, using paint texture, very thin to very thick, to manipulate space and really make his nude figures come alive and feel present. (Chris Miller)
Through October 11 at Perimeter, 210 W. Superior, (312)266-9473
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