The gallery space at the International Museum of Surgical Science has been turned into a postmodern morgue: in one tin lie the remains of a man’s leather shoe, layers peeled back and pinned to the medical tray. Against the wall, a La-Z-Boy lies upon a metal table, its leather upholstery hanging like viscera from the reclined metal frame. Part of Jason Ferguson’s solo show, “CORPOreal,” these ‘remains’ elicit a puzzling series of emotions, from the bewilderment of such meticulous destruction to an overwhelming sense of decay and mortality—the bizarre sensation that humans are not so far removed from the inanimate objects we build our lives around. Satirical and morbid, these deconstructed installations are supplemented by mock-medical instruction films projected onto the wall. The footage, which features Ferguson executing his autopsies in procedures learned from professionals, adds depth to the installation that the mangled La-Z-Boy could not have provided on its own. It generates an unnerving awareness of the human body as a disposable item, one which is composed of an array of breakable, interconnecting parts. “CORPOreal” is an amusing show, well suited for the International Museum of Surgical Science and highly original without being outlandish, a remarkable feat once one remembers they are looking at lounge chair on the examining table. (Jaime Calder)
The Craft of Reparations: DePaul Art Museum Connects Local and International State Violence “Remaking the Exceptional: Tea, Torture, and Reparations | Chicago to Guantánamo” at the DePaul Art Museum examines the question of reparations by tackling two cases: the well-documented tragedy of Chicago police torture and the ongoing international scandal of Guantánamo Bay.
All Too Real: A Review of “Not All Realisms” at The Smart Museum In the compelling exhibition currently on display at the Smart Museum, photographs tell the story of the sixties in Africa. It was a decade of change, resistance, revolution and hard-won independence in many African countries.
The Friction of History: A Review of Sky Hopinka at the Block Museum Merging metaphor and direct accounts of Fort Marion, Hopinka’s “Cloudless Blue Egress of Summer” offers perspectives on the long and complex reality of American colonialism told through this site of annihilation.
A Legacy Captured: A Review of Rosalie Favell at the Block Museum In this exhibition, Métis artist Rosalie Favell shows over one hundred portraits of indigenous artists, musicians, arts educators and writers she’s met on her travels and during her residency in Evanston, drawing out her subjects’ inner spirit animals.
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