RECOMMENDED From William Wegman’s notoriously fey portraits of his beloved Weimaraner dogs and Lucas Samaras’ tiny and decidedly unflattering funky Polaroid self-portraits, through Joel Sternfeld’s biting and luscious color photographs of the (de)humanized American landscape and Candida Hofer’s cold color studies of depopulated institutional interiors, to Robert Mapplethorpe’s signature sculptural yet flowing impressions of body parts, this show throws us back to the heydays of postmodern subversion, criticism and play, when shooters shot out in every conceivable direction. Forget the last decades of the twentieth century, though, and find the treats in the back room in Eugene Von Bruenchenhein’s small black-and-white erotic photos of sultry and voluptuous Marie, particularly the triptych of negative images of her face in which she appears as a wild witch. Von Bruenchenhein shot in the 1940s, when political correctness was not yet ascendant and film noir and the femme fatale reigned supreme. (Michael Weinstein) Through July 11 at Russell Bowman Art Advisory, 311 W. Superior
The Whole Package: Looking at the Art Matchmaking of “Not Just Another Pretty Face” at the Hyde Park Art Center Expect an especially exciting moment when the bell rings on the evening of September 14. White cloth that covers up all the artworks shall be pulled from the gallery walls inside the Hyde Park Art Center, unveiling some eighty commissioned works culminating from the latest two iterations—2021 and 2023—of the famed Chicago art matchmaker program.
