Esau McGee. “Untitled Chicago Ave. Landscape,”2013, mixed medium collage, 24 x 24 inches
Selected from more than 100 nominees, the Hyde Park Art Center has announced the artists to be exhibited in its third biennial exhibition Ground Floor: Evan Baden, Hannah Barco, Greg Browe, Houston Cofield, Maggie Crowley, Barbara Diener, Assaf Evron, Andrew Holmquist, Kelly Lloyd, Jesse Malmed, Esau McGee, Ben Murray, Celeste Rapone, Kyle Schlie, Tina Tahir, Keijaun Thomas, Daniel Tucker, Ramyar Vala, Julie Weber and Nicole Wilson. All of these artists have recently completed their Masters in Fine Arts at five of Chicago’s highly ranked MFA programs: Columbia College Chicago, Northwestern University, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, The University of Chicago and the University of Illinois at Chicago.
In addition to the Ground Floor exhibition that will take place at HPAC from December 12, 2014-March 29, 2015, all twenty of these artists will have work included in the Art Center’s booth at Expo Chicago this weekend. (This MFA mélange will be in booth #814 in case you are already mapping your routes through the fair like I am.) As in previous years, a print catalogue will be produced in conjunction with the winter showcase that will be for sale for $15 and will be distributed nationally to the Art Center’s network of more than 200 curators and art institutions across the country.
After being nominated by MFA program faculty and other respected Chicago based artists, submissions were reviewed by a prestigious committee chaired by Dawoud Bey who was joined by Michelle Grabner, Caroline Picard, Daniel Sauter, along with Art Center staff members Allison Peters Quinn and Kate Lorenz. Says HPAC executive director Lorenz in a press release, “This unique program exemplifies the Art Center’s mission to support Chicago artists at every stage of their careers. We look forward to capping our 75th anniversary year with this exhibition featuring this exceptionally promising group of artists.” (Matt Morris)
Evocative Materials: A Review of Marian Carow at Hyde Park Art Center The stars of the show are cardboard sculptures that manifest Carow’s strategy of combining improvisation with relentless curiosity to reveal the latent potential within a commonplace material that sustains our online economy.
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.
