“Front & Center,” Installation view/Photo: S. Nicole Lane
RECCOMENDED
The Center Program at the Hyde Park Art Center is an opportunity for artists to receive feedback, formulate new work and have a final exhibition in the main gallery over six months. The facilities and staff at HPAC offer a supportive atmosphere for artists to engage in conversation and further their studio practice. The twenty-four artists in the 2015 Center Program span various disciplines and media. The culminating group exhibition is playful and vibrant, as well as informative and candid.
The intrigue of the exhibition is in the juxtapositions found between the artists, based on medium, concept and context. A strong example of this is the work by Michelle Collazo-Anderson, Regin Igloria and Ivan LOZANO. Anderson’s piece, “Hips, Legs & Feet” is made from upholstery fabric, canvas and exterior house paint. The pieces vary in size and color but appear uniformly similar in structure and purpose: They stand tall, serving as a foundation and balancing the composition. The vibrancy of the piece is complemented by Igloria’s “Travel Tble and Cart,” which is made from wood and features sketchbooks, a banner and wheels for mobility. It is reminiscent of childhood forts, lemonade stands and the craft that went into sustaining a journal. Igloria’s sketchbook is opened to a page that has the word, “Unbeknownst” scrawled on white paper. Opposite these works is the mixed media piece “NARCOMANTAS (HANGED MEN TRIPTYCH)” by LOZANO, which hangs from the gallery ceiling by rope and vinyl. The vinyl features a collage of low resolution digital images of men who were hanged. LOZANO’s work asks the viewer to reexamine their expectations of the remainder of the show and approach each piece with fresh eyes.
While no particular piece sits “front and center,” the works of the twenty-four artists introduce a multitude of varying emotions and responses to the wide range of mediums and creative statements featured in this fourth annual exhibition. (S. Nicole Lane)
Through October 4 at the Hyde Park Art Center, 5020 South Cornell.
Elliot Josephine Leila Reichert is a curator, critic and editor. She is the inaugural Curator of Contemporary Art at the Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University. She was formerly Curatorial Fellow at the Chicago Artists Coalition, Art Editor of Newcity and Assistant Curator at the Block Museum of Art, Northwestern University.
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.
Home Is Where the Family Is: A Review of Chicago Chiquito at Bridgeport Art Center This small but significant exhibition shows the history of Chicago Chiquito, or little Chicago, the nickname given to La Hacienda, a small town in the state of Guanajuato, Mexico. Its families have migrated north to find work for over one hundred years.
While no particular piece sits “front and center,” the works of the twenty-four artists introduce a multitude of varying emotions and responses to the wide range of mediums and creative statements featured in this fourth annual exhibition. (S. Nicole Lane)
