You may no longer be allowed to chat on the cell phone in the car; it may soon be illegal to light a cigarette in a bar. Big Brother may be managing your habits, but there's one thing he can't take away from you, and that's who you are, man! The connection between art and identity stretches further back than a Chinese hand scroll. Chicago curators and gallery dealers always offer up much food for existential thought. This week's exhibits are particularly invested in the connections between cultural and emotional identities.
Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum
"Chicano Visions: American Painters on the Verge"
through Sept. 4
While Cheech from "Up in Smoke!" may try to roll up a canvas and smoke it, the man behind this persona, Cheech Marin, has a serious interest in art. That's right; we're talking Cheech Marin, a.k.a one of the world's biggest collectors of Chicano art. Marin shares 26 pieces from his personal collection with the Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum in this exhibit that displays the beautifully bright and active influence of Mexican muralists. In Leo Lim's work, symbols of Chicano culture, Catholicism and American pop culture swirl hurriedly around each other in pastel. Identity is a theme, with many portraits peppering the exhibit. Cesar Martinez's "The Blonde Man," is a straight-forward portrait that bears the kind of emotive brush work of Van Gogh; the effect of a man with a face ruggedly wrinkled and eyes piercingly intense is that you wonder what life lies behind the paint.
Roy Boyd Gallery
"Inhabitants of a Small Planet"
through August 27
Just when the nude appeared to be a tired art cliche, Richard Gibbons comes along and paints the naked truth. These intimate, small-scale, detailed studies show the musculature and grace of the form, never revealing a face or hands, as they are posed in various stances and poses in a dramatic spotlight that captures and misses various points of the bodies' surfaces. While paintings of nudes are usually the product of an art class or studies into the human form, these works convey emotional states as expressed through body language. "Private World I" shows a man turning his body in on himself; in "Respite" a man holds his head in his hands, while managing to squat precisely on a narrow tree trunk. The larger-scale wide paintings, "Foothills" and "Dune World," only expose torsos that serve as echoes of natural landscapes, with hips and buttocks mimicking inundating hills and the curves of the earth.
Schopf Gallery on Lake
"Native American, Now"
opening reception July 29; 6-9 p.m.
through Sept. 2
While Native American culture goes largely forgotten in the popular media, most often relegated to romantic notions of the past, here are eight artists willing to share their perspectives on the contemporary Native American experience. From several tribes from across the nation, including Lokota, Navajo, Jemez-Pueblo and Ho-Chunk, all of the artists are younger than 30 and convey thoughts related to identity, cultural and political realities, spirituality, language and the loss of land that Native Americans have suffered. Among those exhibiting are Erin Bad Hand, David Carter, Shanna Dempsey and Chris Pappan. The opening reception will include drumming and singing performances from a Lakota group, native readings and a blessing ceremony. Traditional American Indian food will be served.
Art Institute of Chicago
"Toulouse-Lautrec and Montmartre: La Goulue, 1891"
through October 10
tickets: $15-$18
Before "Moulin Rouge" the movie, it was Toulouse-Lautrec who gave us a visual impression of Montmartre. He painted the dark Parisian underbelly as a colorful, vivacious world where people expressed their passions blatantly, which was somewhat of a faux paus with the bourgeoisie at the time. The cafes and dance halls in the neighborhood of Montmartre were the second home to today's most revered artists: Degas, Van Gogh and Picasso smoked, drank and cavorted with lovers there. You will be amazed at all that you recognize; odds are that one of your friends has a Toulouse-Lautrec poster on his living room wall. An impressing list of programs accompanies this blockbuster of a show. One program of particular interest is "Printers-in-Residence," in which local print-makers from Anchor Graphics will demonstrate the lithographic poster-making process Lautrec would have used. Check the museum Web site for more information.
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