Art Review
How Textiles Weave Together the Cycle of Life
Four exhibitions currently up in Chicago each take a unique approach to the possibilities of working with textiles today, some with humor, others with gravitas.
Lori Waxman
Lori Waxman has been the Chicago Tribune’s primary art critic since 2009. She teaches art history at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and performs occasionally as the “60 wrd/min art critic.”
Features
A Chicago Artist-Run Gallery’s Last Hurrah Before Forced Closure
Roman Susan will host its last projects this month ahead of the demolition of its historic building by owner Loyola University Chicago.
Art Review
A Moving Encounter With the Art of Bernard Williams
Along with his studio art, Williams has long worked with the Chicago Public Art Group and his collaborative handiwork can be found throughout the city.
Art Review
Chicago Nonprofit Celebrates a Decade of Serving Unhoused Artists
Red Line Service, which provides art opportunities for currently or formerly unhoused people, celebrates its anniversary with an exhibition.
Art Review
How Huguette Caland and Hai-Wen Lin Listen to the Body
Playful and witty, full of bright color and unexpected shapes, two of the most delightful solo shows up in Chicago right now concern human bodies.
Art Review
Tony Tasset Exposes the World’s Frayed Canvas
I wanted to hate these artworks, then I wished to poke my finger through their holes, and finally they became a perfect aestheticization of the contemporary moment.
Art Review
Artists’ Monuments to the Great Migration
Histories need to be unearthed, recorded, studied, intersected, sung, paraded, and learned, and two Chicago shows do that for the Great Migration.
Art
Woven Being Interweaves the Complexities of Native Art and Life
Native and Non-Native curators come together for this ambitious non-hierarchical exhibition tackling land and waterways, extra-human connection, and nonlinear time.
Art
Artists Shine a Light on Chicago’s Complex Ecosystem
Given that the vast majority of the world’s lands have by now been modified by humans, urban gardens might be the best we can hope for.
Art
Theaster Gates’s House Museum Gone Wild
When Clouds Roll Away is an immersive viewing experience dedicated to the Johnson Publishing Company that prioritizes imaginative reuse over context.
Art
Chicago’s History of Radical Art Pedagogy
Two concurrent shows focused on the radical social and political possibilities of progressive art education in Chicago ask: Who is art really for?
Art
A Cry of Rage by Ukrainian Women Artists
In Women at War, art is a counterattack, a means by which a victimized populace fights back.