Chicago Sculpture International Biennial 2020
Moving Forward in a time of Change: Our New Relationship to the World We Live In is a juried member exhibition addressing newfound issues generated by the pandemic. The absence of human activity has created noticeable improvements from clearer skies, breathable air quality and less noise to increased movement of wildlife into human frequented areas. Works are sought relating to how these shifts have changed our relationship to the world we live in, such as our sense of space – open and contained, the passing of time, and the un- or over-availability of some materials.
Work will be selected by Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art Curator, Adrienne Kochman.
October 30, 2020 - February 7th, 2021
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH CSI
Chicago: Selections from the Permanent Collection
Selections from our permanent collection that include aspects of Chicago. Works included from Morris Barazani, Harold Hayden, Thomas Kapsalis, Marcos Raya, Yvette Kaiser Smith, Stanley Tigerman, Gillian Wise.
July 24th - October 10th 2020
External Eye
This exhibition brings together two artists engaged with color and the manner in which its inherent properties – hue, value, saturation, intensity for example, offer a vehicle for understanding the outside world. This is not to say color is the only visual element at play, but employed as the primary element with which to draw the viewer’s attention – the first glance. Once there, in front of the artwork/painting, we look more carefully – following how each color is contained by lines, then shifts with light upon it, and then, we notice perhaps with what shapes each artist defined/created their form. Why did the artist make these choices, for what purpose?
Yana Bystrova and Paula Henderson present two varying pathways for approaching abstraction in painting. Bystrova seeks answers to larger philosophical questions about how cultural context and perceptions of reality shape our understanding of the world we live in. As a Ukrainian artist living in Paris for almost three decades, she is keenly aware of the impact of the surrounding environment and, to that end, offers a ‘sampling’ - of landscapes, nature, organic elements using the traditional practice of en plein-airor painting outdoors. Their immediate, fresh, less calculated expression could be said to both embrace the phenomenon of ambiguity, and offer a mechanism for overcoming it, by focusing on the painting’s formal elements.
Henderson concentrates on social constructs and traditions of representation. Her series Groundwork(s)operates at the intersection of formal abstraction and social engagement, by developing patterns from the soles of shoes, encountered while walking. Found universally, on the sidewalk, imprinted into the earth, for example, their temporary existence is a reminder of change through space and time, if not hieroglyphics of our collective history. Additional works puzzle the social impact of representations of women’s bodies in commercial media. As personal narratives and identities are invited to be shaped by the promotion of desire and allure, how much do they truly distract from a truthful representation of the self and, how much do we invest in our own objectification?
