Manneken Press Hosts Collaborative Exhibition of Works by Richard Hull and John Yau

Manneken Press, based in downstate Bloomington, IL, is an independent fine art press publishing limited editions, unique prints, artist’s books, portfolios and drawings by leading contemporary artists, many with Chicago connections. Art critic and poet John Yau and artist Richard Hull produced a series of prints this past spring that are now part of the exhibition at Manneken on Artsy. 

Manneken co-founder Jonathan Higgins shared, "Yau and Hull are  longtime friends and have both engaged in collaborations with others, but never until now with each other. Loosely following the format of “Wanted” posters of outlaws from the old Wild West for this project, Yau provided pithy phrases which he sketched directly onto rectangular plates. Hull used the texts as prompts, drafting abstracted portraits on a larger square plate. The three plates were placed together and printed once for the initial impression, then a second cognate or “ghost” impression was pulled, a pattern followed throughout the series.

Each of the prints contains a message. Some call for more attention to under-recognized artists like John D. Graham, and Miyoko Ito. “Wanted: The Lost Movies of Anna May Wong” (2023) is a lamentation for the first Chinese-American film star whose career was diminished due to stereotyping and Hays Code censorship."

The exhibition is online through February 4, 2024. 

ARC Gallery to Open 50th Anniversary Exhibition This Weekend

Artist Residents of Chicago (ARC) was founded in 1973 as a women-run artists’ cooperative organization at a time when the art world refused to take women’s voices seriously. ARC in 2023 still brings innovative, emerging and experimental visual art to a wide range of viewers. As a non-commercial gallery, we are able to provide a unique atmosphere of continued artistic experimentation and dialogue. 

The public is invited to attend a reception with ARC as its members celebrate with a 50th Anniversary Members' Exhibition. For this milestone celebration, ARC presents work by members past and present. Featuring an installation piece by founding member Gerda Meyer-Bernstein, now 100 years old. One of the original alternative Chicago galleries of the 1970’s, along with Artemisia, and N.A.M.E., ARC is now the last of these great names still standing.

Opening Reception Fri.  Sept 29, 5-8pm

Read CGN's feature on ARC's anniversary here. 

Mongerson Gallery Offers a classically enigmatic work by Gertrude Abercrombie.

The gallery shared the acquisition of a work by the celebrated surrealist Gertrude Abercrombie. Painted in 1967, Snared showcases Abercrombie’s penchant for dreamlike tableaux and haunting symbolism. A lone figure stands in a desolate night landscape, reaching out towards the owl before her. Behind her, her long hair is caught in the keyhole of a ghostly door— she is in limbo, snared between what she reaches towards and what holds her back. The piece was exhibited at the The Illinois State Museum, Springfield, IL. Gertrude Abercrombie: An Exhibition. July 28 - October 25, 1991.

CXW & ANDREW RAFACZ present Chicago Community Board

Andrew Rafacz Gallery announced that their now-boarded up facade on the ground floor of 1749 West Chicago Avenue, which was seriously damaged when a truck drove through the gallery window a few weeks ago – will be repurposed as a physical information board and nexus for any and all exhibitions and scheduled events citywide in the arts this fall.

The gallery shared in a message, "We encourage all of our fellow galleries, institutions, artists, performers, writers and collectives to post their related show announcements, posters, maps, texts, images and memorabilia to our community board facing a bustling stretch of Chicago Avenue.

The visual palimpsest of our city’s dynamic, layered arts community will continue to evolve throughout the fall season, as the gallery rebuilds behind the scenes."

They Community Board launches September with Chicago Exhibition Weekend and continues once CXW is over.