By MARY DEYOE

When the Monster Roster artists were working in the middle of the 20th century, those who made up the group had two strikes against them – they were from Chicago, and they were figurative artists. In the late 1940s and 50s being an artist in Chicago was almost an automatic ticket to obscurity, as many contemporary critics were shining light primarily on New York. It was also nearly mandatory that an artist work in abstraction to be taken seriously.

John Corbett and Jim Dempsey, curators of Monster Roster: Existentialist Art in Postwar Chicago, a new exhibition at the Smart Museum of Art, decided it was time that this group was given a reexamination.  “We are currently seeing a widespread reconsideration of the canon of 20th century American art,” explained Corbett and Dempsey, “Specifically, what belongs as part of the enduring legacy, what has previously been excluded that needs to be reevaluated, analyzed, and readmitted? How do those new additions change the overall complexion of the story of American art?”

The Monster Roster, recognized as one of the factions that made up the Chicago Imagists, was led by Leon Golub and included his wife Nancy Spero, as well as artists June Leaf, Dominick DiMeo, and Cosmo Compoli. Together the group produced work that is deeply pyschological, even unsettling. Their art, which offended crtics at the time, can still be tough to encounter; brush stokes are harsh; bodies are disfigured and contorted in pain, sometimes tortured. Much of the group’s source material: mythology, ancient art and Jungian pyschology – was out of fashion with the day’s prevailing art criticism – and the artists maintained a strong determination not to fall under the influence of the predominant cultural climate, a motivation shared with some contemporaries, like Jackson Pollock, working in Abstract Expressionism, and other avant garde movements.

While resisting the notion of direct influence, Corbett and Dempsey cite an increasing interest among young artists today in the work because of a “curiosity about untold histories and an openness to alternative ways of thinking about painting.”

“The spirit of self-determination among the postwar artists [in this exhibition] is a key carry-over into subsequent generations. Whether it was a direct effect or a more general attitude, taking charge of one’s destiny – especially in exhibitions  – was extremely significant to them and today could be seen as a salient hallmark of Chicago artists, as seen in select Imagist exhibitions at Hyde Park Art Center as well as in apartment galleries over the last ten years.”

The exhibition will be highlighted by an extensive lineup of talks, tours, film screenings, poetry workshops, musical performances, and family events. Programming will dive into the historical context of the Monster Roster, including a look at the unique social, cultural, and political conditions that helped shape their aesthetic.

Dempsey and Corbett also aimed to use programming to explore common threads running through work by artists who were not members of the Monster Roster. Together they said, “Artists working in other media, including film, literature, and music have and continue to respond to the existential anxiety that informed the work of [the artists in the exhibition].” One planned talk presents the work of filmmaker Tom Palazzolo, who since the 1960s has produced over 50 films that explore the “complex, multi-faceted, and often overlooked events and rituals unfolding across Chicago’s neighborhoods.” Other programs include films directed by Jerry Blumenthal and Gordon Quinn, Golub: Late Works are the Catastrophes, as well as Woman as Protagonist: The Art of Nancy Spero.

The free, public opening for the exhibition takes place at the museum on Wednesday, February 10, 2016, 7–9 pm. The evening celebration will feature live music from the Josh Berman Trio, docent-led tours, in-gallery spoken word prose and poetry performances, and more.

Monster Roster: Existentialist Art in Postwar Chicago features works from 1948 to the mid 1960s. It is on view at the Smart Museum at the University of Chicago February 11–June 12, 2016.

Curators John Corbett and Jim Dempsey, independant curators and co-owners of Corbett vs Dempsey Gallery, worked closely with Jessica Moss, Smart Museum Curator of Contemporary Art, and Richard A. Born, Smart Museum Senior Curator.

Top image: Leon Golub, The Ischian Sphinx, 1956, oil and lacquer on canvas. Private Collection.