Chicago Calling: Art Against the Flow

Organized and traveled by Intuit, Chicago Calling: Art Against the Flow premiered at Intuit in 2018 and has been extended until September 2021. 

Curated by Kenneth C. Burkhart, an independent curator, and Lisa Stone, curator of the Roger Brown Study Collection of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, the exhibition tells this story through the works of 10 Chicago artists: Henry Darger, William Dawson, Lee Godie, Mr. Imagination, Aldo Piacenza, Pauline Simon, Drossos Skyllas, Dr. Charles Smith, Wesley Willis and Joseph Yoakum. 

The selected artists and their works present intrinsic themes, including psychologically-charged tension in oppositions and contradictions; interaction between high style and the vernacular, between nature and culture; drawing on memory and the expressive use of line and form as a survival mechanism; immigration and relocation as a defining experience; surviving the African-American experience; and the power of portraiture as a view into society, psyche and soul. All artists embodied self-invention through their works.

Chicago Calling: Art Against the Flow is part of Art Design Chicago, an initiative of the Terra Foundation for American Art exploring Chicago's art and design legacy, with presenting partner The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation. Intuit has received funding from the Terra Foundation for American Art to support the exhibition, catalog and international travel. Additional catalog funding is provided by the Elizabeth Firestone Graham Foundation and the Dorothea and Leo Rabkin Foundation.