Sculpture: Motley Cruise

Curator: Bernard Williams

In her essay titled: Motley Efforts, Sculpture’s Ever-Expanding Field, Anne Ellegood speaks of the myriad sculptural practices at work among today’s artists. She speaks of the inability to locate clear categories for much of contemporary sculpture… the profusion of cultural and historical references, the range of materials and an eye towards experimentation.

Ellegood speaks of appreciating artworks for their sensitivity to form or physical flair…”these are after all, objects in space that we encounter with our bodies – but the conceptual underpinning are often as complex and layered as their forms and encourage a certain amount of unpacking. In her essay, Samuel Beckett is quoted as saying, “It is the artist’s task to find a form that accommodates the mess.”

The works in this exhibition embrace disorder and precariousness, pristine surfaces and the predetermined, the messy, decrepit, clumsy, expressive,  flamboyant, corporeal, ambiguous, enigmatic, and more.

Exhibiting Artists: David Baird, Carrie Betlyn-Eder, Matthew Boonstra,  Pat Brutchin, Doug Cannell,  Lindsey Champlin,  Lindsay-Ann Chilcott,  Sofia Chitikov, Bethany Cordero, Virginia de Pintor,  Melissa Dorn, Mirentxu Ganzarain, Stacey Lee Gee, Noah Greene-Lowe, Lourdes Guerrero, Trish Happel, Claire B Jones, Pauline Kochanski, Ginny Krueger, Beth LeFauve, Ellen Lustig, Angela McElwain, Margot McMahon, Scott Mossman, Katherine Nemanich, Bryan Northup, Darren Oberto, Fred Pereira, John Ralston,  Robin Rios, Sylvia Schieber, Liv Sciford, Edwin Shelton, Katherine Skwira-Brown, E.A. Stuart, John Swartwout, Michele Thrane, Penelope Thrasher, Susan Trees, John T Upchurch, Michelle Williams, Debra Wright, Jenny Wu, Chris Wubbena

About the Curator:
Bernard Williams is an established artist based in Chicago, IL and working in painting, sculpture, installation, and public art. He holds a BFA from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and an MFA from Northwestern University. His work has been exhibited in galleries and museums across the U.S., and has been represented by the  N’Namdi Gallery in Detroit, the Thomas McCormick Gallery in Chicago, and the Ethan Cohen Gallery in New York.  Williams has received recognition both regionally and nationally, including grants from the Illinois Arts Council, Artadia in New York in 2001, The Meier Foundation in Chicago in 2013, and The Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation in New York in 2015. He has completed artist residencies at the Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture, The Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, MA., and the International Studio and Curatorial Program in New York in 2013.

The artist began painting outdoor murals in the early 1990’s with the Chicago Public Art Group. While continuing with CPAG, Williams has added outdoor sculpture to his practice. In recent years he has created several outdoor steel sculptures in Chicago, and completed the Black Tractor Project at the Arts Club of Chicago 2019. In November 2020-May 2021 he debuted a large sculptural work in the “Long Dream” group exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago. In 2021 the artist has won two significant outdoor Commissions: The Naomi Anderson installation for Michigan City, Indiana, and in 2023 a large steel sculpture will be installed at Nate Manilow Sculpture Park at Governor’s State University in University Park, IL.