News from Around the Art World: September 4, 2018
Chicago’s art history, revised
Chicago may be best known for its pioneering architecture and as a cradle of the world’s first skyscraper, but the city is finally being recognised for its countercultural reshaping of American art and culture. Under the umbrella title Art Design Chicago, a massive citywide effort is under way this year to celebrate and catalogue that largely under-known art history through a series of significant exhibitions and events.
By Jason Foumberg, The Art Newspaper
Educated in Chicago, painter Elizabeth Murray created a genre of her own
Of the many elements that attracted Robert Storr to the ebullient, cartoony paintings of Elizabeth Murray, none was more important than their sheer dynamism. “In every little bit of her painting, there is energy,” said the esteemed artist, critic and curator who organized a retrospective devoted to her at New York’s Museum of Modern art in 2005-06.
By Kyle MacMillan, Chicago Sun-Times
Artist and choreographer Brendan Fernandes nails all the right moves as he makes Chicago his home
Two years ago at EXPO Chicago, artist Brendan Fernandes found himself virtually alone in a new city and walking the art fair on his own. “It was September. I remember taking a cab by myself to EXPO and thinking, 'This is an art event, and I don't know anybody. What have I done?' ” he recalls. After more than a decade of living in New York, Fernandes picked up his career — ballet shoes, sculpture and all — and moved to Chicago for a two-year residency at Northwestern.
By KT Hawbaker, Chicago Tribune
This Surrealist Is Having a Moment, 66 Years After Her Last New York Show
With nearly 70 paintings and a four-and-a-half-pound book, the exhibition “Gertrude Abercrombie” reintroduces New York to the lonely, poignant art of an overlooked American Surrealist painter from the Midwest. Abercrombie (1909-77) — whose work has not had a solo show here since 1952 — was also a jazz devotee, Chicago bohemian and saloniste, and her return represents a herculean effort.
By Roberta Smith, The New York Times