New Exhibitions Start March 12 – 13
Opening: Friday, March 12, 5 – 9 pm
Oliva Gallery
The work of Margie and David Criner.
David Richards: Gargoyles and Escutcheons
March 12 – May 9
Epiphany Center for the Arts
In his solo exhibition Gargoyles and Escutcheons, Chicago artist David Richards offers an installation of uncanny wall sculptures that defy easy categorization and casual acquaintance. Mysterious yet familiar, these works exist in a slippery space between abstraction and representation. Both biological and synthetic, his playful reliefs bring to mind plant forms, faces or machines that have been disassembled or seem to be missing a piece.
March 13 – August 29
Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (MCA)
The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago presents a solo exhibition by the celebrated Los Angeles-based artist Christina Quarles. Quarles' colorful figurative paintings are filled with a sensual labyrinth of bending and twisting limbs and faces merging with ambiguous objects and abstract patterns.
Quarles is leading a growing movement among contemporary artists who are returning to figuration in order to address issues of identity and representation in society today. Her singular approach to figuration, however, renders dancerly, translucent bodies in fabulist environments.
March 13 – April 11
Vertical Gallery
Born and based in France, OakOak is a world-renowned street artist who specializes in creative, place-based interventions. Playing upon existing elements of the environment, OakOak wields his wit and humor to enliven public spaces and draw our attention to oft-overlooked details of our urban habitats. Accessible and endearing, his street work draws on comic books, video games, tv shows, and other beloved staples of pop culture.
Jesse Howard: A Village Refuses To Be Silent
Opening: Saturday, March 13, 2 – 5 pm
Bert Green Fine Art
Jesse Howard is a Chicago native who has observed the rhythms and nuances of African American cultural life in Chicago over many decades. His artworks are portraits and figurative typologies meant to document and celebrate the rich variety of individual and collective expressions, showing the good, the bad, the beautiful, and the ugly. At the core of this work is a deeply felt, powerful pronouncement of the human spirit.