Sharon Hayes is the epitome of what formalist and conservative aesthetes hate about contemporary art. Her work is queer, political and feminist but these aren’t the only reasons to love her.
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Arts Writing
Gil Riley on Painting, Boobs, and Artistic Drive.
InterviewsGil Riley is an MFA painting candidate at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. In the Fall of 2011 she was featured in a group show, “My Ghost at Home,” which was titled after one of her paintings at SAIC’s Parallax Gallery. The show featured work by Riley and two of her MFA candidate peers, Josh Dihle and Brian Rush. Riley’s figures have an intense pathos. Her paintings begin as paint drips or pours that she then organizes into lyrically emotive characters, combining elements of chance and deliberate mark making. During a studio visit Riley discusses painting, boobs and the artistic drive.
The End is Here — What About Post-graduation Pay Checks?
ReportingGraduation is quickly approaching and the only thing on graduating students’ minds, besides completing their thesis or studio work, is what’s next?
In February, the U.S. Labor Department issued an encouraging jobs report. It highlighted that 236,000 new jobs had been created in the U.S., far more than many economists’ predictions. Also, the unemployment rate fell from January’s 7.9 percent to 7.7 percent, the lowest level since December 2008.
mid.way
Reporting, ReviewsIn its modern incarnation, “Midway” typically specifies a section of a county or state fair detectable by the abundance of artery-clogging food, weirdos slinging black light posters, and some form of mud-related entertainment. One might speculate that the word’s origin lies south of the Mason-Dixon Line, but the common noun “midway” in this context actually dates back to Chicago’s 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, apparently the first of its kind to feature a separate amusement area.
Cash Back — What Will Your Refund Look Like?
ReportingSAIC’s Student Financial Services (SFS) has made significant changes to cost of attendance for the 2012-2013 academic year, which will lead to lower refunds for many students.
Queer Concerns and Attachments
Reviews“How can an artwork claim to represent a queer aesthetic if it does not overtly represent gender or sexuality?” “What are the domains of queerness and how can they expand?” Some of the most interesting strains of queer thought and art practices are developing these themes. The first work inside of the expansive exhibition “The Great Refusal: Taking on New Queer Aesthetics,” featured in Sullivan Galleries, was a photograph depicting a grid of overlapping red laser beams emerging from a black background. The image, “Untitled (Laser on White Paper), 2011” by recent SAIC alum Assaf Evron, could be a study of light, space, and perception. Its queer investment is not overtly apparent, which is what makes it an interesting and important inclusion in the show.
Chicago Humanities Festival
ReportingDorothy Allison — November 3
“By the time I was 10 I had figured out that my hope chest wasn’t aimed in the same direction as everyone else’s and that life was going to be hard and complicated,” explained author Dorothy Allison on growing up gay in South Carolina. Allison, author of popular and critical successes “Bastard out of Carolina” (1992) and “Cavedweller” (1998), writes about growing up poor and different in the South and all of the impossible hurdles that come along with those designations.
Trans-forming — Dr. Susan Stryker Lectures on the History and Evolution of Transgender Studies
Reporting“Technology is changing our embodiment in really interesting ways,” Emmy Award-winning filmmaker and groundbreaking academic Dr. Susan Stryker explained at the end of her packed lecture at the Sullivan Galleries on October 3. She went on to describe the growing interest transgender studies has in the ways that technology complicates the division between the human and nonhuman.
“Super Moment” at the LeRoy Neiman Center Gallery
ReviewsComposed mostly of large post-prehistoric sculptures “Super Moment,” on display in the Student Union Galleries’ new LeRoy Neiman Center Gallery, features organic seeming icons of an imaginary civilization — odd and crude. The exhibition, a solo show by SAIC recent BFA graduate Max Garett, suits the new location well with its unique public viewing possible through the glass walls located on Monroe between Wabash and Michigan Ave. None of the pieces would be imposing alone but together they characterize a future forgotten generation.
Warhol and Sidibé at the DePaul Art Museum
ReviewsAndy Warhol is an undisputed icon of American art — his work merged high art and popular culture, highlighting connections between money, fame and cultural value. So, the current exhibition of Warhol Polaroid’s and silver gelatin prints at the DePaul Art Museum should easily be the most interesting part of the current show. However, the Studio Malick exhibition on the ground level of the museum is more compelling, not only because Malick’s photos lack Warhol’s overexposure. The two shows together create some interesting parallels, which was one of assistant curator Gregory Harris’ intentions for hanging the series simultaneously.
