Art Institute of Chicago News

The New Museum has announced its 2015 schedule of exhibitions, residencies and initiatives. Scroll down for details!

National Gallery of Australia (NGA) in Canberra is showcasing 'The story of Rama' through 101 Pahari miniature paintings completed between 17th-19th centuries, till August 23.

The Art Institute announces a dynamic solo exhibition of the work of contemporary artist, and alumnus of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, David Hartt (Canadian, born 1967).

Regen Projects is please to present Three Young Framers, an exhibition of new work by New York-based artist Rachel Harrison. The exhibition runs June 6 - July 18, 2015, with an opening reception tonight, June 6 from 6 to 8 p.m.

Blaffer Art Museum is pleased to present Early Awnings, a collaboration between German artist Henning Bohl and American artist Sergei Tcherepnin. Organized by Blaffer director and chief curator Claudia Schmuckli, the exhibition opens with a public conversation between Bohl and Tcherepnin at 6:30 p.m. Friday, May 29, immediately followed by a reception from 7 to 9 p.m. The exhibition continues through Sept. 5.

National Museum Bangkok is displaying Hindu goddesses in its 'Feminine Deities' special exhibition, which will run till July 26. Hosted by Thailand Fine Arts Department, it shows sculptures of Lakshmi, Saraswati and Parvati.

Lori Bookstein Fine Art is pleased to announce an exhibition of collages by Henry Rothman [1910-1990]. This is the artist's third solo show at the gallery. Henry Rothman began his art career as a photographer in the thirties, where he found himself naturally drawn to the decay of urban life in New York. The artist photographed everything from ragged advertisements and timeworn shop signs to abandoned homes and buildings in various states of ruin. However, by the late fifties, Rothman began to create unique collages, whereby he maintained his previous interest in the antiquated. The marled surfaces and eroded façades he once photographed were now appropriated by means of torn advertisements and found posters to create formally abstract collages. A majority of Rothman's collages are marked by text that was printed on the papers he selected. While some words are certainly legible, most often his use of type was formal rather than referential. Indeed, the pattern of the words across the page and shapes of the individual letters seem to be the artist's principal concern. In other places, the bellowing curves and harsh angles of the typography only heighten the disjointed rhythm of the collage. Even in the works that contain no text at all, Rothman was able to create such depth in the way he layered the various textures and surface-finishes of each element that at times, his collages seem to deny their own two-dimensionality. Henry Rothman studied journalism at New York University and art at the Art School of Vienna. He co-founded the 28th Street Artists in 1947, whose members included Zero Mostel, Joseph deMartini, Henry Kallem and others. His work is in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, National Gallery of Canada, Arkansas Arts Center, Provincetown Art Association and Museum as well as the International Museum of Collage, Assemblage and Construction. A selection of works by gallery artists will be on rotating exhibition in Gallery II. Henry Rothman: Collages will be on view from April 30 – May 30, 2015. An opening reception will be held on Thursday, April 30th from 6-8 pm. Gallery hours are Tuesday through today, 10:30 am to 6:00 pm. For additional information and/or visual materials, please contact the gallery at (212) 750-0949 or at info@loribooksteinfineart.com.

The Chicago Humanities Festival (CHF) will close out its Spring 2015 season with two literary events in June, featuring writers Judy Blume and Judd Apatow. On Wednesday, June 17 at 7 p.m. at Francis W. Parker School, CHF and the Chicago Tribune will welcome literary icon and number one New York Times bestselling author Judy Blume to talk about her new novel, In the Unlikely Event (June 2, 2015), with Chicago Tribune columnist Heidi Stevens. The next day, Thursday, June 18 at 12:30 p.m. at the Art Institute of Chicago Rubloff Auditorium (230 S Columbus Dr), Hollywood film writer (Knocked Up, This is 40), producer (Bridesmaids), and director (The 40-Year-Old Virgin) Judd Apatow will speak about his new book, Sick in the Head: Conversations About Life and Comedy (June 16, 2015). Tickets are on sale now at chicagohumanities.org or by calling 312-494-9509.

On May 22, 2015, the Art Institute of Chicago joins forces with the Arts Club of Chicago to host a pair of exhibitions featuring the work of world-renowned photographer Jean-Luc Mylayne (French, born 1946). The exhibitions, entitled Jean-Luc Mylayne: Mutual Regard, unite inside and outside, nature and culture, and bring together again two Chicago institutions that have deep historical ties. A third venue, a Chapel pavilion in the Millennium Park Lurie Garden, is a key realization of the exhibition themes in public space. Mutual Regard runs through August 23, 2015 at The Art Institute of Chicago's Bucksbaum Gallery in the Modern Wing; through August 13 at the Arts Club of Chicago (201 East Ontario), and through December 31 in the Lurie Garden in Millennium Park.

The Art Institute of Chicago has decided to extend the exhibition of Ireland: Crossroads of Art and Design, 1690-1840, for another two weeks, through June 21, 2015.

The William Inge Center for the Arts has enlisted four (4) very talented and accomplished playwrights from across the country, to be in residence for two weeks each, beginning June 8th, through the end of July.

Regen Projects is please to present Three Young Framers, an exhibition of new work by New York-based artist Rachel Harrison. The exhibition runs June 6 - July 18, 2015, with an opening reception on Saturday, June 6 from 6 to 8 p.m.

High Concept Labs (hcl) and Chicago Dancemakers Forum (CDF) partner on a public event about dramaturgy and contemporary dancemaking. CDF and hcl invite creators, dramaturges, performers, students, and audience members, to engage in dialogue about theory and practice of dramaturgy, the choreographic process and the dancing body.

The Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, New York Live Arts' Resident Dance Company, today announced the launch of a new partnership with Loyola Marymount University (LMU). The partnership with the Los Angeles based university marks the first of its kind, adding to the Company's existing collegiate education programs. Spanning a total of four years, the partnership will bring the Company's works and their pedagogical and performative philosophy to LMU's campus and the Los Angeles area.

CHICAGO—The Art Institute has been named Trip Advisor's #1 museum in the world and is proud to be the World Champion of Art, taking its place alongside the Bears, the Bulls, the Blackhawks, the White Sox, and other renowned Chicago champions.

“We congratulate our good friend Susanne on this remarkable and well-deserved honor from the Venice Biennale Board of Directors,” said Douglas Druick, President and Eloise W. Martin Director of the Art Institute of Chicago. “We admire Susanne's experience, knowledge, and passion for the field, and this confirms our long-held esteem of Susanne as one of the most widely respected curators in contemporary art, not only in Chicago, but around the world.”

May 1, 2015 (USA) - Launching for Mother's Day, the MOTHER'S RIGHT Kickstarter campaignsupports artist Michelle Hartney's conceptual installation and performance piece addressing the United States' high rates of maternal mortality, postpartum PTSD, and obstetric abuse. Hartney is sewing 1,200 hospital gowns—one for every mother who died in childbirth in America in 2013—each hand silk-screened on apparent hospital-gown fabric, but with designs composed of tiny drawings the artist has created of the plant derivatives of the drugs that have been used on laboring women for the past 150 years, many to the detriment of women and children. MOTHER'S RIGHT will culminate with a performance in collaboration with the annual “Rally to Improve Birth” campaign—held on September 7, 2015 in over 100 cities across America. The Chicago performance will happen on the grounds of Chicago's civic heart, the Richard J. Daley Center.

Andrea Rosen Gallery is delighted to announce a comprehensive exhibition of Robert Motherwell's seminal Open series. The gallery has an ongoing commitment to timely presentations of historical material, in this case highlighting a point in the artist's trajectory when a confluence of institutional, intellectual, and market attention brings renewed appreciation to a significant body of work. The gallery is particularly interested in creating historical exhibitions that expand the reading and understanding of an artist's work. While Motherwell's significance may have been perceived primarily through the gestural Elegies, presenting the Opens now not only allows us to compare these masterworks against the present-day focus on abstraction, but also encourages us to reconcile the breadth of Motherwell's rigor and clarity. They are undeniably fresh, beautiful, and bold.

Lori Bookstein Fine Art is pleased to announce an exhibition of collages by Henry Rothman [1910-1990]. This is the artist's third solo show at the gallery.

Erik Ullanderson has no filter. His work mirrors the consumption of visual cultural in contemporary life and reflects endless scrolls of Instagram feeds, Tumblr blogs and Google search returns mixed with personal artifacts and memories. While each image holds its own hypnotic sway, they come into focus upon viewing them as a body of work, a constellation of contradictions and associations, which create a unique visual language. Underlying the over-stimulus of this visual barrage is a self-deprecating Midwestern work ethic. This work is the product of treating the studio practice as a chore, a necessary and endless task that must be repeated and refined. The resulting work is direct, oozing honesty, rawness, humor and a passion for the creative process.