Reviews Robert Walton “Exhuming Johnny” at the Chicago Cultural Center Manisha Anil Rita May 19, 2019 Chicago Cultural CenterRobert Walton The narrative is most compelling when each of the cast members shares a memory or message they would leave for people in their lives from the past. Their bodies are active and hypnotizing in the sequences of traveling back in time as they alternate and repeat their parts.
Reviews Lia Kohl and Katinka Kleijn, “Water On The Bridge” at the Eckhart Park Pool Iris Bernblum May 12, 2019 Chicago Park DistrictKatinka KleijnLia Kohl They gather the instruments, struggling to wrap their bodies around them, use them as floating devices. More often than not the cellos do not cooperate.
Reviews Sam Kirk “The Alchemy of Us” at the Chicago Art Department Ciera Mckissick May 5, 2019 Chicago Art DepartmentSam Kirk The fabrication can be seen as a metaphor, resembling how identities are formed and stories are shared, multifaceted, and layered.
Reviews Roni Packer “P.S. My Favorite Color is Green” at Slow Jill Danto April 24, 2019 SlowRoni Packer Packer’s paintings thus far have been defined by yellow. Not just any yellow, but a yellow which feels like it could eat you up and spit you out as another yellow thing.
Reviews AJ McClenon, “Led Zeppelin Can’t Steal My Daddy’s Black” performed at Links Hall Holly Lee Warren April 21, 2019 Links HallAJ McClenonJamillah HinsonSimone SimoneXris Espinoza There is no southern mystique.
Reviews “All Well and Good” at Circle Contemporary Cody Tumblin April 17, 2019 Circle ContemporaryAd MinolitiAndrew MasulloAnna KunzDave KruegerHubert PoseyLindsey WhittleMaria VanikRobert Chase HeishmanSusan Pasowicz These strange images fill the space entirely and evenly across all surfaces in the same disorienting way that a disco ball’s dancing light causes the whole room to spin. AWARE’s fragmented projection suggests a constellation of suspended memory, ultimately disrupting the gallery’s own physical structure.
Reviews kg “Some Kind of Duty” at the DePaul Art Museum Emma Dwyer April 14, 2019 DePaul Art MuseumKarolina Gnatowski The artist had to live their whole life in order to acquire these objects and the emotions that went into making them. More apt labeling might be “1980-2018.”
Reviews “Stateless” at Baby Blue Gallery Annette LePique April 7, 2019 Baby Blue GalleryKevin DemeryRaelis Vasquez However, the inclusion of a dissected, broken swing-set provides a devastating intimacy to the piece; it both expands and signifies what is lost to the oppressive framework of black childhood and state-sanctioned violence.
