On Saturday, September 24, I headed to Navy Pier for Expo Chicago,
a massive art fair brought to life 3 years ago by Tony Karzman,
who has been a powerful player in the Chicago art scene since he came here in 1982.
The Expo featured the artworks of 145 leading international art galleries,
from 22 countries and 53 cities, and was absolutely breathtaking.
I arrived at 11am when the expo opened, and entered the hall to a labyrinth of 20' walls.
It was immediately apparent that this was going to be a day-long event.
I spent the first 4 hours I was there browsing the galleries, and the last 2 hours in the
"Dialogues" sessions arranged in cooperation with the Museum of Contemporary Art.
The highlight of my day was sitting in on an interview with one of the great painters of our time,
Kelly James Marshall. The interviewer, renowned author and cultural psychologist,
Sarah Thornton, did a great job of asking poignant and interesting questions.
I took notes in my program, and did my best to keep pace with some of his truly brilliant answers.
He told the story of how he approached art school, how he worked to circumvent graduate school
and teach without a higher degree. I was amused by his approach to being understood when he
shared a quote by John Cage, who said "I'm not interested in the kind of 'chance' that
Duchamp was interested in, where just about anything can happen. I am about setting up a
specific series of parameters where the result I'm looking for is more likely to occur."
Breaking quote, Marshall then joked, "I don't just want people thinking whatever they
want when they see what I've made. I want them to see what I see."
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| Kerry James Marshall |
At one point, Ms. Thorton asked him what the single greatest piece of criticism
or feedback he'd received was, and he said that "exactly what you want to hear as feedback,
and it should change you" is a piece of criticism that someone once told him
"These are nice. They have nice composition, color, etc. But they fade into a mass of things
that look just like them." Another piece of advice he gave was that
"If you cannot name your support group, your people, by name.
You cannot and should not expect support from anyone else."
The last question posed to Marshall was in relation to the positive and affectionate poses
his african american characters often have in his paintings, and Thorton asked him to talk about
the role of "love" in his work. He thought for a minute and said "Black men and women
weren't brought to America to love eachother. We were brought to reproduce and to remain
at enmity with each other, which would make us easier to control. We police ourselves.
I feel that when I can bring a sense of unity, and paint moments of love, it strengthens us. Unifies us."
It brought applause, and ended the session on a beautiful note.
Earlier, I sat in on a REALLY interesting interview with Chicago-based artist and academic
Joseph Grigely on the legacy and importance of his work. He was interviewed by Hans Ulrich Obrist,
who is the co-direcector of exhibitions and programs at the Serpentine in London.
They were old friends, and spoke about their adventures and common experiences together.
I found it encouraging, fun and enlightening.
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| Hans Ulrich Obrist (left) and Joseph Grigely (right) |
I'll post a bunch of artwork now that caught me, and that I want to share. I was moving quickly,
and didn't catch all of the names of the artists, but I'll include them when possible.
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| "Untitled 05" by Anish Kapoor - Etching on Somerset Paper |
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| "Elizabeth of France, Queen of Spain" by Kehinde Wiley - Oil on canvas |
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| Kehinde Wiley - Oil on canvas |
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| "Jack" by Cayce Zavaglia - Hand Embroidery on Belgian linen with acrylic paint. |
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| "Annie" by Cayce Zavaglia - Hand Embroidery on belgian linen with acrylic paint. |
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| Painting of reverse side of "Uncle Angelo" by Cayce Zavaglia |
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"Untitled" Oil & Soot on Wood, by Claudio Parmiggiani. (Artist set fire to a pyre in enclosed space, and let the smoke stain the panels.)       |
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