Art Institute of Chicago and Acanto
Today our Date Day took us on a journey through three new exhibits at the Art Institute of Chicago. 1960’s Hairy Who, 1600-1800 Japanese Ukiyo-e and Tomma Abts’ modern abstracts. Each was interesting and compelling in completely different ways and made us, once again, appreciate everything Chicago has to offer. If you haven’t been to the Art Institute in a while, it’s time to go again.
Hairy Who?
Our first stop was Hairy Who. This exhibit, which runs through Jan 6, 2019, features the work of six graduates of the School of the Art Institute. Jim Falconer, Art Green, Gladys Nilsson, Jim Nutt, Suellen Rocca and Karl Wirsum came together in 1965 to exhibit their works as group rather than individually. Their reasoning was that their bright, bold and unconventional works would find more success, if displayed together, in unique and innovative settings, than if they each exhibited on their own.
Their efforts succeeded, and they transformed the landscape of Chicago art. Over the course of three years, starting in 1966, they staged six shows; three in Chicago and one each in San Francisco, New York and Washington DC. They each had their own styles, but their art worked together and highlighted how they used materials collected from everyday life. We saw catalogs, advertisements, ice cream cones and lots of strange body parts. It was all kind of weird, but somehow it worked.
As for how they got the name, Hairy Who? Visit and find out!
Painting the Floating World
Our next stop brought us to an unexpected gem. The Painting the Floating World exhibit just opened on November 4th and only runs through the end of January. We highly recommend seeing it while it’s there.
The exhibit contains hundreds of painting and prints from 17th century Japan. The theme Ukiyo-e, or “pictures of the floating world”, centers on the entertainment districts of Kyoto, Osaka and Tokyo. It was to these areas where people of all backgrounds came to enjoy brothels, kabuki theaters and seasonal festivities.
We spent an interesting and amusing hour exploring the exhibit and commenting on the works. One of us pointed out a series of paintings of courtesans with missing left hands and the other was amused by a woman riding a fish. We even found a painting that included the world’s first cell phone.
As we wandered through the huge collection, we noticed a display in the back that was a little isolated from the other works. Being inquisitive types, we made a beeline for that section and came across the find of the day (at least for one of us). Behind a nondescript screen and under a pane of glass was an amazing collection of 400-hundred-year-old porn. We marveled at the amount of detail and may have even learned a new trick or two.
Tomma Abts
We thought Tomma Abts was a style of art or maybe the name of a Brazilian Indian tribe. Turns out Tomma is a German artist with a penchant for modern abstract art. Virtually all her works are the same size, 19.8 x 15-inches, and are acrylic and oil on canvas. We spent about 15 minutes looking at the 30 paintings in the exhibit but were a little arted out for the day and probably didn’t appreciate them enough.
Recognizing that our boredom was probably more reflective of our hunger than of Tomma’s work, we headed out the doors and onto Michigan Avenue for lunch at Acanto.
November 2018
Art Institute of Chicago
111 S Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL 60603
$25 per adult (without annual membership)
2 Hours
$15 through ParkWhiz
Acanto
18 S Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL 60603
1.5 Hours
$70
