April 26 – August 5, 2018
Bethany Collins. Southern Review 1985 (Special Edition), 2014-2015. Charcoal on paper. Courtesy of the artist and PATRON, Chicago
Ariel Jackson. The Origin of Blues, 2015. HD video. Courtesy of the artist
Abigail DeVille. I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me, from the Nobody Knows My Nameseries, 2015. CRT TVs, mirrored glass, archival photographs from the Vivian G. Harsh Collection of Afro-American History and Literature Archive, epoxy, mirror mastiff. Courtesy of the artist and Monique Meloche Gallery, Chicago
Candida Alvarez. Chill, 2011. Oil, pencil, enamel, and acrylic on canvas. Collection of the Artist. Photograph by Tom Van Eynde
Caroline Kent. Procession, 2015. Acrylic on un-stretched canvas. Courtesy of the artist. Photograph by Reneé Yamada
Out of Easy Reach, co-organized by DePaul Art Museum, Gallery 400 at UIC, and the Rebuild Foundation, is guest-curated by Allison Glenn, Associate Curator of Contemporary Art, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. Countering conventional accounts of art history that have often overlooked the artistic contributions of women of color, Out of Easy Reach presents the work of 24 artists.
From traditional approaches to the more challenging usage, this exhibition investigates the contemporary and conceptual expansion of abstraction by American, female-identifying artists from the Black and Latina Diasporas through work made from 1980–2018. Out of Easy Reach proposes that there are myriad ways artists are employing abstraction as a tool to explore histories both personal and universal, with a focus in mapping, migration, archives, landscape, vernacular culture, language, and the body.
Research Guide
Featured artists: Lisa Alvarado, Candida Alvarez (DPAM), Barbara Chase-Riboud, Bethany Collins (DPAM), Abigail Deville (DPAM), Torkwase Dyson, Maren Hassinger (DPAM), Leslie Hewitt, Sheree Hovsepian, Juliana Huxtable, Ariel Jackson (DPAM), Steffani Jemison (DPAM), Jennie C. Jones (DPAM), Caroline. Kent (DPAM), Yvette Mayorga, Ayanah Moor (DPAM), Howardena Pindell, Kellie Romany (DPAM), Xaviera Simmons(DPAM), Shinique Smith, Edra Soto (DPAM), Martine Syms, Zipporah Camille Thompson, and Brenna Youngblood (DPAM)
Major support for Out of Easy Reach is provided by the Joyce Foundation, through its program to support arts organizations in Chicago and the Great Lakes region. Additional support is provided by a grant from the Nathan Cummings Foundation, with the support and encouragement of Jane Saks. Generous support is also provided by the Dedrea, Paul, and Ian Gray family, Nancy and David Frej, Lisa Yun Lee, James and Paula Crown, Denise and Gary Gardner, Deone Jackman, Jason Pickleman and Leslie Bodenstein, Vicki and Bruce Heyman, PATRON Chicago, Susan and Robert Wislow, Lester Coney, John Ellis, Larry and Marilyn Fields, James Rondeau, Kevann Cooke, Janis Kanter and Tom McCormick, Yumi Ross, Marc and Liza Brooks, Cari Sacks, Jacqueline Stewart, an anonymous donor, Samuel Levi Jones, Tony Karman, and Christopher Audain.