Barbara Crane, Untitled from the series Private Views, 1980–84/2009. Cibachrome print. Collection of DePaul Art Museum, gift of Elizabeth Crane, 2013.70.24CHICAGO –– Opening this fall, DePaul Art Museum’s exhibition “Life Cycles”
will include artworks from the museum’s permanent collection in conversation
with contemporary Chicago artists who are not yet represented in the
collection. With more than 50 artists, “Life Cycles” will feature
paintings, sculptures, video, photography, drawings, installation and other
multi-media work. Museum staff collaborated with DePaul University
undergraduates to select artworks from the collection, write educational
texts, and plan public programs.
The exhibition focuses on the processes and materials that structure and
span life while also examining the life of art objects, and will run from
September 7, 2023, through February 11, 2024.
“The DePaul Art Museum’s collection is an incredible resource of more than
4,000 objects, and this exhibition gives a glimpse at some of these works,”
said Ionit Behar, associate curator. “The addition of the 10 Chicago
artists not yet in the collection shows that a collection is never complete
and should keep growing and changing with time. It has also been incredible
to work with students on this project, all of them deeply involved with and
passionate about the museum.”
Behar describes how the exhibition explores life without a linear
structure, but instead “a marvelous tangle, where there is no beginning or
end, where death is not the opposite of life, nor the truth or fulfillment
of it.”
3. Gertrude Abercrombie, Split Personality, 1954. Oil on masonite. Collection of DePaul Art Museum, Art Acquisition Endowment Fund, 2010.21“Life Cycles” is curated by Behar, with contributions by David Maruzzella,
collection and exhibition manager, and DePaul University students Spencer
Bolding, Chiara Conner, Charlie Delgado, Zoe Hamilton, Ellie Naughton, Eli
Schmitt, and Bernardo Soares.
The collaborative curatorial approach to “Life Cycles” is part of the
Learning Studio initiative in partnership with Chicago artist and DePaul
faculty member Jim Duignan. Together with Duignan’s
Stockyard Institute
, the museum is piloting a radical and groundbreaking approach to
engagement, learning, and experimentation. This art education model
champions intergenerational exchange and experimentation across the city
through the mutual sharing of ideas and resources amongst artists,
teachers, and students, with a fundamental shift and redefinition of
current educational hierarchies and frameworks.
“Working on ‘Life Cycles’ has allowed me to dive deep into the museum’s
wonderful collection and get to know each piece intimately,” said Soares, a
rising sophomore at DePaul and the museum’s curatorial intern. “The museum
has such a broad range of works that sometimes get overlooked. I have also
loved working with such an extraordinary staff, creating connections and
gathering experiences that I’m sure are going to last me a lifetime.”
Public programs in conjunction with the exhibition are set to include a
performance and workshop with artist Natalia Villanueva Linares, a panel
with the students who co-curated and programmed the show, a zine workshop
and exchange, poetry events with Latinx writers, and more.
Featured artists in the exhibition include: Gertrude Abercrombie, Selva
Aparicio, Iris Bernblum, Hugo Brehme, Gérard Castello-Lopes, Barbara
Crane, Brendan Fernandes, Theaster Gates, Leon Golub, Nancy Hild, Laurie
Hogin, Elnaz Javani, Jenny Kendler, Mayumi Lake, Nathan Lerner, Laura
Letinsky, Natalia Villanueva Linares, Maryan S. Maryan, Devin T. Mays,
Susan Michod, Abelardo Morell, Elsa Muñoz, Laurel Nakadate, William J.
O'Brien, Sabina Ott, Angel Otero, Chris Pappan, Dan Peterman, Michael
Rakowitz, Seymour Rosofsky, Hollis Sigler, Bibiana Suárez, Julia Thecla,
Alberto Ortega Trejo, Selina Trepp, Chris Vasell, Miwa Yanagi, Nate Young,
Claire Zeisler, and more.
Support for the exhibition and related programming is provided by the Terra
Foundation for American Art and DePaul University's Vincentian Endowment
Fund.
DePaul Art Museum is located at 935 W. Fullerton Ave. on DePaul
University’s Lincoln Park Campus. The museum is open 11 a.m. – 7 p.m.
Wednesday and Thursday and 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
It’s closed Monday and Tuesday. Admission is free. Additional
information is online
or by calling 773-325-7506.
Additional images available upon request.
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Source:
Ionit Behar
IBEHAR@depaul.edu
Media Contact:
Mary Hansen
mhanse26@depaul.edu
312-362-8592