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Words Are Not Enough:  De Paul Art Museum, January 11, 2018

Words Are Not Enough: De Paul Art Museum, January 11, 2018

 
Chicago

By Frank Brichetto

Words Are Not Enough:  De Paul Art Museum, January 11, 2018

This was my first visit to DePaul’s Art Museum, and it was thrilling, exciting, enraging, and wonderfully engaging.

The first floor exhibit, “Rock, Paper, Image” showcases the lithography work of Clinton Adams and June Wayne, co-founders of the Tamarind Institute.  They founded the Institute to share and preserve the techniques of lithography, a technically challenging art form that uses limestone or metal plates, acid etched, and an oily/waxy coating that attracts ink but repels water.  Litho was neglected at the time, as newer techniques became available, but these two saw the value of the form, and worked tirelessly to instruct artists and share their bold, innovative techniques.

The exhibition displays their individual works, ably demonstrating the breadth of their creativity, the artistic differences in perspective and style, the way Adams could display the light and shadow, color, texture and depth of a desert canyon in an abstract way that both captures the scene and enlarges our

perception and understanding.  Here we’ll also see the way Wayne used the same stone plate, wiped clean and inked again in a different color scheme, or even with a “rainbow” effect, to bring out the nuances of her intentions in a work that inspires thoughts of lunar craters, but on closer inspection reveals some very human-like lemmings heading for the cliff.

Upstairs we’ll find two exhibitions by local artists, South Side native Barbara Jones-Hogu and long time Pilsen resident Jose Guerrero. While both artists are recently deceased, these displays of their works make it clear just how transformative art is within our neighborhoods and greater communities.  “Jose Guerrero, Presente: A Memorial Print Portfolio” combines renderings of Guerrero’s murals,  prints and a wonderful collection of works by friends and students influenced directly by his life.  We’ll undoubtedly recognize that we’ve seen some of these, while driving down Western Avenue, perhaps.  Now we don’t have to just glance while driving by, we’ll stop and stare and take in the depth of the art, the message and the concern for people that is so evident in his work. This is Latino, political, activist art, and everyone in the country should be paying attention to work like this, especially in these troubled times.

Barbara Jones-Hogu: Resist, Relate, Unite 1968-1975, makes it perfectly clear that she was an incredibly influential artist: her explosive use of color, integration of phrases into the image, staggered silhouettes in different colors, crowded faces and forms, and graphic style are both familiar and unsettling.  That’s how it should be.  She was “a central figure of the Black Arts Movement and a founding member of the African Commune of Bad Relevant Artists (AfriCOBRA). Throughout her career she worked in painting, printmaking, film, education, and has contributed to major projects including Chicago’s Wall of Respect mural.”  (Look up the Wall of Respect, it’s worth your time.)  This work dates through the Civil Rights Movement and all the upheaval that came with it.  This was a time of marches, protests, political assassinations, and a time when the African-American community came together to claim the respect, equality and empowerment so rightfully deserved.  Jones-Hogu’s art shows often angry, but always uplifting images that she hoped would inspire the Black community.  That she succeeded is obvious.  Amazingly, it has taken this long for her first solo museum exhibition.  Her work on display here shows not only her dedication to her community, but also her talents as artist, with prints made through screenprints, woodcuts, etchings, and lithographs.

Words are not enough.  Dear readers, please go, and see for yourself.  These three must-see exhibits are on display, Wednesday through Sunday, through March and admission is free.  Call first, as schedules are subject to changes on short notice. The museum is so easy to get to – it’s the first building west of the Fullerton stop on Chicago’s Brown Line “L” train. Exit the station on the north side of Fullerton, turn to your right, and you’re there.  DePaul Art Museum, 935 W. Fullerton Ave. Chicago,  http://museums.depaul.edu​ or 773-325-7506.

My deepest thanks go out to those who worked so diligently to honor the life and work of Barbara Jones-Hogu, so recently lost to us, and to brighten the memory of Jose Guerrero and the work he did, and his friends and students are doing, in Pilsen and throughout the city to awaken us all to labor rights, immigrant rights, and the toll this takes on each of us. Thank you, especially, Julie Rodrigues Widholm

julie.widholm@depaul.edu, Director; Mia Lopez mia.lopez@depaul.edu, Assistant Curator; the Terra Foundation for American Art with presenting partner The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, two organizations without whose assistance this monumental effort would not have been possible.

Words Are Not Enough:  De Paul Art Museum, January 11, 2018

Words Are Not Enough:  De Paul Art Museum, January 11, 2018

Words Are Not Enough:  De Paul Art Museum, January 11, 2018