Afro-fantastic Ofili takes over Arts Club
Transcription
Afro-fantastic Ofili takes over Arts Club
Product: CTBroadsheet PubDate: 11-19-2010 Zone: C Edition: FRI Page: OTTADVP10-16 User: cci Time: 11-17-2010 16 CHICAGO TRIBUNE | ON THE TOWN | SECTION 5 | FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2010 20:14 Color: C K Y M C ART REVIEW Afro-fantastic Ofili takes over Arts Club By Lauren Viera TRIBUNE REPORTER For those who aren’t familiar, Chris Ofili is a painter. He’s also a sculptor, and has done a fair amount of collage work, too. He has, over the course of his 10- or 15-year career, upset folks at times with his art, because he is not afraid to make it of and about whatever he wishes, and some people aren’t comfortable with that. (Which, one could argue, is their loss.) But right now, at the Arts Club of Chicago, we have the opportunity to meet Ofili the drawer. Pencil, paper, subject, talent. These are the primary tools on display (though there are more than a few watercolors, as well), and through them it’s easy to fall for Ofili not because of the culture that many feel he represents, but because of the care and detail he puts into his work. The solo show’s execution at the Arts Club, a venue that sometimes feels too large for a single artist, presents us with the opportunity to ease into Ofili’s oeuvre. We begin with “Intertwined” which, like most of the other pencil-and-paper works in this show, portrays an oversimplified silhouette of a woman which, in this instance, delicately overlaps with the silhouette of another silhouette, facing the opposite direction. There is an overabundance of white space, which draws all the attention to the outlines that make up these silhouettes: darker than dark little kernels of graphite swirled into expensive paper not with a heavy hand, but an exquisite one. Those little nuggets, it becomes apparent upon (very) close inspection, are not arbitrary little pencil markings, but teeny, tiny little faces that almost look as if (could it be? yes!) they’re smiling. What’s more, those faces, mere centimeters in size, are sporting large heads of hair: Afros. And all those tiny, smiling afros, immaculately lined end to end on lily white paper, are the crux of this exhibit, and it’s happy-making. The exhibit’s title, “Afrotranslinear,” is lifted from the name of one of the works. Almost every drawing here incorporates “afro” into its title, and nearly all of them utilize Ofili’s trademark chain of smiling Afro heads to draw the bigger picture. Many of them are women, cartoonlike and voluptuous, some of them nude, smiling knowingly with plump lips; other drawings here are simple, abstract plays on words (“Brooklyn,” “d’afro“) or graphic designs. “Albinos & Bros with Fros“ is a visually balanced collection of hundreds of its titular characters pouring into the horizon of the work; “Afromatrix-112“ is a quirky study in variations of Ofili’s Afroed characters over a seven-year span displayed family-tree style on a framed backdrop. The watercolors, many of which belong to Ofili’s series of “Afromuses,” reflect the style by which most fans know his work: simple, colorful portraits of black women and men, their hair and clothes varying from frame to frame, but their expressions consistently pleasant. The British-born, Nigerian artist lives and works in Trinidad, and it’s nice to imagine him in his studio, composing portrait after portrait of these bright characters, pausing on occasion to work on his tiny communities of Afro-touting smiley faces. If there are controversial threats buried somewhere in the psyche of Ofili’s other work, they were purposefully left at the door of the Arts Club this time around. Chris Ofili, “Afrotranslinear,” at The Arts Club of Chicago, 201 E. Ontario St., 312-787-3997; artsclubchicago.org. Through Dec. 22. Carl Kohler at Regenstein Library University of Chicago’s main library isn’t typically a visual arts destination. But thanks to the efforts of Henry Kohler, son of Swedish neo-modernist artist Carl Kohler, a modest exhibit of portraits there made its way onto my to-visit list this fall, and is worth adding to yours, presuming you can ignore the hoi polloi of computer terminals and focus on the works, despite their shoddy installation. Kohler, who died in 2006 at age 87, practiced visual arts but was obsessed with every other artistic discipline, from dance to theater and classical music. Dubbed “Beyond Words: Author Portraits by Carl Kohler,” this collection focuses on his abstract figurative paintings of 20th cen- Carl Kohler’s portrait of Marina Tsvetajeva on display at the University of Chicago’s Regenstein Library, tury literary stars, including Virginia Woolf, Franz Kafka and Joyce Carol Oates. While Kohler was a contemporary of several of his subjects, he drew, painted and collaged based on what he gleaned from his subject’s writing, as portrait sessions in Sweden were often out of the question. “James Joyce Getting Blind” is penned with the intensity of someone struggling to make a point on deaf ears; “Henry Miller as Demon“ is illustrated via woodblock pressed into sepia-stained newspaper. Collage was a common device, as in “Samuel Beckett from the film Silence to Silence,” where pencil, ink and paper are wielded into humanistic traits. But Kohler was also well versed in oil painting, exemplary in a portrait of Marina Tsvetajeva placed under a glass display case, as opposed to properly framed. Therein lies the frustration: Kohler’s works deserve better than to be wedged into crookedly hung, craft-store matting covered with transparent plastic. This collection landed at U. of C. in September after a journey that originated two years ago in Stockholm under Henry Kohler’s direction; it’s since been installed Chris Ofili’s intricate drawing “Afro daze” is part of an exhibit of Ofili’s drawings and watercolors at the Arts Club of Chicago. “Beyond Words: Author Portraits by Carl Kohler” at University of Chicago’s Regenstein Library, 1100 E.57th St., 773-834-1519; lib.uchicago.edu/e/whatsnew. Through Dec. 11. in the Brooklyn Public Library and libraries in Washington, D.C., and Toronto. Here’s hoping any interest (and there’s been a lot) spawned during this inaugural North American tour of Kohler’s work will garner some funds for a proper return someday. [email protected] The Fastest Way to Eliminate Toenail Fungus Only $500 Reg. $1,200. Expires November 29th, 2010. Free Consultation 30 Minute Procedure • Cold Laser Treatment • 96% Success Rate • No Pills, No Pain, No Side Effects • Free Follow Up Procedure SHINY TOES Shinytoes.com (800) 560-1309 5310 North Sheridan Road, Chicago IL 60640 ALL BOOTS TOTES ON SAL E $ 34 99 WOMEN’S CYNTHIA through 11/30 • Medium & Wide Widths to size 12 • Waterproof • Warm Lined WOMEN’S KATIE ALL EYES ARE ON YOU. • Waterproof • Warm Lined Watching every little move you make. And, why not? Everyone’s fate sits squarely in the palm of your hand. MEN’S STADIUM • • • • Who’s going to win? Give the dice a little shake and let ’em fly. 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