Closed
West by Midwest
November 17, 2018–January 27, 2019
Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago
mcachicago.org
West by Midwest tells a story that illuminates the ways that contemporary art practices spread and develop by tracing the intersecting lives of artists who have migrated from the American Midwest to the West Coast since the mid-twentieth century. Lured by career opportunities, warmer weather, and the prospect of a better life promised by the postwar boom, those artists who were able to migrate attended art schools together, shared studios, exhibited work in the same galleries, collaborated on projects, engaged in activism, and dated one another. Work by Mike Kelley, Bruce Nauman, Sterling Ruby, and Ed Ruscha is included.
Share
Ed Ruscha and Billy Al Bengston, Business Cards, 1968, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago © Ed Ruscha and Billy Al Bengston. Photo: Nathan Keay © MCA Chicago
In Conversation
Anselm Kiefer and Michael Govan
On the occasion of his exhibition Anselm Kiefer: Exodus at Gagosian at Marciano Art Foundation in Los Angeles, the artist spoke with Michael Govan about his works that elaborate on themes of loss, history, and redemption.
Now available
Gagosian Quarterly Winter 2022
The Winter 2022 issue of Gagosian Quarterly is now available, featuring Anna Weyant’s Two Eileens (2022) on its cover.
Louise Bonnet: On “Red Study” and Supporting Reproductive Rights
Louise Bonnet speaks with Freja Harrell about her new painting, her donation to Planned Parenthood Los Angeles, and the role of art in the fight for reproductive justice.
Friends and Relations: Lucian Freud, Francis Bacon, Frank Auerbach, Michael Andrews
Join Jake Auerbach, Richard Calvocoressi, Bella Freud, Martin Gayford, and Florence Hallett as they discuss the work and legacy of four era-defining artists. Friends and Relations: Lucian Freud, Francis Bacon, Frank Auerbach, Michael Andrews, on view at Gagosian, Grosvenor Hill, London, elucidates the connections between their respective practices, and also features some of the artists’ portraits of each other.
Languorous undulations (in the temple of my familiar)
Alexandria Smith and Akwaeke Emezi take up themes of queerness, hybridity, and embodied memory in their respective visual and literary works. Here, Emezi responds to Smith’s painting Languorous undulations (in the temple of my familiar) (2022) with an eponymous piece of flash fiction.
On Centering Latinx Video Art
In late 2022, Gagosian, in collaboration with Anthology Film Archives, presented a selection of videos by Latinx artists curated by Susan Breyer. Here, Quarterly film writer Carlos Valladares responds to each work in prose or with a poem.
Sterling Ruby: TURBINES
Join Sterling Ruby in his Los Angeles studio as he works on new abstract paintings ahead of his exhibition TURBINES at Gagosian in New York.
Jenny Saville: Latent
In this video, Jenny Saville describes the evolution of her practice inside her latest exhibition, Latent, at Gagosian, Paris. She addresses the genesis of the title and reflects on the anatomy of a painting.
Glenn Brown: We’ll Keep On Dancing Till We Pay the Rent
In conjunction with his exhibition Glenn Brown: We’ll Keep On Dancing Till We Pay the Rent at Gagosian in New York, the artist sits down to discuss his new paintings, sculptures, and drawings.
Duane Hanson at Fondation Beyeler
To celebrate their twenty-fifth anniversary, Fondation Beyeler, Riehen/Basel, Switzerland, staged an exhibition entitled Jubiläumsausstellung—Special Guest Duane Hanson. The presentation featured several sculptures by Duane Hanson alongside more than one hundred works from the foundation’s collection. Alice Godwin considers the fertile dialogues produced by these juxtapositions.
Fashion and Art: Madonna’s Sex and Saint Laurent Rive Droite
This year’s edition of Art Basel Miami Beach brought Saint Laurent to America for a special exhibition curated by creative director Anthony Vaccarello celebrating the thirtieth anniversary of the publication of Madonna’s groundbreaking book, Sex (1992). Staged on the Miami beachfront, the ephemeral exhibition was presented on the occasion of the reissue of Sex by Rive Droite and Callaway, New York, and featured large-format prints of Steven Meisel’s iconic photographs from the book, as well as unpublished images from the original photo shoots. Rennie McDougall reflects on the momentous impact of the publication, tracing Madonna’s ongoing influence on and provocation of popular culture.
Artist to Artist: Spencer Sweeney and Peter Doig
Peter Doig visits Spencer Sweeney’s studio and the two discuss automatism, ambiguity, and anguish in the creative process.