ARTS & (HOME) ENTERTAINMENT RECOMMENDATIONS

Since being stuck inside, which shows have you been watching? Which movies? Have you read any good books lately? Any new music releases have you dancing in your living room? StreetWise vendors, readers and staff are sharing what is occupying their attention during this unprecedented time.

To be featured in a future edition, send your recommendations of what to do at home and why you love them to Creative Director / Publisher Dave Hamilton at dhamilton@streetwise.org

City-wide Art!

Toward Common Cause

Three exhibitions marking the 40th anniversary of the MacArthur Fellows Program open across Chicago this spring, ushering in the first wave of projects presented in conjunction with Toward Common Cause: Art, Social Change, and the MacArthur Fellows Program at 40.

Dawoud Bey: Portraits from Chicago

Now - August 28, Arts + Public Life Arts Incubator, 301 E. Garfield Blvd. Bey has photographed South Side youth across decades of artistic practice. These portraits make visible a group who are not fully recognized by society, activating the sitters’ inner worlds for viewers to contemplate.

Jeffrey Gibson: Sweet Bitter Love

Now - Sept. 18, Newberry Library, 60 W. Walton St. Sweet Bitter Love presents Jeffrey Gibson’s reflections on representations of Indigenous people in cultural institutions. These art objects collectively deconstruct myths about Indigenous cultures and attest to Native persistence.

Much Unseen is Also Here: An-My Lê and Shahzia Sikander

June 3 - Aug. 29, Museum of Contemporary Photography, Columbia College Chicago, 600 S. Michigan Ave. Much Unseen is Also Here brings together the works of two major artists who both consider the theater of the landscape, monumentality, cultural history, and representation. Probing monuments and identity, An-My Lê and Shahzia Sikander explore history’s embeddedness in our present.

Celebrate a True Icon

‘Frida Kahlo: Timeless’

“Frida Kahlo: Timeless,” on view June 5 - Sept. 6, will be the most comprehensive presentation of Kahlo’s work displayed in the Chicago area in over 40 years. The 26-piece collection, on loan from the Museo Dolores Olmedo, features an array of oil paintings and works on paper spanning the life of Kahlo, a Mexican artist foundational to the 20th century art historical canon. Works on view will include The Broken Column (1944), Henry Ford Hospital (1932), Portrait of Luther Burbank (1931) and The Mask (of Madness), 1945. Best known for self-portraits highlighting themes of identity, politics, sexuality and death, Kahlo channeled her childhood and personal struggles into her art and became an iconic figure and symbol of female empowerment, individual courage and Mexican pride. On display at the McAninch Arts Center, 425 Fawell Blvd, Glen Ellyn. Tickets start at $23 at theccma.org/frida-kahlo

Street Art to Fine Art!

The Art of Banksy

"The Art of Banksy," the largest touring exhibition of authentic Banksy artworks in the world, will open this summer in Chicago. Hosted in a yet-to-be-disclosed location in the city’s West Loop neighborhood, The Art of Banksy will feature 80 original works from private collections across the globe, offering a rare opportunity to view authenticated and certified Banksy artworks rarely seen by the general public. Scheduled to open Thursday, July 1, its tickets are on sale now and going fast! In true Banksy style, The Art of Banksy is not authorized or curated in collaboration with the artist, but rather sourced from private collections, allowing the public to see works that would otherwise stay hidden in private homes or warehouses. The exhibition features many of Banksy’s most recognizable images, including “Flower Thrower,” “Rude Copper” and “Girl with Balloon,” famously shredded at auction in 2018. The canvasses, screen prints, sculptures, and limited-edition pieces on display are dated between 1997 and 2008, a period that resulted in Banksy’s most recognizable works.

A Clean City!

Pitch In for the Parks

The non-profit Chicago Parks Foundation (CPF) announces the second season of its citywide volunteer effort “Pitch In for the Parks!” to help keep the city’s 600+ public parks clean. This season-long, family-friendly volunteer opportunity is now open for registration on an ongoing enrollment basis, with park clean-ups starting June 1 and lasting through October. Visit chicagoparksfoundation.org/volunteer, to sign up to voulunteer, which includes an interactive map

Architect Talk!

CAC Live: Architect Talk: Lawrence Scarpa with planning commissioner Maurice Cox

Brooks + Scarpa founding principal Lawrence Scarpa explores how design excellence can revolutionize housing for communities in need, in conversation with Maurice Cox, Commissioner of the City of Chicago Department of Planning and Development. June 3, 6 p.m. Tickets are $20 / $15 CAC members / $10 students at architecture.org

Art Remix!

‘Cecil McDonald Jr.: Cuts and Beats'

Chicago-based artist and educator, Cecil McDonald Jr. uses photography, video, and text to explore intersections of masculinity, ancestry, and the artistic and intellectual pursuits of Black Americans. 'Cuts and Beats' refers to the title of McDonald’s most recent body of work in which the artist subverts historical images, like publicity stills from Black artists in the Vaudeville and Minstrel era, by transforming them using techniques of photo collage, video, and performance combined with his own photographs. McDonald thinks of the process of cutting, altering, reassembling, and bringing images into different contexts as a metaphor for performance, dance, music, and the complex histories of Black Americans. The new built images, McDonald says, “look back to often racist representations, and much like memory, recede to a current, self-possessed and subversive imagery, each influencing and dictating to the other, serving as a remix of past and present culture.” Schedule an appointment at hydeparkart.org

-Compiled by Dave Hamilton