The prolific patron and art collector Beth Rudin DeWoody is indelibly affiliated with Florida, where she spends much of her time and where, in 2017, she founded the Artspace Bunker in West Palm Beach to show some of the more than 10,000 pieces in his collection. But a significant part of this collection has its origins, one way or another, in Chicago. A new exhibit at the Peninsula Chicago, neo chicago (April 14-May 31), spotlights artists who were born in the city, studied there, or live there, and especially whose work DeWoody purchased from galleries based there.
“It’s about the Chicago galleries and supporting Beth by showing the acquisitions she’s made in those galleries for over 20 years,” says Laura Dvorkin, who is curating the exhibit with Maynard Monrow, her co-curator. at the Bunker. “It’s been happening for decades now, with galleries being there showing world-class work. They take major risks by showing these artists before the acclaim.
The exhibition will include works by longtime Chicagoans like McArthur Binion and Omar Velázquez, famous alumni of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago like Angel Otero, and many artists who exhibit or have exhibited with galleries. of Chicago, from Adam Pendleton (who had one of his first solo shows at the Rhona Hoffman Gallery in 2005) to Clotilde Jiménez, who has now had three solo shows with Chicago dealer Mariane Ibrahim.
David Antonio Cruz, we laughed in the face of kings never afraid to burn2020. Collection of Beth Rudin DeWoody Courtesy of the artist and Monique Meloche Gallery, Chicago
The exhibit also includes a 2017 painting by Amy Sherald, who painted arguably this century’s most beloved Chicagoan, Michelle Obama, and had exhibits with Monique Meloche before being picked up by Hauser & Wirth. “Our idea is that even if the artist isn’t based in Chicago, their gallery is, and the artist has left their mark on Chicago in some way,” says Dvorkin.
neo chicago follows a 2016 exhibition of works by Chicago-based artists from DeWoody’s collection at The Peninsula. This exhibition was called Quiville in homage to the hairy whothe group of Chicago-based artists influenced by a common comic book-inspired aesthetic that emerged in the 1960s. Both exhibitions reflect DeWoody’s goal for works from his collection to be shown far and wide.
“We have about 200 pieces on loan right now,” Monrow says. “The collection embraces the ideal that the art fades in the crate and grows on the wall. There is no point in the work being in crate and it feels so good that it is in the world.
- neo chicagoApr 14-May 31, Peninsula Chicago
