Everyone possesses the capacity to imagine. Artists are blessed with the ability to use their imaginations to create. At the top of the stairs on the 4th floor of the Museum of Contemporary Art, a small exhibit is dedicated to the creativity and imagination of women artist who work in the medium of photography. For such a contained show of a mere 18 images, it resoundingly proves that wonderful things can come in small packages.
Remarkably subtle in its energy, the exhibit takes beauty beyond itself and provokes viewers to think about what they’re seeing as well as appreciate the art for its aesthetic pull. Eve Sussman’s Themes and the Island from “Rape of the Sabine Women” is composed sublimity until you focus on the subject’s face which seems to disclose a war within.
On another wall, Mickalene Thomas’s, A Moment’s Pleasure, uses a completely different technique to take you into the subjects’ minds. Using a beautiful jumble of patterns that at first collide and then melt together, your eye soon stops on the faces of two women in total custody of themselves and their space.
All of the images are part of gift from Jack and Sandra Guthman who donated a total of 50 pieces to the museum. The works selected are not isolated to any particular country and are not restricted to theme or purpose. Emily Jacir, Mahmoud uses both words and pictures to make the reality of her life on the West Bank a compelling work of art.
Skate Park, a wonderful play on shape, form and texture from artist Melanie Schiff, segues from the overtly challenging. Instead she chooses to flirt with the laws of gravity and create an almost alien world of whimsy.
Art that engages completely is exceptional and something that this exhibits excels in accomplishing.
Woman with a Camera
Museum of Contemporary Art
220 E. Chicago Ave. 60611
Ends January 14, 2018
