September 13\u2013December 7, 2024
SAIC Galleries, 33 E. Washington St. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This major retrospective honoring Chicago artist and former SAIC Professor Barbara DeGenevieve<\/a> (1947\u20132014) marks the 10th anniversary of her death and seeks to present the many important and timely themes and strategies that her art engendered. Curated by her SAIC colleague Associate Professor Alan Labb<\/a>, with support from Professor Lisa Wainwright<\/a>, this exhibition, the related symposium, the student presentation, and the accompanying website explore DeGenevieve\u2019s artistic legacy of thoughtful and provocative work and her spectacular teaching career that influenced peers and students alike. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Despite facing challenges, including the revocation of a National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Fellowship Award in 1994, DeGenevieve embraced the label “transgressive artist” and fearlessly made work focused on sexuality, gender, pornography, censorship, race, class, and representation. Her projects often operated within the context of female desire but also tackled issues of power relations, notions of propriety, and aspects of political correctness. She knowingly worked at the edge of boundaries to systematically interrogate complex concerns and encourage herself, her students, and her audience to question the status quo. As she stated, \u201cAll of my work is intended to present questions, not answers. And it\u2019s in the questions that it presents that I believe the art is created.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In Your Face<\/em> showcases a diverse array of DeGenevieve\u2019s surviving photography, videos, and installations. The exhibition, developed over a five-year period, required extensive research, close analysis of her entire estate and archive, detailed cataloging of objects, and numerous conversations with colleagues, students, artists, and administrators who knew her. For the first time, the public is offered a comprehensive view of DeGenevieve\u2019s artistic and academic practices. Her work often challenged conventional gallery etiquette, leading to her being overlooked within mainstream art venues. Nevertheless, her artistic vision and intellectual rigor have left an indelible mark on the field of art\u2014challenging norms, provoking critical inquiry, and expanding the parameters of photographic discourse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In addition to DeGenevieve\u2019s main body of work, the exhibition includes a resource library in the street-level gallery, providing access to additional video works, selections from her vast book collection, interviews, articles, lectures, proof sheets, and other materials related to her life and art. In this exhibition, you will also find work by other significant artists of DeGenevieve\u2019s generation who similarly faced censorship by the NEA<\/a>, serving as an artistic context for her contemporaneous practice. A student exhibition of works responding to DeGenevieve\u2019s legendary assignment prompts opens on November 8.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\nEXHIBITION GALLERY GUIDE HERE<\/a>\u00a0<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
ILLUSTRATED EXHIBITION CHECKLIST HERE\u00a0<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n