The skies had just opened with a thunderous burst of rain as I walked up to
the Roman Susan gallery in Rogers Park. Beads of moisture had gathered on
the glass pane, creating microdistortions in the gallery’s interior—which
already had the appearance of a fun house. The artist Gwendolyn Zabicki had
recently finished installing her disorienting solo exhibition “Windows,
Doors, and Mirrors.” She’d hung five oil paintings of windows, doors, and
mirrors on a reflective material that covers the entirety of the gallery’s
floors and walls. The installation creates a confusing burst of layered
images, forcing visitors to hunt for the painted mirrors hidden in the
silver-tinged backdrop.
The streaks of cleaning supplies helped Zabicki through the challenge of
learning to paint mirrors when she began the series last year. “The marks
would be dirty enough for me to see what was happening,” she explains.
“This became a nice metaphor for unseen labor—the labor that we all depend
on that is primarily done by women.”
Through 9/22: Thu-Fri and Sun 4-7 PM, Roman Susan Gallery, 1224 W. Loyola, 773-270-1224, romansusan.org. F
