Here are three things to know about Hairy Who, the subject of a major
exhibition opening this week at the Art Institute of Chicago:
The AIC show, “Hairy Who? 1966-1969,” aims to clear up that confusion and, if
its impressive catalog is any indication, will give us an encyclopedic look
at the raucous, ribald, comic book-and-urban culture-inspired original
work.
Rocca said she now thinks of their exhibits as installations: “It wasn’t
just a matter of putting work up on the walls.” They collaborated on every
aspect of the shows: creating group artwork for posters and comic books
that served as catalogs, and participating in openings that were
not-to-be-missed parties. They had a total of six exhibitions: three at the
Hyde Park Art Center (in ’66, ’67, and ’68), and three out of town, at the
San Francisco Art Institute (’68), the School of Visual Art in New York
(’69), and the Corcoran Gallery of Art in DC (’69) before they disbanded,
with some of them scattering across the country. A few years later, critic
and author Franz Schulze would include the Hairy Who in a much larger
category of Chicago Imagists that also included Paschke and Brown.
Elmhurst Art Museum currently has a show, curated by Rocca, of 30 works by Chicago Imagists from the Elmhurst College Art Collection; titled “The Figure and the Chicago Imagists,” it runs through January 13. The Art Institute show, organized by Ann Goldstein, Mark Pascale, and Thea Liberty Nichols, opens September 26 and runs through January 6.
Through 1/6/19: Fri-Wed 10:30 AM-5 PM, Thu 10:30 AM-8 PM, Art Institute of Chicago, 111 S. Michigan, 312-443-3600, artic.edu, $25, $19 students, seniors, and teens, free 14 and under and 5-8 PM Thu.
“The Figure and the Chicago Imagists: Selections from the Elmhurst College Art Collection” Through 1/13/19: Tue-Sun 11 AM-5 PM, Elmhurst Art Museum, 150 Cottage Hill Ave., Elmhurst, 630-834-0202, elmhurstartmuseum.org, $12, $10 seniors, free 18 and under and students with ID.
