Over the years, Bob Hiebert and Sidney Block had become known for staging ambitious themed group shows featuring dozens of artists—from big names to virtual unknowns—in their cramped but venerable Printworks Gallery in River North. For their 20th anniversary, in 2000, Sid and Bob—or Bob and Sid, as everyone variably called them—organized a “Self-Portraits” exhibit involving 60 artists; for their 25th, they mounted a show in which 72 participants designed bookplates honoring the artists and writers, filmmakers, and philosophers who’d influenced their lives.
As in Printworks’ past group shows, the participants represent a veritable cross section of Chicago art history (and beyond) from the 1950s to the present.
As you might imagine, the results are mixed—how could they not be? Gorgeousness and grotesquery will be in the eye of the beholder. Some of the pieces are surprisingly harmonious, as if they were composed by one hand, while most are wildly dissimilar. It’s surrealism. It has been said that depictions of distressed figures is one of the hallmarks of post-World War II Chicago art, and this show makes that case without even trying.
Opening Fri 12/4, 5-8 PM, continues through 2/13/2016 Printworks Gallery 311 W. Superior 312-664-9407printworkschicago.com
Sid Block’s life celebration Wed 12/16, 5:30 PM Jean Albano Gallery 215 W. Superior 312-440-0770jeanalbanogallery.com Free
