A groundbreaking exhibition opening during Chicago Exhibition Weekend challenges the perception of the Windy City as merely a 'flyover' destination, instead positioning it as a significant player in the global art scene. The complex and thought-provoking display requires visitors to engage with abstract installations, multi-channel video works, and breathing sculptures that demand both time and an open mind to fully appreciate.
Titled "Over My Head: Encounters with Conceptual Art in a Flyover City, 1984-2015," the exhibition opened Friday and runs through October 11 at 400 N. Peoria Street in West Town. The show features an impressive array of works that were once produced, exhibited, or sold in Chicago, highlighting the crucial relationships between artists, curators, dealers, and collectors that have shaped the city's art landscape over three decades.
Visitors encounter a diverse range of challenging artworks throughout the exhibition space. They must contend with paper drawings that have been reshaped into giant, abstract, and almost menacing figures. A five-channel video installation broadcasts competing narratives about historic events, requiring viewers to work through complex layers of meaning. Meanwhile, inflatable crescent moon-shaped rubber pieces expand and contract in a rhythm that mimics human breathing, creating an almost living presence in the gallery.
The exhibition served as a main attraction during the third annual Chicago Exhibition Weekend, presented by civic and cultural agency Gertie. This significant event showcased the city's vibrant art scene by drawing thousands of visitors to 50 participating galleries and spaces. The weekend also coincided and collaborated with the ongoing Chicago Architecture Biennial, which celebrates innovative design work from around the world.
By showcasing Chicago's rich art history for international audiences during these high-profile events, "Over My Head" strategically strengthens the city's reputation as an important art destination. According to curators Gareth Thomas Kaye and Iris Colburn, this case urgently needs to be made to combat persistent misconceptions about the city's cultural significance.
"I've spoken to so many artists who are like, 'I was in Chicago for a layover,'" said Kaye, Gertie's director of curatorial affairs. "So many people that I've worked with across the world say, 'I would love to visit, I've just never been. I'm always flying over it, though.'" This perception that better opportunities exist in Los Angeles or New York has systematically marginalized Chicago, which Kaye argues is viewed as having "an asterisk next to its name."
"Doing exhibitions at this scale is proof that we don't need to have that asterisk or that caveat associated with the city anymore," Kaye explained. "There are very serious people and artists living and working here, and there have been forever. It's just a matter of asserting that a little bit more loudly."
The exhibition spotlights work from numerous past and present-day Chicago galleries and institutions, including the prestigious Donald Young Gallery, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the influential Robbin Lockett Gallery. These spaces have not only supported local talent but have consistently attracted national and international artists to Chicago over the years, creating a dynamic cultural ecosystem.
"Robbin was one of the first people in Chicago to show people that are now household names in the art world," Kaye noted. "She was very invested in work that was being produced in both New York and Central Europe – Germany, in particular." The Robbin Lockett Gallery, which closed in 1992, was among the pioneering spaces that helped establish Chicago's reputation for serious contemporary art.
Among the featured artists is Wendy Jacob, who was showcased at the Robbin Lockett Gallery during its influential run. Jacob's inflatable rubber pieces, ingeniously constructed from truck tires and powered with vintage hair dryers, are prominently displayed in "Over My Head." Her "Untitled" piece represents the first work in her acclaimed "Breathing" series of inert objects and architectural elements that appear to inhale and exhale, creating an unsettling yet mesmerizing presence.
Curator Iris Colburn emphasized that the exhibition advocates for increased financial support for galleries, which are closing at an alarming rate across the sector. A poignant local example is the Rhona Hoffman Gallery, which shuttered this year after operating for half a century and significantly contributing to Chicago's art scene.
Now featured in "Over My Head," the late Dara Birnbaum's powerful video installation "Tiananmen Square: Break-In Transmission" made its Chicago debut at Hoffman's gallery in 1991. Each screen displays footage documenting the deadly 1989 protests in China, creating a haunting meditation on political upheaval and media representation.
"Rhona not only presented this work, she co-commissioned it," said Colburn, who serves as a curatorial associate at MCA Chicago. "So this is a beautiful moment in which you see how a gallerist is supporting artists, and how Chicago has shown incredible work that has been really pivotal to artists' careers."
Some visitors to the exhibition may recognize Kay Rosen's vibrant pink "Elvis, Elvis" mural, which was originally installed in 1994 on the exterior of MCA Chicago's former building on East Ontario Street. Now positioned on the second floor of "Over My Head," it overlooks the rest of the works like a beacon, including Tony Lewis's phantom-like figure constructed from drawings on red butcher paper coated with graphite powder that are reshaped each time they are exhibited.
Previously displayed at the Shane Campbell Gallery, one of Lewis's works, "Untitled 5 (2015-)," draws inspiration from the menacing bogeyman figure in Francisco de Goya y Lucientes's "Los Caprichos" series of prints. The piece transforms simple drawing materials into something almost supernaturally present and threatening.
Visitors may also recognize Rashid Johnson's compelling work "Remembering D.B. Cooper," which was previously displayed in the storefront windows of the Monique Meloche Gallery. The piece references the mysterious man who, in 1971, hijacked a Boeing 727 and disappeared after parachuting into the woods in Washington state with $200,000 in ransom money. Johnson's installation features wooden chairs, shea butter, and plants suspended from the ceiling, creating a complex meditation on American mythology and escape. Johnson, a Chicago native, currently has a major solo exhibition on view at the prestigious Guggenheim Museum.
If corporate leaders and policymakers are among those viewing the art during Chicago Exhibition Weekend, then the event will have achieved its broader aims, according to Gertie founder Abby Pucker. She stressed the critical need for more investment in the arts sector while speaking on an arts panel at the Chicago Athletic Association on Saturday.
"People don't understand the importance of it, even though it generates a huge amount of money for cities and states and for our country every year," Pucker explained. "So a big part of what I'm trying to do is introduce those people in those positions back to their city in a different way." Through exhibitions like "Over My Head," Chicago continues to build its case as a vital center for contemporary art that deserves recognition on the global stage.
