Studio City
Six Chicago artists—two emerging, two established, two mid-career—garnering attention today.
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| Laura Letinsky b. 1962 Photography | |
 | Courtesy: Monique Meloche Gallery, Chicago |
Laura Letinsky's dreamy photographs of frozen moments of reflection conjure cinematic notions of love and loss, yet are cast in the cold light of the camera's lens. Born in Canada, this Yale-educated Hyde Parker now chairs the Department of Visual Arts at the University of Chicago. Her exhibition schedule includes a rare solo show by a Chicagoan at the Renaissance Society of the University of Chicago, which occasioned an exhibition preview in Artforum, the holy grail of the art press. Collected by the Art Institute of Chicago, the San Francisco Museum of Art, and Houston's Museum of Fine Art, Letinsky's work has graced the cover of The New York Times Magazine. "[Letinsky's] photographs are elegant messes," says the Renaissance Society's director, Susanne Ghez. They are "records of everyday objects in a disarray of decay." Letinsky is represented by the Monique Meloche Gallery. | |
| Nathaniel Robinson b. 1980 Multimedia | |
 | Courtesy the artist |
| When asked what it was like to have been compared to the art star Robert Gober in an essay that accompanied his recent show at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Nathaniel Robinson paused for a moment and replied, "No one has ever written an essay about me before." Well, at 25, he just completed his MFA at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. After getting his bachelor's degree at Amherst College in Massachusetts, he came to Chicago for the interdisciplinary approach of SAIC. He has worked in a variety of media, including video and sculpture, though all his art tries to reconcile his struggle between reason and experience, the external world and subjective perspective. In the essay accompanying the MCA show, curator Heather Pesanti pointed out another dichotomy: "His art strives to be deeply humorous and existentially dark at the same time." | |
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