CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Motorcycle culture, the fallout of war and imagism will be among the themes explored in six new exhibitions at Krannert Art Museum on the University of Illinois campus this fall. The exhibitions, which open on Aug. 26, will be celebrated with a free public reception from 5-7 p.m. Aug. 25.
“Hubert,” 1977 lithograph, by Ed Paschke, from “Figures in Chicago Imagism”
New work by faculty artists and designers will be on view through Sept. 26 in the annual School of Art + Design Faculty Exhibition, one of the oldest continually running faculty shows in the U.S. Faculty artists Luke Batten, a professor of photography, and Patrick Hammie, a professor of painting, will host a gallery conversation on Sept. 16 at 5:30 p.m.
Motorcycle culture and the notorious Chicago Outlaw Motorcycle Club will be the focus of an exhibition titled “The Bikeriders: Danny Lyon.” A photojournalist who immersed himself in the Outlaw gang for two years during the mid-1960s, Lyon documented the activities and life stories of the club’s members in a collection of photographs and interviews that were published in the book “The Bikeriders” (Macmillan, 1968). The photos, part of KAM’s permanent collection, will be on view through Dec. 30.
Issues of migration, memory and restoration in war-plagued Afghanistan will be among the themes explored in the exhibition “Lida Abdul,” on display through Dec. 30. Born in Afghanistan but forced to flee the country in the late 1980s, Abdul now lives and works in the U.S. and in Afghanistan, and stages video-based works that examine destruction, political conflict and efforts to rebuild the country.
Paintings, works on paper and sculptures by representational artists known collectively as the Chicago Imagists will compose the exhibition titled “Figures in Chicago Imagism.” Known for quirky, humorous and highly sexualized works that investigate what images are and how they function within different contexts, the Chicago Imagists were a group of artists associated with the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in the late 1960s. The show – which will include work by Roger Brown, Gladys Nilsson, Jim Nutt and other artists influential in the creation of the school – will run through Jan. 9.
New and recent works by photo-conceptual artist Allan deSouza will be on view through Dec. 30 in the exhibition “Allan deSouza: The Farthest Point.” Best known for creating images of elusive sensuality, deSouza explores the conditions and consequences of being “placed” in racial, sexual and temporal frames.
“Turn of the Century Posters: Toulouse Lautrec and Others” will feature color lithographs by 19th-century artists, including Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Pierre Bonnard, Alphonse Mucha, and Jan Toorop. The posters, part of KAM’s permanent collection, will be on view through Dec. 30.
A unit in the College of Fine and Applied Arts at the U. of I., Krannert Art Museum and Kinkead Pavilion is located at 500 E. Peabody Drive, Champaign. The museum is open to the public from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, 9 a.m. until 9 p.m. on Thursday and from 2 to 5 p.m. Sunday. Admission is free; a donation of $3 is suggested.
