2017 Chicago Cultural Center TRIPTYCH UNLOOSE Review– Well-earned residencies for local artists

Chicago Cultural Center Studio Arts and Curatorial Residencies

Take a trip from the Midwest to the West Coast – you won’t even have to leave Chicago! The wall-length strip of frame-by-frame photos from the train moving from Chicago to San Francisco is part of this new exhibit at the Chicago Cultural Center—Triptych Unloose.

Three area visual artists received private studio residencies through the Chicago Cultural Center Studio Artist and Curatorial Residency this year. During this time, Jacob Yeung, Paola Cabal and Rashayla Marie Brown worked on their individual contributions to the TRIPTYCH UNLOOSE exhibit which is open to the public through July 30^th.

The Arts look at Scientific Method

The three-part division of the space at the Chicago Cultural Center’s Michigan Avenue Gallery has become the canvas for the three artists to showcase the unity of the three-part methodical process of Observation, Hypothesis and Theory/Experiment. It’s the old Scientific Method brought into the realm of the Creative Arts.

Observation – The Studio: The white space of the hall allowed the artists to use the “tabula rasa” in as freeing a way as possible. This first canvas reveals some of the first steps they took – Jacob’s notes and photographs of people in Chinatown, Paola’s calculations and models of light and shadow interacting within a space, and Rashayla’s sketches and writings for performance.

Hypothesis – The Gallery: The middle canvas is used to showcase the works in progress, another step in the creative process. Photographs, fabric and sketches are set and the tales begin to be told.

Theory/Experiment – The Test Site: The third stage of sorts reveals the final product to put it crassly. The results of the planning and trials are expressed in the far end of the gallery in a tangible, real-time visceral way. The subjects highlighted from Chinatown are enlivened. Light and shadow interact with fabric and treasured objects reveal inner passion spilled out in movement.

The exhibit is curated by J. Gibran Villalobos, Wil Ruggiero and Cecilia L. Vargas.

Devotees of contemporary art will be pleased with the gallery and the works curated here. Any trip to the Cultural Center is well-worth the time spent in its various rooms and floors. The exhibit encourages movement, thought and discussion.