Catalyst

Im/migration and Self-Taught Art in Chicago

Aldobrando“Aldo” Piacenza, Untitled (St. Peter’s)

Catalyst: Im/migration and Self-taught Art in Chicago, the first exhibition to open in Intuit’s newly-renovated museum, is part of Art Design Chicago, a citywide collaboration initiated by the Terra Foundation for American Art that highlights the city’s artistic heritage and creative communities.

It is the first major exhibition to focus on the importance of immigration and migration in the genre of self-taught art. The exhibition underscores the creative contributions of migrants and immigrants, broadening the scope to include artists deserving of greater attention, while posing questions about access to the art world and how art comes to be defined and valued. Considering artists in the context of their migration experience, cultural backgrounds and communities invites new insights into their work. Chicago, a city with a significant and ongoing history of immigration and migration, is fertile ground for investigating the rich array of academic and nonacademic influences—cultural, communal and familial—that enrich artistic production. The exhibition aims to be inclusive of the experiences of immigrants and migrants while acknowledging social and legal differences.

Catalyst: Im/migration and Self-taught Art in Chicago explores catalysts for leaving home, for coming to Chicago and for pursuing an art practice. The range of personal and political subject matter and artistic styles reflects artists processing distinct cultural traditions, memories and experiences of living far from one’s homeland. Themes in the artworks on display range from belonging and longing for homeland, to labor and individual expression, to bearing witness to history, to assimilation.

The narrative centers on the rise of self-taught art in Chicago during the second half of the 20th century, opportunities for artists leading up to this time, and the continued importance of im/migration and self-taught art to Chicago today.

Participating Artists

Featuring more than 75 works from both local and leading collections, the exhibition spotlights works by 22 artists in a range of media, including drawing, painting, collage, sculpture, printmaking, textiles, ceramics, woodcarving and installation. Artists include:

Carlos Barberena
active in the United States, born Granada, Nicaragua

Isamu Guy Conners
active in the United States, born Tokyo, Japan

María Enríquez de Allen
American, born Allende, Mexico

Albina Felski
American, born Fernie, Canada

Stefan Harhaj
active in the United States, born Stuttgart, Germany

Aaron Kleeblatt
active in the United States, born Poland

Tae Kwon “Thomas” Kong
American, born Hwanghae Province, North Korea, raised in Incheon, South Korea

Alfonso “Piloto” Nieves Ruiz
active in the United States, born Querétaro, Mexico

Marion Perkins
American, born Marche, Arkansas

Aldobrando “Aldo” Piacenza
American, born S’Anna-Pelago, Italy

Marva Lee Pitchford-Jolly
American, born Crenshaw, Mississippi

Pooja Pittie
American, born in Coimbatore, India, raised in Bombay/now Mumbai, India

Pauline Simon
American, born Nesvizh, Russia/now Belarus

Genya “Jennie” Siporin
American, born Łódź, Russia/now Poland

Drossos P. Skyllas
American, born Kalymnos, Ottoman Empire/now Greece

Dr. Charles Smith
American, born New Orleans, Louisiana

Bronislaw “Bruno” Sowa
American, born Lubomierz, Poland

Stanislaw “Stanley” Szwarc
active in the United States, born Krotoszyn, Poland

Jesús Torres
active in the United States, born Silao, Mexico

Charles Warner
American, born Prussia/now Poland

Derek Webster
American, born Puerto Castilla, Republic of Honduras, raised in Belize City, British Honduras/now Belize

Badaskhan “Betty” Zakoian
American, born Harput/Kharput, Armenia/now Turkey

Badaskhan “Betty” Zakoian, Turks Attack Me

Badaskhan “Betty” Zakoian, Lost Journey

Aldobrando “Aldo” Piacenza, Untitled (Dido and Aeneas)

Bronislaw “Bruno” Sowa, Untitled

Aldobrando“Aldo” Piacenza, Untitled (St. Peter’s)

Stefan Harhaj, Buildings with American Flags

Drossos P. Skyllas, Greek Bishop

Jesús Torres, Untitled (Vase)

Pooja Pittie, Be In Softness

Pooja Pittie, Be In Softness

Carlos Barberena, Exodus

Carlos Barberena, Riding the Beast

Carlos Barberena, Santo Pollero

Genya “Jennie” Siporin, Yoshke Goes Away

Alfonso “Piloto” Nieves Ruiz, In the Name of Progress

Alfonso “Piloto” Nieves Ruiz, In the Name of Progress

Marva Lee Pitchford-Jolly, Ceramic sculpture of a limbless torso or body with mask-like face

Stanislaw “Stanley” Szwarc, Untitled (Box)

Stanislaw “Stanley” Szwarc, Untitled (Box)

Stanislaw “Stanley” Szwarc, Untitled (Box)

Stanislaw “Stanley” Szwarc, Untitled (Box)

Stanislaw “Stanley” Szwarc, Untitled (Vase)

Stanislaw “Stanley” Szwarc, Untitled (Vase)

Derek Webster, Untitled (turtle with up turned head)

Derek Webster, Seurat Lady

Derek Webster, Queen

María Enríquez de Allen, Deer Skull

Derek Webster, (Woman plate #3)

María Enríquez de Allen, Saint Lucy with Pearls and Shells

Charles Warner, Cathedral III

Charles Warner, Cathedral III

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