THE WORLD OF H A L E s INTERIORS

GLADYS NILSSON Ellen Mara De Wachter, How Chicago! Imagists 1960s and 70s, The World of Interiors, April 2019, p. 235

EXHIBITION diary

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When it was first exhibited, the Chicago lmagists' work elicited after a misw1derstanding when Karl Wirsum arrived late to a con­ strong reactions from some critics, with frank Pannier of the New versation about the art critic Harry Bouras and exclaimed : 'Harry ArrExaminer likening their exuberant style to 'visual gonorrhoea' . who? Who is this guy?' According to Gladys Nilsson, 'everyone But many younger artists in the city were thrilled by its energy , burst out laughing', they changed an 'r' for an 'i', and the rest is including Kerry James Marshall andJeffKoons, who when he saw history. Later, MarriageChicago Style ( 1970) was announced with a it thought 'This is what it must be like to mainline a drug!' photograph of six artists wearing wedding outfits and ice skates Some three decades after their last significant presentation in - a joke about their union being on thin ice. Imagist installations Britain , the lmagists are back with this Hayward Gallery Touring broke with convention , featuring Dowery wallpaper, display cases exhibition of key works by 14 artists. Consisting ofoverlapping filled .with thrift-store treasures and labels stuck to the wall with groups who showed under names such as Hairy Who, The False pre -chewed gum . Paintings often took sculptura l form, as with Image and Nonp lussed Some , the lmagists were active from the Wirsum's IcePick Nick Fisherman (1979), a pair of marionettes mid -I 960s through the 1970s, and many continue to work today. stabbed in the back with ice picks. Most of them studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago Feminism is implicit in much of the lmagists' work, and in the at a time when important art movements were flourishing on group's composition: unlik e many avant -garde scenes, women both coas ts: Minimal, Conceptual and Pop art in New York, and were central from the outset . Christina Ramberg's paintings of Light and Space in Los Angeles. In America 's second city , the truncated female bodies bound by undergarments were inspired I ma gists gave birth to an eye-popping expressive realism in­ by memories of seeing her mother 's transformations through fluenced by the molten landscapes of Surrea lism, Dada 's artful clothing and make-up . They provide a powerful crit ique of the pranks and Art Brut's anti -cultural positions . Also steeped in the objectification of women. Glady s Nilsson worked with delicate vernacular, they drew inspiration from comics, commercial art colours to plumb the depths of her unconscious; A ColdMouth and the marginal cultures of freak shows and strip clubs . Jim ( 1968) depicts a strange dance of seduction between creatures Nutt's technique of painting on Plexiglas was inspired by shop sheathed in soft robotic casi ng s. Like so many of the lmagists' windows and pinball machines . It was the perfect vehicle for ex­ works, it shows where the mind's eye can wander when it is let quisitely grotesque portraits, such as Officer Doodit( 1968), which is off th e leash . How CHICAGOI IMAGISTS 1960. ANO 10, runs 16 March- hilariously irreverent and replete with scabs, scars and secretions. 26 May, Wed, Fri-Sun 11-6, Thurs 11-9, touring to De La Warr Visual humour and wordplay we re vital ingredients to the Pavilion, Bexhill-on-Sea, 15 June-8 Sept ■ ELLENMARA DEWACI-ITER lmagists : their first exhibition, HairyWho (1966), gained its title isthe authorof'Co-Art :Artists on CreativeCollaboration ' (Phaidon)

Clockwise from top left. Jim Nutt, Officer DoodJt.1968, acrylic on Plexiglas.enamel on wood, brass hardware, 62 .5 x 53 .5 x 3 .5cm; Karl Wirsum, Ice Pick Nick Rsnerman, 1979, acrylicon wood , 55.9cm high; GloctysNilsson. A Cold Mouth, 1968, ocryllc on Plexiglas, 30.5 ><35.5Cm

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