2SLGBTQIA+ Staff Picks
Members of the 2SLGBTQIA+ staff employee resource group share their favorite artworks.
Sasa, Bleecker,
New York, 2016
Zanele Muholi
(currently on view)
“I love this self-portrait because it so intimately captures the power and the vulnerability of inhabiting a queer body, a gender nonconforming body, in a sytem that does not protect us.”
– Lou Bialon-Crane, Advancement Constituent Data Manager
Untitled, 1947
Beauford Delaney
“Every time I look at this work by Delaney I start in a new spot. Are the blues a sky? Clouds, or water? Or energy jazzing around the all-seeing eye and pulsing heart. Does that swatch of purple move for you as well when you draw your eyes from the top to the bottom, left to right, right to left? This painting helps me know that it’s okay to be me, to be all the things in heaven and on earth, to be all the chaos, to follow my own path, and peace will follow, balance is inevitable.”
– Tobie Miller, Arts of Africa and the Americas Curatorial Department Assistant and Artist Liaison
Skyscraper, 1971
Roger Brown
(currently on view)
“Roger Brown had a sharp sense of humor and was constantly curious. It propelled his art and kept his vision fresh. A generous booster of the Chicago art scene in which he was integral he was also among the earliest artists and collectors to promote the work of unidentified and self-taught artists as equal to anything in the history of art. His love of architecture and ability to suggest mysterious vignettes (in the window views and silhouettes) all come together in this exciting painting. On view in G280.”
-Robert Cozzolino, Patrick and Aimee Butler Curator of Paintings
Bringing in the Ghosts, 2019
Jim Hodges; Printer: Highpoint Editions, Minneapolis
“Jim Hodges work has captivated my attention since first experiencing his retrospective at the Walker Art Center back in 2014 while pursuing a studio art degree. As a fellow queer artist with a rural upbringing, I have always felt a deep connection to the way he constructs tender moments through familiar materials and symbols. Bringing in the Ghosts, incorporates Hodges’ recognizable camouflage motif through 79 layers of color, embellished with reflective gold and copper foils. Camouflage always conjures concepts of disappearing or disguise, midwestern hunting traditions, and the military. These manifestations provide intimate moments of reflection on my youth and efforts to conceal signifiers of my queer identity, where I have been, how I have evoloved, and how integral queer art is to reshaping and constructing queer futures.”
-Dustin Steuck, Visitor Experience Representative
A Sea-Nymph, 1881
Edward Coley Burne-Jones
Every time I walk past this piece I’m completely mesmerized, for reasons I can’t quite fully define. The painting is beautiful, yet makes no sense. The mermaid is floating mostly on top of the water. She’s holding these giant open-mouthed fish, braced for a fight and ready to hurl them directly at you, but she’s just looking down and off to the side, with the most placid, disinterested expression. The fish in her right hand looks more confrontational than she does. It’s both a serene piece, with these rich but muted colors and flat perspective, and wildy chaotic, with her wind in the hair and full of kinetic-fish-energy. -Kate Brenner-Adam, Visitor Experience Representative