Chicago Architecture Biennial

Across from Millennium Park is the Chicago Cultural Center, a former library, that is currently hosting the Chicago Architectural Biennial. The Biennial features many designers and architects from around the world with a wide range of ideas and concepts of how building design is changing. I loved a particular model that depicted a man-made island that featured a dolphin sanctuary. Another project configured rocks that were used to constructed a tall standing structure using rope that was laid in a pattern by an electronic arm. The actual building of the Chicago Cultural Center is a great platform to meander through and discover all the different architectural presentations.

Kehinde Wiley

When John and I first visited the Oak Park Public Library, I turned a corner and I instantly knew I was looking at a painting by contemporary artist Kehinde Wiley. Wiley blends traditional painting techniques with contemporary figures in clever juxtapositions. The specific painting I encountered at the Library displays several figures 'floating' in a realm of robins egg blue and brightly colored damask. Wiley positions individuals, typically people of color, in traditional poses found in classical paintings, specifically portraiture. An initial interpretation of his work could describe Wiley as attempting to elevate or ennoble people using gestures and postures that were usually reserved for European royalty and aristocracy. The cultural linkage in a contemporary sense makes one think of opulent and flashy hip-hop and rap stars. Wiley has a fascinating expression, that is aesthetically interesting and also historically inquisitive. A great combination of the past mixed with the present.

 

Find the full video here.

Oak Park Public Library Art Collection

One of the most striking features about the Oak Park Public Library is its amazing art collection. It features an unusual high quality of contemporary art that you might expect from a local library, which actually represents an effort to make a library a place as a community destination rather than just a one-purpose stop. One of the most famous artists I recoginzed in the library was Kehinde Wiley, a contemporary artist from Harlem, NY. It turns out that a couple years ago, after the rennovation of the main branch, the Library organized an art committee to collect art, bought some pieces from local artists, and then hired an art consultant who recommended Wiley. Good choice! Details about Wiley are coming.

Good art, featured in a library setting, is a good idea. Below are several great examples seen on several floors of the library, that invite people to contemplate a visual world that is interrelated to the books around them. I'm absolutely thrilled and somewhat proud to have a library with such progressive expression. I can't wait to see other pieces in their collection.