Visual Arts of Chicago - Troubles and Controversies

Troubles and Controversies

In the 1980s, the Museum of Contemporary Art, along with the Art Institute of Chicago and Chicago's Department of Cultural Affairs, attempted to put on a show of contemporary Chicago art. Called "The Chicago Show", it was supposed to celebrate Chicago's artistic diversity. Embarrassingly, 84 of the 90 artists chosen by the 5-member blind jury were found to be white. The organizers published an apology in the exhibit catalogue and invited twenty minority artists who had not been juried in to participate. Half of the invited artists, angered by this condescension, refused and organized a counter-exhibit at the Chicago Cultural Center.

On April 15, 1989, the same night that the Hyde Park Art Center celebrated its 50th anniversary, a devastating fire destroyed most of an entire block of important galleries and art spaces in the River North gallery district.

In spring of 1996, the Feigen, Inc. gallery's exhibit of Gregory Green's "10,000 Doses" and "Recipe for Making 'LSD' in the Kitchen" was raided by the Chicago police, who confiscated and broke open the artworks. No drugs were found.

In 1996 the Museum of Contemporary Art, to get over the embarrassment of "The Chicago Show", attempted a survey of Chicago Art called "Art in Chicago: 1945-1995". It was criticized by the press as cramped, inadequate, and incomprehensive. Its catalogue was judged a disappointment by Dennis Adrian, an art critic and participant, who called it "visually ... an atrocity of staggering proportions."