"Don't Miss: "Mug Shots" and Henry Darger Room At Intuit

art, current calendar, culture

Here are two exceptional offerings at Intuit you shouldn't miss.  You don't even have to be an art aficionado to enjoy either one.

After many years of planning, a re-creation of  the Henry Darger Room has opened.  It's a new permanent exhibit at Intuit:  The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art at 756 N. Milwaukee Av. http://www.art.org.

You'll also see the fascinating "Mugshots" exhibit, officially dubbed "Least Wanted:  A Century of American Mugshots" that's so cool it's been featured on Channel 7 and elsewhere in the mainstream press.   Mark Michaelson, the major collector of these historic American relics has curated a thought provoking assemblage of "bored, sheepish, proud, coy, tough, defiant, bounced and bruised...innocent until-proven-guilty faces that stare back at the camera..." 

Michaelson emphasizes that none of these anonymous subjects had been tried in a court of law at the time they were photographed.  Somehow, I think, there is a poignant assumption of guilt latent in the photos nevertheless, providing us a window into a shocking world of imagined crimes to which we might well have been oblivious previous to this exhibit.   See the photos, read the intriguing comments that accompany some,  a unique experience awaits.  Mug Shots will close April 12.

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Chicago artist Henry Darger lived in the midst of a then much more down at the heels Lincoln Park at 851 W. Webster St. from 1932 until he died in 1972.  He was the reclusive tenant of Bauhaus photographer Nathan Lerner and his wife Kiyoko.  They discovered, as the elderly and ill Darger began to decline, that he had created a phenomenally unusual body of hundreds of drawings depicting the struggle of a band of seven young girls, "the Vivian Girls" against an evil army he called "Glandeleninians."

In addition, an enormous text  depicting this struggle (and others) and numbering over 30,000 pages was found in Darger's tiny apartment;  his combined home and studio.  Thanks to the Lerners this amazing body of work has been saved and is now admired internationally by both Darger devotees and the just plain curious.  Comparisons have been made to influences from Japanese prints and multiple other coincidental influences.  Many people are freaked out and many are fascinated by the subject matter

Darger did keep up with the current events of his day, depending on his level of interest in same.

Eventually his life's work began to envelop his space, taking over his bed and relegating Darger to a chair for sleep.

His eccentric story only becomes more complex as it unfolds.  Intuit is showing a number of Darger's drawings (water colors, sketches and collages) in their back gallery and, for the first time, The Henry Darger Room, the permanent and long-awaited installation of the re-creation of his apartment is on view.  Kiyoko Lerner generously donated the contents of the apartment to Intuit prior to its demolition.

An  unusual collection of source material awaits to amaze, but you should visit yourself so I won't describe the room's contents here.  Intuit also has a great deal of research material on site which you may peruse at leisure.  Phone 312.860.9008 to learn more.

Don't miss this special chance to see the room in conjunction with the 13 Darger drawings on display.  This exhibit is not permanent and closes  on June 28.

There is always something amazing awaiting you at Intuit  but these two exhibits are something you shouldn't miss. 

Don't say I didn't warn you!  Check out the frequent and multiple activities from Intuit at http://www.art.org