![\"\"](\"https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/2479/original/juliaswords.jpg\")
By GINNY VAN ALYEA
\r\n\r\nOn a mid-September morning, the day after a busy, energetic opening night for EXPO CHICAGO, I rushed into a calm, spacious Gray Warehouse, which opened on the west side of the city this spring. In front of me was a giant, carved wooden head of a girl, with a single finger pressed to her lips, gesturing for silence.
\r\n\r\nThe contemplative figure, Julia's Words, welcomed me to Secret Garden, an exhibition of new, mostly large scale works in wood, stainless steel and bronze by Spanish artist Jaume Plensa, who was exhibiting for the first time in Richard Gray Gallery’s newest outpost in Chicago. Plensa has grown to love the city, since he was commissioned in the early 2000s to create what is now one of the public’s most loved and well-known sculptures, Millennium Park’s interactive Crown Fountain, which he says he visits each time he comes to town. Plensa’s latest body of work, spanning two exhibition spaces – One Thought Fills Immensity at Richard Gray Gallery in the Hancock Tower and Secret Garden at Gray Warehouse on the west side – explores silence as a gift in today’s noisy world. Following is an edited transcript of our conversation and exhibition tour. –GV
\r\n\r\n
CGN: Congratulations on this newest exhibition. Tell me about Secret Garden, here at the Warehouse, as well as the idea to hold a companion exhibition, One Thought Fills Immensity, in the gallery’s eponymous Hancock Center space across town.
\r\n\r\nJaume Plensa: Well, in the other, smaller spaces, it’s ideal to develop a very intimate kind of work. There’s a certain scale; so there I have been using that space for [my alabaster heads] which have this kind of strange inner light, this illusion which seems related with the soul. And here [in the Warehouse] the works are probably more related to the body.
\r\n\r\nCGN: These works here are your first explorations in stainless steel.
\r\n\r\nJP: Yeah, that’s right. It’s the first time I’m casting my portraits, or my heads, in stainless steel. I’ve been using a lot of stainless steel but more to modulate the light, but this is the first time I’m casting with it, and I’m pretty happy because I first did many drawings with graphite. And that was the same color, the same texture as what we would end up with. I was dreaming to have this strange color that seems simple, but this thing with the light, it’s touching in a gentle way.
\r\n\r\n![\"\"](\"https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/2473/original/plensa1.jpg\")
CGN: It’s very thin, light.
\r\n\r\nJP: Because it’s not shiny, but it’s not matte. It seems like something strange. I finally got it after I spent a few years trying to find the right balance.
\r\n\r\nThere are ways to play with the materials. In that [back] garden space [in the gallery] I have a wooden sculpture that is cast in bronze. I did the model in wood, but the piece is cast in bronze. Then it’s painted in white, which completely confuses the materials, which I think is also important. There is this idea that you, of course, use materials - materials have an incredible memory – but at the same time material is just a base and support. Well, I like it to do that kind of joke with the material.
\r\n\r\nCGN: Please tell me a little bit about your focus on the face.
\r\n\r\nJP: Well actually, you know, when I did the Crown Fountain, it was for me, something extraordinary to have that relationship with the people who we were filming at that time. We did all the video, and then we did incredible post-production, stretching the faces to fit all the mouths in the same place, the eyes in the same place, to try to give the same spread to all the portraits even if they have different origins, different ages and shapes.
\r\n\r\nWhen I finished that project I was so moved by the relationship with people that I decided to continue in parallel with my work with text portraits. But, I decided at that moment only to do portraits of a young woman, because I always thought memory and future were female – men are a beautiful accident, but just an accident in-between. Since that moment, that was around 2004, I’ve been taking portraits –maybe I did 14, maybe less. I used [them] a little bit as a canvas where I could dabble in different ideas - elongating, stretching. I did many things with them [and] with mesh heads only. For me it continues to be important that when you finish the portrait you realize you are not doing any specific person, you are making a kind of mural where we can feel reflective. It’s taking this kind of spiritual position, with the eyes closed, as always. In the Crown Fountain, it was the moment when every person we were filming, I asked, ‘Now close your eyes and put your lips in the position, blow to make a kind of gargoyle effect.’ You could tell people were concerned to close their eyes, but it was just beautiful to see them in that position, and I kept in that position, because finally in some ways you are describing a hidden wall that all of us, we keep inside.
\r\n\r\nCGN: Do you visit the Crown Fountain when you come to town?
\r\n\r\nJP: Always. It’s funny because look, it’s so many years already since we unveiled the piece.
\r\n\r\nCGN: 13 years.
\r\n\r\nJP: But, every time that I’m in Chicago, the first thing I’m going to, the fountain. To be sure that it still exists.
\r\n\r\nCGN: What surprises you from the time you had the initial concept for the Crown Fountain, to when it was unveiled, and then to what it continues to be?
\r\n\r\nJP: Well, I remember, for many people, it was funny to see that the sketches I did at the beginning and the final piece were the same exactly. We spent almost four years working on the project. We had so many people helping on different levels – architectural, LED screens, the water systems, the big plaza, well a lot of things. It’s funny that we had the capacity to keep everyone on my first concept. It’s really amazing. And every time I’m returning to Chicago to see the piece, I’m really happy because people completely embrace the piece, and it’s not anymore mine.
\r\n\r\nCGN: It makes people so happy.
\r\n\r\nJP: I think so. It’s a piece that belongs to Chicago, now. It’s a part of the city.
\r\n\r\nCGN: 2017 was named the Year of Public Art in Chicago. What you just said speaks to what the City is trying to accomplish – to show that art is not static, or untouchable up on a wall; it really belongs to the people.
\r\n\r\nJP: Well, I remember when I was commissioned to do the Crown Fountain. It was incredible, because I’d always had the idea that Chicago probably has one of the most extraordinary architectural scenes, but it’s also one of the best for art in the public space. My friend once said, ‘It’s so complicated of a project in Chicago, because you feel that you are visiting the house of your grandparents, and you are more interested to listen to what they say than to talk, because you have so much to learn.’ In Chicago when you walk around, well, you feel [every artist’s] name, and I guess to me it was important to do my own work not just on a bigger scale, but to try to offer a new gate, a new possibility in the public space.
\r\n\r\nIt was very risky for me, but I guess the Crown Fountain more than took one of my works and made it bigger; it was really to try to embrace many of my dreams of thinking what a public space could be in that place. For example, I wanted to create an emptiness, a plaza, and really invite people to be in a gathering place to meet and enjoy. I also wanted to return to something that for me, because I am European, was so normal, but probably is hidden in this country, which was the gargoyle. In Medieval times all these fountains would have grotesque faces spitting water from their mouths. For me it was something that I wanted to return to the public space, but with real people within it now. I guess it was complicated project. Conceptually it was very clear, but it was complex to be done. It’s thanks to the incredible help of the Crown family, because they trusted and believed in the project. We have an understanding. It’s so beautiful in that way, because they said, ‘Jaume, we don’t understand, but you feel so compelled. Okay, so lets do it.’ And I guess it’s a very special piece that I never wanted to do again. Because all the cities in the world will ask me to do it again, or something similar and I said, “No, it was for Chicago and should be only in Chicago.
\r\n\r\nCGN: It really is a gift. Thinking about the 50th anniversary of the unveiling of the Picasso sculpture this year, the public’s perception of the sculpture today is so different than when it was introduced. We can’t know how [it] will be seen 50 years from now, and the same is true of the Crown Fountain.
\r\n\r\nJP: They did restoration last winter on the screens, and though we call it restoration to say something, it was almost an ethical issue. They corrected a little bit of the level of the floor, and they changed a few glass blocks and the LED screens. The LED screens were working well, but it was because the knowledge is only so vast that I remember that our LED screens were very thick. Now, they are thin. Today they are also ten times cheaper, with ten times the brightness. The concept continues to work so well.
\r\n\r\n![\"\"](\"https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/2477/original/plensa5.jpg\")
CGN: Please tell me about your wooden sculptures in the show.
\r\n\r\nJP: I used a very dense kind of wood. It does not float. And it’s great because it’s so dense that there is not any buckling. It’s really like a stone and I love it, because in the carving you get these kind of veins, and this strange color in the face and in the hands as well that is a position saying, ‘Silence.’ I don’t really know how to ask for silence today, because we’re in a very noisy moment, in terms of ideas.
\r\n\r\n![\"\"](\"https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/2476/original/plensa4.jpg\")
CGN: There are a lot of distractions.
\r\n\r\nJP: Distractions. Messages, messages, messages. And I’m upset about it, but I guess we just have to reintroduce the concept of silence in our life.
\r\n\r\nCGN: There are different connotations of silence – some are negative.
\r\n\r\nJP: It’s not exact. I agree with you, but the concept of sound is different. Silence to me is the capacity to be you with yourself and to try to understand the rest of the world, not to be apart. No, no, no. I love community. I love society. But I think we have to offer people silence as a gift today.
\r\n\r\nCGN: You want to give people the chance to be silent.
\r\n\r\nJP: It’s funny – more and more people feel uncomfortable when there’s a silent place. For instance, you find music everywhere. There is so much sound – music, music, music – you may just want to enjoy a moment, or your own sounds, by yourself [Laughter].
\r\n\r\nThese sculpture here have, as always, their eyes closed. This [pointing to each one] is Julia, she’s a girl from the Basque country. Here Isabella is from Sao Paulo [Brazil]. She, Carlota, is from Barcelona. She’s Laura Asia, a Chinese girl but from Madrid. Over there is a Chinese girl from Shanghai who is living in Vancouver. And she’s Paula, who is a girl living nearby my studio.
\r\n\r\nCGN: Have you met all these people? Have you imagined them? How do they come to have the names and residences?
\r\n\r\nJP: It’s an accident. In the beginning, I was asking to take a portrait of the daughter of friends and things like that. Now, many times, people say, ‘Look, I know a person, or, my daughter is wonderful,’ and I check, and if it’s okay, I take the portrait, and then I manipulate the volume of the face.
\r\n\r\nCGN: But, it’s still them.
\r\n\r\nJP: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Obviously I know the name, I know the parents, I know the families. I know everything.
\r\n\r\nCGN: They look so light, that they look ethereal.
\r\n\r\nJP: That’s something that I’m also trying to get – that these things disappear when you are walking. They are losing the volume. When you look back from the other side, I guess I brought something with the material – it seems they are floating. They will be like a drawing on a page in this way.
\r\n\r\n![\"\"](\"https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/2480/original/plensaselfportrait.jpg\")
CGN: You’ve worked with text for a really long time, incorporating many different alphabets and characters into your figures. What was the inspiration behind that?
\r\n\r\nJP: I grew up in a family obsessed about books. My father, he was always buying books and reading and reading. My visual education was more text, than art or images. On Sunday morning we were always together when he went to buy secondhand books in old markets. It’s true that I’ve been fascinated by words and poetry. I remember one day I decided to use, as a material, all this information that I collected in childhood. So my first piece with text was about [Shakespeare's] Macbeth, because I always thought that Macbeth, the man, was one of the best definitions of his culture. When Macbeth killed the king, he realized that he didn’t kill a body or the man, he killed the possibility to sleep. I love this concept, because in sculpture, it’s always the same, you cannot describe. A painter could talk about the everyday life, but the sculptor is always talking about big obstructions – love, hate – but nothing in between. And I guess you are using physical elements, you can touch and caress, but you cannot describe. And that is Macbeth – I sleep no more.
\r\n\r\nThat became my first piece of this show, I Sleep No More. Then I understood the text as a beautiful metaphor about community, about society. One letter alone is nothing, but together with other letters you get a word. A word with a word becomes a text, and so on. A person alone is nothing, but together with others we become family, a neighborhood, a city, a county, a country. My portraits are similar – I love diversity, that is the richness of our society, and it’s the same as putting all the alphabets together, creating amazing diversity and how well we are when we are together.
\r\n\r\nSecret Garden and One Thought Fills Immensity are on view at Richard Gray Gallery and Gray Warehouse through November 11, 2017
\r\n\r\nSaveSave
\r\n","published_at":"2017-11-08 00:00:00","state":"published","slug":"an-interview-with-artist-jaume-plensa","type":"NewsPost","meta_description":"An interview with Spanish artist Jaume Plensa, exhibiting at Richard Gray Gallery and Gray Warehouse September-November 2017","text":null,"created_at":"2017-11-08 17:26:25","updated_at":"2018-10-22 21:16:49.990226","category_id":3,"highlighted":null,"searchable":"'11':2558B '13':934B '14':743B '2000s':131B '2004':734B '2017':1124B,2559B '50':1598B '50th':1562B 'accid':720B,724B,2065B 'accomplish':1146B 'across':257B 'actual':585B 'age':663B 'agre':1856B 'alabast':293B 'almost':1020B,1631B 'alon':2459B,2484B 'alphabet':2227B,2525B 'alreadi':927B 'also':528B,1203B,1377B,1690B,2163B 'alway':709B,822B,916B,1185B,1974B,2253B,2275B,2331B,2378B,2396B 'alyea':10B 'amaz':1068B,2528B 'anniversari':1563B 'anymor':1095B 'apart':1890B 'architectur':1036B,1198B 'around':733B,1265B 'art':1131B,1150B,1209B,2267B 'artist':4A,98B,1270B 'asia':2008B 'ask':838B,1530B,1791B,2071B 'back':484B,2183B 'balanc':473B 'barcelona':2004B 'base':554B 'basqu':1991B 'beauti':719B,872B,1484B,2451B 'becam':2433B 'becom':2476B,2492B 'begin':1009B,2068B 'behind':2237B 'believ':1473B 'belong':1112B,1162B 'best':1207B,2341B 'big':1043B,2399B 'bigger':1290B,1329B 'bit':576B,751B,1639B 'block':1652B 'blow':850B 'bodi':169B,324B,2359B 'book':2248B,2255B,2283B 'brazil':1999B 'bright':1698B 'bronz':95B,499B,512B 'brought':2191B 'buckl':1744B 'busi':21B 'buy':2254B,2281B 'call':1623B 'calm':32B 'cannot':2382B,2422B 'canva':754B 'capac':1057B,1871B 'caress':2419B 'carlota':2001B 'carv':54B,1758B 'cast':348B,380B,497B,510B 'center':255B 'certain':281B 'cgn':220B,325B,436B,570B,903B,933B,961B,1097B,1123B,1553B,1706B,1807B,1840B,1913B,2040B,2121B,2147B,2213B 'chanc':1920B 'chang':1648B 'charact':2229B 'cheaper':1693B 'check':2102B 'chicago':27B,116B,944B,1076B,1114B,1133B,1190B,1226B,1261B,1546B,1552B 'childhood':2317B 'chines':2010B,2019B 'citi':44B,123B,1122B,1142B,1525B,2497B 'clear':1450B 'close':820B,840B,865B,1977B 'collect':2315B 'color':401B,419B,1768B 'come':163B,912B,2054B 'commiss':127B,1173B 'communiti':1896B,2454B 'companion':243B 'compel':1500B 'complet':520B,1087B 'complex':1454B 'complic':1221B,1444B 'concept':972B,1064B,1700B,1834B,1861B,2372B 'conceptu':1446B 'concern':863B 'confus':521B 'congratul':221B 'connot':1844B 'contempl':72B 'continu':684B,778B,987B,1701B 'convers':215B 'correct':1636B 'could':757B,859B,1347B,2386B 'counti':2499B 'countri':1399B,1992B,2501B 'cours':537B 'creat':133B,1357B,2527B 'crown':153B,592B,825B,908B,975B,1177B,1317B,1467B,1609B 'cultur':2345B 'd':1184B 'dabbl':758B 'daughter':2078B,2097B 'day':18B,2302B 'decid':682B,695B,2304B 'definit':2342B 'dens':1722B,1738B 'describ':892B,2383B,2423B 'develop':271B 'didn':2355B 'differ':660B,662B,760B,1034B,1583B,1843B,1865B,2226B 'disappear':2170B 'distract':1813B,1815B 'divers':2508B,2529B 'done':1457B 'draw':393B,2206B 'dream':414B,1340B 'earli':130B 'edit':211B 'educ':2262B 'effect':857B 'element':2414B 'elong':762B 'embrac':1088B,1336B 'empti':1359B 'end':409B 'energet':22B 'enjoy':1375B,1959B 'eponym':253B 'ether':2155B 'ethic':1633B 'european':1389B 'even':656B 'everi':832B,938B,1070B,1269B 'everyday':2390B 'everyon':1060B 'everyth':2146B 'everywher':1945B 'exact':1017B,1854B 'exampl':1353B 'exhibit':83B,103B,174B,217B,225B,244B 'exist':960B 'explor':198B,332B 'expo':26B 'extraordinari':599B,1197B 'eye':640B,819B,842B,867B,1976B 'face':582B,629B,1413B,1771B,2120B 'famili':1468B,2143B,2245B,2493B 'fascin':2294B 'father':2250B 'feel':807B,1229B,1268B,1498B,1932B 'femal':715B 'figur':73B,2232B 'fill':178B,247B,2544B 'film':610B,836B 'final':459B,886B,1012B 'find':470B,1943B 'finger':63B 'finish':668B,785B 'first':106B,331B,344B,376B,390B,946B,1063B,2320B,2435B 'fit':631B 'float':1729B,2200B 'floor':1645B 'focus':579B 'follow':208B 'fountain':154B,593B,826B,909B,953B,976B,1178B,1318B,1409B,1610B 'four':1021B 'friend':1215B,2080B 'front':48B 'funni':919B,999B,1052B,1927B 'futur':713B 'galleri':111B,183B,251B,489B,2552B 'garden':81B,190B,230B,485B,2540B 'gargoyl':856B,1403B 'gate':1299B 'gather':1370B 'gentl':434B 'gestur':68B 'get':1760B,2166B,2468B 'giant':53B 'gift':202B,1558B,1911B 'ginni':8B 'girl':59B,1988B,2011B,2020B,2035B 'give':648B,1917B 'glass':1651B 'go':950B 'got':460B 'grandpar':1238B 'graphit':395B 'gray':34B,110B,182B,192B,2551B,2554B 'great':1733B 'grew':2241B 'grotesqu':1412B 'grown':119B 'guess':1275B,1315B,1441B,1508B,1827B,2189B,2409B 'gv':219B 'hancock':186B,254B 'hand':1775B 'happi':387B,1084B,1102B 'hate':2402B 'head':56B,294B,353B,773B 'help':1032B,1464B 'hidden':894B,1396B 'hold':241B 'hous':1235B 'idea':239B,533B,761B,1188B,1806B 'ideal':269B 'illus':304B 'imag':2269B 'imagin':2049B 'immens':179B,248B,2545B 'import':529B,781B,1280B 'in-between':725B 'incorpor':2224B 'incred':543B,623B,1181B,1463B 'inform':2312B 'initi':971B 'inner':301B 'insid':902B 'inspir':2236B 'instanc':1941B 'interact':152B 'interest':1243B 'interview':2A 'intim':274B 'introduc':1588B 'invit':1364B 'isabella':1994B 'issu':1634B 'jaum':5A,99B,259B,1491B 'joke':566B 'jp':336B,442B,583B,915B,936B,990B,1103B,1166B,1611B,1717B,1814B,1850B,1924B,2061B,2127B,2156B,2239B 'julia':74B,1984B 'keep':901B,1059B 'kept':881B 'kill':2348B,2357B,2364B 'kind':275B,298B,564B,801B,813B,854B,1723B,1762B 'king':2350B 'know':587B,1592B,1788B,2092B,2133B,2137B,2141B,2145B 'knowledg':1668B 'known':147B 'larg':87B 'last':1615B 'latest':168B 'laughter':1968B 'laura':2007B 'learn':1259B 'led':1037B,1655B,1658B,1678B 'less':745B 'let':1503B 'letter':2458B,2466B 'level':1035B,1642B 'life':1839B,2391B 'light':302B,371B,428B,441B,2151B 'like':455B,559B,1748B,2083B,2204B 'lip':67B,846B 'listen':1245B 'littl':575B,750B,1638B 'live':2025B,2036B 'long':2222B 'look':921B,2090B,2149B,2154B,2182B 'lose':2177B 'lot':362B,1047B,1811B 'love':121B,143B,1753B,1895B,1898B,2370B,2401B,2507B 'm':347B,379B,385B,942B,949B,1073B,1082B,1821B,2162B 'macbeth':2328B,2334B,2347B,2427B 'made':1327B 'madrid':2014B 'make':799B,852B,1099B 'man':2336B,2362B 'mani':392B,766B,925B,995B,1030B,1337B,2086B,2225B 'manipul':2115B 'market':2286B 'materi':481B,523B,539B,540B,550B,569B,2195B,2309B 'matt':452B 'may':1955B 'mayb':740B,744B 'mediev':1405B 'meet':1373B 'memori':544B,711B 'men':716B 'mesh':772B 'messag':1816B,1817B,1818B 'met':2043B 'metaphor':2452B 'mid':14B 'mid-septemb':13B 'millennium':149B 'mine':1096B 'model':503B 'modul':369B 'moment':698B,730B,830B,1802B,1961B 'morn':16B,2272B 'most':86B 'mouth':634B,1418B 'move':674B 'much':1257B,1949B 'mural':803B 'music':1944B,1951B,1952B,1953B 'name':1126B,1272B,2058B,2135B 'nearbi':2037B 'negat':1849B 'neighborhood':2495B 'never':1517B 'new':85B,1298B,1301B 'newest':113B,224B 'night':24B 'noisi':206B,1801B 'normal':1392B 'noth':2404B,2461B,2486B 'novemb':2557B 'obsess':2246B 'obstruct':2400B 'obvious':2131B 'offer':1296B,1906B 'okay':1501B,2107B 'old':2285B 'one':137B,176B,245B,1193B,1204B,1322B,1982B,2301B,2338B,2457B,2542B 'open':23B,37B 'origin':661B 'other':2490B 'outpost':114B 'page':2209B 'paint':516B 'painter':2385B 'parallel':686B 'parent':2139B 'park':150B 'part':1119B 'paula':2031B 'paulo':1998B 'peopl':606B,679B,861B,996B,1031B,1086B,1100B,1165B,1365B,1436B,1907B,1918B,1931B,2046B,2088B 'percept':1576B 'person':796B,833B,2094B,2483B 'physic':2413B 'picasso':1569B 'piec':508B,932B,1013B,1080B,1090B,1110B,1514B,2321B,2436B 'place':638B,644B,1351B,1371B,1939B 'play':478B 'plaza':1044B,1361B 'pleas':571B,1707B 'plensa':6A,100B,117B,166B,260B 'poetri':2298B 'point':1979B 'portrait':350B,655B,692B,702B,739B,787B,2075B,2111B,2503B 'posit':816B,849B,878B,884B,1781B 'possibl':1302B,2366B 'post':625B 'post-product':624B 'press':64B 'pretti':386B 'probabl':319B,1191B,1394B 'product':626B 'project':670B,1026B,1224B,1445B,1476B 'public':140B,1130B,1212B,1305B,1345B,1431B,1574B 'put':844B,2522B 're':1797B 'read':2257B,2259B 'real':1435B 'realiz':789B,2352B 'realli':1067B,1083B,1161B,1332B,1363B,1555B,1747B,1787B,2221B 'reflect':808B 'reintroduc':1832B 'relat':307B,321B 'relationship':603B,677B 'rememb':993B,1169B,1675B,2300B 'resid':2060B 'rest':1883B 'restor':1614B,1625B 'return':1074B,1380B,1428B 'rich':2512B 'richard':109B,181B,2550B 'right':340B,472B 'riski':1310B 'rush':29B 'said':1137B,1217B,1490B,1541B 'sao':1997B 'save':2560B,2561B 'say':157B,1249B,1627B,1782B,2089B 'scale':88B,282B,1291B 'scene':1199B 'screen':1038B,1619B,1656B,1659B,1679B 'sculptor':2394B 'sculptur':148B,494B,1570B,1579B,1713B,1970B,2375B 'secondhand':2282B 'secret':80B,189B,229B,2539B 'see':874B,1001B,1078B 'seem':306B,421B,454B,2197B 'seen':1597B 'septemb':15B 'shakespear':2326B 'shanghai':2022B 'shape':665B 'shini':447B 'show':1148B,1716B,2439B 'side':41B,197B,2187B 'silenc':70B,199B,1783B,1793B,1836B,1846B,1866B,1908B 'silent':1923B,1938B 'similar':1538B,2505B 'simpl':422B 'sinc':124B,728B,928B 'singl':62B 'sketch':1004B 'sleep':2368B,2429B,2441B 'smaller':265B 'societi':1899B,2456B,2515B 'someth':456B,598B,1382B,1423B,1537B,1628B,2159B,2192B 'soul':310B 'sound':1863B,1950B,1965B 'space':175B,256B,266B,290B,486B,1213B,1306B,1346B,1432B 'spacious':33B 'span':172B 'spanish':97B 'speak':1138B 'special':1513B 'specif':795B 'spent':464B,1019B 'spiritu':815B 'spit':1414B 'spread':651B 'spring':46B 'stainless':92B,334B,355B,364B 'static':1153B 'steel':93B,335B,356B,365B 'still':959B,2125B 'stone':1750B 'strang':300B,418B,457B,1767B 'stretch':627B,763B 'studio':2039B 'sunday':2271B 'support':556B 'sure':956B 'surpris':963B 'system':1041B 'take':738B,811B,2073B,2109B 'talk':1252B,2387B,2397B 'tell':226B,572B,860B,1708B 'ten':1691B,1695B 'term':1804B 'text':691B,2218B,2265B,2323B,2448B,2478B 'textur':404B 'thank':1460B 'thick':1682B 'thin':440B,1686B 'thing':425B,767B,947B,1049B,2082B,2169B 'think':526B,1105B,1342B,1559B,1902B 'though':1621B 'thought':177B,246B,710B,2332B,2543B 'time':107B,161B,345B,377B,549B,613B,939B,967B,1071B,1406B,1692B,1696B,2087B,2223B 'today':204B,1580B,1687B,1794B,1912B 'togeth':2276B,2463B,2488B,2526B,2538B 'took':1321B 'touch':431B,2417B 'tour':218B 'tower':187B 'town':165B,258B,914B 'transcript':212B 'tri':468B,646B,1144B,1294B,1334B,1879B,2164B 'true':1606B,2289B 'trust':1471B 'two':173B 'uncomfort':1933B 'understand':1480B,1495B,1881B 'understood':2446B 'untouch':1155B 'unveil':930B,981B,1566B 'upset':1822B 'us':899B 'use':288B,360B,538B,747B,1719B,2306B,2412B 'van':9B 'vancouv':2027B 'vast':1672B 've':358B,736B,2215B,2292B 'vein':1764B 'video':618B 'view':2548B 'visit':159B,906B,1233B 'visual':2261B 'volum':2117B,2179B 'walk':1264B,2174B 'wall':895B,1159B 'want':1355B,1378B,1426B,1518B,1915B,1957B 'warehous':35B,193B,234B,315B,2555B 'water':1040B,1415B 'way':435B,476B,889B,1487B,2212B 'welcom':77B 'well':146B,236B,261B,557B,584B,991B,1045B,1167B,1266B,1662B,1705B,1777B,2532B 'well-known':145B 'went':2279B 'west':40B,196B 'white':518B 'winter':1616B 'within':1437B 'woman':706B 'wonder':2099B 'wood':91B,505B,1725B 'wooden':55B,493B,1712B 'word':76B,2296B,2470B,2472B,2475B 'work':89B,171B,277B,317B,327B,689B,1023B,1285B,1325B,1661B,1703B,2216B 'world':207B,1528B,1886B 'would':408B,1410B 'yeah':337B,2128B,2129B,2130B 'year':467B,926B,935B,1022B,1128B,1572B,1599B 'young':705B","thumbnail":null,"editor_pick":false,"category_name":"Interviews"},"related":[{"id":13767,"title":"Anticipating a Season of Art: Five to Talk to – Nikko Washington","excerpt":"","body":"Fall offers a full slate of exhibitions across galleries and museums throughout the Midwest. Behind the scenes, many people in the community are working tirelessly to support artists and bring fresh perspectives to the public. We spoke with five insiders about what excites them now and what they anticipate next.
The following preview is one of five conversations that appear in CGN's Fall 2026 magazine. To receive a copy of the print edition click here.
![](\"https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1789517637/noxz9olp47gfneafz8xg.jpg\")
“I’m thrilled to further expand my artistic and design practice by introducing other mediums into the mix. I’m looking forward to watching the seasons change and devoting a lot of time in the studio as well. Fall/winter is my favorite time to create new works.
I have an upcoming solo show with VSG Contemporary that I am excited about. The work will delve further into the topics of cultural mythology and how these tales and narratives have helped shape my worldview.
Also, it wouldn’t be right if I left out my excitement for this upcoming season of Chicago sports.”
![](\"https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1788961823/s3lp0uull2s8mvd8funj.jpg\")
Andi Crist, Extension Cords, Glazed stoneware, chrome, Sizes vary 2021-present. Photo: Mikey Mosher
This interview is part of CGN's Fall 2026 issue. Purchase a copy or subscribe.
![](\"https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1788961824/mghrpnghxd9j9ko2dsjt.jpg\")
Andi Crist
BY ALISON REILLY
Andi Crist’s warm, engaging demeanor is evident in the first few minutes of our conversation. Generous with her time and forthcoming in her observations, she cares deeply about building relationships through her art making. Crist grew up in Birmingham, Alabama, devoured art classes, wrote songs and played music in high school, and moved to Chicago to study visual art at Columbia College. In 2024, she received her MFA from the University of Illinois at Chicago. She is a woodworker, sculptor, ceramicist, and conceptual artist, and she teaches at Illinois Institute of Technology. We discussed her multidisciplinary practice, her experience working as an art handler, preparator, and fabricator, and how she thinks about labor, creativity, and value in the art world.
CGN: You grew up in Birmingham, Alabama. How did that environment shape your point of view as an artist?
Andi Crist: That’s such a funny question. Nobody’s ever really asked.
CGN: Oh, really?
AC: Yeah, maybe because I never was super connected with the arts community down in Birmingham. I moved to Chicago in 2007, so it’s been 20 years since I lived in the South. I was definitely one of those art kids—one art credit was required in high school, and I graduated with like seven. I was surrounded by artists who had a big impact on me, because they were working artists. All my art teachers were trained in Alabama and then continued to teach and work in Alabama, which gave me this desire to try to expand my community outside of what I was familiar with.
CGN: Do you identify as a Chicagoan?
AC: My family still lives in Alabama, and I go back every year. I love being in Alabama. Maybe now being in Chicago for almost 20 years, I identify as a southerner living in the city. I carry on the social qualities of a friendly southern person [laughs].
CGN: You have a varied art practice—woodwork, ceramics, mold making. What drew you to those types of fabrication methods and that type of art making?
AC: My dad is a carpenter and a hobbyist woodworker, but his career was psychology, and my mom was a professor and an incredible craftswoman. I absorbed my mom’s model of creativity, which is to try a bunch of different things and not necessarily finish them but to try to learn as much as I can by just going for it. My practice over the years has become an exploration of conceptual elements of what makes art art and not just craft. Do you have to be a master craftsperson or a professional artist in order to make something that resonates with people?
I make a lot of work that references the mode of making and requires a variety of different media. I just finished teaching a ceramics production class where students learned how to produce molds, think about positives and negatives, and get into a level of production rather than just handicraft as a way to multiply their output.
I got into fabrication because I’ve always liked working with other artists. I have a background in theater and gallery work. I’m a voracious learner, and I like being able to share those skills with my community. Then I end up making work about that. It’s a self-feeding cycle.
![](\"https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1788961825/zzejqwibga5f5wk6einh.jpg\")
Andi Crist, Artist’s Ladder, 2023. Photo: Jeff Perlman
CGN: Thinking about your background as an art handler and preparator—how did you get to the point where you were making work about that experience?
AC: In 2010, right before I graduated from Columbia, I was living in a storefront in West Logan Square with my partner at the time. We started a gallery called Autotelic in the space and had to build it out using the worst tools with very minimal resources. Then we started curating shows there and that meant helping other artists figure out how to install their work in our unusual space. Eventually, I gained the reputation for knowing how to do that type of work. I started getting invited to work in museums and galleries.
The Holocaust Museum was the first museum I worked at, and as difficult as that subject matter is, that experience was really important to me because I was learning more about the larger world of gallery work. As an artist working as a preparator, you’re straddling both sides of that space. You’re really seeing how the sausage is made. You’re hearing all the conversations about artists, curators, the process of exhibition making. There is a lot of information you can gather about the economics of the art world by just being the person that has the know-how to touch and handle artwork. Eventually that started feeding into my art practice because I wanted to make work that was contributing to a conversation around art as a type of job. It fueled a methodology of seeing everything in the world as the result of a long line of processes that required effort and thoughtfulness by many hands.
![](\"https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1788961826/uv5bysb5fbne30gr5czh.jpg\")
Andi Crist, Fair Warning, 2025.
CGN: The title of your recent exhibition at the Cleve Carney Museum—Live, Laugh, Lo—sorry, not Live, Laugh, Love—Live, Laugh, Labor.
AC: [Laughs] That’s what everybody does.
CGN: I love the title—it’s perfect. You incorporate humor along with thoughtful critiques about labor and value in your work. What role does humor play? How does it help you connect with your audience?
AC: One of my biggest criticisms of art with a capital A is how easily it can be overly intellectualized. I think that’s why I end up making a lot of work that references things that already exist or have some kind of real purpose. It’s important to give people a foothold so there’s an obvious place to board that train of thought. As an artist—maybe this is me getting into a sweeping argument about what artists should be—but I personally believe in intellectual accessibility. Humor is a swift way to drop defenses and allow people to come in without feeling like they are not getting the joke or not understanding. I like to make work that can hold both of those things at the same time—it’s funny on the surface level, it’s kind of cheeky, but there’s also another way to look at it that is intellectually clever. There is a joy in the attempt to “get it”. Like the satisfaction of grasping how a crossword puzzle actually works.
It’s also so much a part of my personality. I take myself seriously as an artist, but my ego isn’t at the heart of it. It’s really something that I do because I love to make things, and I love to connect with other people. My parents raised me on puns, creating those language relationships between things and people and space. Understanding a joke is the same way that we understand art, and while neither of my parents would consider themselves artists, they taught me how to think about art.
![](\"https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1788961828/gnotyfijabr7e15kb6hm.jpg\")
Andi Crist, 69 Bananas
CGN: Your work, Artist’s Ladder, explores hierarchies, workplace cultures, and institutional values. What experiences shaped your reflections on these themes?
AC: The ladder piece distinctly represents the complicated relationship between front of house, back of house, and the hierarchy of labor. Who is the artist in those relationships? How much does another person’s knowledge and expertise contribute to the success of another artist?
There are enormous, industrialized art practices out there, warehouses full of people making things, and those people are also artists. When you make work that involves other people, it’s important to acknowledge their contributions. I’ve had complicated interactions with other artists who are like, ‘Hey, do you want to collaborate with me on this thing?’ but really they just want me to make their idea. I made Artist’s Ladder while I was in grad school at UIC, and it really represented my relationship with a lot of other artists, because I could be an actual support structure for them. Then it turned into this absurd physical thing. It’s extremely overbuilt with inlaid racing stripes made of exotic hardwood, and a butcher’s block-style plaid top. It’s not really like an FU as much as it is asking for acknowledgement of my skills and the essential support structures that exist.
CGN: I want to ask you about another piece, Five O’Clock Somewhere, a wool rug that resembles a children’s play mat. I work at a library, and it reminded me of rugs I see all the time. It’s a peaceful image of an office park with a large fountain surrounded by a parking lot. I’m curious why you chose a rug as the medium to depict that image.
AC: To me the heart of that joke was that it was a landscape. I wanted it to be physically traversable. And that was, I don’t want to say controversial, but it was something that I had to talk about a lot. The critique of that work was the fact that I didn’t want to hang it on the wall and turn it into a tapestry. I really wanted it to be a rug that people could walk on. When I showed that work at Chicago Artists Coalition for the New City Breakout Artists show. There was a lot of pushback about having it on the floor and allowing people to walk on it.
That, to me, was such an important conversation, because, in my mind, the fact that you could walk across it and traverse it was part of how I was thinking about the object. Rugs are utilitarian–they are floor coverings. When you make art that doesn’t do anything, you don’t get to participate in that part of the conversation.
I enjoy sparring around art like that. I am totally tickled by the pushback. The critique of display is exciting, and sorting through the politics of utilitarianism in art spaces is fun to me. And then—it was so crazy—we ended up showing it halfway on the wall and halfway on the ground.
![](\"https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1788961829/r1zylkwfw9rkw191skdl.jpg\")
Andi Crist, Five O’Clock Somewhere, on display at Live, Laugh, Labor: Thoughts on Usefulness and Other Myths at The Cleve Carney Museum of Art, 2025.
CGN: Oh, wow.
AC: I was like, this is the epitome of compromise! I had to build a structure so that it could hang that way safely.
CGN: I would say just put it on the ground if that’s what you want to do. It’s interesting that there are still very fixed ideas about the way that art should be displayed.
AC: That preparator part of it, that’s what I’m all about. I was having that conversation about what physically supports the work or what conceptually supports it in the way that it’s shown.
CGN: Have you always been a writer? How do your art and writing practices work together?
AC: I can’t say that I’m a writer, it’s probably the same way that it can feel weird to call yourself an artist. But I feel like I’ve always been relatively good at writing. The first time I ever did any kind of professional writing was contributing, a long time ago, to a website called eHow. The editors would send me a title, and then I would have to research how to do that thing. Then I would write out step-by-step instructions for how to do that.
I think that’s how I had to make myself think through my conceptual practice—I had to do the research, coagulate that into some kind of document, and then I would have stream-of-consciousness conversations with myself. “Why are we interested in this? Why would we make it this way? What would I want to talk about if someone were to ask me about this?” It’s almost like I was pre-interviewing myself.
I think the writing is just another way for me to process that idea before I put in all of the time and energy to actually accomplish it.
CGN: What are you working on right now? What projects do you have coming up?
AC: The biggest project that I have right now is my house. My family and I suffered a major house fire on New Year’s Day. We’ve been displaced since then and are navigating rebuilding our house. It was a total loss.
![](\"https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1788961830/kekfqzf9f87fq48juogh.jpg\")
Andi Crist, Single-Use Fireplace, 2025. Photo: Mikey Mosher.
CGN: I’m so sorry to hear that.
AC: Thank you. We’re all okay, but it’s been a really tumultuous year. I moved my studio into a storefront last summer, and so most of my, at least relatively recent, work is safe, and I still have all of my materials, but my home life is starting over. I just had my first full year at this space, and it’s got a little gallery built out in the front called Coming Soon. It’s beautiful with floor-to-ceiling windows on Division and Central Park. I’ve been inviting people into the space to try things out.
After teaching the ceramics class, I came into a bunch of nice slip casting molds, and I’m making some really playful, weird, ceramic stuff. I want to be open and not put too much pressure on myself. Having a big studio by myself is very expensive, so it’s easy to want to make it feel like it’s worth it. But if for now all I can do is make it a resource for other people, then that will be the thing I do. Be less selfish, but more selfish with my time. Saying I can’t do that, or I don’t want to do that. It’s not my nature to say no—I’m such a yes man. I’m learning how to be a yes man for myself.
CGN: That makes sense after going through something so traumatic.
AC: I have an amazing support system. Our friends started a GoFundMe. It was incredible. I’m so humbled and floored by how held I felt by Chicago. I can’t help but throw a little shout out to my Chicago people. I can see how people’s lives get totally ruined by this kind of tragedy. I feel so lucky. Chicago definitely showed its love back.
CGN: For your project Coming Soon, are you bringing in other artists?
AC: My philosophy is that I want to be involved as little as possible. I am thinking about it more as a hosted than curated space. I’m actively soliciting proposals or ideas for workshops, meetings, book clubs—I’m down for making it a resource, whatever that means. I don’t want to over-think it, I want it to be an intuitive and organic thing, which is why I call it Coming Soon—it can be a placeholder for anything. It’s exciting. Taking my hands off the reins is a good exercise for me.
![](\"https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1788961831/gno5dhliwfnzpuaim78s.jpg\")
Andi Crist, Extension Cords, Glazed stoneware, chrome, Sizes vary 2021-present. Photo: Mikey Mosher
Fall offers a full slate of exhibitions across galleries and museums throughout the Midwest. Behind the scenes, many people in the community are working tirelessly to support artists and bring fresh perspectives to the public. We spoke with five insiders about what excites them now and what they anticipate next.
The following preview is one of five conversations that appear in CGN's Fall 2026 magazine. To receive a copy of the print edition click here.
![](\"https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1789516769/izokunnmrufdyjbjnypk.jpg\")
“Intuit Art Museum’s renovated, expanded spaces give audiences the chance to connect with art through daily art-making, third Thursday Art After Work, group Slow Looks designed to provide a mindful experience with a single work and upcoming conversations with sculptor Bill Brady (Oct. 3) and Dr. Mary Trent (Oct. 15), who curated our current exhibition on the role of scrapbook-making in Henry Darger’s art.
On view is the thought-provoking Monumental: The Sculpture of Dr. Charles Smith, which encourages guests to consider the lack of historical representation of African Americans and Black people in America. Dr. Smith’s memorials champion Black history and stories of everyday life he sees missing in mainstream narratives.
This fall we’re opening an exhibition of paintings by Karla Wong, an artist who immigrated from Oaxaca and who explores themes of life and death, gender identity and self-discovery.”