A Discovery In Chicago

Taken with my phone's camera at the Rhona Hoffman Gallery

While in Chicago last week, I came across my new painterly obsession of the week: Lari Pittman. I went to see the Joseph Cornell exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA), and found one of his paintings in the Cut & Paste section of the show. Something about how he develops his layers of color and form spoke to me. The decorative with the mundane; the chaos and the control; deliberate lines shadowed by whimsical strokes. It isn't only a beautiful and visually striking piece, it also comes across in a more visceral way. So I took a picture of it and made a mental note to look into the artist later.

The very next day, my mum decided to take me out on a gallery crawl around the city. She took me to Rhona Hoffman Gallery, and there, to my delight, I found yet another Pittman painting. It became very clear to me then that Pittman was a force to be reckoned with.