HEAVEN+HELL is an inspired collaboration of creative thinking and practical dynamics from two very different organizations: Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art and the Loyola University Museum of Art (LUMA). The exhibition will serve as a bridge between the two museums with the Hell portion of the exhibition taking place in Intuit’s Galleries at 756 N. Milwaukee Ave. and Heaven taking place at LUMA, 820 N. Michigan Ave.
The themes of heaven and hell are frequently addressed in outsider and intuitive art. Outsider artists’ perspectives range from illustrative, word-laden drawings to stylized, sculptural versions of figurative images that populate their perceptions of the heavenly and the hellish. Self-taught and outsider artists often use the themes of heaven and hell not as concepts, but as broad visualizations that may be invented, drawn from popular media or the Bible, or influenced by their religious upbringing. HEAVEN+HELL seeks to explore the breadth of expression in self-taught art with these themes in mind. The exhibition will feature work by American artists such as Minnie Evans (1892-1987), Howard Finster (1916-2001), William Edmondson (c. 1870-1951), Sister Gertrude Morgan (1900-1980), William Blayney (1918-1985), and Norbert Kox (1945 – ), among many others.
Co-curated by Jan Petry, Exhibitions Chair at Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art and Molly Tarbell, Advancement Coordinator, Corporate and Foundation Relations, Loyola University Museum of Art, the exhibition features 165 works of arts art by 54 artists as well as several anonymous works. This exhibition is accompanied by a 36-page catalog with an essay by Jerry Bleem, a Franciscan Friar, Catholic Priest, and Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Fiber and Material Studies of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. The catalog is available at both venues for $12.
