We’re still a little wounded over the whole Olympics-in-Rio-instead-of-Chicago thing, but we can’t deny that Brazil today is as hot as it sounds--and that our city caught the fever long ago by way São Paulo-based artist Denise Milan.
In 1998, Milan’s work America’s Courtyard created in collaboration with artist Ary Perez) was installed on a lawn outside the Adler Planetarium; take a stroll on that scenic peninsula to see the 60 stone pieces laid out in the shape of a spiral galaxy to captivating, Stonehenge-like effect.
Today, the Chicago Cultural Center opens a solo show, “Denise Milan: Mist of the Earth” (through next January), a three-part collection of photos and collages. The works delve into the artist’s fascination with the Brazilian rainforest, and she has beautifully documented a particular jungle enclave in a way that reveals the fertility of this natural habitat--including the ways fertility relates to human beings.
At a free reception tonight from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., see the culmination of the artist’s two decades of growth as both an arts and education activist. Milan will deftly escort you on a journey from a free-spirited wilderness populated by mythical creatures to the dark reality of a ruined Earth and back again.
All you have to do is step from the street into paradise.
Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington St., 2nd fl. Chicago Rooms; 312-744-6630 or explorechicago.org
