Jim Nutt: Portraits

About the Exhibition

This exhibition presents 12 paintings from a series begun by the artist at the beginning of this decade. Reminiscent of Colonial America portraiture with its stiff poses, stony expressions, and stylized painting technique, the works however, are not portraits in a traditional sense. They are instead anonymous female subjects whose titles - Slip, Twinge, or Qualm - add to their calm, enigmatic presences. Nutt, an internationally known artist who originally emerged as part of the "Hairy Who" group of Chicago Imagists, works with tiny brushes to build multicolored layers of paint to create subtle, luminous surfaces. This exhibition is the first to feature a group of these works in Chicago, and will be accompanied by a fully-illustrated catalogue.

This exhibition is organized by MCA Curator of Special Projects Lynne Warren.