Exhibition

Prisoner of Love

Saturday, Jan 26–Sunday, Oct 20, 2019

Sylvia Neil and Daniel Fischel Galleries

The words
Bruce Nauman, Life, Death, Love, Hate, Pleasure, Pain, 1983. Neon; diameter: 70 7/8 in. (180 cm). Collection Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Gerald S. Elliott Collection, 1995.74. © 2018 Bruce Nauman/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Nathan Keay, © MCA Chicago
A dark-skinned woman with her hair and makeup done wears a sleeveless wedding dress with a long train, held by another person behind her. She holds up the dress and looks down toward the path ahead of her.
Arthur Jafa, Love Is The Message, The Message Is Death, 2016. Video (color, sound); 7 minutes, 25 seconds. Collection Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, anonymous gift to the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago and the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, 2017.34. Image courtesy of Arthur Jafa and Gavin Brown's enterprise, New York/Rome
What appears to be a film still of a police or SWAT van on a street at night is watermarked with a Getty Images logo. People are walking on the street and emptying out the back of the van.
Arthur Jafa, Love Is The Message, The Message Is Death, 2016. Video (color, sound); 7 minutes, 25 seconds. Collection Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, anonymous gift to the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago and the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, 2017.34. Image courtesy of Arthur Jafa and Gavin Brown's enterprise, New York/Rome
Kerry James Marshall, Souvenir I, 1997. Acrylic and glitter on canvas banner; 108 x 157 in. (274.3 x 398.8 cm). Collection Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Bernice and Kenneth Newberger Fund, 1997.73. © 1997 Kerry James Marshall. Photo: Joe Ziolkowski © MCA Chicago
In a black-and-white triptych, the silhouette of a woman is visible holding a cigarette and looking out a doorway. In the second photo, a man appears at the door, and in the third, the silhouetted man and woman embrace.
Carrie Mae Weems, Untitled (Black Love), 1992. Silver prints; three parts, each framed: 28 5/16 × 28 5/16 in. (71.9 × 71.9 cm). Collection Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, gift of Jack and Sandra Guthman, 2016.57.a–c. © Carrie Mae Weems. Courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York
In this photo, a young, dark-skinned man holds a very young baby to his chest in what appears to be the living room of a home.
Deana Lawson, Sons of Cush, 2016. Ink-jet print mounted on Sintra; framed: 44 x 55 1/4 in. Courtesy of the artist and Rhona Hoffman Gallery
Black stenciled text that reads
Glenn Ligon, Untitled (Study #1 for Prisoner of Love), 1992. Oil and gesso on canvas; 30 1/2 x 20 in. (77.5 x 50.8 cm). Collection Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, gift of Sandra P. and Jack Guthman, 2000.11. © Glenn Ligon 1992/Regen Projects, Los Angeles. Photo © MCA Chicago
A detailed painting shows the implied forms of various human figures depicted in shades of brown and dark blue, with accents of green, yellow, maroon, and white.
Michael Armitage, The Flaying of Marsyas, 2017. Oil on Lubugo bark cloth; 92 1/2 x 96 7/8 x 1 9/16 in. (235 x 246 x 4 cm). © Michael Armitage. Photo © White Cube (Ben Westoby)

Love Is The Message, The Message Is Death, by acclaimed artist and filmmaker Arthur Jafa, is a multilayered seven-minute montage about the experience of living in the United States. The video tells a story of trauma and transcendence in a flurry of footage—from historic speeches by Martin Luther King Jr. and Barack Obama, to clips of cultural icons Beyoncé and Notorious B.I.G., to flashes of concerts, home movies, news footage, music videos, and sports matches—all set to a soaring gospel-inspired anthem.

Centered around this filmic journey, the exhibition features a rotating body of work from the MCA’s collection inspired by the titular themes in Bruce Nauman’s iconic neon Life, Death, Love, Hate, Pleasure, Pain. The work’s title establishes the themes of three rotating groups of artwork in the exhibition’s final gallery: life and death, love and hate, and pleasure and pain. Powerful, moving works by artists such as Deana Lawson, Glenn Ligon, Kerry James Marshall, Robert Mapplethorpe, and Carrie Mae Weems alternate throughout the run of the show.

The exhibition is curated by Naomi Beckwith, Manilow Senior Curator. It is presented in the Sylvia Neil and Daniel Fischel Galleries on the museum’s second floor.

Installation view, Prisoner of Love, MCA Chicago, Jan 26–Oct 27, 2019. Photo: Nathan Keay, © MCA Chicago
Installation view, Prisoner of Love, MCA Chicago, Jan 26–Oct 27, 2019. Work shown: Bruce Nauman, Life, Death, Love, Hate, Pleasure, Pain, 1983. Neon; diameter: 70 7/8 in. (180 cm). Collection Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Gerald S. Elliott Collection, 1995.74. © 2018 Bruce Nauman/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Nathan Keay, © MCA Chicago
Installation view, Prisoner of Love, MCA Chicago, Jan 26–Oct 27, 2019. Work shown: Arthur Jafa, Love Is The Message, The Message Is Death, 2016. Video (color, sound); 7 minutes, 25 seconds. Collection Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, anonymous gift to the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago and the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, 2017.34. © 2016 Arthur Jafa. Photo: Nathan Keay, © MCA Chicago
Installation view, Prisoner of Love, MCA Chicago, Jan 26–Oct 27, 2019. Photo: Nathan Keay, © MCA Chicago
Installation view, Prisoner of Love, MCA Chicago, Jan 26–Oct 27, 2019. Photo: Nathan Keay, © MCA Chicago
Installation view, Prisoner of Love, MCA Chicago, Jan 26–Oct 27, 2019. Photo: Nathan Keay, © MCA Chicago
Installation view, Prisoner of Love, MCA Chicago, Jan 26–Oct 27, 2019. Photo: Nathan Keay, © MCA Chicago
Installation view, Prisoner of Love, MCA Chicago, Jan 26–Oct 27, 2019. Photo: Nathan Keay, © MCA Chicago
Installation view, Prisoner of Love, MCA Chicago, Jan 26–Oct 27, 2019. Photo: Nathan Keay, © MCA Chicago

Featured Artists

  • Edgar Arceneaux*
  • Michael Armitage***
  • Mark Bradford**
  • Noah Davis***
  • Melvin Edwards*
  • Leslie Hewitt***
  • Jasper Johns**
  • Deana Lawson**
  • Robert Mapplethorpe***
  • Christian Marclay*
  • Kerry James Marshall*
  • Paul Mpagi Sepuya***
  • Catherine Opie*
  • Naudline Pierre*
  • Pope.L**
  • Doris Salcedo*
  • Gary Simmons*
  • Carrie Mae Weems**
*On view during Life and Death, January 26–April 28
**On view during Love and Hate, on view from May 4–July 28
***On view during Pleasure and Pain, August 3–October 20

Related Events

Transcripts

Find available transcripts for video works featured in the exhibition.

  • And she says, “Call 911, my name is Amanda Berry.” I knew something was wrong when a little pretty white girl ran into a black man’s arms. Something is wrong here. Dead giveaway, dead giveaway.

    I’m tryna keep my faith

    We on an ultralight beam
    We on an ultralight beam
    This is a God dream
    This is a God dream
    This is everything
    This is everything

    Mmmm, I’m tryna keep my faith

    Deliver us serenity
    Deliver us peace
    Amazing—
    Deliver us loving
    —Grace

    You know we need it

    The description doesn’t fit
    It’s not a synonym of minutes
    Then forget it and turn

    That’s why we need you now, oh I
    Pray for Paris
    Pray for the parents
    This is a God dream
    This is a God dream
    This is a God dream
    We on an ultralight beam
    We on an ultralight beam
    This is a God dream
    This is a God dream
    This is everything

    Everything (Thing, thing, thing)

    The mundane Afro preachers recognize that you’re not aliens

    I’m trying to keep my faith

    Mommy!

    Joaquin, stop, stop, stop.

    Mommy! Wake up!

    Stop.

    But I’m looking for more

    Deliver us serenity
    Deliver us peace
    Deliver us loving
    We know we need it
    Lord knows we need it
    You know we need it
    You know we need it

    That’s why we need you now, oh, I

    Teach me how to dougie
    Aye
    They be like smooth
    What?
    Can you teach me how to dougie?
    You know why?
    Cause all the girls love me

    She said, “Somethin’ ain’t right.” I said, “Ahh, man.” She said, “Aww, man, the building is on fire.”

    I got my kids and we bouncin’.

    This is a God dream
    This is a God dream

    I been dreamin’, I been dreamin’

    We on an ultralight beam
    We on an ultralight beam
    This is a God dream
    This is a God dream
    This is everything
    Everything (Thing, thing, thing)

    I’m tryna keep my faith.

    That’s it, don’t run away, walk backwards, keep your hands up in the air. Keep going.

    Come on back, come on back, keep walkin’ backwards.

    I’m just why?

    Keep walking backwards. Put your hands behind your head. Right here. Come on back.

    What is wrong?!

    We don’t have a gun.

    Get in the car.

    My kids.

    How old are they?

    How old are they?

    They’re six and eight. What is going on? Oh my God, you’re gonna terrify my children.

    But I’m lookin’ for more
    Somewhere I can feel safe
    And end my holy war.

    And now, Mr. Wallace.

    This is me, the B.I.G.
    Competition never ever same story

    I’m tryna keep my faith

    So why send depression not blessings?
    Why, oh why’d you do me wrong?
    More
    You persecute the weak
    Because it makes you feel so strong

    So what would America be like if we loved black people as much as we loved black culture?

    To save
    Don’t have much strength to fight
    So I look to the light
    Lord
    To make these wrongs turn right
    Head up high.

    I want my mom!

    I look to the light
    Hey, cause I know that you’ll make everything alright
    And I know that you’ll take good care of your child
    Oh, no longer am afraid of the night
    Cause I, I look to the light

    When they come for you, I will shield your name
    I will field their questions, I will feel your pain
    They don’t know, they don’t
    They don’t know, they don’t know
    Foot on the Devil’s neck ’til they drifted Pangaea
    I’m moving all my family from Chatham to Zambia
    Treat the demons just like Pam
    I mean I fuck with your friends, but, damn, Gina
    I been this way since Arthur was anteater
    Now they wanna hit me with the woo wap the bam
    Tryna snap photos of familia
    My daughter look just like Sia
    You can’t see her
    You can feel the lyrics and spirit coming in braille
    Tubman of the underground, come and follow the trail
    I made Sunday Candy, I’m never going to hell
    I met Kanye West, I’m never going to fail
    He said let’s do a good ass job with Chance 3
    I hear you gotta sell it to snatch the Grammy
    Let’s make it so free and the bars so hard
    That there ain’t one gosh darn part you can’t tweet
    This is my part, nobody else speak
    This is my part, nobody else speak
    This little light of mine
    Glory be to God, yeah
    I’mma make sure that they go where they can’t go
    If they don’t wanna ride I’mma still give them raincoats
    Know what God said when he made the first rainbow
    Just throw this at the end if I’m too late for the intro

    Uh, I’m just having fun with it
    You know that a nigga was lost
    I laugh in my head
    Cause I bet that my ex looking back like a pillar of salt
    Ugh, cause they’ll flip the script on your ass like Wesley and Spike
    You cannot mess with the light
    Look at Lil Chano from 79

    We on an ultralight beam
    We on an ultralight beam
    This is a God dream
    This is a God dream
    This is everything

    Yes, God

    Hallelujah

    Everything (Thing, thing, thing)

    I’m tryna keep my faith
    Faith
    Yes, Jesus
    But I’m looking for more
    Somewhere I can feel safe
    And end my holy war

    I’m tryna keep my faith

    That’s what the police do to you

    Father, this prayer is for everyone that feels they’re not good enough. This prayer’s for—

    Put your hands up against the wall

    —everybody that feels like they’re too messed up. For everyone that feels they’ve said “I’m sorry” too many times. You can never go too far when you can’t come back home again. That’s why I need . . .

    Faith

    In the war we was looking for

    More

    God, please keep my little brother

    Safe

    Don’t stand here, we fighting this

    War

    [End of Audio]

Funding

Lead support for Prisoner of Love is provided by The Pritzker Traubert Collection Exhibition Fund.

Major support is provided by Cari and Michael J. Sacks.

Generous support is provided by Anne L. Kaplan, Lloyd A. Fry Foundation, Cheryl Mayberry McKissack and Eric McKissack, and Douglas and Yumi Ross.