3-D Doings: The Imagist Object in Chicago Art

Eccentric and entertaining, the bold and cartoonish three-dimensional objects of the Chicago Imagists receive an enthusiastic survey in this playful volume Published with Tang Museum. Contemporaneous with the Pop art movement, Chicago Imagism can be characterized as warm and wacky—a stark contrast to the cooler, more aloof styles in New York and London. The Imagist movement (a term coined by art historian Franz Schulze in 1972) was propelled by a core group of artists—all graduates of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago—that exhibited their work together as The Hairy Who between 1966 and 1968 at the Hyde Park Art Center on Chicago’s South Side. Though each artist had their own fiercely unique style, they shared a similar interest in popular culture, comics and material objects. Suellen Rocca and Roger Brown manipulated and augmented mass-produced household items. Art Green and Eleanor Dube painted on shaped canvases. Other artists, such as Karl Wirsum, Christina Ramberg and Philip Hanson, used materials associated with craft. 3-D Doings explores the sculptural work and dimensional paintings of the Chicago Imagists. With a replica of Karl Wirsum’s Armpits on the cover—fake hair and all—the volume is a zany celebration of Imagist objects and their artists, featuring conversations with Suellen Rocca, Art Green, Gladys Nilsson and Philip Hanson, biographies of each artist and a dedicated ephemera section. Artists include: Don Baum, Roger Brown, Ed Flood, Art Green, Red Grooms, Ted Halkin, Philip Hanson, Gladys Nilsson, Jim Nutt, Christina Ramberg, Suellen Rocca, Barbara Rossi, Evelyn Statsinger, H.C. Westermann, Karl Wirsum, Ray Yoshida.