Robin Woodsome`s first solo exhibition, at the Phyllis Kind Gallery, 313 W. Superior St., presents a group of figurative paintings that aspire toward maximal expression with minimal means.
Lone, etiolated figures-half animal, half human-gesture imploringly within monochromatic fields. Body language attempts to transmit conditions of stress that radiate from the figures, animating the space and, on occasion, emitting ”auras” in contrasting colors.
Some of the forms have links with African sculpture; others, with ectoplasmic presences in turn-of-the-century Symbolist paintings. They are the strongest works on exhibit.
The majority of pieces, however, reduce forms to little more than silhouettes that cannot adequately carry the expressive burden. Anyone who recalls the stringy figures of East Village artist Rick Prol will find an echo here, though the level of ambition is distinctly higher, striving toward archetypes. (Through July 16.)
– Alfred A. Knopf Inc., in conjunction with Lincoln University Press, will publish two volumes-a selection of masterpieces from and a complete-works catalog of-the internationally famous art collection of the Barnes Foundation. None of the works in the collection has ever been reproduced in color, and few have been photographed in black and white.
The collection includes 171 Renoir paintings, 57 Cezannes, 54 Matisses, 19 early Picassos and 8 Van Goghs, in addition to antiquities, Asian and African works and a large group of other paintings spanning more than 600 years of Western art.
– Michele Rowe-Shields, former museum administrator and curator of exhibitions for the Cranbrook Academy of Art Museum in Michigan, has become executive director of the Evanston Art Center, succeeding Martha Winans Slaughter, who last month moved to Minneapolis.
– ”SisterSerpentsSet History Straight,” a performance piece chronicling ”the revolution of July 4, 1995, when the patriarchal order was overthrown by SisterSerpents,” will be presented at 8:30 p.m. Thursday at Club Lower Links, 954 W. Newport St. For details and admission prices, call 312-248-9496. – Anne Burkus, assistant professor of Chinese art history at the University of Chicago, will speak on ”The Lore of the Pearl in Chinese Art and Literature” at 3 p.m. Sunday at the Eve J. Alfille Gallery, 623 Grove St., Evanston. For information, call 708-869-7920.
– The vacant three-acre site bounded by State, Randolph, Dearborn and Washington Streets, will become an arts-education center from Tuesday through Aug. 16. Called ”Gallery 37,” the program will offer arts training to 260 high school students who will create artworks for exhibit in public spaces around Chicago. Many younger children also will receive training in day camps and educational groups.
The program was organized by the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs in collaboration with other city agencies and the site`s owner, VJV Venture. For information, call 312-744-9790.
– ”Sculpture in the `90s,” a panel discussion including slides of sculpture selected for the Harold Washington Central Library, will begin at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday at Prince Galleries, 357 W. Erie St. Participants will include David Hennage and Frances Whitehead, sculptors; Stephen Mitchell, art coordinator for the Department of Cultural Affairs of the City of Chicago; and Karly Spell, director of Art Casting of Illinois Inc. For information and reservations, call 312-266-9663.
– Art historian Reinhold Heller will give a free lecture, ”Art as a Tool of Totalitarianism: Hitler`s Artists and Their Work,” at 6 p.m. Tuesday in Fullerton Hall of the Art Institute, Michigan Avenue and Adams Street. The program is in conjunction with ” `Degenerate Art`: The Fate of the Avant-Garde in Nazi Germany,” the exhibition continuing at the museum through Sept. 8.
– Lecturer Roberta Gray Katz will speak on watercolors and drawings by John LaFarge at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Terra Museum of American Art, 666 N. Michigan Ave. Admission is $5, $2 for students with IDs. For registration, call 312-664-3939. The event complements a LaFarge exhibition continuing at the museum through Aug. 11.
