Lori Waxman

Lori Waxman is a freelance writer for the Chicago Tribune.

Woodblock print by Watanabe Nobukazu (1899) shows families in Ueno Park, Tokyo, the nation’s first such public space. Subjects wear a mix of Western and Japanese garments, from traditional kimono and geta sandals to top hats and button-down coats (Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art image). The exhibition “Meiji Modern: Fifty Years of New Japan” is at the Smart Museum of Art at the University of Chicago.

Review: When Japan became modern: Meiji-era art and artifacts are now at Smart Museum

May 7, 2024 at 5:30 a.m.

“Meiji Modern: Fifty Years of New Japan” is a building-wide exhibition and much of it shows a fusion of old and new, traditional and modern, Japanese and foreign.

Fotografías diseñadas y puestas en escena por Martine Gutiérrez y publicadas en “Indigenous Woman, su revista de parodia de 128 páginas. Parte de “Native America: In Translation” en el Museo de Fotografía Contemporánea de Chicago organizado por Aperture, curada por Wendy Red Star. (Galería RYAN LEE)

Reseña: Artistas indígenas se hacen cargo de la cámara en el MoCP

April 15, 2024 at 3:36 p.m.

La moda fabulosa se abre paso en “Native America: In Translation”, una exposición colectiva reflexiva y de amplio alcance de nueve artistas indígenas en el Museo de Fotografía Contemporánea (Museum...

Photographs styled and staged by Martine Gutierrez and published in “Indigenous Woman,” her 128-page parody magazine. Part of “Native America: In Translation” at the Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago organized by Aperture, curated by Wendy Red Star. (RYAN LEE Gallery)

Review: Indigenous artists take charge of the camera at MoCP

April 2, 2024 at 5:00 a.m.

Fabulous fashion spreads open this new show at the Museum of Contemporary Photography. Look carefully, though, and the glossy veneer cracks.

One of three metal signs by artist Alberto Aguilar, commemorating found object arrangements that he made on the campus of his daughter’s dream college, portents of her subsequent admission. At rear are cardboard signs by Justin Favela, inspired by the monumental church and restaurant signage in Las Vegas. From "Contemporary Ex-Votos: Devotion Beyond Medium," an exhibition displayed jointly at Gallery 400 and the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum in Chicago. (Natasha Moustache)

Review: With ‘Contemporary Ex-Votos’ an exhibition about devotion, UIC galleries become its churches

February 22, 2024 at 5:15 a.m.

First, a confession: As a Canadian Jew of Eastern European ancestry, I have rarely felt the urge to look at, never mind write about, Christian imagery of any sort. I...

A few of the nearly 50 sculptures on view in "Ruth Duckworth: Life as a Unity," up through early February at the Smart Museum of Art in Chicago.

Review: So many lumps of clay: Exhibitions by Ruth Duckworth and contemporary Japanese women artists

January 18, 2024 at 11:45 a.m.

Lovers of sculpture who prefer clay to other materials have much to celebrate this month in Chicago, with a not-to-be-missed pair of shows at the Smart Museum of Art and...

"Bronze Statue of Saigo Takamori in Ueno Park, Tokyo" (1899; Ukiyo-e woodblock-printed vertical oban triptych, ink and color on paper) by Watanabe Nobukazu. Part of the exhibition "Meiji Modern" at the Smart Museum.

Art in winter 2024: Plenty of new exhibits in the new year, from speculative futures to documentary pasts

January 4, 2024 at 11:00 a.m.

From speculative futures to documentary pasts, obsessive sculpture to coolly meditative spaces, historical Japanese design to contemporary Latinx devotional painting — there's something for everyone at Chicago's galleries and museums...

The exhibition "Faith Ringgold: American People" at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago.

Review: In ‘Faith Ringgold: American People’ at the MCA, an African American artist’s decades of work get their due

December 20, 2023 at 11:00 a.m.

Faith Ringgold, the 93-year-old doyenne of African American art, a trailblazing master who foreshadowed the recent rise of art activism and Black figuration, is having her first solo museum show...

"Theater for One" by LOT-EK at the Chicago Cultural Center.

Chicago Architecture Biennial returns with ‘This is a Rehearsal’ and the Cultural Center shines

November 28, 2023 at 11:30 a.m.

Architecture, in Chicago as much as anywhere, is big, heavy and permanent. Think steel skyscrapers, brick six-flats, and their infrastructural equivalents of asphalt parking lots and concrete highway overpasses. Yet...

A multimedia artwork titled "Push Pull" designed by Faheem Majeed is seen near the customs area at Terminal 5 at O'Hare International Airport on Oct. 20, 2023.

When art is not the destination, but on the way: O’Hare debuts $3.5 million public art commission

November 2, 2023 at 10:45 a.m.

You can't easily visit one of the most sensational art exhibitions currently on view in Chicago. Tickets are not for sale, not even at the elevated prices that have become...

"Harmony" (1956), from the collection of Eduardo F. Costantini. Part of "Remedios Varo: Science Fictions" at the Art Institute.

Review: Remedios Varo is the most extraordinary Surrealist you’ve never heard of. Now at the Art Institute.

October 3, 2023 at 3:33 p.m.

You think you know Surrealism, then you visit an exhibition dedicated to a Surrealist artist you've never even heard of. You think you've seen a painting fully, then you look...

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