Jim Lutes
@ The Art Institute of Chicago
111 S Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL 60603
Opening Thursday, January 13th, from 6PM - 7:30PM
Despite affinities with Chicago Imagist and Northwest Coast abstraction traditions, Jim Lutes’ enigmatic work resists classification within any one school or group. According to critic David Pagel, his work vacillates between representation and abstraction in a “netherworld between intention and accident, spontaneity and formula.” Through an interplay of calligraphic brushstrokes, Lutes alters the straightforward meanings of various sources—whether a photograph of his mother, objects in his studio, or a Rotterdam street. His fluid transitions between personal introspection and a push-pull response to the material qualities of paint produce a range of gestural lines, biomorphic forms, and cartoon-like figures. Lutes charges each work with varying degrees of accessibility, humor, psychological traits, and a dream-like atmosphere.
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