July 11 – September 20, 2024
How Things Stack Up
Stewart & Stewart
In Person Viewing:
Koehnline Museum of Art
Oakton College, 1600 Golf Road
Des Plaines, Illinois 60016
Online Viewing:
Thursday, July 11th, 5 – 8PM
In 70 years of making art, veteran Chicago artist John Himmelfarb has always been fascinated by how things stack up. To illustrate this, one could dip into his oeuvre at many points and find supporting evidence. In this exhibition, work has been chosen that follows his use of one motif: trucks. While these can be found in his earliest art, trucks did not emerge as central to his two- and three-dimensional work until 2003. Other exhibitions have explored the many possible interpretations of trucks as trucks, their meaning in our society, or their anthropomorphic references to us as individuals. This selection will place “trucks” in the larger context of things stacked up: Himmelfarb’s use of visual language to render chaos into order, meaning, and ultimately, beauty.
Michael Bonesteel’s catalog essay provides wonderful insights about the works, which span more than 50 years. Many have never previously been exhibited including Himmelfarb’s 2004 screenprint “Pie & Coffer” printed and published by IFPDA Member, Stewart & Stewart.
