October is the perfect time for a quick trip to the other side of Lake Michigan, to catch fall in all its brilliant abundance. An exhibition at the Lubeznik Center for the Arts in Michigan City offers another enticement: a chance to view a cornucopia of the most exciting contemporary artists working today, presented in a fresh and revealing context.
“moniquemeloche presents” is both a tribute to and collaboration with Chicago-based Monique Meloche—whose eponymous and storied gallery is now entering its twenty-second year. In addition to spotlighting her curatorial eye, the show celebrates how Meloche, who is white, made a commitment to representing artists of color right from the start. Spread across two galleries are several works by eleven of the artists on her roster, including Sanford Biggers, Ebony G. Patterson, Sheree Hovsepian, Dan Gunn and Nate Young. Ranging across mediums (painting, photography, video, installation), much of the work was made over the past decade (Rashid Johnson’s 2009 “Green Belt” is the oldest piece in the show) and some of it is drawn from recent Chicago shows. Taken as a whole, the exhibition offers varying points of entry, whether to observe how an individual artist evolves over time or to consider how formal and thematic explorations ripple and deepen when seen across multiple works.
