“The Peculiar and the Particular: A Conversation Inspired by Ray Yoshida”
Tuesday, February 8, 2011, 12 p.m.
At the Sullivan Galleries, 33 S. State St., 7th Floor
With Tyson Reeder, Mary Lou Zelazny, and Lisa Stone
Moderated by John Corbett and Jim Dempsey
Free and open to the public
This event will be one of your last chances to see the show before it closes on Saturday, February 12th. It will also be your first opportunity to purchase the newly-published 144-page exhibition catalog, featuring color reproductions of the entire show and explanatory texts, the perfect companion to the commemorative book Ray Yoshida published by SAIC on the occasion of the exhibition. The new catalog will be available at this event for $20, and thereafter for the regular price of $25.
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From the SAIC press release:
Curators John Corbett and Jim Dempsey will lead a public conversation in the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) Sullivan Galleries with artists Tyson Reeder, Mary Lou Zelazny (SAIC BFA 1980), and curator Lisa Stone (SAIC MSP 1998) on Tuesday, February 8, at Noon. Held in conjunction with the exhibition “Touch and Go: Ray Yoshida and His Spheres of Influence,” the panel will explore the impact of Ray Yoshida’s unrelenting vision as an artist, teacher, and collector, and consider both its historical significance and its resonance in contemporary practices. The discussion is free and open to the public.
Touch and Go was named “likely the best show of the year in Chicago” by veteran gallerist and critic Paul Klein of the Huffington Post in November, and Newcity magazine selected the exhibition “best art exhibit in the last year” in its Best of Chicago issue published December 10. The exhibition is curated by John Corbett—an SAIC faculty member—and Jim Dempsey, house manager at SAIC’s Gene Siskel Film Center.
Ray Yoshida’s (1930–2009, SAIC BFA 1953) influence on generations of Chicago art students is legendary. Art Green was a student of Yoshida’s and Mary Lou Zelazny worked closely with the painter, who was an SAIC faculty member for 44 years beginning in 1959. He was named Frank Harold Sellers Professor in the Department of Painting and Drawing at SAIC in 1971, retired as professor emeritus in 1998, and continued to teach until 2003. Tyson Reeder brings insight to the panel regarding Yoshida’s continued influence on younger generations of artists, and Lisa Stone, curator of the Roger Brown Study Collection, has extensive knowledge of the social and professional interactions among Yoshida and his peers.
SAIC’s Sullivan Galleries are located at 33 South State Street, 7th Floor. Touch and Go remains on view there through February 12. Gallery hours are Tuesday–Saturday, 11 a.m.–6 p.m.
For more information visit http://www.saic.edu/art_
Ray Yoshida, a 72-page softcover commemorative book published in conjunction with the exhibition, is available at the Sullivan Galleries ($35). The book features photographs of the artist’s home-studio, images from his sketchbooks, writings, and works-in-progress. With an introduction by SAIC Dean of Faculty Lisa Wainwright and an interview with the curators, it includes personal recollections by artist-colleagues Mark Booth, Susanne Doremus, Art Green, Ted Halkin, Philip Hanson, Richard Hull, Michiko Itatani, Thomas Kapsalis, Jin Soo Kim, Jim Nutt, Frank Piatek, Suellen Rocca, Barbara Rossi, Elizabeth Rupprecht, Rebecca Shore, Lisa Stone, Frank Trankina, Karl Wirsum, Jim Zanzi, and Mary Lou Zelazny.