I stumbled upon an exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary
Art by Amanda Williams, and this was her first solo museum exhibition, formulating
a really up and coming local artist. Williams was trained as an architect, so
she creates works that combine photography and sculpture to explore the themes
of constant change in urban environments.
Williams grew up in Chicago, causing her art to really
reflect her childhood and culture. She grew up in the Auburn-Gresham neighborhood
in Chicago, so she uses her art to show the value of the city. Williams uses
architectural elements as a microcosm for social, racial, and political issues,
specifically creating stories about devaluation of Chicago neighborhoods.
In her exhibit at MCA, Williams uses images of houses to
explain a bit about the people living in that neighborhood and the value they
have in Chicago, as well as society as a whole. She focuses on certain
neighborhoods, such as Englewood, but her artwork covers issues that really
face many parts of the U.S. and even internationally. I would argue that she is somewhere between a little and big C
creative because she focuses locally on where she grew up and what relates to
her and locals, but her work addresses larger concepts that go beyond just the
Chicago area.
Williams’ Color(ed) Theory project started in 2015, and was shown at the
Chicago Architectural Biennial. She gathered community members and painted 8
houses in Englewood that were on the road to demolition using vibrant colors
inspired by the South Side. The photographs of bright houses at the exhibit
reflect the racial undertones of urban design and unfortunate decay. Williams
further displays artwork in the form of sculptures by reusing the siding and
brick from the painted houses that have been demolished, but whose memory will
live on through her work. Williams’ work shows how demolition erases important
things in the lives of urban citizens. The landscapes that Williams uses
reflect invisible policies that have caused a downfall in inner cities. She was
recently called to an Exhibition Design team for the Obama Presidential Center
in Chicago.
Williams
is a creative that, like Stephen King, noticed the meaning and possibilities in
minute and mundane objects, such as a decrepit house on the South Side. She
combines her knowledge from an excellent architectural education from Cornell
with the street knowledge that she has of culture and conditions on the South
Side where she was raised. This creative combination of fields to create
photography, sculptures, and videos makes Williams a creative modern artist,
explaining why her art is at MCA. Go visit her exhibit!!
https://3arts.org/artist/amanda-williams/
To work with houses to express a certain statement was an interesting thought for me. It was even more surprising that this is in the Chicago area.
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