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Denise Milan: Mist of The Earth

June 8, 2012 – January 6, 2013

Location: Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington Street.

Denise Milan: Mist of Earth is presented by the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events and has been made possible by the generous support of the Cairucu Foundation of Brazil and SESC Sao Paulo with additional support from United Airlines and the Radisson Blu Aqua Hotel, Chicago.

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Three posts on the exhibition:
Opening Reception: June 7, 2012.. click here..
About the exhibition.. This post..
Gallery Talk with Ronne Hartfield and Greg Cameron: Thursday, Nov. 1, 2012.. click here..

 

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Denise Milan Mist of the Earth

The exhibition presents a body of work which Denise Milan has been creating for years and reveals her interest in and preoccupation with a fragile, changing landscape – the Brazilian rainforest.

The exhibition is thematically divided into three parts:
Paradise
Paradise Lost, and
Paradise Regained.

 

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 PARADISE

The exhibition first zone Paradise” brims with photographic collages that playfully conjure a verdant natural world of abundance and exuberance, inhabited by real-world friends of the artist as well as by mythical creatures. Brazilian colors and iconographies proliferate joyously here, with primal force that draws energy from the earth and flowers into the myths and mysteries of human existence.

 

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PARADISE LOST

The exhibition second zone “Paradise Lost” depict an Earth that has been torn, despoiled. In this zone, the torment of the people— whose history incorporates abduction from Africa and enslavement — parallels the ravages of the land—the wanton quarrying and deforestation of their region of Bahia. Commanding the center of this part of exhibition is a large bronze sculpture in the form of a disc, beaten and weathered, looking like nothing so much as a huge, used coin—perhaps token payment for the theft of land and lives. This portion of the exhibition draws from a recent eco-activist initiative that turned into a national movement, in which Denise Milan helped spare a treasured Bahian mountain of green quartz from quarrying and turn it into a national historic treasure.

 

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PARADISE REGAINED

The exhibition third zone “Paradise Regained”, asserts the possibility of hope amidst and after the dark. Here, Milan summons optimism about reversing the losses of nature and humanity, and finding new understandings among peoples, lands, governments, and commercial interests. Displayed in this zone are monochrome and silver collages and sculptures of imaginary crystalline flowers, suggesting a new, more harmonic existence on Earth. The installation invites the public to share in the possibility of cathartic integration.

 

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STONE SCULPTURES in the exhibition
Of particular interest to me were Denise Milan’s stone sculptures..

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More of Exhibition Related Activities:
Opening Reception… click here..
Gallery Talk click here..

 

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Thursday, November 1, 2012 :  Gallery Talk with Ronne Hartfield and Greg Cameron on the art of Denise Milan. The Gallery Talk was presented by the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events in conjunction with the exhibition of the work of acclaimed international artist Denise Milan. For more on Gallery Talk, click here..

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RELATED LINKS

Women Artists.. click here..
Temporary Exhibitions.. click here..
Portrait with Art & Artists.. click here..
Portrait with National and International Artists.. click here..

My Commissions
Photo-Documentation of Events.. click here..
Published Photographs.. click here..
Public Art Talks.. click here..

Home: Public Art in Chicago.. click here..

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