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A Hyperallergic feature surveys several recent Chicago exhibitions that its writer reads as unusually charged with erotic themes. The article identifies a possible thread across the shows but does not establish that erotic art is returning as a broader trend.
A Hyperallergic feature argues that several recent Chicago exhibitions shared an erotic charge, linking works by artists including Alice Tippit, Holly Murkerson, David Sprecher and Neiva Mulmul? No: Neiva Mulhearn, while posing a question rather than claiming a confirmed art-world trend: is erotic art returning, or is the pattern personal perception?
The writer grounds the question in a run of exhibitions seen in Chicago. Last spring, Alice Tippit’s paintings at DePaul Art Museum prompted the writer to think about how little of their response was addressed in the show’s catalogue. During the summer, the exhibition SHADOW at tête-à-tête-à-tête brought together sensuous photographs by Holly Murkerson and two leather-and-wood stools by David Sprecher and Neiva Mulhearn, which the writer describes as objects that invite physical engagement.
The feature also considers the Art Institute of Chicago’s summer exhibition Willem de Kooning Drawing. The writer takes issue with the contrast between the show’s positive reviews and museum text, and the experience of seeing de Kooning’s nude figures. By the third room, the figures seemed less erotic than disturbing to the writer, especially in a group of large charcoal drawings from the mid-1960s. That response is an interpretation, not a claim that the exhibition or its viewers shared the same reading.
Other examples in the feature include Melanie McLain’s installation Peripersonal (2020), where two dancers improvised as part of Slow Dance at the MCA Chicago from September 13 to October 18, and photographs by Lee Miller shown at the Art Institute. Together, these works and exhibitions form the writer’s proposed connecting thread; the source does not report a formal curatorial movement or a measurable increase in sexually themed art.
A Personal Reading of Chicago Shows
The feature matters as a record of how a viewer connects works across institutions, not as evidence that galleries have adopted a coordinated turn toward erotic subject matter. Its central distinction is between an observed pattern in selected shows and a broader shift in contemporary art, which remains unverified.
It also draws attention to interpretation: a nude figure, a photograph of a passageway or an object designed for bodily interaction can carry different meanings for artists, curators and visitors. The writer’s sharply different response to de Kooning’s nudes underscores that eroticism is not a settled quality that every audience will perceive in the same way.
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The Exhibitions Behind the Question
The feature is framed by the writer’s visits to Chicago exhibitions over the preceding spring and summer. It opens with a caveat: although erotic themes have long appeared in art, the writer says they had not recently noticed them as strongly in the shows they viewed or at the school where they teach. The resulting survey is selective and explicitly personal.
The source also mentions popular culture’s interest in midlife desire, citing Sharon Horgan’s Youth and Olivia Colman’s Wicker. Those references help explain the writer’s point of view but do not establish a cause for the perceived exhibition pattern. The feature’s examples range across paintings, photographs, sculpture-like furniture, drawing and performance, rather than describing a single exhibition or movement.
No Wider Trend Is Established
The source does not show whether erotic subject matter has become more common in Chicago exhibitions, or in art institutions elsewhere. It provides no count of comparable shows, baseline period or broader survey; its examples were chosen by one writer from exhibitions they visited.
It also does not establish that the artists or curators intended every work to be read erotically. The writer’s responses are presented as personal interpretations, and the article does not report reactions from the artists, curators or other visitors that would confirm or challenge those readings.
Further Shows May Test the Pattern
The feature identifies no planned research, upcoming exhibition or institutional response that would settle whether erotic art is gaining visibility. The MCA Chicago’s Slow Dance program featuring Peripersonal ran from September 13 through October 18, according to the source; it does not specify the year.
For now, the question remains open. A broader conclusion would require comparing exhibitions across a defined period and hearing from artists and curators about their aims, alongside audience responses. The feature itself offers a starting point for that discussion, not a final verdict.
Key Questions
What is the feature reporting?
It connects erotic undertones the writer noticed in several recent Chicago exhibitions, while questioning whether this reflects a wider change or an individual response.
Which exhibitions does it discuss?
Examples include Alice Tippit at DePaul Art Museum, SHADOW at tête-à-tête-à-tête, Willem de Kooning Drawing at the Art Institute of Chicago, and Melanie McLain’s Peripersonal at the MCA Chicago’s Slow Dance program.
Does the article prove erotic art is becoming more common?
No. The source presents a writer’s selection of exhibitions and personal interpretations. It provides no comparative data establishing a broader trend.
Why did the writer find the de Kooning exhibition unsettling?
The writer says the nude figures began to look disturbing, particularly in a room with large charcoal drawings from the mid-1960s. That is the writer’s response, not a consensus finding.
Source: hyperallergic.com
