Morbid Curiosity

I have a fascination for skulls, skeletons, things that have to do with death or funereal rituals so I was intrigued with the Richard Harris collection titled Morbid Curiosity on view at the Chicago Cultural Center.  It was worth a visit because first of all, it was free to the public and secondly, the Center is housed in a beautiful building with a convenient tourist information kiosk.  (the show closed July 8, 2012)

That's where I got a free transit map and my 3 day train/bus pass.  I find getting around in Chicago very easy thanks to the Chicago Transit Authority - joke about it, roll your eyes, but it is a good system.
On to Morbid Curiosity....

Life's a dream and Then You Wake Up by Enrique Chagoya

Upon entering the collection, I was greeted by the work of a favorite SF Bay Area artist, Enrique Chagoya.  It felt familiar and i was glad to see it.  Harris has an impressive collection of skulls from different cultures.

from Mongolia

from Japan

There were cleverly designed postcards....












and a bone chandelier crafted out of 3000 plaster bones.

Bone Chandelier by Jodie Carey

A Laurie Lipton charcoal drawing was amazing....

The Umbrella Day of the Dead by Laurie Lipton

There was a wall full of art, salon style and table full of skulls.

The work of Utagawa Kuniyoshi, Marlene Dumas, Sue Coe and Kathe Kollwitz were part of the collection.

And then adjoining this exhibition was the work of 5 artists depicting war and it's consequences.  This was an impressive set of etchings by the following artists:  Jacques Collot (The Miseries and Misfortunes of War, 1632-1633),  Francisco Goya ( The Disasters of War 1810-1820), Otto Dix (The War, 1924), The Chapman Brothers (The Disasters of War 1999), and Sandow Birk (The Depravities of War 2007).  To see them all together in this large room was overwhelmingly disturbing but compelling.  The work of Sandow Birk was the largest and the most familiar to me.  To say that the show was "powerful" is trite but I will say that I felt nauseated, sad, disgusted, and tense during and afterwards.  Could works of art change the minds of warmongers?  Not if the warmongers are psychopaths.  

The show ended July 8, 2012.