Maps are intrinsically appealing because they can be both utilitarian devices and objects of painstaking, beautiful detail. But “Art on the Map,” on view at the Chicago Cultural Center, isn’t merely about the distinguished history and craftsmanship of mapmaking. It’s an examination of the map as metaphor: for travel, for political, philosophical, and metaphysical boundaries, and for explorations into the world of self-discovery.
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Curator Gregory G. Knight, director of visual arts for the city’s Department of Cultural Affairs, has assembled a fine balance of work that compellingly illustrates the influence, potency, and relevance of the subject matter. Like the works themselves, which represent a broad range of media and approaches, the artists who created them offer a sort of romp through the landscape of contemporary art. Included are pieces by modern masters (Claes Oldenburg and Christo), current superstars (Guillermo Kuitca), faded enfants terribles (Julian Schnabel), local favorites (William Wiley and Cameron Zebrun), and those who are virtually unknown in these parts.
Mneme XXIX: Tourism, by Carol Emmons, is a tour de force of tackiness, an installation of spectacularly silly and tasteless souvenirs (ash trays, snow globes, salt and pepper sets) dedicated to the romance of American road travel. Emmons exhibits the souvenirs in old valises converted into dioramas, as if they were objects in a shrine. As a counterpoint, she has chosen pithy, thoughtful quotations about travel and printed them on the Plexiglas fronts of each shadow box. Although the approach is ironic, it’s in no way derogatory. If anything, the stuff is displayed in an almost loving fashion–more like a reliquary than a chamber of horrors.
