TL;DR
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A Hyperallergic feature identifies erotic or sexually charged elements in several recent Chicago exhibitions, including work by Alice Tippit, Holly Murkerson, David Sprecher and Neiva Mulhearn, and Melanie McLain. The writer asks whether sex is reappearing in art or whether the pattern is personal; the report does not establish a wider trend across the city’s art scene.
A Hyperallergic feature has identified erotic themes in several recent Chicago exhibitions, from Alice Tippit’s paintings to an installation by Melanie McLain, while asking whether the pattern signals a broader change in contemporary art or reflects the writer’s own perspective. The report is a critic’s account of selected shows, not evidence that erotic art is returning across the city.
The writer describes a recent run of exhibitions that felt unusually sexually charged. At DePaul Art Museum, Alice Tippit’s paintings prompted questions about desire that, in the writer’s view, were not addressed in the exhibition catalogue. The feature does not provide further details about individual works or quote the museum’s explanatory text.
In the summer exhibition SHADOW at tête-à-tête-à-tête, curated by Shannon Stratton, the writer points to Holly Murkerson’s photographs of a stone passageway and a pair of dark leather-and-wood stools by David Sprecher and Neiva Mulhearn. The report reads the passageway as inviting entry and describes the stools as objects that invite straddling and peering into.
The feature contrasts those works with the Art Institute of Chicago’s exhibition Willem de Kooning Drawing. The writer says the drawings of nude women, particularly large charcoal works from the mid-1960s, appeared disturbing rather than erotic. Another example is McLain’s Peripersonal (2020), in which two dancers improvised within an installation at Slow Dance at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago from September 13 to October 18.
Erotic Readings Across Chicago Shows
The feature draws attention to how desire and bodily experience can connect works across different media, including painting, photography, sculpture and performance. That reading may help viewers notice themes that are not foregrounded in exhibition texts, as the writer says was the case with Tippit’s show.
But the piece also makes the limits of that interpretation clear: it is based on one critic’s selection and response, not a survey of Chicago galleries, artists or audiences. Its value lies in posing a question about how sexuality is presented and interpreted, rather than proving that the art world has shifted toward erotic subject matter.
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The Exhibitions Behind the Question
The feature is framed partly through the writer’s own changing perspective. The writer says they turned 50 during the year in question and references recent screen works about midlife desire. They explicitly distinguish that personal starting point from the piece’s main subject, which is a roundup of exhibitions.
The examples span different venues and periods: Tippit’s show took place the previous spring, SHADOW and de Kooning Drawing were discussed as summer exhibitions, and McLain’s installation ran from September 13 to October 18. The source does not state the year for those dates. The writer also refers to photographs by Lee Miller in the Art Institute’s presentation, but the supplied account does not describe those photographs as part of the erotic thread.
“Is sex back? Or it could just be me.”
— Hyperallergic feature writer
A Pattern or Personal Reading?
The feature does not establish how common erotic subject matter is in Chicago exhibitions compared with earlier periods. It provides no gallery survey, visitor data or comparison across years, and the writer acknowledges that the selection reflects personal observation.
It is also unclear whether the artists or curators intended the works to be read erotically. The feature describes the writer’s responses and interpretations; it does not report statements from the artists, curators or institutions confirming that intent.
What Further Evidence Could Show
The feature identifies no scheduled follow-up, new exhibition announcement or wider research project. Whether erotic art is becoming more visible would require additional exhibitions, artists’ or curators’ accounts, and comparisons over time. For now, the report leaves its opening question unresolved and offers a set of Chicago examples for readers to assess.
Key Questions
What is the main development in the feature?
Hyperallergic’s writer connects erotic or sexually charged elements across several recent Chicago exhibitions and asks whether they signal a broader trend.
Which exhibitions and artists are discussed?
The feature mentions Alice Tippit at DePaul Art Museum; SHADOW, curated by Shannon Stratton, with work by Holly Murkerson, David Sprecher and Neiva Mulhearn; the Art Institute of Chicago’s Willem de Kooning Drawing; and Melanie McLain’s Peripersonal at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago’s Slow Dance.
Does the feature prove erotic art is returning?
No. It reports one critic’s observations about selected exhibitions and does not compare the number of erotic works with earlier periods or survey the wider art scene.
Did the artists say the works were intended to be erotic?
The supplied feature does not include statements from the artists or curators confirming that intention. The erotic readings are attributed to the writer.
Source: hyperallergic.com
