21c Museum Hotel Chicago Presents New Pop Stars Exhibition Opening March 21

21c Museum Hotel Chicago has announced the debut of its new on-site exhibition, Pop Stars! Popular Culture and Contemporary Art, scheduled to open Monday, March 21.

The multi-media exhibition illuminates the intersection of celebrity, commerce, technology and the media, including notable works by Nick Cave, Brendan Fernandes, Titus Kaphar, Hank Willis Thomas and Kehinde Wiley, among others. Spanning all 10,000+ square feet of the 21c Museum Hotel Chicago's gallery space, Pop Stars! features over 90 works of art by 55 artists from around the world. The opening reception is planned for Thursday, March 24, at 6 p.m., with the curator's remarks and a conversation with featured artist Brendan Fernandes taking place from 6:30 - 7 p.m.

The artists exhibited in Pop Stars! examine recent shifts in how culture is being created and consumed, demonstrating the dominance of the popular as today's ubiquitous culture. Curated by Museum Director and Chief Curator Alice Gray Stites, Pop Stars! will be on view at 21c Museum Hotel Chicago through February 2023.

"Superheroes and celebrities, totems and toys: the imagery of manufactured fantasy is reframed in the visual language of historical iconography," said Stites. "With unprecedented access to an audience of one's own, we find affirmation onscreen, and venerate fame as a final destination. As the real and the virtual increasingly collide, boundaries between art and media further blur, inspiring new mythologies realized in new materials: stars of stage, screen, and sport are re-envisioned, offering insight into how desire shapes identity. References to religious iconography are integrated into a spectrum of artworks that illustrate the persistent, powerful impact of technology on who we are and what we want."

The diverse group of artists featured in Pop Stars! find inspiration in popular culture, appropriating and reworking imagery from art history, commerce, politics, religion, science, sports and technology. The legacy of late 20th century Pop Art is evident throughout the exhibition: Andy Warhol's style and subject matter echo in paintings by Van Hoang, Rebecca Campbell, Walter Robinson, Titus Kaphar and Ryan McGinness; in sculptural works by Sanford Biggers, Felipe Barbosa and Olivier Blanckart; in the photography of David Scheinmann, Adriana Duque and Slater Bradley; and in multi-media works by Nick Cave, April Bey and Godfried Donkor, among others. R. Luke DuBois, Shamus Clisset, Robert Wilson, Katie Miller and others utilize digital tools and imagery, demonstrating how pop culture is increasingly synonymous with technoculture.

Today, artists like Kehinde Wiley, Derrick Adams, Frances Goodman, Hank Willis Thomas, Laurel Nakadate, Brian Paumier, and others, enshrine the everyday, intertwining high and low and past and present, to reveal the evolution of our identities and aspirations in a rapidly changing world. Nick Cave's embellished sculpture, Hustle Coat (2014), imbues the mundane with mystical and otherworldly qualities. An ordinary trench coat is lined with row-upon-row of glistening jewels, watches and chains, referencing the coats worn by street salesman who offer "knock-offs" of luxury brand goods at a fraction of the price. Cave's work perfectly encapsulates the elevation of the everyday so synonymous with Pop Art and popular culture today.

21c Museum Hotel Chicago is one of nine 21c Museum Hotel locations that form North America's only multi-venue museum dedicated to collecting and exhibiting the art of the 21st century. Open 24 hours a day, seven days a week and free of charge to the public, 21c Museum Hotel Chicago offers guided docent tours of current exhibitions, adding another must-see cultural destination to the city's vibrant art scene for both travelers and residents. Guided docent tours begin in the hotel lobby every Friday at 5 p.m.

For more information, including hotel and museum visit reservations, visit www.21cchicago.com.

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