Photographer Zoe Strauss spent the third week of July capturing life in Greater Chicago. Her resulting photo show, "Week of the Perfect Game," revisits seven memorable days.
Photographer Zoe Strauss spent the third week of July capturing life in Greater Chicago. Her resulting photo show, "Week of the Perfect Game," revisits seven memorable days.
Stauss felt the excitement after White Sox pitcher Mark Buehrle pitched his perfect game July 23 against the Tampa Bay Rays, a feat that inspired her show's moniker. She also visited Gary after hometown hero Michael Jackson's death and popped into Whiting's Pierogi Fest. Her 18 photos are now on display at the Art Institute.
The renowned, Philadelphia-reared photographer, hosting a discussion about "Game" on Thursday at the museum's Price Auditorium, specializes in realistic slices of life. Her works have been exhibited as far away as the Netherlands and the Czech Republic and her first collection, "America," was published last year to great acclaim.
Strauss wanted to initially concentrate on the impact of President Obama's election on the Windy City and the region. But the White Sox no-hitter and the city of Gary's lingering reaction to Jackson's death became subjects, too.
Jackson's death "was the kind of thing that was an international phenomenon, and was the kind of thing that would draw her attention," assistant curator of photography Katherine Bussard said.
Strauss herself carefully sequenced her photos so visitors to "Game" -- one-third of the Art Institute's "On the Scene" exhibit -- concoct their own interpretations of the photographs in their given order.
"I think there's a very strong interest on her part, and hopefully the viewers' part, to try and make connections between the photographs," Bussard said. "In talking to people as I've taken them through the exhibit, one of the pleasures has been people constructing their own narrative and not relying on one that is so dictated by the art, that there is room for innovation and imagination."
On display through Jan. 24 in the museum's Bucksbaum Gallery, "Game" is sharing space with "Recordings," Chicago artist Jason Lazarus' found-photos exhibit, and German photographer Wolfgang Ploger's "Make No Mistake About This," a series of film-maneuvering creations.
One of "Scene's" goals "is to showcase artists who are thinking about photography and what the boundaries of photography might be and how those boundaries might get pushed," Bussard said.
The Art Institute is open 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Wednesday and Friday, 10:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Free admission hours are 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Thursdays. General admission is $18 for adults and $12 for children 14 years of age and older and seniors. Children under 14 are free.
IFYOUGO
WHAT: Zoe Strauss, discussion on "Week of the Perfect Game" from "On the Scene," 6 p.m. Thursday
WHERE: Art Institute, 111 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago
COST: Free
FYI: (312) 443-3600, artic.edu
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