Chicago – 21c Museum Hotel presents POP STARS! Popular Culture and Contemporary Art, opening March 21, 2022!

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. Pop Stars! features over 90 works of art by 55 artists from around the world. The artists exhibited in the show 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. 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.

Image description: A salon wall featuring a large variety of artworks of different colors and sizes. A woman stands in front of the artwork with her back to the viewer.
Brian Paumier, Act of Faith, 2014. Unique cuadros, archival pigment prints on panel with resin. Photo courtesy of 21c Museum Hotels..

“Superheroes and celebrities, totems and toys: the imagery of manufactured fantasy is reframed in the visual language of historical iconography,” said Curator Alice Gray 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.”

Image description: A piece by Nick Cave hanging on a white wall. The piece is made up of a tan jacket with the underneath adorned with jewels.
Nick Cave, Hustle Coat, 2014, mixed media, 50 x 48 x in. Courtesy of Laura Lee Brown and Steve Wilson, 21c Museum Hotels.

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 techno culture.

Image description: A yellow and pink neon sign that reads: "Fame".
Simon Moretti, Fame, 2005. Neon light, transformers, programmer. Courtesy of Laura Lee Brown and Steve Wilson, 21c Museum Hotels.

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 Hotels, an award-winning hospitality company based in Louisville, Kentucky, is pushing the boundaries of both the museum and hotel worlds to create a new kind of travel experience. Today, guests can enjoy nine 21c Museum Hotels in Louisville, Kentucky; Cincinnati, Ohio; Bentonville, Arkansas; Durham, North Carolina; Lexington, Kentucky; Nashville, Tennessee, Oklahoma City; Oklahoma; KansasCity, Missouri; and Chicago, Illinois.

Image description: A green and yellow neon sign in the shape of an abstract face by Brendan Fernandes.
Brendan Fernandes, 1979.541.7. Neon on Plexiglas backing, with pink cord. Courtesy the artist and Monique Meloche Gallery, Chicago.
Image description: A large painting of a Black woman with a green background by Van Hoang.
Van Hoang, After Angela, 2015. Gold leaf, acrylic paint on cotton canvas. Courtesy of Laura Lee Brown and Steve Wilson, 21c Museum Hotels.
Image description: A painting of a Black woman on a tootsie roll floatie in a pool by Derrick Adams.
Derrick Adams, Floater No. 11, 2016. Acrylic paint and collage on paper. Courtesy of Laura Lee Brown and Steve Wilson, 21c Museum Hotels.
Image description: Artwork by David Scheinmann depicting Marilyn Monroe with Elvis's face
David Scheinmann, Elvis Marilyn, 2013. Pigment print. Courtesy of Laura Lee Brown and Steve Wilson, 21c Museum Hotels.

[Featured image: Robert Wilson, Lady Gaga Mademoiselle Caroline Riviere, 2013, HD video. Courtesy of Laura Lee Brown and Steve Wilson, 21c Museum Hotels.]

‍