“What could be worse than not finding the right story?”
Lawrence Steger, a Chicago performance artist, stated those words to audiences in his final performance work, Draft (1998). The same sentiment infuses the lively spirit of Gallery 400’s “Reckless Rolodex,”the first comprehensive retrospective of Steger’s massive body of work. Where else could one find a fruit cake, the death of Elizabeth Taylor, and mattresses bent and broken by storms of flesh? Steger’s artistic legacy not only tells these stories but explains how truth tends to live in the corners of life that closely resemble fiction.
The show’s title is both inspired by one of Steger’s performances and a descriptor of the exhibition’s structure; the show features a muscular lineup of artists responding to Steger’s work and impact on late 20th-century art history. The exhibition includes work by Devin T. Mays, John Neff, Betsy Odom, Derrick Woods-Morrow, Cherrie Yu and a performance series.
Betsy Odom, Wusthoff Knives, 2013, carved graphite, fur. 14 x 10 in.Courtesy the artist
Curated by Matthew Goulish, Lin Hixson, and Caroline Picard, “Rolodex” does something extraordinary in its examination of Steger’s brief life, one taken by complications from the AIDS virus. The exhibition imparts urgency and impresses intimacy upon Steger’s legacy and honors the artistic communities that continued in his absence. There is a type of magic that occurs when one is dislocated in time and place. It is in these moments that one can join something bigger than the self. This magic is what “Rolodex” offers viewers.
“Reckless Rolodex”Through 3/18: Tue-Fri 10 AM-5 PM, Sat noon-5 PM, Gallery 400, 400 S. Peoria, gallery400.uic.edu
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