3-D Doings: The Imagist Object in Chicago Art: 1964–1980

Contemporaneous with the Pop art movement, Chicago Imagism can be characterized as warm and wacky―a stark contrast to the cooler, more aloof styles in New York and London. The Imagist movement (a term coined by art historian Franz Schulze in 1972) was propelled by a core group of artists―all graduates of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago―that exhibited their work together as The Hairy Who between 1966 and 1968 at the Hyde Park Art Center on Chicago’s South Side. Though each artist had their own fiercely unique style, they shared a similar interest in popular culture, comics and material objects. Suellen Rocca and Roger Brown manipulated and augmented mass-produced household items. Art Green and Eleanor Dube painted on shaped canvases. Other artists, such as Karl Wirsum, Christina Ramberg and Philip Hanson, used materials associated with craft.