Magic & Imaginary Realms: Selections From the Elmhurst Art Museum Collection

Magic & Imaginary Realms presents selections from the Elmhurst Art Museum’s Collection with works by artists who share uniquely inventive perceptions of the world around us - or who invent worlds we are invited to inhabit.

This peek into the collection draws inspiration from the whimsical worlds of The Neighborhood of Make-Believe and Someplace Else, created by Fred Rogers and continued into today's PBS KIDS show Donkey Hodie, which were showcased in the Museum's galleries this past summer.

Here, we present visions of the strange and magical by artists working in a variety of media and representing a broad range of dates and approaches. Included are the completely made-up beings in works by Peter Max and Sonia Delaunay, strange and mystical interior spaces created by Nicholas Sistler and Phillip Hansen, oddly revealing juxtapositions framed by photographer Caroline Allison, or the bizarre collision of worlds experienced by Rebecca Keller whilst standing at a photocopy machine, presented to us on a shoe.

Artists:

Caroline Allison, Tarrant Clements, Sonia Delaunay, Philip Hansen, Sophia Harmon, Nancy Josephson, Rebecca Keller, Richard Koppe, Aleš Lamr, Miles Lowry, Peter Max, Hollis Sigler, Nicholas Sistler, Buzz Spector, Junsuke Watarai

Curated by Liz Chilsen

Artwork Image Above:

Peter Max
American, b. 1937
Universal Runner, 1970
Color Serigraph
Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Ronald H. Stefani, Jr.
2010.02