What Happened
April 6–September 22, 2024
220 E Chicago Ave
60611 Chicago IL
Hours: Tuesday 10am–9pm,
Wednesday–Sunday 10am–5pm
Opening April 6, 2024 at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) Chicago is Nicole Eisenman: What Happened, the artist’s first major comprehensive survey and one deeply reflective of our moment in time. Curated by Monika Bayer-Wermuth and Mark Godfrey with the assistance of Cameron Foote, the MCA’s presentation is organized by Associate Curator Jadine Collingwood and Assistant Curator Jack Schneider. It will be on view through September 22, 2024, in the Griffin Galleries of Contemporary Art on the museum’s fourth floor. The MCA is the only US venue and the last destination for the exhibition.
“The MCA is delighted to be the sole US venue for Nicole Eisenman’s first major survey exhibition,” Pritzker Director Madeleine Grynsztejn said. “Having Eisenman’s work at the MCA befits the museum’s dedication to gender equity, and strengthens the thread of social consciousness and activism that is woven throughout the city’s culture.”
Nicole Eisenman (b. 1965, Verdun, France; lives in Brooklyn, NY) rose to prominence in the early 1990s New York art scene. She explores political, economic, and social themes through her formally experimental and often-humorous portraits of daily life. Within paintings, drawings, and sculptures, Eisenman utilizes narrative and artistic process to address topics including economic crisis, the rise of far-right populism, and the ongoing climate emergency.
Through over 100 works dating back to 1992, audiences will encounter the breadth of artworks in the exhibition that span Eisenman’s career, including Another Green World (2015), Coping (2008), and Edie (The Destroyer) (2022). Across these works, Eisenman models new forms of personal, social, and romantic connection while reflecting on her own communities, her life as an artist, and the complexity of human experiences.
“Rebellious, witty, personal, relatable,” explains Associate Curator Jadine Collingwood, “Eisenman’s irreverent work captures the intimacy of everyday life while confronting the urgent political issues of our time.”
