OPEN HOURS: Every Saturday 12-4PM
OPEN HOURS W/PATRIC McCOY: Wednesday OCT 18 & NOV 1, 8, 15, 22, 2-6PM
Set against the backdrop of the early 1980s, when Harold Washington served as the city’s mayor and the country was coming to grips with the AIDS epidemic, “At First Glance” introduces us to a cast of characters, including street hustlers, businessmen, and lone wanderers asleep on park benches. Despite their differences on the surface, they are united by how they individually navigate the beautiful complexities of being a Black man in America.
Equipped with a 35mm camera and a mission to photograph any-body who asked, McCoy captured a wide variety of Chicagoans on his frequent bike rides between the city’s South Side and downtown. The profundity and power of the resulting images don’t come from intentional attempts at political strategy or grand gestures of centralizing systemic oppression. Instead, their potency comes from their authentic simplicity and candor as they delicately explore the liminal space between erotic and mundane.
McCoy’s photos never tell us what to see. Rather, they invite us to question how we see our brothers, fathers, lovers, comrades, and sons. As such, he expanded upon the legacies of James Van Der Zee and Roy DeCarava, whose images of Harlem challenged preconceived notions of being Black in segregated America, and Gordon Parks, who cataloged the daily lives of Black Americans during the Civil Rights Era.
Today, McCoy’s archive is recognized as a part of a photographic tradition in contemporary art that celebrates Black men beyond pure documentation or tedious cliché. A retired environmental scientist who served in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (USEPA) regional office in Chicago, McCoy never pursued photography on a professional level, but his undeniable technique, framing, and poetic vision has captivated the arts world. Over the years, his images have appeared in exhibitions with acclaimed photographers, including Chicago’s Derrick Woods-Morrow.
Building on two previous exhibitions of McCoy’s work at Wright-wood 659 and Hyde Park Historical Society “At First Glance” will include large-scale photo prints on a variety of materials, including muslin and aluminum. The exhibit will also feature a short film made by Jalen Hamilton and a selection of pieces from McCoy’s extensive art collection, which spans more than 50 years of work—predominantly by Black artists from Chicago.
With a closing date of November 25, “At First Glance” is Blanc’s final exhibition of 2023. The show is a wonderful opportunity to pay homage to a local artist whose practice and perspective open up a series of portals into a wider context of Chicago. “At First Glance” is a memorial to the many forgotten Black men who died during the height of the AIDS epidemic, as well as a celebration of the sights, sounds and feeling of the era and the people who colored it with their rich complexity.
“At First Glance” runs at Blanc Gallery (4445 S. Martin Luther King Dr.) from October 14 through November 25.