Exhibition

  • Assaf Evron & Claudia Weber
    Elmhurst Art Museum
    Feb 16, 2019 to Apr 14, 2019
  • GRANTEE
    Elmhurst Art Museum
    GRANT YEAR
    2019

Assaf Evron, "Untitled (Dead Sea Circa 2017 for the McCormick House)," solvent print on perforated vinyl, 2019. Photo: Jim Prinz.

Mies van der Rohe's McCormick House is the site of a two-person show by Chicago-based artists Assaf Evron and Claudia Weber. Israeli-born Evron’s installation is inspired by Mies’ handmade collages to connect features of architecture with ideas about immigration, including his own personal experiences. The windows are treated with images of Germany and the Middle East furthering a conversation about global citizenship, while also collapsing rational architecture with the natural world. The German-born Weber will reside in the other half of the McCormick House. For the duration of the exhibition, she will research the house, create changing installations, showcase the works of Olivia Block and Kate Park, interact with visitors, and host a variety of events. As she lives, works, and exhibits in the space, Weber’s projects reflect on the structure’s history as a prototypical home and current function as a museum space.

Assaf Evron’s work has been exhibited in galleries and museums internationally. Evron holds a master's from The Cohn Institute as well as an master's from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where he currently teaches. He has received numerous awards including the Graham Foundation (2017), Israel Lottery (2017), Artis (2016), The Gerard Levy Prize (2012), The James Weinstein Fellowship from SAIC (2013), and The Israeli Ministry of Culture and Education Prize for Young Artists (2010). In the fall of 2019, his first US museum solo show opened at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. During the 2019 Chicago Architecture Biennial, he will again partner with the Elmhurst Art Museum to present another piece in the Mies Collage series at the iconic 900/910 North Lake Shore Drive apartments.

Claudia Weber has shown her mixed-media works internationally, including at Lehmann Maupin Gallery, Thierry Goldberg, and White Columns, New York; CAC Brétigny, Brétigny-sur-Orge, France); and Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien, Berlin. She received a year-long New York Stipend by the Federal State of Berlin, and a travel and study grant by the Jerome Foundation, among other awards. She has participated in numerous residencies, including McDowell Colony, Peterborough, New Hampshire, as well as the Workspace residency at the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, New York. As the founding editor of Plot.online, she brings together critical thinkers from a wide array of disciplines to address the narrative networks of images.

John McKinnon was appointed executive director of the Elmhurst Art Museum in 2017, where he oversaw the fundraising and restorations of Mies van der Rohe's McCormick House—revealing the full exterior for the first time in nearly 25 years. Under his leadership, the museum changed physically and philosophically, including rebranding and programming expansion. McKinnon currently serves on the City of Elmhurst's Public Arts Commission and the Arts DuPage advisory committee. His previous positions include program director of the Society for Contemporary Art at the Art Institute of Chicago, and assistant curator of modern and contemporary art at the Milwaukee Art Museum. He earned dual MA degrees in arts administration and policy and art history, theory, and criticism from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Elmhurst Art Museum is an organization dedicated to the development of rotating contemporary art exhibitions, the celebration and preservation of a rare single-family home designed by Mies van der Rohe, and ongoing educational programs that are available at no cost to interested groups, schools, and individuals. It is also an essential community anchor. In combination the galleries, the Mies House, the Education Center, the organization as a whole enriches thousands of lives annually by deepening knowledge of art, architecture, and design, increasing understanding of the relevance of visual art in our times, and sparking the development of individual creativity through innovative programming.