On paper, Bill Walker and Dapper Bruce Lafitte, the subjects of separate, free, and ongoing art exhibits, don’t have much in common. Walker, who died in 2011, was based in Chicago and known primarily for his murals, in particular the Wall of Respect, which Reader contributor Jeff Huebner called “one of the most significant, if unsung, artistic events of the turbulent 60s.” Lafitte, 46, lives in New Orleans, where he makes elaborate drawings with markers and ink. But despite their having worked in different time periods and locations, I was nevertheless struck by how much Walker’s pieces reminded me of Lafitte’s, and vice versa.
For the most part, “Urban Griot” is informed by raw indignation. Reaganomics 6 (1981) makes an explicit connection between the economic policies of the 40th president and white supremacy and racial violence: a giant Ku Klux Klan member personally lynches a black man, both of them facing a Nazi soldier who’s squeezing a sickly man wearing a crown with a Jewish star on it. Red, White and Blue 3 (1982) shows a pitch-black mother holding a pitch-black baby, both with narrowed eyes and downturned red mouths, standing in front of a sign that reads we no longer accept milk stamps; according to the program these figures represent the Madonna and child, perhaps symbolizing how America’s Christian ideals are at odds with its actions.
Through 4/8/18: Mon-Thu 9 AM-8 PM, Fri-Sat 9 AM-5 PM, Sun noon-5 PM Hyde Park Art Center 5020 S. Cornell 773-324-5520hydeparkart.org Free
“Dapper Bruce Lafitte: Kingpin of the Antpin” Through 12/11: Tue-Sat 11 AM-6 PM, Thu 11 AM-7 PM, Sun noon-5 PM Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art<br/ 756 N. Milwaukee 312-243-9088art.org Free
