JOSEPH SEIGENTHALER’S large ceramic heads, dramatically installed along a wall of the Ann Nathan Gallery, remind a viewer of the carved and painted figureheads of 19th Century sailing ships — which consisted not just of heads but of full-sized female figures in flowing period gowns. But Seigenthaler’s heads not only are abruptly snipped at the neck, but they also are less romantic and more realistic in style — all of them recognizable approximations of the artist’s subjects. Seigenthaler has ably captured features and mood — the line of his subjects’ aging skin, their expressive mouths, their wistful eyes. A sadness colors all, which comes through most in the heads’ glasslike ceramic eyes, which the artist inscribed with the year of each subject’s birth and death. Among the best: Goya with a beard and Rembrandt with a cap. The exhibit continues at 218 W. Superior St. through November.
The title of Anna Kunz’s first one-person show at Thomas McCormick Works of Art is “Inflorescence,” which could be a reference to Kunz’s budding talent as well as to the flowering of blossoms or a collection of flowers (the dictionary definition). The oil-on-panel paintings, some much larger than previously typical of the Chicago artist, reflect a successful combination of whimsical spirals, realistic ladders, crowns and plant forms that appear ready to dance off the canvases — which are richly painted with sensuous abstract expanses of deep muted colors. In 13, the influence is certainly Gauguin with an orange bed, black ladder and large spheres of reds and whites. The juxtapositions in each work are said to reveal Kunz’s desire to contrast conscious realistic forms with subconscious abstract thoughts. In any case, Kunz seamlessly blends realism and abstraction, fashioning something unique. The show continues at 2055 N. Winchester Ave. through Oct. 25.
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Martha Laughlin’s prior work as a fashion illustrator for newspapers and magazines and her love of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s writings is evident in the people and scenes she captures in oil on composition board and canvas in her latest show at Eastwick Gallery. The scenes such as “Atrium” and “Stork Club 1943” bring to life a different, some would say more glamorous, era, when women dressed up and wore hats to dine, waiters wore tuxedos and minimalism was a style of interior decoration yet to be invented. Laughlin’s images stem from her imagination rather than being based on snapshot-like memories from her past. “The scenes are a fantasy for me. I like to imagine what these people of long ago might be doing,” she explained. Laughlin convincingly conveys an era, scene and mood through spare detailing and crisp colors. The show continues at 245 W. North Ave. until Oct. 23.