The two-person display by Volume, a local Chicago space, is far from loud. The words meditative, contemplative, and serene all come to mind when standing amid Jonathan Muecke’s sculptures and Christy Matson’s acrylic-colored, woven geometric textiles.

While Muecke is best known for furniture and architectural design, his works on view here are aesthetic pieces above all else. They float on the edge of contradiction, with heavy materials made to feel light and more frail ones made to feel solid. These tensions never reach too far, though, and his works seem fully comfortable with themselves. The same can be said of Matson’s wall-hung pieces, which are as rooted in modern and contemporary art history—elements of minimalism, color theory—as they are in the lineage of craftwork that undergirds weaving. In her pieces, we see new and old balanced in a reflective harmony. Read Artsy’s picks for the 10 best booths at EXPO Chicago here.

Françoise Grossen
Volume Gallery, 1709 West Chicago Avenue Second Floor
5 March–23 April 2022
Known for suspended knotted-rope works made with braiding and plaiting techniques learnt in West Africa, Françoise Grossen has been looking for alternatives to fine materials and traditional textiles since the 1960s. See Ocula’s picks for the exhibitions to see during EXPO CHICAGO here.

“I don’t subscribe to the idea that there is a special and separate world in which sculpture exists. To me, it’s an extension of everything else that humans produce.”

BY WORKING WITH his preferred medium, ceramics, polymath Anders Herwald Ruhwald can engage with the skills he’s honed since the age of 15. Clay provides Ruhwald with the profound satisfaction of direct creation – seeing something useful or expressive be made from start to finish with one’s own hands. Working with this natural substance serves as a kind of literal and metaphoric grounding, a return to the earth, especially in an age dominated by digital detachment and virtual distraction. “My body intrinsically knows the clay’s properties,” the Chicago-based, Danish-born artist explains. “The material seems to offer endless possibilities that I can’t always predict.” Read the full review here.