Osaka, Japan, and Chicago are sister cities, and in “Between Us,” on view at Project Onward, these cities converse and come alive through works made collaboratively between neurodiverse artists in both places.
For the show, Project Onward partnered with Atelier Corners in Osaka—both are progressive art studios. Artists started works that were then mailed 6,500 miles across the sea, to be finished by artists at the other studio, communicating each person’s unique style and context. The works are being shown simultaneously here and in Osaka, and are on view until June 27.
These pieces show how art is its own language, one of experiment, work, humor, imagination, and care. In The Exchange by Noon Slaps and Hiroki Nakamura, four faces with wide eyes communicate through thought and speech bubbles filled with colorful shapes and squirming blobs. Slaps said collaborating on these pieces “rejuvenated my artmaking” as they balanced Nakamura’s vision with their own.
Installation view, “Between Us,” Project Onward
Credit: Lauren Hermann
Elsewhere, monsters from Japan attack buildings in Bridgeport (Monsters Attacking Bridgeport by George Zuniga and Kanta Suzuki), and Osaka’s colorful trains roll into the Grand Avenue CTA stop (Busy Train Station by Bill Douglas and Toshiya Nakane). In Battle of the Monsters, Douglas made a fantastical world for Suzuki’s monsters to live in, with a peach sky, yellow clouds, water, and all kinds of bug- and reptile-like creatures.
Frederick Nitsch worked with Meiji Hashimoti on See the City At Night, where swirling red paint occupies most of the background, and a tiny white collaged bird flies into its center, evoking what it feels like to be small in a big world.
These artists demonstrate how exchange and connection are a vital part of art-making. “Knowing there’s another studio like this makes me feel less alone,” Nitsch said. “There’s folks like us everywhere. Interacting with them has been really beautiful.”
“Between Us”
Through 6/27: Mon–Tue by appointment, Wed–Sat 11 AM–5 PM, Project Onward, Bridgeport Art Center, 1200 W. 35th St., 4th fl.
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