Critic Jerry Saltz was perhaps the first to articulate a dichotomy in figurative painting between the cool, clean portraits of Alex Katz and the clumsily portrayed buffoons of Alice Neel. If there is an equator between these poles, it is the work of Peter Broitman, who indulges Katz’s stylistic bravura without toning down his Neel-like psychic insights. It is only fitting that Broitman’s current exhibition at the Chicago Cultural Center is held at the Senior Center, where the rebellious characters of his paintings meet their real-life counterparts.
A touch of rebelliousness animates Broitman’s ridiculous canvases—after he interrupted his three-decade career as a litigator to devote himself full-time to painting, the floodgates opened to whimsy he could not reveal in sober courtrooms. Like Rumpelstiltskin spinning straw into gold, Broitman transforms unremarkable elevated trains into character studies of the wandering mind. In one work set on the Red Line, a burly construction worker’s sleep prevents him from noticing that the passengers across from him are in the midst of a metamorphosis, their heads transformed into those of starving zoo animals. Another work juxtaposes the clothing of five seated passengers, throwing denim-clad backpackers next to ballgoers in royal robes to comic effect. Broitman is more aware than most of the CTA’s communal role in delineating two opposing extremes—it testifies to both our public selves and our inner lives.
Broitman’s forays into political satire are rather humorous: three giggling members of the Chicago Seven adorn Abbie, Rennie and Jerrywhile Black Jack awkwardly befriends a waddling bird in General Pershing and Duck. If this show’s lawyerly conscience – obsessed with conveying the truth – and its penchant for ridiculous juxtapositions are any indication, we can expect Broitman’s work to elicit plenty of dropped jaws and hearty laughter for years to come.
“People (mostly)”
Until August 28th: open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington, chicago.gov/city/en/depts/dca/supp_info/exhibits.html
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