Karl Wirsum, an eminent Chicago artist and founding member of the exhibition collectives the Hairy Who and the Chicago Imagists, is the subject of a rediscoveredtuesday 1973 film that offers a rare glimpse into his fertile creative process. The Chicago-based Pentimenti Productions will screen its digitally restored and remastered version of the original 14-minute short, Karl Wirsum, complete with a new score from local musicians Alex Inglizian and Marc Riordan, at the Museum of Contemporary Art on Thursday, October 27, and at the Northwestern University Block Museum of Art on Friday, November 4.
Simpson was pursuing a master’s degree in art history in 1973, but her then-husband, a documentary filmmaker, inspired her to make a short film for her thesis project rather than write a paper that would probably languish in the university’s library unread. When she shared the idea with her graduate adviser at CSU, he suggested that she profile Wirsum. “I didn’t know anything about Karl,” Simpson says. “My ex-husband gave me a Bolex camera, a tripod, and a recorder, and I just went to go meet Karl at his house and start filming.”
Karl Wirsum screens Thu 10/27, 6 PM, at the Museum of Contemporary Art. A discussion with Wirsum and fellow Imagist Gladys Nilsson, moderated by art scholar Robert Storr, will follow.
