Altogether Mutable: The Work of Mary Lou Zelazny

For nearly thirty years, mixed-media artist Mary Lou Zelazny has consistently woven narrative, humor and sexuality into the painted image through the seamless use of collage and realism. This exhibition presented a comprehensive selection of this important Chicago artist’s oeuvre to date featuring over 70 collaged paintings and paint studies made between 1980 and 2008. Curated by Allison Peters Quinn, Director of Exhibitions at Hyde Park Art Cetner, Altogether Mutable was the first retrospective dedicated to the work of Mary Lou Zelazny. Instructed by artists including Ray Yoshida and Karl Wirsum and shown early in her career at the momentous Phyllis Kind Gallery, painter Mary Lou Zelazny is often grouped with the Chicago Imagists. This exhibition aims to expand such perceptions by revealing a trajectory of technical styles and socially-conscious subjects that have pushed Zelazny to go beyond the Imagist tradition and forge a path in the canon of painting. Her works pose questions and make pointed observations concerning the complexity of human relationships and the socialized – even commercialized – roles we play in those relationships. According to Zelazny, “Collage never completes the story; instead it leaves openings for multiple interpretations.”