Hairy Who has become a milestone in 20th-century American art and it started at Hyde Park Art Center. The exhibition featured paintings by five artists who had recently emerged from the School of the Art Institute and tended toward the absurdly figurative. This exhibition was the first in a series of three that featured comic book catalogs and raucous parties. Critic Franz Schulze wrote that the works were based on, “possible bizarre basement scenarios,” uncovering, “a Chicago mood in art.” The group of artists were brought together by Art Center Director, Don Baum, and later became know as part of the Chicago Imagists.
