The Refrigerator Door Show

Featured Artists

Tom Brennan, Natalie Clark, Susan Coffey, Brendan De Vallance, Luke Dohner, Mike Gamis, GOMEZ, Deb Haugh, Dave Kargl, Julie Lichtenberg, Joe Litzenberger, Mike Noland, R. Richards, Ken Saunders, Matt Straub, John Spear, Richard Wanke, and Karl Wirsum.

  • November 20, 1988 – December 18, 1988
  • The Del Prado

Conceived and curated by Michael Lash, eighteen artists were invited to create masterworks that incorporated the hallowed refrigerator door. Nineteen refrigerator doors of various sizes and eras, were altered and given a distinctive interpretation by each artist.

Artist Joe Litzenberger, used two doors, sliced them and reassembled the strips into one giant refrigerator door. Michael Noland, painted a landscape on his door and incorporated the handle into the image. Performance artist Brendan de Vallance used an album cover from the Beatles on his door. De Vallance placed musical tape, a snare drum, and drum sticks for the viewer to interact with. Mike Gamis used block lettering, with sections of the print missing, and commercial artwork of an orange with segments on his door. Artist Deb Haugh covered her freezer door with plastic wrap, and torn paper was configured on the floor to resemble a holy figure. Chan Tom‘s rusted refrigerator door incorporated hand drawn components of cross hatching. Matt Straub and Natalie Clark played up the wooden double door handles and broken crockery aesthetics of their refrigerator doors respectively. Karl Wirsum featured a smiling spider on his door, reinterpreting the disturbing for the benign. Richard Wanke emphasized the art deco design on his door, by drawing on top of the design in the same style. A “mail in” component to the exhibition also invited all Chicago area artists to send in their work based on this idea. The artwork was hung on the wall in a separate part of the show.