vanessa german

The Richard and Mary L. Gray Center for Arts and Inquiry presents the first solo museum exhibition in Chicago by self-taught artist vanessa german, opening Friday, July 19. The exhibition features new rose quartz and precious gemstone sculptures, created during her Gray Center Fellowship supported by the Joyce Foundation. Guided by paraäcademia, addressing knowledge and practices excluded from formal education, the exhibition enacts spells inspired by people encountered during her residency.

Developed over several months, the works highlight Chicago as an energetic production hub, showcasing art as social healing, political meditations, and spiritual activations embracing love as fundamental. The exhibition includes four rose quartz sculptures, photography and film blending meditation and documentary, made during german’s fellowship.

In Winter 2024, German led an experimental seminar at the University of Chicago’s Department of Visual Art on “The Artist as The Complete Technology of Whole Being-ness”. This method integrated art, magic, knowledge, and spirituality, involving students from various levels. The exercises and meditations from this course are part of the exhibition.