One of the underlying premises in assembling the Belger Collection is the importance of collecting multiple works over time by the same artist. Collecting in depth provides a glimpse through the artwork into how the artist approaches life, love, loss, and the other inevitable changes over the course of time. The viewer brings a perspective through unique memories and personal experiences that leave a mark and inform identity.

The artists in Whispers and Screams explore their memories and perceptions of people, places, and moments in time. Some of those memories are loud and jarring. Others are more reflective and have softened with the passage of time. There are examples of stereotypes, idealized love, lust, romance, excitement, loss, and regret. There are glimpses into the complexity of communities at all levels, the commonalities, and the differences.

The works selected for this exhibition focus on people, histories, and relationships. Human beings are pack animals. People look for their communities and how to understand their place in them. In the course of that exploration, an understanding develops of the past, present, and future.

Artists included in the exhibition: Terry Allen, Manuel Álvarez Bravo, Nick Bubash, Clayton Bailey, William Christenberry, Robert Cottingham, John De Andrea, Viola Frey, Michael Hannon, Jasper Johns, Guy Johnson, Kate Kretz, Wes Lyle, Ed Massey, Jack Mendenhall, Jerry Ott, Joey Quiñones, Mel Ramos, Robert Rauschenberg, Don Reitz, Larry Rivers, Alex Siburney, Herb Snitzer, Robert Stackhouse, Renée Stout, Akio Takamori, William T. Wiley, and Winter & Williams.

Salvador Jiménez-Flores is a Chicago-based artist and educator who, as a teenager, immigrated from Mexico to the U.S. His body of work is steeped in his experience as a bi-cultural, bilingual artist living “concurrently in two different worlds.” Arte-Sano: Soy libre porque pienso showcases the breadth of his practice through a range of media. His ceramics, glass, metalwork, photography, and prints reflect the artist’s continued exploration of the politics of identity and the state of double consciousness. He also highlights the struggles and complexities of Latinx people living in the U.S.

Rich in symbolism and iconography, Salvador Jiménez-Flores draws upon Afro-Futurism, Funk Ceramics, Robert Arneson’s satiric comedy, and references pre-Columbian traditions and pop culture, to create a world that he calls “Rascquache Futurism.” In the true nature of “rasquachismo,” the concept of making the most of limited resources, Jiménez-Flores attests to his own defiance and inventiveness as an “artesano” (“craftsman”) which is a larger reflection of the resilience of Latinx people.

The exhibition title Arte-Sano:Soy libre porque pienso directly translates to “Craftsman: I am free because I think.” Soy libre porque pienso references the freedom that comes with being able to think for oneself. Including a hyphen in the word “Arte-Sano” Jiménez-Flores creates two words and an expanded meaning “arte” (“art”) and “sano” (“healthy”) revealing his fascination with word play and the power of language.

Salvador Jiménez-Flores is an Assistant Professor in ceramics at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. His work has been included in exhibitions at museums such as the National Museum of Mexican Art, Grand Rapids Art Museum, Urban Institute of Contemporary Art, Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, and Museum of Art and Design. Among his many awards and recognitions, Jiménez-Flores is a recipient of the Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters & Sculptors Grant, a Burke Prize finalist, and a 2021 United States Artist Fellow. Currently, Salvador Jiménez-Flores is a member of The Color Network, an organization whose mission is to promote the advancement of people of color in the ceramic arts, and the Institutio Gráfico de Chicago, a socially conscious organization that utilizes printmaking to ignite community engagement in sociopolitical discourse.

“This current series of portraits are rooted in Ho-Chunk identity. I am extending the boundaries of photography by incorporating bead-work directly onto the photograph. The use of Ho-Chunk floral and geometric designs is a metaphor for the spirits of our ancestors who are constantly looking over us.” — Tom Jones 

“The artworks for Horse Songs were created to honor, remember, and respect the Comanche, Kiowa, and Cheyenne people and their horses.

“In 1874, the US Military leader Ranald S. Mackenzie ordered the 4th U.S. Cavalry troops to slaughter an estimated 1400 horses and mules in Tule Canyon belonging to the Comanche, Kiowa, and Cheyenne people who had set up camp in Palo Duro Canyon, Texas. This act of genocide contributed to the forced removal of the Comanche people to the present-day Wichita Mountain area of Lawton, Oklahoma, which is my home.

“Horse Songs consists of sculptural horse masks and works on paper. I screen-print and paint on a variety of materials such as Naugahyde, felt and paper. The images I use are abstract representations of what’s above, on and below the land. While painting, drawing and printing, I am thinking about how we contribute to society and the challenges we face currently and in our future. I consider the importance of place, being grounded with oneself and our quest to discover more about who we are as a people. I’m looking at the stars as the future, present and the past. ” – John Hitchcock

“My fine art practice is informed by a concern for the environment, displacement, exile and the return home. I seek the unbroken relationship between modern culture and ancient lands where tradition and story are used to find meaning from dislocation and separation. I work with vulnerable landscapes and waterways which support birds, plants and animals. The migratory bird imagery in this series of artworks is drawn from zoological specimens including the Anhinga, Barred Owl and Trumpeter Swan which are accompanied by various botanical specimens, moths and snakes.” — Emily Arthur