A visit to the Art Institute was the plan for the day. This was another place I had visited on my previous visit to Chicago and luckily this time I was able to see at first glance a favourite piece of American art that was not on display in 2004 which was Grant Wood's American Gothic as well as Edward Hopper's, Nighthawks. A collection of Hopper's work was recently in London which somehow I missed.
The Art Institute has a massive collection of the old masters as well as modern pieces. A particular poigniant piece is Felix Gonzalez-Torres' Untitled (Portrait of Ross in LA) 1991, which consists of a pile of candies laid out on the floor. It's a tribute to his partner who had died of an AIDS related illness. Visitors are invited to take sweets from this pile, which is topped up on a daily basis. Visitors are only allowed one piece of a candy per visit. Here the weight of the pile of sweets equals the ideal body weight of Ross, 175 pounds.
The afternoon was then spent shopping and eating, two things that can be done remarkably cheaply. Safe to say I will have to buy another case for the return trip to London. I've had to buy myself more than one or two T-Shirts amongst other things as I only put a couple in the case and so far the temperatures here haven't dipped much below 70 degrees F during the day. This, Lillie tells me, is not that unusual for this time of year. I can guarantee you though, as soon as I step off the plane in London next Monday it will be pouring with rain!
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