LINCOLN PARK — Flowing blood, bones and live circus performers will be the focal points of an art exhibit launching in Lincoln Park this weekend.
"Bone & Blood: Structural Bodies in Motion" will take the title literally during the opening reception Saturday night as four performers will showcase their talents surrounded by light projections of blood.
A trapeze artist, a silk dancer, two lyra performers — who perform in a hanging hoop — and rock climbing boulderers will all be part of the show.
Part of the exhibit will be held inside a bouldering gym.
"It's a physical way of trying to get people to look inward and understand their fascination with anatomy," said Phillip Schalekamp, the curator of the exhibit and founder of Chicago art collective Squid3. "I've had one my whole life."
The event features the work of New York "blood artist" Jordan Eagles, whose primary medium is cow blood.
Eagles is known to mix the blood with copper and resin before sealing it in Plexiglas plates.
The upcoming exhibit will include light being projected through the plates, splashing the walls of the gallery in blood-red patterns.
The projections of blood floating in the resin "invokes feelings of sacred spaces and stained glass windows," according to Schalekamp.
Other parts of the exhibit will feature works from artists combining language and microscopic images of blood and hair. Skeletons and animal bones are used in some of the work.
"Hair is such an interesting topic because it is a kind of vessel that holds information," Schalekamp said.
Overall, the exhibit will include works by 23 artists.
The part of the exhibit that will be held inside a bouldering gym will include live performances by actual members of the gym, who will have light projected on them while they climb to showcase the human body.
Squid3's last event, "Dissecting Art, Intersecting Anatomy," drew more than 800 people on its opening weekend, and Schalekamp expects the latest show in the series focusing on the body to exceed that total.
The opening reception will be held from 6-10 p.m. Saturday at Squid3 Gallery, 1907 N. Mendell St., Suite 4.
The 20-minute live performances will be held at 7:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.
There will be wine, hors d'oeuvres and music during the opening reception.
The free exhibit will run through Oct. 12.
"What I hope they take away from it is introspection as opposed to simple entertainment," Schalekamp said. "The question that I like asking myself is, 'What is our purpose? Why are we here, and where are we going?'"
