I was sent to learn tennis when I was eight. The default beginner racket is a black and yellow Wilson which I did not quite like for its aesthetics, its standing for rookie, and the seemingly meaningless brand name; but nevertheless swung for approximately one year before I happily upgraded to a black and blue Prince. Fourteen years later, I was cruising in the Maclean Center—for open studios of course—and feeling gloomy for many reasons. I ran into an empty studio and saw a mostly figurative painting. It cheered me up. I stayed for a couple minutes but nobody came. Two years later, luckily or finally, I alighted on the painter, Wilson, who informed me the figure in that painting—retrospectively I think it is this figure’s self-enjoying expression that delivers a certain cheerfulness—was modelled after his brother Cyrus.

May 17—June 16
Sat & Sun 1pm—5pm, or by appointment
6400 S Kimbark Ave, Chicago, IL

Opening Reception
May 17, 5pm

Panel Dicussion
Robert Meeker, Delia Pless and Catherine Sullivan
June 2, 3pm

For appointment and question, please contact: Arts@firstchurchchicago.org

Wilson Yerxa is the first of Qiuchen Wu’s Three American Painters—a project with support from the arts program at The First Presbyterian Church of Chicago and The Arts Club of Chicago.