HUMANITY: A Survey of Our Times

With our first group exhibition in three years, we are excited to present this curated selection of artists from around the world to share their viewpoint on the meaning of HUMANITY.  And best of all, a percentage of proceeds from the sales of these works will benefit one of our favorite charities, the Chicago Children's Advocacy Center. Having served over 45,000 children, the ChicagoCAC is Chicago's only non-profit organization that brings child protection services, law enforcement professionals, family advocates and healing services under one roof to respond to, treat, and ultimately prevent child abuse.  

In HUMANITY, time is collapsed and made fluid as events of the past are mirrored in moments from the present. In this extremely divisive moment in history, HUMANITY demonstrates how connected the world actually is. Regardless of decade or locale, global citizens share more commonalities than dissimilarities with images depicting universal themes. From childhood to adulthood, the interior landscape of our psyche, hardships, joys and experiences portray an indomitable human spirit. 

Although many of these artists have worked in different time periods, speak different languages and have differing belief systems, the imagery espoused in their art remains consistent – love, friendship, faith, joy, ambition, spirituality, the quest for financial security, war and its effects, wealth disparity, civil rights movements, political and philosophical beliefs, as well as figures who serve as symbols of peace and hope.

From photography to paintings, sculpture and mixed media, some of the works in the exhibition are documentarian in nature and therefore factual, yet some will generate differing perspectives. Although HUMANITY presents moments in time that most will recognize, images were selected by their ability to evoke distinctive response and emotion. Author James Baldwin’s words echo through the chambers of HUMANITY:

​“The precise role of the artist, then, is to illuminate that darkness, blaze roads through vast forests,​ so that we will not, in all our doing, lose sight of its purpose, which is, after all,

to make the world a more human dwelling place.”

HUMANITY: A SURVEY OF OUR TIMES will be on display until the 23rd of July. Please contact sophie@hilton-asmus.com to make an appointment to view the show!  The exhibition will also be available virtually on our website, on Artnet and Artsy.