About the Exhibition

Betsy Odom

Continental Breakfast

On view May – August 2024

 

Join us on May 17th from 6-8pm for a reception with the artist!

 

On view in Gallery 3 as a part of the Elevate series at 21c Chicago is a suite of sculptures by Betsy Odom. Continental Breakfast includes artworks featuring the artists unique blending of athletics, leisure, and traditional craft practices such as tooled leather and woodworking, including a new site-specific sculpture. Odom’s self-described “Butchcraft” is both a subversive and humorous queering of everyday objects and an investigation into displays of identity.

 

Betsy Odom (b.  Amory, Mississippi, 1980) is an artist, curator, and educator based in Chicago. They received their MFA from Yale University School of Art and their BFA from the San Francisco Art Institute. They have exhibited internationally in group- and solo- exhibitions, including solo exhibitions at the DePaul Art Museum, 4WPS, ThreeWalls Gallery, Hyde Park Art Center, and WomanMade Gallery.  They have also exhibited at venues such as Gallery 400, LVL3 Gallery, Journal Gallery in Brooklyn, Corbett vs. Dempsey and Western Exhibitions in Chicago, Amel Bourorina Gallery in Berlin, and Barry Whistler Gallery in Dallas, TX.  Odom has been the recipient of several fellowships including an Illinois Arts Council Grant, a Chances Dances Critical Fierceness prize, and two grants from the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs. Their work is part of the West Collection, the Cleve Carney Museum collection, and the collection of the DePaul Museum of Art.

 

Elevate at 21c presents temporary exhibitions of works by artists living and working in the communities surrounding each 21c Museum Hotel. Elevate provides hotel guests and visitors with unique access to the work of notable regional artists, while featuring their work in the context of 21c’s contemporary art space.