In a dark theatre on Clark Street, the human body takes center stage as a canvas for trees, tigers, water and all manner of shapes and colors.
More than 150 images snake around the Berry Black Box Theatre at Bramble Arts Loft on Clark Street celebrating 40 years of the photography of Pete Guither, a retired assistant dean of the College of Fine Art at Illinois State University.
The retrospective of Guither's work, which runs through August 8, covers both his static photography and the performances which ran from 2001 to 2016.
Known as The Living Canvas, the texture of projected images, along with light and shadow, was used to capture the intricacies and expressiveness of the nude form. The Living Canvas celebrated body acceptance in a time when such an idea was a radical, virtually non-existent notion.
Guither himself believes his work is a collaboration between artists - that it is not just his work, but the work of all those who have been involved in The Living Canvas since its inception.
"These are not my photos. They are part of a larger effort by artists exploring body acceptance through The Living Canvas. I triggered the shutter on the camera," Guither said.
The interactive photography exhibit does not require tickets and is donation-based. It runs:
In addition to the exhibit, two live performances highlighting over 25 years of the moving canvas will take place Friday, August 7 at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. For the performances, tickets are available in advance via Eventbrite or at the door.
Please note that the photography and performances involve nudity.
Guither's award-winning work has been featured online and presented in various galleries and publications, as well as a United Nations presentation ("Furrows and Deltas: The Erogenous Zones of Mother Earth"). His extensive background includes theatre, dance, visual arts, arts technology and music.
You can find a detailed background on the history of The Living Canvas here.
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