The Peninsula Chicago Announces Building Images Art Exhibit by Chicago Artist Robert Chase Heishman

The Peninsula Chicago is pleased to present an art exhibit with works by Chicago artist, Robert Chase Heishman, debuting mid-December 2022 through March 2023 in the hotel’s fifth floor main lobby. Building Images is the latest exhibition of The Peninsula Hotels’ ‘Art in Resonance’ program, a global initiative in support of contemporary art. 

About Building Images Exhibit

Building Images is an exhibition of work by Chicago artist Robert Chase Heishman as part of The Peninsula Chicago’s fourth ‘Art in Resonance’ program. 

Working across photography, documentary, painting, and video/film, Robert Chase Heishman’s artistic practice is predicated on the construction and exploration of a “point of view” – literally, figuratively, and narratively. 

Building Images is an exhibition of constructive photographs that reveal aspects of their own making and contain embedded personal references throughout. Using colored pieces of tape, various objects, and specific lighting conditions, Heishman builds spatially – utilizing the forced perspective of the camera to flatten dimensionality into an image-form. This interest in building images is a gesture of connecting to Heishman’s family lineage – his father and grandfather were both bricklayers – and also a meditation on the labor involved in image construction. 

More broadly, in a time of increased cultural/societal image use and fluency, Heishman believes it is important to consciously focus our awareness on how images are constructed, can be manipulated, and the underlying power dynamics of images in today’s world. 

Unique to this presentation at The Peninsula Chicago is a series of smaller collage works that act as footnotes to the larger photographs, showing peripheral behind-the-scenes views, as well as other image content that has personal significance to the artist.

This exhibition was made possible through a partnership with LATITUDE Chicago, where Heishman was an Artist in Residence in 2019. Additionally, The Peninsula Chicago continues to support art initiatives via exhibits coinciding with EXPO Chicago, the city’s contemporary art fair annually held in April. 

“The hotel embraces opportunities to support artists in our community,” said Maria Zec, Regional Vice President and Managing Director, The Peninsula Chicago. “The Art in Resonance area provides a dedicated location for rotating art installations,” Zec continued. “We are delighted to feature Robert Chase Heishman’s work for our next Art in Resonance initiative, and to offer the installation to the public through early 2023,” she added.  

About Robert Chase Heishman 

Robert Chase Heishman (b. 1984; Des Moines, Iowa USA) is an artist working across photography, documentary, painting and video/film. Heishman received his BFA in 2008 from the Kansas City Art Institute and his MFA in 2012 from Northwestern University. His practice explores point of view in myriad ways and is interested in how personal, political, cultural and existential subject matter can be inquired and explored. He works individually and collaboratively, placing value on experiential research and exchange, nuance, experimentation, and chance as useful methods for arriving at new ideas and understandings. He has exhibited and screened his work nationally and internationally, including Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (Kansas City, MO), Chicago Cultural Center (Chicago, IL), LVL3 (Chicago, IL), Adds Donna (Chicago, IL), Roots & Culture (Chicago, IL), Elastic Arts (Chicago, IL), BWA Wrocław Główny Gallery (Wrocław, Poland), The Tetley (Leeds, UK), Columbus Museum of Art (Columbus, OH), and numerous collaborations, notably with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, Radiohead, Sigur Rós, Megan Schvaneveldt, and Iraqi-American artist Michael Rakowitz.

‘Art in Resonance’ program

The Peninsula Chicago’s desire to provide guests with memorable art experiences aligns with The Peninsula Hotels’ global commitment to promoting the rich and vibrant cultural aspects of the group’s destination cities. In a continuation of the group’s ethos of innovation, The Peninsula Hotels has created ‘Art in Resonance,’ a multi-year global contemporary art program that reflects a deeper commitment to engage with the artistic sphere, not only as a venue but as an originator and innovator of culture.  

The Peninsula Chicago contributes to the program by featuring a rotating exhibit of local and national artwork year-round. Building Images is the fourth installation of The Peninsula Chicago’s Art in Resonance program.

• The first installation (2018-2019), Impossibility of Place, by native Chicago photographer Lincoln Shatz, finds inspiration in the immersion of nature. His works provide an escape from the urban landscape and explore time and place within the immensity of our world. 
• The second installation (2019-2021), One Can Dream, followed by Inner Courage Series created by Chicago-based abstract artist, Darren Jones, who captures nature’s beauty in paintings which evoke a sense of place, peace, and calm within one’s soul. Many of his pieces incorporate delicate papers, wood fibers and sand mixed with acrylic paints to create a greater depth. 
• The third installation (2021-2022) featured work by Chicago artist, Bob Faust. with all, and still… is a series of layered, billboard-scaled works created from photographic details captured by Faust from several of Chicago’s 77 neighborhoods. From a distance, formal patterns and vibrant colors draw the viewer in, but upon close inspection the actual subject of the photos becomes clear.

In addition to these temporary exhibits, the hotel houses an expansive collection of art that contributes to the contemporary elegance of spaces, and supports various art initiatives partnering with local museums, galleries, and artists.

Building Images exhibit inspires new Peninsula Academy program

Guests interested in a more immersive art experience while visiting Chicago may want to explore a new Peninsula Academy program, “Building a Point of View with artist Robert Chase Heishman”. This experience allows for one-on-one time with the artist, touring the exhibit and learning about the creative development he undergoes to build images. Guests may opt for a deeper dive into the process with a visit to LATITUDE, the digital lab where Heishman produces his work. 

To make room reservations or for more information about The Peninsula Chicago’s art initiatives, please call direct at +1 (312) 337 2888, toll-free at +1 (866) 288 8889, visit peninsula.com/chicago or e-mail reservationPCH@peninsula.com.