Chicago Imagists

In the late 1960s critics began to group together a generation of artists who had studied at SAIC, though for the most part their styles were fairly divergent. Thus, Brown became associated not only with the so-called Hairy Who (consisting of Jim Nutt,…

…to be known as the Chicago Imagists. The Imagists’ work was figurative and was characterized by grotesque or risqué imagery and overt references to pop culture, sexuality, and violence. In bold, sometimes neon, colour and in a style that synthesized the effect of Andy Warhol’s photo-based paintings with Photo-realism and…

…at SAIC known as the Imagists (Roger Brown, Art Green, Philip Hanson, Gladys Nilsson, Jim Nutt, Ed Paschke, Christina Ramberg, Suellen Rocca, Barbara Rossi, and Karl Wirsum), many of whom claimed Yoakum as an inspiration to their own work as well. In 1969 he was included with them in an…