Chicago City Wire

The Art Institute of Chicago has opened an exhibition titled Diane Simpson: “Good for Future,” which will run until April 19, 2026. The installation features three new works by artist Diane Simpson, who is based in Chicago. These sculptures are displayed on the Bluhm Family Terrace, with the city’s skyline serving as a backdrop.

Diane Simpson has spent five decades creating art inspired by clothing structures, utilitarian objects, and architecture. Her process begins with detailed preparatory drawings that lead to complex geometric forms, later constructed into three-dimensional sculptures. All of her pieces are made by hand and challenge viewers’ perceptions of perspective and scale.

Makayla Bava, assistant curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the museum, commented on the artist’s approach: “Simpson’s sculptures constantly oscillate between their three-dimensional form and their two-dimensional source, both reflecting and abstracting the wide-ranging visual material that informs her work. Seeing these sculptures finally come to life among Chicago’s architectural landscape make for a graphically rich and complex presentation.”

The designs for the featured works were first drawn by Simpson in the mid-1980s. At that time, she wrote “Good for Future” on her rolled-up drawings as a note to herself. This exhibition marks Simpson’s first outdoor sculpture presentation and combines earlier concepts with present execution.

Makayla Bava organized the exhibition.

The event is supported by major funding from the Bluhm Family Endowment Fund, which provides resources for modern and contemporary sculpture exhibitions at the Art Institute of Chicago.