Ian Weaver: Document March 5, 2010

The installation of 'Document,' a series of 10 paintings, is Chicago-based artist Ian Weaver's first solo presentation in a museum. In 'Document' (2005), Weaver riffs on the highly illusionistic, centuries-old trompe-l'oeil (trick of the eye) that was embraced by the old masters and by 19th-century American painters. These poignant small paintings depict the documents of his family members: a birth certificate, a social security card, a baptismal commitment, a marriage certificate, a divorce decree, a personal letter from his grandmother to his mother and two death certificates. Weaver's artistic practice engages specifically with the African American experience, but is also universal in its themes.