Blog: MCA DNA Index

Art-Forward Costumes

Video

blog intro

With the window for trick-or-treating rapidly approaching, we thought we’d help out any procrastinators looking for a costume. And since our gallery guards and Visitor Service Associates spend a lot of time getting to know the works on view, we asked a few of them what artwork from the collection they would want to make into a costume. Their inspirations, which are shown in the video, varied wildly; each selection is also listed below. To find your own art-inspired costume, view our entire collection online.

Featured work

A stainless-steel sculpture of a rabbit holding a carrot has been polished to a high sheen so that a large gallery is reflected across its surface. The rabbit's shape and proportions are reminiscent of those of an inflatable toy.
Jeff Koons, American, b. 1955
Rabbit, 1986
Stainless steel
41 × 19 × 12 in. (104.1 × 48.3 × 30.5 cm)
Collection Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Partial gift of Stefan T. Edlis and H. Gael Neeson, 2000.21
Photo: Nathan Keay, © MCA Chicago
Jeff Koons, Rabbit, 1986

“It’s one of the most interesting works in the exhibition.”
—CHARLES, SECURITY

What you’ll need:
Garbage bags
Rabbit ears
Silver spray paint    
 
Directions:
Lay garbage bags and rabbit ears on newspapers in a well-ventilated space 
Spray paint garbage bags and ears
Let dry
Tie garbage bags around arms, legs, and body
Inflate; good ‘ol oxygen from those healthy lungs should do
Put on ears

Work

Albert Oehlen, German, b. 1954
Auch Einer (Another One), 1985
Oil and lacquer on canvas
Canvas: 74 ½ × 50 ¾ × 1 ½ in. (189.2 × 128.9 × 3.8 cm) framed: 75 3/8 × 51 7/8 × 1 ¼ in. (191.5 × 131.7 × 3.2 cm)
Collection Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Gift of Robert B. and Honey Dootson in honor of Bruce Guenther, 1989.14
Photo: Nathan Keay, © MCA Chicago
Albert Oehlen, Auch Einer (Another One), 1985

—GRAHAM, VISITOR SERVICES/BOX OFFICE

Featured work

Ed Paschke, American, 1939–2004
Heavy Shoes, 1970
Oil on canvas
Canvas: 44 ¼ × 38 in. (112.4 × 96.5 cm)
Collection Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Gift of Joseph and Jory Shapiro, 1992.70
Photo: Nathan Keay, © MCA Chicago
Ed Paschke, Heavy Shoes, 1970

—SERENA, SECURITY

Featured image

Rendering of Little Face costume
Photo: Bridget O'Carroll

Little Face

—BRIAN, SECURITY

What you'll need:
Plastic box
Blue and red paint
Bottle caps glasses
Cardboard

Directions:
Make a plastic box to use as frame around your face
Paint your nose blue and your lips bright red
Make/buy bottle-cap glasses
Use the cardboard to make a "Blow Me" sign—a hint at Calder's desire for his sculptures to move

Featured work

Three human-sized boxes are lined up against a gallery wall. On top of the boxes are six carved wooden heads, and below the boxes are three well-worn pairs of shoes.
Marisol (Marisol Escobar), Venezuelan-American, b. Paris, 1930–2016
Six Women, 1965–66
Wood, paint, mirrors, shoes, formica, and plaster
69 × 105 × 52 in. (175.3 × 266.7 × 132.1 cm)
Collection Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Gift of the artist, 1968.1
Photo: Nathan Keay, © MCA Chicago
Marisol (Marisol Escobar), Six Women, 1965–66

“This would be the perfect group costume.”
—CAITLIN, VISITOR SERVICES

Featured work

Jeff Koons, American, b. 1955
Lifeboat, 1985
Bronze
Installed: 15 ¼ × 61 ¼ × 92 ½ in. (38.7 × 155.6 × 235 cm)
Collection Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Gerald S. Elliott Collection, 1995.56.a-c
Photo: Nathan Keay, © MCA Chicago
Jeff Koons, Lifeboat, 1985

Featured image

Ernesto Neto, Water Falls from My Breast to the Sky, 2017

Lifeboat Water Falls

"Conceived as a half-and-half costume, Lifeboat Water Falls combines the net form of the Neto with the lifeboat—two water-themed artworks."
—MISTEAD, VISITOR SERVICES

Featured Work

Takashi Murakami, Wink Sculpture (pink), 2001

—JONNATHAN, SECURITY

Featured work

Olafur Eliasson, Danish, b. 1967
Convex/concave, 1995/2000
Reflecting mirror foil on frame and pneumatic pump system
Mirror: 63 in. dia. (160 cm dia.)
Collection Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Gift of the Howard and Donna Stone Collection in honor of Madeleine Grynsztejn, 2008.18.a-b
Photo: Nathan Keay, © MCA Chicago
Olafur Eliasson, Convex/concave, 1995/2000

—MEGAN, VISITOR SERVICES

Featured work

Cindy Sherman, American, b. 1954
Untitled #137, 1984
Chromogenic development print
70 ½ × 47 ¾ in. (179.1 × 121.3 cm)
Collection Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Gerald S. Elliott Collection, 1995.98
Photo: Joe Ziolkowski, © MCA Chicago
Cindy Sherman, Untitled #137, 1984

—ANONYMOUS, SECURITY

Featured work

The bleached skeleton of a cat, enlarged to perhaps fifteen feet tall at the shoulder, stands arching its back in a large atrium.
Maurizio Cattelan, Italian, b. 1960
Felix, 2001
Oil on polyvinyl resin and fiberglass
26 × 6 × 20 ft. (7.9 × 1.8 × 6.1 m)
Collection Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, The Edlis/Neeson Art Acquisition Fund, 2001.22
Photo © MCA Chicago
Maurizio Cattelan, Felix, 2001

—FAN FAVORITE

Related content

Exhibitions

  • Heaven and Earth: Alexander Calder and Jeff Koons–
    Small white circles connected by thin wire balance opposite a thicker orange wire weighted by an orange rudder-like shape hanging from the edge of a white table.
  • Felix–
    A gigantic cat skeleton stands in the center of a large atrium with its back arched and its tail pointed straight up in the air.
    1. Long A cat skeleton stands two-stories-tall and ready to pounce, with its spine arched, tailbone on end, and fanged mouth hanging open. It is poised on all fours in the middle of a dimly lit, blue-tinged large gallery space and its white form is dramatically illuminated as if caught in the night.
  • We Are Here–
    Three pairs of shoes sit below three raised black boxes that support six wooden heads. The closest head is hollowed out, others have light-skinned faces emerging from the wood, but the third has a long pointed beak-like form.
 
We Were There … Were You?