View of “Igshaan Adams: Desire Lines,” 2022, Art Institute of Chicago. Floor and hanging: Epping II, 2021. Walls, from left: Upheaved, 2018; Al-Muhyee (The Giver of Life), 2020; I was a hidden treasure, then I wanted to be known . . . , 2016.

 

In Igshaan Adams’s solo exhibition “Desire Lines,” currently on view at the Art Institute of Chicago, contains a tapestry that would appear somewhat conventional, at least compared with the sculptural tangles of rope and gossamer clouds installed nearby.

Across a vertical grid of white cords, Adams has woven an assortment of cotton strips, skeins of nylon, wires. The colors are muted sienna and moss, parcels of earth tones, save for the stray flash of turquoise or glint of stone, bone, plastic, or glass beads.

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