Feature image: Jacqueline Surdell, Suddenly, she was hell-bent and ravenous (after Giotto), 2024, nylon cord, steel, polyester fabric, steel spool top, steel chain, and meat hooks, 165 (body) x 252 (pole to pole) x 7 inches at Secrist | Beach, Chicago, IL. Photo: April Behnke.
Written by April Behnke
If you even glanced at the list of events and exhibitions, you already know that Chicago Exhibition Weekend (September 19-21) was an overwhelming accumulation of ‘must-sees,’ this year held across 50 participating galleries and creative spaces. Among these was Jacqueline Surdell’s solo exhibition, The Conversion: Rings, Rupture, and the Forest Archive, at Secrist | Beach in Chicago’s West Town neighborhood, on view through November 15.
As you enter the gallery’s already formidable 10,000 square foot space, you quite literally can’t miss the artist’s immense Suddenly, she was hell-bent and ravenous (after Giotto), a looming, looping weaving measuring in at approximately 14 x 21 feet and dominating the back wall.
The piece, made with, among other materials, thick nylon cords and meat hooks, forms a shape that echoes Catholic churches, with three pointed dome-like structures at its top. Surdell’s work is in conversation with Giotto’s famous 14th century fresco, The Last Judgment. It draws upon the formal structure of the work, notably its reliance on blues, a nod to the historical artist’s unusually free use of a once very expensive pigment. But, unlike Giotto’s quiet, airy fresco, Surdell’s piece commands your attention with its robust physicality.
Even the smaller works look heavy. That sense of burden extends into their references — to biblical narratives, mortality, and the indifference of nature. Surdell’s precision makes these allusions feel less like isolated moments and more like recurring cycles, where time folds back on itself.
Her craft is immaculate. The largest pieces must have required a herculean effort to make. And as I write this, the work is still in my head. I probably dreamt about it last night. But, as impressed as I was, I found myself wanting more from it.
And not more in scale. Surdell already pushes monumentality to its limit. I want her to risk more. With themes this ambitious — religion, time, death — I want to feel the dread these subjects provoke, not just the awe. The cords that dangle freely from the bottom of or across her pieces suggest to me she feels the pull towards that chaos too, but as they stand now, they felt hesitant in this respect.
Still, the strength of this work is undeniable. This is a show that demands your attention — and deserves it, marking another ‘can’t miss’ exhibition from Secrist | Beach.
If You Go:
Jacqueline Surdell: The Conversion – Rings, Rupture, and the Forest Archive
Secrist | Beach, 1801 West Hubbard Street, Chicago, IL 60622
Ends November 15, 2025
April Behnke is a Chicago-based painter and writer whose artistic practice centers on the building and breaking of patterns. She received her MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2011 and her BFA from Cornell University in 2006. Behnke has exhibited nationally and internationally, including at the Rockford Art Museum and the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts. Though born in Boston, Behnke has roots in the Midwest and a passion for exploring the region’s art scene.