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Shop Alongside Alebrijes at North Riverside Park Mall


Shop Alongside Alebrijes at North Riverside Park Mall

If you weren’t able to make it out to Cantigny Park last summer to see the “Creatures of a Dream World” exhibition of alebrijes, good news! Twenty of those super-sized sculptures have traveled to the North Riverside Park Mall, where you can see them placed throughout the mall before they move on once more to other institutions and permanent installations.

North Riverside Park Mall director of marketing Jeanne Heller said the exhibition has allowed the artists time to restore their works after months of being outside. Through March, visitors have even been able to participate in parts of the restoration.

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“They were outside at Cantigny for six months, so the elements of nature took their toll,” Heller said. “They were stored over the winter at the DuPage County fairgrounds, so they got even more snow that way. And then they are going to permanent installations. We partnered with the Mexican Cultural Center of DuPage and brought in 20 pieces here and brought the artists back here to be able to allow people to see the restoration process. … A lot of people stop, and they talk and they ask about the process and they ask about what [the artist is] doing.”

The exhibition features artists in residence at the mall through April 19 so that visitors can watch the restoration happen on site.

“There are 12 million artists in Mexico who are doing this kind of art. … To be able to host three of them here is a great thing, to actually see the papier-mâché,” Heller said. “When you see them coming together, it’s kind of a different appreciation of the actual paper and paste. So that part that education for people and just the awareness of a whole different kind of art is fascinating.”

Cartonería” will be at North Riverside Park through May 7.


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