The Peoria Riverfront Museum is proud to announce an exhibition by Nicolas Africano, an internationally renowned artist who has lived and worked in Central Illinois since the 1970s. His work is in the collections of many prestigious institutions, including the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan, and the Whitney Museum of American Art.

Nicolas Africano: Themes and Variations features three recent works. The haunting, enigmatic vignette is Mr. Africano’s first exhibition in Peoria.

His figurative sculptures in glass, and a single painting suggest a narrative that is burdened with genuine emotion and intent; and yet, their story is not quite told. They are self-possessed, and elusive in a theatrical setting designed by Museum Curator Bill Conger .

“The work is seductive…..and yet it is indifferent. It is vulnerable, as if it were confessing an ancient hurt. But then the work distances itself from the rawness of feeling…..”.
- Author and critic Curtis White, from Fire and Math

Sponsored by Visionary Society and the IL Arts Council Agency