Elmhurst Art Museum Announces Shakkei: Work by Mayumi Lake & Bob Faust--Now through January 2026

UNISON: Folding Windows by Mayumi Lake...see Bob Faust's work below....

Color, pattern, and interactive spaces await visitors to Shakkei: Work by Mayumi Lake and Bob Faust, a two-person exhibition at the Elmhurst Art Museum curated by Liz Chilsen, Manager of Exhibitions & Collections. The show transforms the museum into an immersive experience of layered meaning and intriguing visuals.

Mayumi Lake draws inspiration from childhood memories, reimagining Shinto stories and the floral motifs of antique Japanese kimonos through the lens of her adult life in a new country. One installation feature flowing silk panel whose translucent colors shift as viewers move through them, altering the light and gently brushing the body with a spatial caress.

Bob Faust also embraces color and pattern, but his approach reflects his background in graphics and design. His striking works layer patterned prints or fluorescent paintings beneath transparent vacuum-formed plastics that warp the light. In addition to his fine art practice, Faust is an acclaimed corporate brand strategist who has collaborated with artists such as Nick Cave and Jeff Koons on their publications.

The exhibition’s title, Shakkei—meaning “borrowed scenery” in Japanese—refers to a design philosophy that integrates natural and architectural elements. This concept resonates especially in works displayed inside the McCormick House, where both artists collaborate with the modernist architecture and its surrounding landscape.

Faust contributes an installation of vintage mid-century wooden chairs, each with a book-sized slit cut into the seat. Nestled inside are monographs he has designed in collaboration with renowned artists. Arranged in a circle, the chairs invite visitors to remove the books, read them, and then sit in chairs placed just outside the installation. Faust engages us in a dialogue between design history, architecture, and contemporary art.

Lake’s work also plays beautifully with the McCormick House. She has created "Unison: Folding Windows" a suite of four floral, Japanese-style paper scrolls that gently rotate with the ambient air currents. At dusk, viewed through the museum’s windows that frame the courtyard’s gardens and sculpture, the scrolls merge the interior and exterior, realizing the principle of borrowed scenery.

Shakkei: Work by Mayumi Lake and Bob Faust is on view at the Elmhurst Art Museum through January 5, 2026.

"Blister: Honestly, Nevermind", Bob Faust