The woman known simply as Marilyn may have soaked up her liberal views about sex in Brazil, her mother’s homeland and the country where she was born. Or maybe they’re a reaction to her strict upbringing. These days the onetime Catholic schoolgirl and army brat is the co-owner and director of a gallery devoted to erotic art that opened last year in Wicker Park.
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Marilyn’s family moved around a lot when she was a child, following her American father from Brazil to postings in Panama and the U.S. She settled in Chicago about 15 years ago and embarked on the artistic life, doing performance art and attending the School of the Art Institute for a semester. In 1990 she enrolled at the American Academy of Art, eventually earning a bachelor’s degree in electronic and graphic design.
That’s when she decided to open her own gallery, something she’d considered for years. By doing so, she realized, she could express her feelings about sexuality and sensuality with other people’s work. Last year she and a partner, Kurt Wright, found a space on North Avenue and christened it Feitico, which in Portuguese means “charm” or “sorcery.” “So now I have a gallery and I’m learning the business of being an artist, dealing with artists and dealing with dealers,” says Marilyn.
Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): photo/Eugene Zakusilo.
