Event Fri Oct 23 2015
Spooky and scary events allow us all a little fun in this so-far warm fall weather. With the witches in place in the hallway and the squirrels already eating the pumpkins on the porch, I hope I'm not the only one looking forward to some bloodcurdling scares this Halloween season. So here's a list of 14 thrilling theater productions and other artistic events (in no particular order) so that you can celebrate Hallow's Eve this year.
1. No One Here But Witches at Uptown Underground
Chicago's only "Retrotainment" venue gives you reason to enjoy burlesque, comedy, circus, magic and the speakeasy lifestyle every night for the rest of October. No One Here But Witches features witch-themed cabaret Monday nights at 7:00pm. Each other 8pm nightly production brings another magical experience at the Uptown Underground featuring "gore-lesque", freak-show striptease, circus arts and more. 21+ Advance reservation recommended. Click here for more information.
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— Jen Kraakevik
Art Fri Oct 09 2015
Fragments of our mind are stitched together to form cohesive memories; the joy of noticing everyday tasks and celebrating them through visual connection, conversation and aesthetics, is the basis of Lynn Peters' sculptural and clay-based work.
Spontaneity Made Concrete, at the Lillstreet Art Center, focused on the narrative surrounding snapshots in life. Her works were mounted on the wall and featured animals, humans and forms that contributed to a collection of several planes that one exists on simultaneously. Additionally, Peters utilizes photography and text to activate the viewer and combine several media as a backdrop to the core of the sculptures. Stolen Moments is a large piece that displays four sculptures, each individually titled, Statue of Liberty, The Thinker, Mona Lisa, and Untitled, a ceramic self-titled sign, and a black-and-white photograph. The piece, in terms of subject matter and presentation, was the most experimental work in the exhibition and encapsulated the idea of imagination, fragmentation and a vision as a source of understanding.The image of the cart, which sits outside of the Ark Thrift Shop in Wicker Park, was the backdrop for the four sculptures on the wall. While the shop is filled with a plethora of clothing, furniture and an assortment of tchotchkes, Peters noted that the cart, outdated and torn, was a symbol for what the Ark is to the neighborhood. What existed inside the cart, similar to inside the Ark, was a mystery of the unknown, a mass of tattered cloth and last year's fashion trends.
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— S. Nicole Lane
Art Wed Sep 02 2015
Synesthesia, by definition, is a "sensation experienced in part of the body other than the part simulated," most commonly associated with music being seen as color. Notable cases for the condition include, David Hockney, Duke Ellington and Vladimir Nabokov.
In the current exhibition at the International Museum of Surgical Science, Stevie Hanley, explores everyday experiences and expands the limitations of singular actions to a broader exploration of more than one view, emotion and association. Hanley has translated the medical condition to the form of an art exhibition. His ability to associate color and imagery with personal fear and curious observation is imagined in the exhibition, "Synaesthetica".
The International Museum of Surgical Science is filled with medical tools, equipment, inventions, and history, which contribute to the bizarre and somewhat mystical condition that is observed in the exhibition. Hanley invites viewers into two gallery spaces; both include video projections and installations, only one includes the hum of Dolly Parton.
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— S. Nicole Lane
Art Wed Aug 26 2015
By Louis Sterrett
I Am Abandoning My Vessel, Peter Skvara, 2015
Peter Skvara's exhibition Approaches, which consists of enamel paintings on mesh, and a collection of debris entitled "Flotsam, Jetsam, Lagan, and Derelict" is now on display at the Andrew Rafacz Gallery in River West. The paintings are based on flag semaphores used for communication between ships, and their meanings are repeated in the titles. Some of the paintings depict significations that might be seen together such as "I Am Drifting / Will You Give Me My Position" (2015, enamel on mesh). Other pieces, however, take on different, stranger meaning as assemblages of statements. One painting reads, "You are Running the Risk of Going Aground / I am Going Ahead"--a callous expression to one in need.
The gallery's press release for the Approaches exhibit mentions beauty and the sublime tied up in the idea of a ship on the infinite expanse of the overwhelming sea. Another way for the sublime to appear, however, is through the striving to generate perfection in the precise lines of the semaphores, which nonetheless reveal the human touch made more palpable in the method of painting as opposed to screen printing.
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— A/C
Art Wed Jul 29 2015
I've only been in the Hancock Tower once and I never thought it would be to visit an art gallery, but hey, there's a first for everything. Amused, I found myself inside the swarm of tourists and photographers who posed and smiled near a colossal sculpture that hung low from the ceiling in the lobby. In order to enter the space, I had to stop at the security desk where my driver's license was scanned and I was handed a slip with a barcode that granted me access through a futuristic gate. Once the door swung open I entered the elevator, free at last to look at art. I felt underdressed and out of place as I tiptoed quite dramatically to the glass doors of the Richard Gray Gallery.
Founded in the 1960s, the gallery has been a prominent and important creative hub for artists at both locations in Chicago and New York. The gallery is "collector orientated" and focuses on the importance of fine art, authenticity, and quality. Magdalena Abakanowicz, Jan Tichy, and Jaume Plensa, are some examples of artists who are represented by the Richard Gray Gallery.
Installation Image, courtesy of Richard Gray Gallery
The newest exhibition, Body Building, which opened July 6, is located down the hall from the main gallery room, which features works by Susan Rothenberg and David Hockney. Body Building, curated by Gan Uyeda and Raven Munsell, presents works from the 1900s until present day and focus on the relationship between the physical human form and the way that it is viewed through an architectural lens. The works in the exhibition date from 1917 to 2012, and display a variety of mediums and materials, such as wax, ink, wool, crayon, and collage.
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— S. Nicole Lane
Art Thu Jun 18 2015
The Zhou B Art Center and the Ed Paschke Art Center are coming together to create a traveling exhibition, for both you and the artists. "Journey to Art" will be a community-coordinated event where Chicagoans are invited to attend the collaboration between both venues from June 19-21.The friendship of the Zhou Brothers and Ed Paschke is being celebrated and honored during the ongoing exhibitions at both locations.
By creating a sort of trade, or swap if you will, the Zhou Brothers will present their work at Jefferson Park's Ed Paschke Art Center, and the late Paschke's work will be in Bridgeport at the Zhou B Art Center. In addition to gallery spaces, the Zhou Brothers will be featuring their sculptural work at Jefferson Park for a family day event.
Red Boxer, Ed Paschke
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— S. Nicole Lane
Art Wed Jun 03 2015
"Rendez-Vous" by DOES.
The work of DOES, a renowned Dutch graffiti artist, will be on exhibit from June 13 through July 31 at the Maxwell-Colette Gallery in Noble Square. The exhibit, titled Transition, will feature recent mixed media paintings on canvas, including large-scale work up to 18 feet in length. This is the artist's first solo show in Chicago.
Letterforms are DOES' passion, according to gallery director Oliver Hild. Transition will show text-based paintings where "words are visually imploded and reconstituted as aggregations of disarticulated, smoldering letterforms," but will also show work where DOES explores new ground visually and conceptually.
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— Nancy Bishop
Art Wed Jun 03 2015
The project space, ACRE, is moving to a new, refined, larger-than-life, location at 1345 West 19th St., in Pilsen. The non-profit supports emerging artists and creates a space for ideas, collaboration, and experimentation. While the history of the new-- and simultaneously old--building dates back to a 1930s funeral home, ACRE will utilize the unique interior to create a foundation for future exhibitions, film screenings, lectures, and also will house books from the ACRE archive.
ACRE has received a generous donation but still needs $20,000 to create a suitable space in Chicago. Through Kickstarter, ACRE hopes to raise the remaining money to support their new exhibition and programming space for future residents.
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— S. Nicole Lane
Art Wed May 20 2015
Kruger Gallery Chicago in Lakeview will be presenting the works of Venezuelan artist, Jeffly Gabriela Molina, through June 27 in the solo exhibition, [My Business Is Circumference]. Molina's intimate paintings use domestic spaces to convey a conversation between the familiar and the surreal. Like Eva Hesse, who created grid-based abstractions on paper--a reaction to the male-dominated structures in minimalism in the 1960s--Molina's pieces convey a conversation of seriality and the woman's narrative.
Influenced by female writers--specifically Emily Dickinson's letters to T.W. Higginson--Molina utilizes trompe-l'oeil to visually liken her paintings to literary works, such as stories, poems, essays and letters.
"To those first feelings that were born with me," 2015. Oil and Pencil on Linen, 36" x 48"
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— S. Nicole Lane
Art Tue May 19 2015
The paintings of Jaime Foster, a Chicago-based artist, are reminiscent of the waves in Lake Michigan: When the fog has drifted and the overcast sky hangs low above the horizon, the water greets the shore with a kiss-and-go. Many of her pieces are vast--both in scale and in palette. Her work acknowledges the larger landscape--the water, the mountain, and the trees--but the core of her work is in the details--the foam of the water, the snow-covered crevasse, and the vascular tissue of a leaf.
"Philias," stemming from the title of Foster's upcoming solo exhibition, Biophilia, are the attractions and positivity that human beings feel towards the natural world: organisms, species, habitats, etc. Celebrating the "love of life," Foster utilizes her brush and paint to spiritually connect with the wider world around her and expose its awe-inspiring beauty.
Elephant Room Gallery will be featuring Jaime Foster's exhibition, Biophilia, from May 29 until July 3.
"Enrapture"- 12x12 Acrylic, Watercolor, Ink and Mixed Media on paper
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— S. Nicole Lane
Art Sat May 16 2015
ACRE, an artist residency and exhibition space, and Ordinary Projects, are presenting the artist Noelle Garcia, in her installment, LÁLDISH, as a 2014 ACRE summer resident. The exhibit opened last weekend at Mana Contemporary (2233 S. Throop, 5th floor).
The exhibition includes an exploration of parental connection, her father's history, documents, and Native American lineage. "My father died at age 64. Convicted of murder at the age of 25 (while intoxicated) my father spent the majority of his life in prison", explains Garcia in her statement concerning the specific project. A string of emails exploring her fathers life and official records allow Garcia to create a connection between her and her estranged father.
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— S. Nicole Lane
Dr. Jorge Lucero, from the University of Illinois, is calling for artifacts, readymade or handmade, to be presented in the exhibition, The Barack Obama Presidential Library. The works submitted will be curated and organized by Lucero and then presented with a descriptive placard that will be written by the contributor of the artifact. The artifacts are made to serve as a dialogue about the 44th presidency. The question arises: "How complex can a history be and who gets to 'write' it?"
The show will be the first exhibition in the new location space of the Southside Hub of Production (SHoP), which is now located at 1448 E. 57th St.
The exhibition will be on view for the months of June, July and August. Please submit artifacts before June 1, 2015.
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— S. Nicole Lane
Art Fri Apr 24 2015
amfm, a Chicago-based arts, music and fashion web portal, will present their first art exhibition, Can I See Your ID?, at Cultura gallery, 1900 S. Carpenter St., during the Pilsen Second Friday art walk May 8.
When someone asks to "see your ID," you're being asked to expose the basics -- a photograph that fashions last year's hair color, a height that doesn't matter, and a hazel eye color that changes with the seasons. Is this how you want to be perceived? Is your ID a reflection of who you are as an individual? By approaching someone entering a bar and saying, "Can I see your ID?" the bouncer is asking, "Who are you?" -- a question that is summed up by glancing at our choice of ID. amfm has asked several artists to feature a facet of themselves in the exhibition that they would like to explore, erase or simply present.
Local artists will be presenting and featuring their true and authentic identities in the amfm exhibition. Societal labels, struggles, talents, and all things encompassing the "self" will be featured by the selected four creatives, Sam Kirk, Barrett Keithley, Madhuri Shukla and Chantala Kommanivanh.
amfm was initially created as a college thesis in 2009 by founder Ciera McKissick but has since moved to an online publication. The collective serves as a hub for artists, makers, thinkers and doers who want to expand and share their stories.
The exhibition will be open May 8 from 6 to 10pm during the Chicago Arts District 2nd Friday Gallery Night in Pilsen.
— S. Nicole Lane
Art Wed Apr 15 2015
If you're itching for a packed day of art, events, exhibitions and ceremonies, then the Hyde Park Art Center will tend to your creative needs this Sunday, April 19. Being the first space to exhibit the work of the Hairy Who artists in the early 1960s and currently housing a flourishing residency, several galleries and ongoing events, the HPAC is a hotbed for Hyde Park artists and locals.
The spring exhibition receptions include several openings and closings that feature resident artist, Susan Giles, solo artist Nancy Lu Rosenheim, HPAC students Charles Heppner and Diane Jaderberg, filmmaker Melika Bass, and ArtShop. The receptions will take place from 3 to 5pm Sunday and will include three new exhibitions in addition to ongoing exhibitions that are coming to a close.
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— S. Nicole Lane
Art Tue Mar 24 2015
When I read that the post-rock, Icelandic band Sigur Rós commissioned Melika Bass to direct and produce a music video for their composition, "Varðeldur," I wasn't terribly surprised. Bass' archetypical characters and magical components cohere with the subliminal sound that is the framework of Sigur Rós. The ethereal and red-headed character for "Varðeldur" appears as another one of Bass' character studies. In her current solo exhibition at the Hyde Park Art Center in the Kanter McCormick Gallery, Bass presents a reoccurring character, as well as two male characters, who share similar professions but all live different lives.
The Latest Sun is Sinking Fast introduces familiar faces (if you're a Bass fan) and continues and expands on the past and present. The characters connect visually, thematically, professionally, and fictionally, throughout the installation-based exhibition at the HPAC. Archaic and modern, the characters crawl through bushes, bath in public restrooms, listen to sermons on an iPhone and work in their tool shed.
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— S. Nicole Lane
Art Fri Mar 20 2015
Kruger Gallery Chicago is presenting ESCOMBROS (spanish for "rubble"), which features work from the Chicago-based and Mexican-born artist, Luis Sahagun. The exhibit opens with a reception from 6 to 9pm tonight.
Sahagun's background is rooted in the working class — his grandfather worked in the Chicago Heights steel industry, his father in field work, and Sahagun himself has a strong background in construction. The solo exhibition features large-scale paintings on cardboard, as well as installation and video pieces, which emulate his background as a Mexican-American growing up Chicago Heights.
The series includes 20 textured pieces that thrive as self-portraits and self-reflection in terms of youth, labor and experience. Chains, metal, fabric, concrete, cardboard and wax make up the "anthropological site that represents a community" and expands on the concept of identity vs. material. Luis' intimate relationship to his work, not only through his physical touch, but through his autobiographical self, creates a penetrating visual narrative of a community.
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— S. Nicole Lane
Art Thu Mar 05 2015
The new Evanston gallery, Sidetracked Studio, will host its first exhibition curated by Michele Mahon Jahelka Saturday from 6 to 9pm. The artist couple, Lauren Levato Coyne and Rory Coyne, work upstairs in the studio producing their own work, while the showroom on the first floor presents rotating exhibitions.
The all-female exhibition, What Did She Say? , will present works that span the spectrum from oil to wood and printmaking to drawing. Each artist brings forth a dialogue for perspective and communication through a variety of mediums. Jahelka urges viewers to "Stop and listen" when entering the exhibition space and derive meaningful contexts within the gallery and with the individual works.
The artists in the exhibition include: Raeleen Kao, Amy Ventura, Lauren Levato Coyne, Mary Lou Novak, Teresa James, and Kristina Smith.
The exhibition will be on view until May 10. The studio and gallery space is located at 707 Chicago Ave., Evanston. Gallery hours are noon to 6pm Wednesday through Saturday.
— S. Nicole Lane
Art Fri Feb 13 2015
Underground Unseen is the first exhibition of 2015 for FLATS Studio, a gallery space located in Uptown. FLATS strives to "develop, enhance, and engage" their neighborhood community by channeling the arts and representing Chicago creatives. The studios provide housing for residents who apply, as well as gallery spaces and exhibition venues.
On Feb. 20, FLATS will be hosting Underground Unseen from 6 to 10pm at 1050 W. Wilson Ave. The night consists of visual arts, performance, and sound, as well as the launch of the magazine publication, VAM, a new production which focuses and celebrates emerging artists in the Chicago area. The exhibition will feature photographer Todd Diederich, video artist Mikhail Khokhlov, textile artist Kristi O'Meara, street artist Ali6, and Allison Van Pelt. Additionally, Owen Bones will be DJing for the night and Antibody Corp will be performing at 8pm.
Koval Distillery and Lakeshore Beverages will be serving drinks for free throughout the night. Although there is no charge to enter the gallery, they do ask that attendees RSVP to rsvp@flatschicago.com with the number of guests attending.
— S. Nicole Lane
Feature Thu Feb 05 2015
"Pushing the paint around -- it's always in an attempt to get at something: something true, powerful, good. Paint is pure, innocent...it holds the potential to become an image that captures a facet of the elusiveness that is one's experience of being alive. In this way, the practice of art-making honors both the love and the suffering by keeping a record while always remaining vulnerable," states Rebecca George, founder of The Art House, a studio workshop and gallery based in Chicago.
The Art House, located at 3453 N. Albany, offers artist residencies, innovative coursework, advanced support for artist's professional practice, and above all, an environment to flourish as a creative individual. The studio/gallery offers instructional courses for the development of personal momentum and a meaningful connection to one's work while expanding and strengthening the technical language of material and method.
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— S. Nicole Lane
Art Mon Jan 19 2015
Lands End, a new exhibition at University of Chicago's Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts curated by Zachary Cahill and Katherine Harvath, focuses on physical boundaries, the human psyche, and a revitalized concept of landscape. The notion of a "beginning" or a boundary of "separation" is displayed in the videography, auditory, painterly, and interactive work by 13 multidisciplinary artists represented in the exhibition.
Cave of the heart by Theresa Ganz
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— S. Nicole Lane
Art Sun Dec 07 2014
Located in the midst of Milwaukee Avenue in Wicker Park, Heaven Gallery is exhibiting the work of Shawn Creeden, Marshall Elliott, and Rachael Starbuck. Heaven, a contemporary art gallery which serves as an exquisite, yet affordable, Vintage Shop during the day, features musicians and visual artists throughout the year. The current exhibition, Mend Thine Every Flaw, is in partnership with Artists' Cooperative Residency and Exhibitions (ACRE), a non-profit which offers artists an open platform for discussion, support, and development for their visual practice. The artists featured in the current exhibition at Heaven Gallery are the summer of 2013 artists in residence at ACRE.
The three artists exhibited in the two gallery spaces in Heaven (plus the tiny room on the left, don't miss it!) are focused on video, experimental painting, performance, and sculptural techniques. The works are cohesive in terms of craft and attention; embroidered pieces hang on the walls, a rock is created from pulp, resin and plaster, and a tractor pulls several canvases through mud and muck. Each individual artist in the exhibition features work that invites patience, intimacy and understanding, in conjunction with visual manipulation.
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— S. Nicole Lane
Preview Tue Nov 04 2014
Never in our wildest dreams did we think that graffiti and street art would be making its way into art galleries -- from the streets to the white walls, running from the law to running into Shepard Fairy. Since the 1980s, graffiti has found a nice warm home inside of the ever-changing and always surprising, contemporary art world.
Mint & Serf, the art duo from NYC will showcase their large scale paintings at the Maxwell Colette Gallery in their Chicago debut of, "Support, Therapy and Instability." The relationship between contemporary art and graffiti is also one that in constant flux and one that makes a memorable conversation. Mint & Serf are two artists who are combining these two worlds in the form of a canvas and a spray can. Utilizing the raw forms that graffiti art thrive around, Mint & Serf have created canvases which reflect buildings in a city or an underpass that has been decorated and adorned with bold lettering and ripped flyers from a previous life.
The collaborative duo layers tags, neutral tones, metallic paint ink and paper for their active and lively pieces which both reflect fine arts and street art.
The opening reception will be held Friday, Nov. 7 from 6pm-9pm at Maxwell Colette Gallery, 908 N. Ashland Ave. The exhibition will be up until Dec. 31. Hours for the gallery are Wednesday through Saturday, noon until 6pm. For more information contact 312-496-3153 or email gallery@maxwellcolette.com.
— S. Nicole Lane /
Art Tue Sep 30 2014
Flats is a Chicago-based company that curates live-in spaces for those with character, authentic taste and design. The rent for FLATS is affordable and the spaces are exquisite. In addition to apartments, FLATSstudio is the sister to the housing unit -- the exhibition aspect that displays artists and creatives in the Chicago area in the Uptown neighborhood.
Last Friday, FLATSstudio exhibited its first formal show, titled Gravity. Ethereal forces and otherworldly shapes filled the space, located in a beautifully adorned and decorated building on Wilson Avenue. The opening reception featured nine artists ranging from painting, photography, and installations. Movable walls throughout the large gallery featured liquid mixtures of blood and water by Jen Lewis which were eloquently placed alongside Edward Muela's two pieces which featured a deteriorating clay baby in a clear container.
The show glowed with hues of pink, red and green. All of the pieces reflected and aided one another to create a cohesive and successful collection of works by Chicago artists.
In addition to the hues, Gravity displayed two floor-to-ceiling pieces that spread out like a red carpet (although black and white in shade) across the space. The connections between all of the artists and artworks displayed a strong sense of an ubiquitous force or impression of emotion.
Thoroughly impressed, visitors mingled, sipping on delicious cocktails from Koval Distillery and listening to a DJ set throughout the night. The show will run through Oct. 10 and may be viewed by appointment only. The FLATSstudio gallery is located on 1050 W. Wilson Ave. Contact (855) 443-5287 for appointments and other questions.
— S. Nicole Lane
Art Tue Aug 12 2014
"Oh, the places you'll go" and things you'll see this September at the exciting Hats Off to Dr. Seuss! exhibit at Water Tower Place. As part of the national touring exhibition of the famous author's collections, attendees will be treated to a look inside Dr. Seuss's hidden treasures from his estate, on display for the first time. From paintings to towering feathered hats, this display shows off some of the most whimsical creations of the beloved children's writer.
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— Megan Daley
Art Sun Jul 13 2014
LVL3, the crowd-pleasing alternative gallery space located in the heart of Wicker Park, had its opening reception last night for the exhibition, Two Rocks Do Not Make a Duck. Milano Chow, Sofia Leiby and Malin Gabriella Nordin are the three artists featured in the group show which exhibit detailed drawings, black and white collage and graffiti covered canvases. Typically, LVL3 hosts conceptual artists that spread out onto the floor, their paintings made up of duct tape and crayons or oddly shaped installations that involve teddy bears. Still conceptual, this show appears to be more tame. This is not to be taken the wrong way--this exhibit is absolutely a breath of fresh air, something viewers haven't seen at LVL3 recently.
Milano Chow, an artist residing in LA, creates large drawings of domesticated settings set through the window pane of a house or a structure. These classical drawings are so precise and so soft that one must take a moment to truly become aware if they are drawings, photographs or digital depictions.
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— S. Nicole Lane
Review Mon May 05 2014
The Peanut Gallery, a small creative space in Humboldt Park, is featuring the artist Derek Weber until May 18 for his exhibition entitled Melting. Weber's work is all-encompassing -- ranging from drawings, video, installation and sound. The exhibition at the Peanut Gallery focuses on the natural world, sensory elements and psychedelia within the work of Weber's various mediums.
Upon entering the space, there is an overhead projector which shoots a surreal and unearthly image onto a white wall, while on the other side a more familiar scene is being displayed -- swimming at Devil's Lake. Throughout the exhibition, familiar, yet hypnagogic images can be examined by the viewer.
Derek Weber's interest in all mediums is something that creates a sensory successful exhibition. He includes CDs, pins, photographs and interactive black lights while walking through Melting.
The Peanut Gallery is free and open to the public. It is located at 1000 N. California Ave.
— S. Nicole Lane
Preview Sat Apr 05 2014
The Hyde Park Art Center, located at 5020 S Cornell Ave, is a wonderful addition to the Hyde Park neighborhood. The center holds exhibitions as well as artist residencies and classes for adults and children. While walking from the Bridgeport Coffee shop to the opposite side of the center, one cannot help but notice the new and alluring photography exhibition that the art center has recently installed. Typically, their is a large exhibition space which holds artwork, however, this presentation is located in a pathway and smaller gallery space--a perfect chance for us to take in the work of Ross Sawyers, a professor at Columbia College whose project beautifully documents "the rise and fall of the United States housing market."
At first glimpse, these images are abstract, surreal even. In almost every photograph, their is a glowing light drawing the viewer in, however, the light is too bright to fully contemplate what is there. Upon reading further into the images, one can conclude that Sawyers' work is focusing on the abandonment, manipulation and destruction of the housing market in the U.S. Traveling from the beginning to the exhibition until the end, the viewer is able to see the deconstruction of something that so familiar to all of us. In the beginning of his series, he depicts a closed space--claustrophobic and quiet--and by the end the image are torn and and tattered, yet beautiful and exposed.
The exhibition, Model Pictures, will have its opening reception Sunday, April 13 from 3 to 5pm. A gallery talk is also occurring on Wednesday, April 30 at 6pm.
Hyde Park art center is free and located at 5020 S. Cornell Ave. For more information call 773-324-5520
— S. Nicole Lane
Preview Fri Mar 28 2014
The performance gallery, Defibrillator, will be presenting their annual April Fools Day fundraiser, the Lyp Sinc Show, on Tuesday, April 1. This unique art gallery focuses on performance art. The gallery hosts an International Performance Art Festival annually, entitled, RAPID PULSE, June 1-10. The festival presents a total of 28 international and local performance artists for a series of 10 days. The Lyp Sinc Show occurs as a fundraiser for the artists meals, materials and housing for RAPID PULSE. There will be a total of 13 artists/groups at the Lip Sinc Show, which kicks off at 7pm.
Silky Jumbo will be the host for the evening and Jordan Jaymes will be the DJ.
Defibrillator Art Gallery is located at 1136 N. Milwaukee Ave. The gallery requests a $10 donation at the door, refreshments are included. Call 773-609-1137 for more information.
Additional events include No Lights, No Lycra, a weekly dance party in the dark. The next one will occur Monday, March 31 at 8:15pm.
— S. Nicole Lane
Preview Fri Mar 21 2014
Starting April 18, The Museum of Contemporary Photography will be presenting the works of nine photographers in an exhibition entitled, Home Truths: Photography and Motherhood. The opening reception, held from 5 to 7pm will introduce gender roles, domesticity and identity.
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— S. Nicole Lane
Preview Sat Mar 15 2014
Photo by UChicago Arts
Are you intrigued by anatomy and art? Are you interested in (literally) looking inside of yourself? This spring, UChicago Arts will be hosting a multi-venue exhibition entitled Imaging/Imagining that incorporates both the artistic and the scientific history of the body.
This exhibition will be held in various locations across the campus, including the Special Collections Research Center (The Body as Text), the Smart Museum (The Body In Art) and the Crerar Library (The Body as Data). Each space will introduce the history of anatomy in a specialized and organized category. The Body as Text explores the history of medical illustration as well as when the partnership of art and science were separated due to the invention of the x-ray. The Body as Data focuses on modern anatomy and the introduction of computers. The exhibition at the Smart Museum, The Body as Art, focuses on the subjective imagination within the medical illustrations that were once incredibly important for anatomists.
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— S. Nicole Lane
Art Sat Mar 15 2014
Photo by Nicole Lane
The Chicago Arts District in East Pilsen opens its galleries, artists studios and neighborhood shops for local people every second Friday of the month.
Last night, Rooms, a performance space, had its final performance from an ongoing series entitled, RITUAL NO. 10:WAVES. The ritual included two male performers--one was seated and one was pouring water from one bucket to the other. The seated man beat a steady dream-beat while the standing performer transitioned from a platform to the wooden floor. As pictured above, the individual poured water from one bucket to another for three steady hours.
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— S. Nicole Lane
Art Sat Mar 08 2014
The weather, warming up slightly this week, urged a substantial amount of Chicago makers, gallery goers and visual arts lovers, to the Flat Iron Arts Building last night. I, finally wearing something that wasn't reminiscent of a Christmas Story, trekked out to Wicker Park for the open studios, refreshments and socializing. This was my first time "First Fridays" at Wicker Park; I usually frequent Pilsen for "Second Fridays," instead. However, I am a fan of the area and decided to wander down for a peek at how they run things down at the Flat Iron Building.
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— S. Nicole Lane
Art Thu Mar 06 2014
Photo courtesy of UCHICAGOArts
Encircling the Logan Center walls and spreading out like a scroll are the six large projections by the cinematographer and photographer, Yang Fudong. The exhibition, both a film and installation, is titled East of the Que Village, and features a rural area where Fudong grew up.
Upon entering the gallery space, I was struck by black and white film projections on each wall. As I stood in the middle, slowly circling my body to face each screen, I noticed people, rural locations, isolation and most importantly, wild dogs. Lots and lots of ravenous and skeletal dogs--fighting over meat, sanity and space.
As I rotated my body to face each of the projections, I continued to glance back at the dogs. I can't remember if it was their loud growls and bellows that attracted me or their savage existence to simply survive, however, my interest was incredibly sparked for further observation. Once I watched the film for a great amount of time, I began to connect the story between the separate screens. The stray dogs and the humans are all tied together into one, creating a pseudo-documentary which is united because of one young crippled dog.
The East of the Que Village exhibition will be up until to Sunday, March 30 at the Logan Center which is located at 915 E. 60th St. Yang Fudong's film is a documentation of his memories and time spent in his hometown. The dogs were pre-ordered, the locations scouted, but the environment and individuals are very real. Check out more Logan Center events/news on their Facebook and Tumblr page.
— S. Nicole Lane
Hatch Projects was just nominated by Newcity as the "Best Opportunity for Emerging Artists" because of the impressive critical infrastructure the Chicago Artists Coalition has built around the studios it houses to support its resident artists' practices and careers. It promises regular contact with curators, critics, collectors and arts administrators... even a solo exhibition for each member. To see what has come of it, head over to the CAC in the West Loop tonight for Twelve Variations.
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— Kelly Reaves
East Garfield Park curator Edra Soto (right) with Featured Artists Andrea Jablonski (left) and DJ Mr. Voice (center)
There are a bunch of shows opening in the West Loop tonight, but if only because of its sheer breadth (and that's not the only reason), if you can only go to one "art event" this weekend (because those are the parameters I've committed to for this weekly column), go to East Garfield Park.
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— Kelly Reaves
This weekend, if you can only go to one art opening, go to David Sprecher's Anchors on Sunday -- his second solo exhibition at Peanut Gallery. He has built a false wall and is playing with perception subtly through various methods, and his playful approach to art making combined with his personal investigation into the human body and spirit makes for a compelling exhibition. BUT, because of my personal involvement with Peanut Gallery I may be biased, so I'm going to give you another option.
Rusty Shackleford Dream Feeder & Katie Torn Dream House
How about some colorful prints, paintings, arrangements & video work loosely based on nostalgia and technology at Roots & Culture?
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— Kelly Reaves
If you can only go to one art show this weekend, consider spending a portion of your Friday night checking about a bunch of new sculptures that pee into wading pools!
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— Kelly Reaves
Art Fri Oct 04 2013
Every weekend in Chicago, there is more art available to check out than any of us actually have time for. Most of it is listed at thevisualist.org and at Art Talk Chicago. For those of you who have a hard time deciding which to go to, I'll make a recommendation for you every week. This week's pick:
Dock 6 Art & Design 6
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— Kelly Reaves
Event Sat Sep 28 2013
A second EXPO Chicago has now come and gone, passing through Navy Pier like an electrical storm, this time buzzing with a few new satellites -- countless gallery openings and open studios, but also medium-scale alternative fairs like the econo-centric EDITION at the Chicago Artists Coalition and the grassroots, street-oriented Fountain Art Fair at Mana Contemporary, all within five miles of Navy Pier. It's nice to see this happening... hopefully the city will be blowing up like Miami during Art Basel by next year. Or maybe we like to keep things a little more low-key in Chicago. In any case:
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— Kelly Reaves /
Art Thu Sep 19 2013
Whenever a fair or festival becomes successful, satellite events are soon to follow. And now that the much-hyped EXPO Chicago has gotten a little steam, that's exactly what's happening. This weekend the Chicago Artist Coalition (CAC) and local gallerist Andrew Rafacz have teamed up to create EDITION Chicago with the aim of exhibiting high quality, cutting-edge work that presents new ideas, while remaining financially attainable. Because let's face it, EXPO is bound to have a lot of exciting work on exhibit, but most of us won't be able to buy any of it.
"We are pleased to present such a diverse and respected list of galleries in our first year that proves great contemporary art can be found in all price ranges," said Executive Director of CAC Carolina O. Jayaram. "Not only is the new EDITION Chicago an incredible opportunity to start building an art collection or add to your existing collection, but the satellite fair builds on the exciting momentum surrounding art in Chicago right now that CAC is proud to be an integral part of."
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— Kelly Reaves
Hi, guys! I didn't find much going on this weekend. Please leave info about additional exhibitions that flew under my radar in the comments section. Happy holiday!
Tonight (Thursday):
Matthew Hoffman: Independence @ Comfort Station
Saturday:
(ƒ)utility projects: boundary transactions @ The Franklin
— Kelly Reaves
Art Fri Mar 22 2013
In the constant hustle and bustle of today's society,
artists Stacy Peterson, Pei San Ng, and Amie Sell have decided to tackle the intricate web of human connections in their Art on Armitage installation: Nebulous Connections.
From April 5-30, Art on Armitage, 4125 W. Armitage, will be featuring an eco-friendly window art exhibit in celebration of the modern era of unity, harmony, and prosperity.
Inspired by a trip to Creative Reuse Warehouse with the goal to use "up-cycled" materials, these artists created a nebulous cloud of recycled industrial hardware and metal wires. The piece plays on modern communication and acts as a visual representation of how people work together to create communities, social networks, and how molecular structures build. Using the individual recycled pieces, a wholeness or oneness is created.
An artist's reception from 6am-8pm on April 6th will welcome Artists Stacy Peterson, Pei San Ng, Amie Sell, and you! Meet these artists and better understand their installation.
A reception featuring the installation's artists will be held on Saturday, April 6, from 6pm-8pm; for more information, be sure to check out Art on Armitage.
— Lauren Haberman
Art Wed Feb 20 2013
Coming this September, come on out for EXPO Chicago's EXPO Art Week 2013 (Sept. 16-22) in conjunction with Choose Chicago and Chicago's Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events. This four-day event will be held in Navy Pier's Festival Hall and will host over 120 leading international galleries providing visitors with a mix of contemporary/modern art and design. Meanwhile, art and cultural festivities will take place all over the city.
During the Expo, keep and eye out and partake in citywide exhibits, gallery openings, installations, public art projects, music, theater and dance performances, and special dining experiences for residents and visiting international cultural tourists.
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— Lauren Haberman
Art Fri Feb 15 2013
Oasis, 2013, fiber and paper, Kate Arford and Kristin Abhalter" photo by Nathan Smith
By Troy Pieper
What may be the city's smallest commercial art gallery has taken up residence in a mixed use building near the Loyola Red Line stop. The 200-square foot space has an unfamiliar shape. Its floor is sunk several feet below street-level, the gallery's six walls of various lengths join at odd angles, the bathroom door is three steps above everything. "It's perfect," says founder and director Kristin Abhalter. Named for her grandparents, "a creative force that was incredibly supportive of me," the Roman Susan gallery has a mission to be a similar force in the Rogers Park neighborhood and in the arts in Chicago.
On the Day of the Dead last year, Roman Susan opened its door to what Abhalter describes as a bustling Rogers Park art community. When she noticed the for-rent sign, she had already been thinking about establishing a public destination in her neighborhood to show art and simply connect to residents and local artists. In the age of social media, physical spaces open to everyone are essential to engaging residents in their community and warding off the degradation of networks that provide personal contact with like-minded individuals.
And already, the gallery seems to be building a name for itself doing just that. Artists from Rogers Park and around Chicago have exhibited work at Roman Susan, and the number of visitors to the gallery continues to increase. The building at 1224 W. Loyola Ave., also home to a hodgepodge of eccentric specialty shops, sees considerable foot traffic. Residents like 70-year-old Kate Walsh, a practicing dancer, stop on the way to the train and chat with Abhalter about art or Rogers Park history, and some have shown their work at Roman Susan.
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— A/C
Tonight:
William Test @ Firecat Projects
OMG HOT! @ Believe Inn
Monday:
Heaven Gallery's NYE Benefit
That's all I could find. Please leave info about additional visual arts openings/events in the comments section. Happy New Year!
— Kelly Reaves
Art Sun Nov 04 2012
Norman Mooney. AMBER STAR No. 2
SOFA is a fair of history. This is evident upon first entering Festival Hall at Navy Pier and was especially noticeable on opening night of the 19-year-old fair. Unlike the weariness masked as over-jubilant fervor of the inaugural EXPO CHICAGO, the spirit of SOFA (Sculpture Objects Functional Art + Design) is born out its familiarity for visitors and for collectors.
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— Britt Julious
Art Wed Oct 31 2012
Installation view, Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec: Bivouac, MCA Chicago. October 20, 2012 - January 20, 2013. Photo © Studio Bouroullec
Truly great design is invisible. It exists outside of our day-to-day interactions, instead seamlessly blending into everything else we do - the work, the play, the relaxation at home. You don't want a designed object to insert itself in the things you need to do, only help facilitate what happens from morning to night.
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— Britt Julious
Museums Thu Oct 11 2012
Maharaja: The Splendor of India's Royal Courts opens at The Field Museum, 1400 S. Lake Shore Dr., next Wednesday, Oct. 17, and continues until Feb. 3, 2013. The exhibition, which was organized by London's Victoria and Albert Museum, will make the final stop on its world tour in Chicago.
The exhibition welcomes attendees to step into the colorful and exquisite realm of India's maharajas, who ruled the large nation from the 1700s to the 1940s. Their absolute rule, including immense military and religious influence, caused them to play a significant role in both the cultural and political history of India. To this day, they are still a very important national symbol.
Maharaja teaches its visitors the rich background behind India's royal duty, including stringent expectations and guidelines.
The exhibition features over 200 regal artifacts, including ornate jewelry, instruments, artwork, clothing, furniture, and weaponry. Experience the decadence first-hand by viewing the bejeweled every-day objects of India's "great kings."
Admission to Maharaja: The Splendor of India's Royal Courts is included in The Field Museum's Discovery and All-Access passes.
— Brianna Kelly
Art Wed Aug 22 2012
From Sentient City by Laura Elayne Miller
Earlier this year, I wrote about one of the more interesting and independent project spaces in Chicago, SUB-MISSION. The space is below THE MISSION, an art gallery located in the East Village and featuring the work of local, national, and international art of the Americas. SUB-MISSION exclusively features Chicago artists and gives them a space to create unique, one-of-a-kind installation work that engages their community and the featured artists on the main level.
THE MISSION recently announced their open call for new local artists to exhibit in this subterranean space. The deadline for the next round of artists is October 15. More information about submission guidelines is available on their site. For additional questions, contact Sarah Syman by email at: sarah@themissionprojects.com.
— Britt Julious
Untitled (Self-portrait), Vivian Maier
Gelatin silver print, no date
3 3/8" x 3 1/4"
Corbett vs. Dempsey, 1120 N. Ashland Ave., 3rd floor, opens an exhibition of more than 50 of Vivian Maier's original photographic prints from the collection of Ron Slattery tonight, June 29, from 5pm to 8pm.
Vivian Maier, as you may recall, was a North Shore nanny whose passion was street photography. Her brilliant artistry only came to light after her death, when large portions of her output was sold at auction and collectors of street and vernacular photography took notice. Slattery was one of the collectors who purchased prints at that auction in 2007, while others have exhibited their collections and produced books, he has kept his stash of photos a secret until now. The vintage prints in this show, all no larger than drug store snapshots, have never been exhibited to the public.
Interestingly, gallery co-founder Jim Dempsey knew Vivian Maier in real life. When he was manager of the old Film Center, she was a regular film-goer. Dempsey nicknamed her "Frau Blucher" for her heavy accent and idiosyncrasies, but over time became a friend.
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— Andrew Huff
Art Tue Jun 19 2012
It's not that traditional architectural practices lack a focus on design and the execution of ideas. But after spending time in Tele Vision, the School of the Art Institute's final graduate exhibition featuring works from students in the Architecture, Interior Architecture, Designed Objects, and Fashion departments, it is apparent that like other departments in the school, SAIC students value the complete synthesis of the tangible and conceptual.
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— Britt Julious
Art Wed Jun 06 2012
Image of Saiko Kase courtesy of the artist
Chicago is a city historically-rich in the practice of performance art. But like many artistic practices that were once prominent in the city, it is only now that this history is being recognized on a grander scale. Featuring a mix of 29 local, national, and international performing artists, the first Rapid Pulse International Performance Art Festival aims to address both the city's emerging practitioners of performance art as well as the eclectic array of seasoned performers across the globe. The festival runs through June 10 at various venues across the city.
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— Britt Julious
Art Tue May 29 2012
by Albert Stabler
Bruce Nauman's "Cast of the Space Under My Chair" is a pretty good rebus for a lot of postwar art. A cast concrete block bearing the rectilinear impression of nondescript legs and a seat, it disposes of concerns with high-tech functionality, high-fashion prettiness, or high-concept intangibility. Precious without being at all special or unique, it recalls a moment and a space that can be recorded but not retrieved, just an oddly pointless fossil of the industrial-design era. Much the same could be said of the thrust of contemporaneous Pop, Minimalist, and Fluxus artwork, currents which have resurfaced in the last decade.
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— A/C
The cool cats over at FugScreen screenprinting studios have a conundrum (albeit a pretty good one to have): too much art, not enough space. So they're opening a gallery in Logan Square this July to exhibit the best work that's run through their hands by their cohorts. With a focus on poster and street art, Galerie F has a unique ethic: fully functional six days of the week, all day long, with no appointments required. In other words, an "open door gallery". This is important to them because they want to be accessible -- they want people to be able to wander in and browse at their own pace. And as cool as Chicago's plethora of artist-run, DIY spaces are, you just can't do that at most of them.
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— Kelly Reaves
Art Mon Apr 30 2012
Laura Elayne Miller describes the process of her work as an "archaelogical dig." Before creating any new work in mediums ranging from sculpture to filmmaking to printmaking (and many others), Miller must collect, read, look, listen, and jump into the themes and ideas of her work. In her latest work - an "artistic cartography" of her three interpretations of sensory experience and space - entitled Sentient Space at THE MISSION, Miller based the creation on a prototype from two years ago.
"I just find it really interesting that you could take the structure of cartography or the idea of concrete data or elements from environment, space, and place to combine that with metaphor and experiential ideas."
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— Britt Julious
Art Thu Apr 26 2012
Opening tomorrow at Linda Warren Gallery, Tom Torluemke's Ring Around the Rosie looks at life, packages it all up in beautiful colors, and presents it for us in all of its odd, conflicting and contradicting glory. As a seasoned artist Tom brings to the table maturity, deep exploration and a goofiness all his own, and to really appreciate it you would need to spend time absorbing what he has to offer in this, his first solo show at Linda Warren Projects. Also opening there tomorrow is Living Dead Girls, which features the work of Jeriah Hildwine. This group of paintings presents a body of work, created over the period of five years, that emanates from a slew of pop cultural influences.
— MartinJon
Review Tue Apr 24 2012
Installation view at ADDS DONNA. Photo courtesy of the artist.
Why make ceramic vases when you can construct realistic model cities instead and methodically destroy them? After all, if you've ever turned clay on a wheel, you know it really just wants to slump back into the lump from whence it came. In Natural Disaster, Allison Ruttan embraces ceramic's uncooperative nature, building intricate structures and craftily deconstructing them so that they look just like tiny versions of the bombsites we see on the news. Or, for a Chicagoan, like Cabrini Green looked a couple years ago. Despite the title of the show, Ruttan urges viewers to keep in mind that these are not accidents of nature but man made acts of destruction.
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— Kelly Reaves
Tonight:
Russell Tyler @ ebersmoore
The Homocult Show (all weekend) @ S&S Project
Hammes/Payne @ NEW CAPITAL
Eric Wenzel: FRESH FAT @ 65GRAND
James Jankowiak: The Profane Illumination @ Johalla Projects
On Beyond Zebra: 2012 UIC Art MFA Thesis Exhibition 3 @ Gallery 400
Brad Temkin, Barbara Cooper, Linda Hoffhines: Art and the Urban Garden @ Lillstreet Art Center
Time To Make The Donuts: The Gigposters of Ryan Duggan @ saki
Jennifer Cronin, Matt Maniscalco, and Ian Mitchell Wallace: Embody @ Black Cloud Gallery
EFFORT @ DfbrL8r
Now You See It, Now You Don't @ Flat Iron
Saturday:
Escape Group: Lectures and Bloody Mary Bar @ threewalls
Ground Up, the Infrastructure of Place @ The Bike Room
hArts for Art 3 @ LVL3
Joseph G. Cruz: not a fact, still extremely real @ Comfort Station
Katherine Desjardins: A Provisional Proposition @ kasia kay art projects gallery
Catherine Forster: They call me theirs @ Notebaert Nature Museum Chicago
Artist Talk: Jeremy Bolen, Paul Cowan, Marianna Milhorat, and Neal Vandenbergh @ Gallery 400 Lecture Room
Black, White, Gold @ Hosted by Casualiving
Sunday:
James Kubie: Blood and Gold @ Julius Caesar
Caleb Cole: Other People's Clothes @ ACRE Projects
CAKE (Chicago Alternative Comics Expo) @ The Hideout
Comic Art Battle @ The Hideout
Monday:
Galerie F Fundraiser @ Cole's Bar
Wednesday:
Film Screening: Before Ai Weiwei and Enemies of the People
@ The Museum of Contemporary Photography
threewallsSALON: Unofficial Publics
Yvonne Rainer lecture @ AIC
Thursday:
Survival Techniques @ The Museum of Contemporary Photography
— Kelly Reaves
Gallery Wed Feb 01 2012
I've checked in on OhNo!Doom's website since November for any events worth highlighting and always wound up disappointed on a calendar for 2011. I feared that the little gallery that could might have called it quits until I recently spotted a Facebook feed from them that read, "DOOM IS NEAR," and was filled with the same excitement I felt when I heard Bueller is back. Now, it's Facebook official.
Saturday, Feb. 11, marks OhNo!Doom's [temporary] name change to OhNo!Arcade and opening of its first 2012 exhibit, titled Super Button Mashers, a gamer tribute. The night will feature works from several local and import artists such as, Jeremiah Ketner, Aya Kakeda, Alex Willan (top right) and many more, as they present original art inspired by game console classics.
Accompanying the art will be local accents of food from the Duck N Roll truck, music from Saskrotch & Kkrusty, coffee from The Wormhole, and beer from start-up brewery LowDive.
Doors will be open from 6pm to 10pm.
— Ricardo Villarreal
Art Mon Jan 30 2012
From DEER/ GROUND (book), photograph with deer bone shards, tanned deer hide, concrete. Photo courtesy of ACRE & Roxaboxen Exhibitions.
Remember the controversial interview I posted with Rebecca Beachy a couple years ago? You know... the artist who was making hats out of roadkill? Well, she's graduated now and she's got a solo show opening this Sunday (7-10pm) at Roxaboxen Exhibitions in Pilsen, brought to you by ACRE exhibitions.
Continue reading this entry »
— Kelly Reaves
Gallery Thu Jan 19 2012
The Chicago Artist's Coalition (CAC) is at it again, providing a creative haven for emerging artists struggling to gather the resources needed to make their art a reality.
Two shows open tomorrow in their remarkably transformative space, the HATCH Projects, located in the gallery-riddled West Loop on 217 N. Carpenter.
The first is a solo show, Ascent, featuring artist Homa Shojaie. The second exhibit is the result of a collaboration between CAC and their resident HATCH Project artists, the Twelve Galleries Project, and the ladies of Quite Strong.
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— Alexa DeTogne
By Amanda Mead*
In September, I attended an exhibit at the LVL3 Gallery titled This is the Same as That, a joint exhibit between New York artist Letha Wilson and Chicago artist Dave Murray. The show dealt with examining the real and the unreal, the physical and the imagined. The exhibit included photography, sculpture, and installation that dealt with the duality of materiality and material limitations.
So in October, over the din of silverware scrapes and the clank of beers at the Exchequer Pub (a supposed SAIC graduate student spot), I was finally was able to interview Dave Murray between his trips from North and South East Asia stopping in Singapore, Taipei, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Beijing, and his next trip to India and the Middle East including stops in Mumbai, New Delhi, Kuwait, Dubai, and Abu Dhabi. As the Assistant Director of International Admissions at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Dave's job involves grand travels. In a few weeks he will be traveling to Portugal and Turkey.
Our conversation varied from kindergarten to the Tower of Babel, and in between we had some great discussion about art.
Continue reading this entry »
— A/C
By Zachary Johnson*
Kristin Mariani, "A Sample of Making", 2009. Spoke, Chicago, IL. (Photo courtesy of Spoke)
Spoke, a mixed project and studio space in the West Loop closed its doors in August after hosting over forty artist projects, events, experiments, and residencies in its nearly three years of programming. What always struck me about Spoke was how public its programming was. Once while wandering around their building at 119 N. Peoria, I knocked on their door and was soon let into the middle of an artist's project under construction. I assumed I was interrupting, but the artists chatted with me, explaining their project, and inviting me to stay if I had time. Visiting a later opening, I was taken back by the SAIC cheerleaders, mini-marching band, fake sports mascots, and kooky drum major who had crammed into Spoke's small project space to accompany "Game On", their interactive opening full of nonsensical artist-made games. Through art parades, beer making projects, international collaborations, and more, Spoke's programming proved to be unique, surprising, and full of variety.
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— A/C
Art Mon Sep 19 2011
photo courtesy of Columbia College
Columbia College's Glass Curtain Gallery has taken interactive art to another level with their current exhibition, CoLaboratory. Two artist collaboratives - ED JR. and (f)utility projects have joined forces to create a site specific video installation with moveable screens that, although quite beautiful in its own right, is made manifest by you - the visitor. Visitors are invited to adjust the structures on which video projections are shown, amending and re-forming the evolving images as they move. If that's not enough interaction for you, check out one of ED JR.'s free, public workshops at the gallery (Thursday, September 22, 6-8pm; Saturday October 1, 3-5pm; Thursday October 27, 6-8pm), where you can get your hands dirty and be featured in a video, which will be later projected in the space.
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— Kelly Reaves
Feature Wed Sep 14 2011
The crowd at Tony Wight
Last Friday several galleries around the city kicked off their fall programming with opening exhibitions featuring work by their crème de la crème. A/C writers Natalie Edwards and Kelly Reaves each spent the night frantically hopping from show to show, trying to absorb as much of it as they could, with their powers combined. Here are their impressions:
Kelly: This is an engaging, quality group video show in a cool, new(ish) space. The first piece that confronts you upon your entering the gallery is chopped up footage of Whitney Houston from The Bodyguard. She is on two "battling" monitors, which you can stand between, walk between, or awkwardly squeeze around. I believe one Whitney is only singing "I" and the other is only singing "you". I thoroughly enjoyed it and it looked like other people were enjoying it, too. I would have liked to stand between the monitors but, at least on the opening night, the amusement proved too popular for my tight schedule.
Continue reading this entry »
— A/C
Gallery Fri Sep 09 2011
This Saturday, after the big opening night of the art season, you might want to get a bit of the hair of the dog down at Prospectus Gallery in Pilsen. Walter Fydryck has been working on a new series of drawings that features prominently in this one man show. For a long time Walter has been inventing and perfecting a process of painting on Plexiglas, a few of these are present and help to understand the place where the drawings are coming from.
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— MartinJon
Event Tue Aug 30 2011
The wildly popular and successful MDW Fair of last spring is happening again this October 21-23 at the Geolofts. Formed as a collaborative project between the Public Media Institute, Roots & Culture and threewalls, the MDW Fair was conceived as a showcase for independent art initiatives, spaces, galleries and artist groups from the Chicago metropolitan area -- basically what NEXT was eight or nine years ago, but on a larger scale.
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— Kelly Reaves
Benefit Mon Aug 15 2011
There's a lot going on this weekend but if you haven't cemented your Saturday plans yet, consider going to Comfort Station's kegger. Perhaps the best (and most obvious) abandoned-building-turned-art space ever, Comfort Station took over the little building in the heart/crotch of Logan Square that was vacant for so long, it became invisible to most of us.
Their party this Saturday will feature music, food by Homage Street food truck, face-painting, croquet, ping-pong, quirky film and slide show screenings, and, of course, good-ole' outdoor boozing. A suggested $10 donation gets you a cup for a night of Revolution beer. All proceeds from your donation benefit Comfort Station -- they're raising funds for storm windows to extend their active year into the cooler months and track lighting to keep spotlights on the artwork.
The party is this Saturday, August 20 from 6pm to midnight-ish at Comfort Station: The Keel/Coulson Sideyard @ 3016 W. Logan Blvd. For details, click here.
— Kelly Reaves
Art Thu Aug 11 2011
Although the more underground, independent, and emerging Chicago art scenes and artists might be overshadowed by larger fairs and urban coasts, alternative events still foster and support local practitioners. BUILT Festival, a two-day event founded by Chicago artists Tristan J.M. Hummel and co-produced by David Dvorak, allows contemporary artists and curators the space to transform unusual, transportable, and seemingly temporary environments - shipping containers - into alternative and guerrilla venues in an empty lot on Milwaukee avenue.
The theme for this initial festival is "urban culture" and audiences will get the chance to witness more than 100 projects, exhibitions, and performances inside and surrounding these containers from local spaces and institutions such as the Chicago Urban Art Society, Spudnik Press, and the Chicago Artists Coalition. In addition to the array of visual and performative art projects, visitors can listen to music by musicians and DJ's such as White Mystery, Raj Mahal, and Tim Zawada.
Tickets for BUILT Festival can be purchased online or at the door for $10. All-weekend BUILT VIP passes are also available online today and include $6 worth of drink tickets. BUILT Festival takes place in the empty lot at 1767 N. Milwaukee this Friday from 5:00pm-10:30pm and Saturday from 12:00pm-10:30pm.
— Britt Julious
Art Tue Jul 12 2011
This Friday HungryMan Gallery presents the group show Keepin' it Real, featuring the work of Petra Cortright, Thomson Dryjanski, Derek Frech and Bob Myaing, Aaron Graham, and Mac Katter.
The relevancy of internet context within a physical exhibition is a new challenge for our generation of art makers and curators. Keepin' it Real examines the possibilities and difficulties presented by work that exists in dual realms, the physical and the digital, as well as the opportunities and limitations of a curatorial process entirely reliant on e-mail, chat and internet surfing.
Opening Reception 7 - 11pm, this Friday July 15
Closing Reception 4 - 7pm, Sunday August 21
Open Sundays 12 - 5pm
— Michelle D. Villarreal
Event Sat Jun 25 2011
Tomorrow afternoon the Hyde Park Art Center hosts part four in their series of neighborhood-centric gallery tours -- Artist-Run Spaces in Garfield Park. Hop on your bike and explore the warehouse artist studios and artist run spaces on the west side. Starting at noon at my favorite coffee shop, The Star Lounge (2521 W. Chicago), the tour will visit some of the city's newest exhibition venues and see the work of emerging artists, followed by a barbecue (at my house!). Visit hydeparkart.org for details (the site says the tour is over at 3 but a little bird (and a bunch of fliers) told me it goes 'till 6pm).
— Kelly Reaves
Art Tue Jun 14 2011
Daniel R. Whiteneck
On the seventh floor of the former Carson Pirie Scott building, the graduating students from the School of the Art Institute's Departments of Architecture, Interior Architecture, and Designed Objects (AIADO), and Fashion, presented works befitting the classic Louis Sullivan-designed building. Aesthetically speaking, their designs and concepts - ranging from mobile food cart projects to illuminated public art works to multi-functional furniture - are a far cry from Sullivan's steel-framed Chicago landmark. But the goals of the students' designs, often touching upon ideas of recycling, conservation of resources, and streamlined communication, were grounded in multi-generational sustainability.
"It was a chance to do something really beautiful, really challenging, and a challenge for myself," said Alysse Filipek (BFA 2013), the Grand Prize winner of the Designers of Tomorrow competition. Filipek's work addresses both her personal history in Southern California and her reaction to the harsh, Seasonal Affective Disorder-creating winters of Chicago.
Other works on view include LOADED: SAIC in Milan, originally presented during the 2011 Milan International Furniture Fair; Industry Partners: Living in a Smart City; a five-year GFRY Design Studio retrospective; and Where is Where, the graduate thesis exhibition.
Continue reading this entry »
— Britt Julious
Art Tue Jun 07 2011
Thomas Roach, 86 plastic chairs uncomfortable to stack but ill, 2011.
Tonight begins a two-part reading series at Alderman Exhibitions featuring selections from William T. Vollman's short story collection, The Atlas. A companion to the gallery's current exhibition, Thomas Roach: New Drawings, tonight's reading will also include a discussion and reception. Vollman's stories, often quick and glinting descriptions of brief moments in passing, are a compliment to Roach's drawings which often evoke an ethereal and visceral quality. Although the event is free, guests are encouraged to RSVP at info@aldermanexhibitions.com. PDF's of the selected stories are available for each session and copies can be sent to you upon request in the RSVP.
The Program:
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8, 7pm
William T. Vollmann, The Atlas, PART 1
Selected stories for Part 1:
The Back of My Head
It's Too Difficult to Explain
Bad Air
Brandi's Jacket
Houses
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 22, 7pm
William T. Vollmann, The Atlas, PART 2
Selected stories for Part 2:
The Atlas
The Rifles
Where Are You Today
Last Day at the Bakery
Alderman Exhibitions is located at 350 North Ogden, 4th floor.
— Britt Julious
Art Mon Jun 06 2011
Carl Baratta: "The Hills Click & Wave, the Lake, Still, Creeps", 2009; Egg tempera on board
The Italian Cultural Institute of Chicago celebrates the 150th anniversary of the unification of Italy and the long-standing friendship between the U.S. and Italy with a new art exhibition, A Sense of Place, presented in conjunction with the 2011 Venice Biennale, Italy@150 and the AIC's Highlights of Italian Art exhibit.
Continue reading this entry »
— Kelly Reaves
Art Fri May 27 2011
Nonprofit arts organization Threewalls is connecting artists and collectors by adapting a model better known for supporting local farmers.
About The Grid
The Grid is a series profiling Chicago businesses, subcultures and landscapes. These short, lyrical documentaries aspire to be art cinema, ethnographies and experiments in form. Ben Kolak and Brian Ashby's directorial debut, Scrappers, won Best Documentary at the 2010 Chicago Underground Film Festival and made Roger Ebert's top 10 list of documentary films in 2010. Editor Dave Nagel is a recent University of Chicago graduate.
— David Schalliol
Event Thu Apr 28 2011
On the Make did such a great job with their annual Art Guide (released today), I figured I'd just link to that this week, rather than try to do all the work they already did all over again.
So here it is: On the Make's Art Guide.
Pretty awesome, huh?
— Kelly Reaves
Art Wed Apr 20 2011
Chicago's largest art fair, Art Chicago, has taken a hit in recent years due to mismanagement and other logistical issues. For the local art community, the fair - now a massive four-day event encompassing multiple floors of the Merchandise Mart - often isolates or ignores the eclectic, diverse, and ever-changing Chicago and Midwest-based art galleries, publications, and institutions.
Three of Chicago's most celebrated art entities-- threewalls, Roots and Culture, and Public Media Institute-- present the MDW Fair, a celebration and gathering of Chicagoland area independent art initiatives, spaces, galleries, publishers, and artist groups, and something of a response to the much larger fair which takes place the following weekend. Running April 23 and 24, the fair aims to "demonstrate the diversity, strength, and vision of the people/places making it happen in the art ecology of our region."
Continue reading this entry »
— Britt Julious /
Gallery Fri Apr 15 2011
Today:
Saturday:
Sunday:
— Kelly Reaves /
Art Fri Apr 08 2011
Go see some art! Have some wine! See and be seen!
Tonight:
Saturday:
— Kelly Reaves
Art Wed Apr 06 2011
Sheila Pepe, Common Sense, Artisterium 3, Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia, 2010
Brooklyn-based artist Sheila Pepe's ongoing and traveling installation performance, Common Sense, makes its fifth stop in Chicago at Oak Park's he said, she said. Thus far, the performance has traveled to CAHM in Houston; Testsite/Fluent-Colab in Austin, Texas; Artisterium 3, in Tbilisi in the Republic of Georgia; and Carroll and Sons in Boston.
The participatory exhibition is yet another example of the gallery's ongoing effort to engage audiences in a conversation about art and culture. Incorporating ideas of abstraction and construction, the large-scale crochet "drawing" allows audiences to participate in the work by unraveling the material to be used for their own creations. As well, this is another chance for art lovers to venture to the burgeoning and eclectic art community growing in the diverse suburb of Oak Park.
Common Sense, Chicago opens April 9 at 6pm and runs through May 14. he said, she said is located at 216 North Harvey Avenue, Apt. #1 in Oak Park.
— Britt Julious /
Art Fri Apr 01 2011
A whole lot of art to see this weekend:
Tonight:
Saturday:
Sunday:
— Kelly Reaves
Gallery Thu Mar 24 2011
If you're looking to see some art, here's a good place to start:
Friday:
Also, check out the Chicago Zine Fest going on at Columbia College Friday and Saturday.
Saturday:
Sunday:
Holla if you've got stuff to add. Have a great weekend!
— Kelly Reaves
A Gaia poster bomb on 18th Street; photo courtesy of the artist
Internationally lauded street artist, Gaia, is officially here-- all over the place. A series of projects showcasing Gaia's work around town, collectively titled GAIA: Resplendent Semblance launched a few weeks ago with a bunch of work pasted up all over the city, a collection of work at Pawn Works (which opened last Friday) and a show of new, large scale paintings and collages at Maxwell Colette Gallery, which will open this Friday.
Continue reading this entry »
— Kelly Reaves /
This review was submitted by Anna Wolak.
Steve Schapiro: "Jodie on Couch" (1975); photo courtesy of Catherine Edelman Gallery.
To have Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese secure brilliant, attractive actors as your subjects, to have the perfect movie set as your background, to have the lighting already flawlessly arranged for each shot, then for the two famous directors to invite you in to capture it all on film - that is a photographer's dream. Steve Schapiro is a lucky bastard.
Continue reading this entry »
— A/C
Event Fri Mar 18 2011
Here is a comprehensive list of artsy options for the weekend. These are mostly all opening receptions, with a few performances, benefits and artist lectures thrown in. Most of the events today start around 5 or 6pm, but some of the Saturday and Sunday events start earlier. Click on the links for details. See you around!
Tonight:
Saturday:
Sunday:
— Kelly Reaves /
There has been a lot of talk (and a little controversy) about nanny-cum-street photographer, Vivian Maier, whose work was discovered in 2007 when storage units containing it were emptied due to late payment and the work was sold to an auction house. Maybe you've even seen her exhibition at the Cultural Center (up through April 3). In a sense, she is our new Henry Darger--a talented Chicago-based outsider artist whose work has earned her posthumous fame. The difference is that her work is genuine documentation of the city and the people in it rather than the zany imaginings of a madman (not that there's anything wrong with that).
But just like the prices for Darger's work rapidly skyrocketed, Maier's are on their way up, and now you have a chance at a piece of the pie.
Continue reading this entry »
— Kelly Reaves /
Art Fri Mar 11 2011
It's Friday! It's sunny and beautiful out! Let's go see some art!
Here are some options:
Also, tomorrow we've got Karen Bovinich & EJ Hill's There is no I in it opening at The Hills Esthetic Center and Candida Alvarez's Black/Dinner Napkin Paintings opening at Peregrine Program.
Don't say I didn't warn you.
— Kelly Reaves
Art Thu Mar 10 2011
painting by Charlie Megna
Do you remember the profile I wrote of Charlie Megna last year? No?
Well this kid's got spirit, and in the year since that profile was written his work has developed into some INSANE s*%t. He has progressed from painting pigeons and two-flats to battles between tube-sock wearing devil children with rainbow juice for blood. I guess that's just what happens when you lock yourself up in a studio with a bunch of toxic chemicals every day for an extended period of time.
Continue reading this entry »
— Kelly Reaves /
Art Thu Mar 10 2011
Local artist book shop and exhibition space Golden Age continues to present a strong line-up of curated and solo exhibitions. For their latest, New York City-based artist Erik Lindman will be in attendance for the opening of his latest solo exhibition, One Year Edit. Constructed of cast-offs from other paintings, Lindman's four unique abstract works combine varying surfaces with more formal compositions. As Golden Age co-director Marco Kane Braunschweiler noted, "You go out, find your subject in the world, come back, edit out what doesn't work and if you've done what you've intended, you present something resonant. It's a bold and cutting edge way of working because it doesn't present any hint of the artist as a traditional, avant-garde painter."
One Year Edit opens Friday, March 11, from 6 to 9 pm. The exhibition runs through April 17. Golden Age is located at 119 North Peoria, #2D.
— Britt Julious
Art Thu Mar 10 2011
Filmmaker Amy Grappell has featured works in Sundance film fest, winning honorable mention. She has also shown work at SXSW, Rotterdam film fest, and among many others. Now, she will be presenting work at University of Chicago's contemporary art gallery The Renaissance Society.
The opening reception will take place this Sunday (March 13) from 4pm to 7pm, and will include a discussion with Grappell from 5pm to 6pm, in room 307 at Cobb Hall.
— Michelle D. Villarreal
Art Thu Mar 10 2011
This Saturday The Garden is hosting a one night event from 8pm to 1am that will feature too many talented Chicago artists and musicians to wrap your head around. Brett Manning (a girl), is the curator along with the help of others. This isn't an event to miss and then cry about later when you hear all your friends were there. It is a small world after all.
Visit the P&P blog for more information.
— Michelle D. Villarreal /
Art Wed Mar 09 2011
image courtesy of Gallery 400
If you're looking for a little lively art talk today, look no further than UIC's Gallery 400. Today at 5pm they're hosting an artist's talk with Kalup Linzy-- a multidisciplinary artist whose practice includes videos, performances, and music. I am not familiar with his work but it sounds like a lot of fun, and (potentially) part of the Post Black movement-- one of the most exiting contemporary art movements, albeit underrepresented. (Pulled from the press release:)
His satirical narratives--inspired by soap operas, telenovelas and Hollywood melodramas--deal with race, sexuality, gender, class, and the art world itself. Serving as writer, director, cinematographer, editor, and actor, he performs, often in drag, a series of memorable, defiant characters. Simultaneously salacious and poignant, Linzy's works fuse dramatic intensity with melodramatic irony and gut-busting comedy.
Gallery 400 is located at 400 S. Peoria St. in the West Loop. For more information about Linzy, visit his website.
— Kelly Reaves
Art Tue Mar 08 2011
This review was submitted by Daniel Schmid.
The recent rainy Friday evening did not detract from the opening of SAIC MFA-alum Chinatsu Ikeda's solo show at the Nicole Villeneuve Gallery being well attended. Indeed, the weather seemed an appropriate fit for Ikeda's paintings, some of which feature falling rain and snow, and are made up of tiny washy marks.
The show, comprised of eight recent works on canvas and paper, ranges from oil to watercolor. A particularly strong example of what can perhaps be described as a contemporary interpretation of impressionistic mark-making can be found in an untitled oil painting featuring a clown-like figure situated between a fork and a spoon. The picture is enveloped in a variety of Ikeda's tiny marks that could be falling rain or snow, but in areas alternate between resembling popcorn or rice (further evidenced by a tiny orange bowl in the lower left corner). Elsewhere these same marks help to form the face and arms of the figure-- notably the figure's broad, bright red lips.
Continue reading this entry »
— A/C /
Art Wed Mar 02 2011
Leaving through the back door (first photograph of the trip), silver gelatin print, 2010
ACRE, in conjunction with Johalla Projects, presents TALKING WITH FEAR ABOUT DYING TOMORROW, a solo exhibition of new works by Chicago-based artist and educator Matthew Austin. The latest installment in ACRE's year-long series of solo exhibition by 2010 ACRE summer residents, Austin's new work was born out of a month-long road trip following his summer residency.
In his series of photographs, Austin carves into trees or poses for a tourist photo as a means of exploring and documenting the ways in which an individual interacts with his or her environment. Austin reiterates personal messages and tangible artifacts of an individual experience as a way to highlight the universality of such interactions.
In addition to the photographs, Austin will be releasing an edition of news prints and a monograph of new work. On Saturday at 4 pm, Austin will also exhibition his first contribution to HomeSchool, a traveling institution for experimental pedagogy.
Matthew Austin: TALKING WITH FEAR ABOUT DYING TOMORROW opens Friday, March 4 from 7 - 10 pm. The exhibition closes this Saturday, March 5. Johalla Projects is located at 1561 N Milwaukee and is open Thursday, March 3 from 3 - 7 pm and Saturday, March 5 from 1 - 6 pm.
— Britt Julious
Art Thu Feb 10 2011
Taking Pictures (Marilyn), (2007)
In Nicholas Knight's latest solo exhibition, Declaimed, at 65GRAND, the artist subtly re-purposes images or the idea of the image to create one unified whole. The image become something new and complete, even as it breaks down the context of and the relationship between the audience and the image itself. His works are re-purposed both tangibly and symbolically.
We live in a world of "declaimed" images and as Knight reiterates in works such as Double Dramatization (2010) and Screen Images Simulated (Youthful Hercules) (2010), it is a matter of breaking down and rediscovering (perhaps even creating) the truth out of the inauthentic image. The questions of authenticity also play a main role in Knight's images: What is true and not true? Are we as cognizant of the false images and ideas that stem from these images as we imagine?
In other, non-photographic works, Knight breaks down the idea of the image to its most singular of definitions: forms captured. Each new piece in the exhibition becomes more and more difficult to identify as just prints or as manipulated images from Knight's psyche. Knight responds to the idea of the manipulated image, in turn making something that is "untrue" but still tangible.
Declaimed closes this Saturday. 65GRAND is open Friday and Saturday from 12 pm to 5:30 pm, or by appointment. The gallery is located at 1369 West Grand.
— Britt Julious
Gallery Sat Jan 22 2011
The current show that is up at Western Exhibitions was created from a simple call to artists by Paul Nudd and Scott Wolniak, who requested "Heads on Poles". What they got is exactly what you might expect them to have gotten, a few politically driven works, a number that had environmental overtones and some just fun, off the wall pieces. Making your way through the gallery presents a pretty interesting problem. As we all know, we are not supposed to touch the art even if we want to, it is hard not to be reminded that if these were actually dismembered heads on poles, that the same rule would most likely apply.
Continue reading this entry »
— MartinJon
Art Mon Jan 10 2011
Realize7, (2011), by Heather Hancock, glass, 24k gold smalti, grout, paint on cement board
For her latest solo exhibition, local artist Heather Hancock created three mixed media works addressing the "constructed nature of the cognitive moment." Materials such as glass, paint, and 24 karat gold smalti are used to create unified experiences born out of the sensations of the emotional and physical world.
In many of her works, Hancock incorporates and emphasizes the power of glass as a material to literally reflect and figuratively channel meaning for the viewer. For Imagining Mind, Hancock uses the glass to explore ideas of focused attention, narrative, and the autobiographical self.
Imagining Mind runs through February 10 at the Montgomery Ward Gallery as part of the UIC Student Center East, 750 South Halsted.
— Britt Julious /
Art Tue Jan 04 2011
Dylan Vitone, Roller Rink (detail view)
The final exhibition at Chicago's inimitable David Weinberg Gallery opens this Friday, January 7, from 5 - 8 pm. The salon-style exhibition, titled The Collective, features work by the gallery's 21 artists including Weinberg along with other local and national artists such as David Burdeny, Amanda Friedman, and Dylan Vitone. The complete list of participating artists is available at the gallery's website. The gallery also dedicated a significant amount of its time to creating free and educational programs for third through 12th grade students to foster greater discussion and insight into the Chicago arts community.
The Collective runs through February 18.
— Britt Julious
Art Sat Dec 11 2010
Although they originally began as industrial advertising, lithograph posters soon found a hungry audience of collectors who viewed the works as art. The lithograph posters helped define the Belle Epoche period in France. Jules Chéret's print shop printed smaller (yet aesthetically accurate) versions of these posters, known as Les Maîtres de l'Affiche (The Masters of the Poster).
For their latest exhibition, the Zygman Voss Gallery presents Les Maîtres de l'Affiche. The exhibition features 55 original lithographs from the Belle Epoche period by such masters as Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Alphonse Mucha, and Jules Chéret. Les Maîtres de l'Affiche opens tonight from 5 to 7 pm at Zygman Voss Gallery, 222 W Superior, 1E. This event is free. RSVP here.
— Britt Julious
Art Thu Dec 09 2010
Inspired by artists and designers who use available analog and digital tools to communicate complex data from the everyday to the very obscure, the Public Media Institute presents Select Media Festival 9: Infoporn II this weekend as an homage to their love for data visualization. A selection of works from around the world takes form in installations, a publication library, interactive projects, and infographics. The exhibition itself will be viewable at Co-Prosperity Sphere for two days only: Friday, Dec. 10 from 7pm to 1am and Saturday Dec. 11 from 2 to 9pm.
Tonight they open SMF9: Infoporn II with the release of their own contribution to the information overload, Proximity Magazine: Issue 008. Themed "Education as Art," their newest issue is a 230-page opus and represents their latest and greatest effort in publishing. Stop by the release party at Maria's Packaged Goods & Community Bar to get a copy at a discount ($10), enjoy some beverages and meet the creators/contributors to the issue.
Continue reading this entry »
— Kelly Reaves
Peanut Gallery is currently accepting submissions for their next show, Facebook. If you have art dealing with issues like privacy on the internet, relationships sabotaged by social networking, or portraits of other people's cats that have their own FB pages, now is your chance to show it. Or, consider this an opportunity to make something new. All mediums accepted by all people, though the show is curated so send stuff you're proud of. Send jpegs to peanutgallerychicago@gmail.com by November 15. Send questions there, too. While you're at it, why not follow Peanut Gallery on Facebook?
— Kelly Reaves
Feature Mon Oct 25 2010
Everyone knows the story of gentrification. Artists and other progressive people move to low-income neighborhoods looking for a good deal on a big space in the city. This attracts investors and developers, and the next thing you know, the original occupants of the neighborhood — including small businesses, families and even the artists themselves — are priced out of their homes to make room for culturally bankrupt replacements. The charm of the neighborhood is beaten out of it.
Because of the housing market crash, along with foreclosures, the gentrification process has pretty much come to a halt in many parts of the city. A classic case of this in Chicago, for better of worse, is Garfield Park. Real estate in the neighborhood was highly sought after during the real estate boom because of its proximity to downtown and to the CTA and Metra trains, as well as the beloved Garfield Park Conservatory and the sprawling park itself, but has since been given up on by many developers. Now it is home to clusters of vacant lots and buildings, but what a lot of people don't realize is that a surprising number of the buildings that are occupied are occupied by artists. Not just any artists, either. Artists who aren't afraid to take risks, who dance to the beat of their own drums, who make some of the most engaging work and eclectic work around.
Continue reading this entry »
— Kelly Reaves /
Art Wed Oct 20 2010
Gallery 400 recently tweeted that on the last day of Stephanie Syjuco's exhibition, Particulate Matter (Things, Thingys, Thingies), viewers can walk away with one of the sculptures, no strings attached. Syjuco's handmade sculptures were designed by users of Google's SketchUp, a free 3-D modeling program. We can't say for certain whether or not this is true, but it is certainly a good excuse to catch the show before it closes this Saturday.
Gallery 400 is located at 400 South Peoria, and is open this Thursday and Friday from 10am to 6pm, and Saturday, from 12pm to 6pm.
— Britt Julious
Comics Tue Oct 19 2010
Your friendly Bucktown comic emporium (and according to Chicago Magazine, Best New Comic Book Store), Challengers Comics, is trying to open a gallery -- and they need your help.
— Rose Lannin
Art Sat Oct 16 2010
Fond de Raquette, 2010, by Wendy White
Wendy White can't be contained. Her large scale works - part painting, part sculpture, part literary word play - are so enigmatic that the Andrew Rafacz gallery space, the location of her latest Chicago solo exhibition, seems small, downright tiny in comparison. This is not a reflection of the gallery itself, but rather a testament to White's vision. Even her newest work, recognizably smaller in scale and shown for the first time in gallery two, are constructed and manipulated in the same vein as the showstopping first four works that one encounters upon entering the gallery, take up space and demand a more active participation from the viewer.
FRENCH CUTS is not only an examination into the practice (and purpose) of painting in the contemporary art world. It also serves a more direct purpose, throwing various areas of artistic practice (the literary, the visual) together to formulate a more visceral and tangible experience for the viewer. White's works are immediate.
FRENCH CUTS closes Saturday, October 23 at the Andrew Rafacz Gallery (835 W Washington). The gallery is open Tuesday - Friday, 11am to 6pm, and Saturday, from 11am to 5pm.
— Britt Julious
Art Wed Oct 13 2010
Bridgeport is home to a surprisingly bustling artistic community, from Co-Prosperity Sphere, run by the Public Media Institute to the Zhou B. Art Center. In an effort to raise awareness of that fact, the cultural spaces down there have teamed together for a "Bridgeport Art Walk" this weekend. At least seven (but probably more) exhibition/production spaces will open up to the public for us to meander around and gawk at their wares. The CAR website says that the walk will kick off each day (Friday, Oct. 15, Saturday and Sunday) at the Bridgeport Art Center at 1200 W 35th Street with the artists of Eastbank studios and then scatter throughout the neighborhood.
Continue reading this entry »
— Kelly Reaves /
Gallery Fri Oct 08 2010
Daniel Schmid
The new gallery I co-run, Peanut Gallery, has a new show opening tonight-- a vacation-themed group show with paintings, drawings and photographs by twelve local artists:
BONUS: A performance by the majestic Brandon Howe during the opening reception, tonight from 7 to 10 at Peanut Gallery: 1579 N. Milwaukee Ave. Rm. 345.
This is a great show with a lot of unpredictable art by enthusiastic local artists. I'd love to see you at the opening, but if you can't make it the show will be up for a month by appointment.
— Kelly Reaves
Art Mon Sep 20 2010
I went around to a bunch of gallery openings the Friday before last and have been stewing on what I saw since then. The work I keep going back to is Joey Fauerso's installation in Gallery 2 at Western Exhibitions. First of all, the videos are funny. LOL funny. But what made me stick around after the initial giggles was the awkward sexual desperation Fauerso was able to express with this work. There is something very human about it. Or maybe animal. Either way, this work seems to have a heartbeat.
Continue reading this entry »
— Kelly Reaves
Art Thu Sep 09 2010
Kauffman, "Untitled" (New Nest), photo courtesy of the artist
Denver folk artist Max Kauffman makes art about things that seem like they deserve to have art made about them. His new solo show, which opens tomorrow night at Pawn Works, is about the things we hold dear-- our beliefs, our idols, our relics and our nostalgic ephemera. He is interested in what these things actually represent and why we, as human beings, become so attached to them. How do inanimate objects garner so much strength and importance? He believes we are actually "pulling on the strength within ourselves, our thoughts and spirits, when we look to these things."
With this collection of his work, titled R'fuah, he poses the question: "Does this renewal, this evolution of this cycle of spirit and material make us more or less human? By putting our faith in objects, are we overpowering or overpowered?"
R'fuah will feature new mixed media paintings on paper and wood, ceramic works and a site-specific installation. The opening for this exhibit will be from tomorrow, Friday September 10 from 6 to 10pm at Pawn Works: 1050 N. Damen Ave. If you miss the opening, the show will be up through October 10 by appointment.
— Kelly Reaves
Gallery Thu Sep 02 2010
Peanut Gallery, the gallery in the Flat Iron building that I recently opened with collaborator Charlie Megna is looking for art to show in October, in a group show devoted to vacation. What did you do this summer?
Submit jpegs to peanutgallerychicago@gmail.com by Monday, September 27. Please only submit work that will be available for exhibition in Chicago in October, that you can deliver to the gallery by Monday, October 4. This is a curated show, but we welcome work of any media by anyone, as long as we can get it through the door. We'll get back to you by September 28 and let you know if we can show your work. Please email us with questions. Thanks!
— Kelly Reaves
Art Wed Aug 04 2010
Photo courtesy of The Network of Crowded Art
Mysticism and folklore are really hot right now. Don't believe me? There are two art shows opening in August that flirt with those themes. First, Hey, We're All Beginners Here! opens at Roots and Culture on Friday. The show, organized by The Network of Crowded Art is inspired by a multi-headed hydra in that it utilizes multiple voices and activities to "illuminate our historical moment and paths into the future." Through a series of workshops, field trips, performances and exhibitions, the events at Roots and Culture are designed to make you think about what we're doing here on earth (I think.) Hey, We're All Beginners Here is a trans-temporal, trans-spatial, trans-disciplinary exhibition (a big show!) of mutating, mutable work by a cast of talented marginal characters. Among those contributing are Robin Hustle, Sarah Kavage, Pennie Brinson, Salem Collo-Julin, Sarah Ross, Red76, Sarah Smizz, Courtney Moran, and Park McArthur. The exhibition includes drawings, an open stage and pulpit, a book making work shop, good food, video, wheat grass, and a bike ride to Schaumburg.
Continue reading this entry »
— Kelly Reaves
Gallery Sat Jul 31 2010
photo courtesy of Thomas Robertello Gallery
If you find yourself in the West Loop at some point over the next month make sure to stop by Thomas Robertello Gallery at 939 W. Randolph and check out the collaborative video by Brooklyn-based artists Jason Robert Bell and Marni Kotak playing continuously in their storefront window today through September 6. The video, titled "Double Face Fantasy" (named after John and Yoko's final record, Double Fantasy) shows the faces of a pair of lovers performing a narcissistic-yet-romantic duet. Presented as a moving diptych, each artist finger paints the other's face, revealing a self-portrait of the painter. Using the application of paint to uncover flesh, the lovers find themselves quite literally emerging through the eyes of their soulmate. Romantic, huh? The press release says the video is best viewed from the sidewalk after dark, so go there after a dinner date at The Publican or Blackbird or somewhere and you may just seal the deal.
— Kelly Reaves
Gallery Wed Jul 14 2010
"The Van" by Andrea Jablonski of local band Rabid Rabbit
So there's this book called "Art of Touring" that came out recently filled with art, photos, writing and other goodies made by members of touring bands while on the road. It's been getting a lot of positive attention lately, so local artist/musician Andrea Jablonski and Johalla Project's Anna Cerniglia have curated a show opening at JP on Friday, showcasing some of the art from the book plus a plethora of fresh art and ephemera made by local musicians. Artists include members of The Ponys, Mucca Pazza, Califone, Wilco and Flosstradamus among many others.
When you're out and about on Friday stop by the opening of the show. It'll be at Johalla Proects (1561 N. Milwaukee Ave.) from 7 to 11pm. If you miss the opening, the show will stay up through August 7 for you to check out. Also, keep your ears peeled for an interview that WBEZ's 848 did with the curators and a few of the artists in the gallery yesterday.
— Kelly Reaves
Gallery Tue Jun 22 2010
If you are an artist looking for an exhibition space and/or looking to get more involved in the local artistic community this may be a good opportunity for you: The Chicago Artist's Coalition is currently accepting applications for their year-long CAC Coalition Gallery program. "Collaborative by design, entrepreneurial in spirit," says their press release, "CAC Coalition Gallery is a unique opportunity for Chicago artists to empower their careers by teaching them to run all aspects of a professional gallery while enjoying substantial support from CAC and a group of professional curators who will be invited to participate."
Twenty artists will be selected to exclusively participate in the program and exhibit in the space for a year. Rent and utilities are $65 a month (not bad for prime Wicker Park real estate) and you'll have to be actively involved in all aspects of the operation of the gallery. In exchange you'll get your work out there, learn about the logistics of running a gallery, and you'll make some friends.
The clock is ticking, though. Applications are due June 30. Click here for details.
— Kelly Reaves
Fowler's "Ocean"
Last Friday at HungryMan Gallery, (2135 North Rockwell Street,) Aaron Fowler's opening reception of OCEAN debuted. Curated by Jason Lazarus, this show is a conglomeration of Fowler's photography created over an extended period of time. Running until July 11, a commonality extracted from OCEAN is the avenue of mnemonic transition of time which recalls the passage of travel as the measure of memories encapsulated.
Continue reading this entry »
— Hiba Ali
Art Thu Jun 10 2010
Up until July 7, Sense Objects exhibition at Noble and Superior opened this past Friday. The show consisted of a photo series and installation dealing with depiction through performative action and interactive perception of objects. Both works dealt with experience in contrasting manners, one through documentation, the other through experience.
Through the classic lens of black and white photography, Kate O'Neill's work does what it depicts. In her series, Third Law, she subjects the body into positions of oppressive banality. These portraits consist of a body, usually hers, in a posed position with part of the body either hidden or out of the frame. Hints of theatricality appear because all of the images are spontaneous but posed pictures based on performances. Through a cyclical point of view in Third Law, a critique of the "boring" is reiterated. Since this series is based on performances, the momentary element is present but her compositions are all too simplistic. Why try so hard to be boring? This series gave me nothing to remember it by except the fact that it bored me. As a young art consumer I was not attracted to these compositions.
In contrast to O'Neill's series, Rebecca Kressley's installation ON THE SOUTH LOCK OVER SHINE was one I was interested in experiencing. She has accumulated a plethora of natural but processed materials meticulously arranged on the space's floor. The scent of the peppercorn and mint was not pungent but begged the viewer to kneel onto the floor to waft in this unique mixture of glass shards and earth. The fragrance like the installation isn't permanent, ephemeral by design because the moment of experience, like the installation, is temporary. A sound loop, "Dragging the Hound," ran in the background, subtle but ostensible because of its striking low pulse. A deep whistle echoes in the room and creates a vibrancy that ties together the artifacts of the piece. It amplifies the fact that one is still present in this quasi environment. The reminiscence of nature conglomerated with man-made articles is vivified in this installation.
— Hiba Ali
Art Fri Apr 30 2010
Humboldt Park's glorious yet hanging-on-by-a-thread art/culture venue, Quennect 4, has put together a benefit music compilation that promises to be thoroughly awesome, and you can get a sneak peek at it today through Bandcamp, and you'll be able to download the whole thing there on May 7 with a download code. There are two ways to get a download code. Either make a donation to Q4 on Kickstarter (which is one of the best ways to spend your money that I can think of) or attend the Compilation Release on Friday, May 7 at Elastic Arts.
The May 7 event will feature live music by the Chicago Gypsy Experiment ( Eyes Manouche/Ode mashup ), Rambos, and Wake Up Siouxsie. You can also expect special guest performers, and raffles for Q4 artwork. It starts at 9pm and is an all ages event. They are asking for an $8 donation which will get you admission plus a download of the compilation. No one, however, will be turned away for lack of funds.
Continue reading this entry »
— Kelly Reaves
Art Tue Apr 20 2010
"Doodle Chips," 2009, acrylic, enamel, ink, pencil & glue on wood
Last week I spent some time roaming around my usual handful of West Loop Galleries and didn't have much trouble picking out a favorite show-- New York artist Cordy Ryman's Tempest at Kavi Gupta.
I had a feeling I would like this show ahead of time when I got the press release with an image of "Doodle Chips." It's just so nice-- painting on wood chips, tracing the growth rings with pen and paint. It's so big and little at the same time. And it's easy on the eyes, too.
Continue reading this entry »
— Kelly Reaves
Boliva-08/2005 [Tin., CAVC (b. 1950)]
Constantino Ayaviri Castro (b.1950), previously a construction worker, is a police officer third class for the municipality of Tinguipaya, Tomás Frías province. The police station does not have a phone, car or typewriter.
Monthly salary: 800 bolivianos ($189)
Bureaucratics, an exhibition by Dutch photographer Jan Banning, opens this Friday in the University of Chicago's Harper Commons, 1116 E. 59th Street. The 50 images in the exhibition are the result of years of photographing bureaucrats behind their desks on five continents. Banning's photographs express the relationship between bureaucratic work, identity and the state, all the while maintaining the cultural and institutional differences of each represented bureaucracy.
Continue reading this entry »
— David Schalliol
Art Thu Mar 25 2010
Hull's "Night and Day", 2009, photo courtesy of Western Exhibitions
Be sure to check out local favorite Richard Hull's new work at Western Exhibitions tomorrow night. The opening reception is from 5 to 8pm and the show will stay up through May 1. Click here for more information.
— Kelly Reaves
Art Thu Mar 18 2010
This is just a reminder... don't forget to go to the highly anticipated 50 Alderman/50 Artists show opening tomorrow night at Johalla Projects (1561 N. Milwaukee) from 7 to 11pm.
It should be a lively show-- 50 artists volunteered to make portraits of their alderman for it in an effort to raise awareness of local politics within the art world. Old Style is sponsoring the opening, too, so you can have a undeniably, unapologetically Chicago experience at this show. Don't miss it. If you do, though, the show will be up through April 2.
— Kelly Reaves
Art Sat Mar 06 2010
Trine Bumiller, who currently has a show Zg Gallery in River North, paints trees. You may think that that is nothing to write home about but I would beg to differ. Trine's paintings are more than just trees, they are meditations on nature. These paintings, which are made up of multiple panels, utilize memory and some very keen observational skills Trine transports us to another place entirely.
Skillfully using layers upon layers of paint, Trine recreates a stillness you may have experienced, just before you realized you strayed too far from your hiking party. That is the moment we are reminded, by something ethereal, that everything is going to work out, which is all too often just before you are thrust back into reality and panic sets in. The same attributes that created the stillness, multiple layers, soft edges and silhouettes also create movement within her work. Subtle, and ever so sexy, the paintings breath, shifting their color and mood to tug at our memory and allow us to settle into these images.
Up until April 10th you have plenty of time to experience this show, and I would defiantly recommend that you do. Zg gallery is located at 300 W Superior in River North and is open from 10a to 5:30pm Tuesday thru Saturday.
— MartinJon
Art Thu Mar 04 2010
The eyes of the mentally ill are lost but not vacant, as they stare past visitors who enter Eugene Richards' exhibit at the Gage Gallery of Roosevelt University, titled A Procession of Them: The Plight of the Mentally Disabled. Through his volunteer work with the human rights organization Mental Disability Rights International, Richards experienced and photographed the nightmare of concentration camp like conditions, serving to hold the mentally ill in countries including Mexico, Argentina, Hungary, Paraguay, and Kosovo.
"There's an old woman who's been here about forty years, left over from the past," describes a grandmotherly woman who should be in a warm bed, surrounded by loving friends and relatives at the end of her life. Instead she stands alone in Richards' photo, completely forgotten by the outside world. Quotes from prisoners and others involved in the travesty of these institutions scatter the walls, and offer further emotional context to the incomprehensible reality confronted by this series of photographs.
Eugene Richards, an award winning documentary photographer, does not allow the trauma of this situation to escape the eyes and hearts of viewers. In one photo, he captures a young boy whose stump leg has been tied to a window and is unable to leave his bed. Another presents men being wiped down with a gloved hand as freezing water bathes them like dogs in the communal showers. They stand shivering and helpless, without towels to dry off.
A Procession of Them is frightening, but real. Although not a view of life that is enjoyable to experience, the effect that Richards succeeds in creating is powerfully unavoidable. The words of a patient capture the impact best- "I don't like it here. It feels like a prison that kills."
Eugene Richards' exhibit is up in Gage Gallery at 18 S. Michigan Ave until May 14th.
— Britany Robinson
Art Wed Feb 24 2010
Nathaniel Russell has had shows in New York, LA, San Francisco, and now decorating the walls of the home of a family of four- as the most recent exhibition titled NOWS at Home Gallery in Hyde Park, run by Andrew Nord and Laura Schaeffer.
Russell's artist statement provides a unique and encompassing view of the eclecticism of his work. Created in a "mind map" format, a practice used by graphic designers to create a sense of brand or identity on a project, he starts with the word "Oneness" and branches out to such random musings as "Old Men", "Hippies", "Dust", "Library" and "Mystery Lights." Visitors can wander throughout the living room, kitchen, hallways, and master bedroom of Home Gallery and find traces of these many random influences in Russell's work. He works mostly with pen and ink, but also has a sculptural display of made-up books with illustrated covers, and some screen-printed material as well.
Russell's style has a very 1970's feel- inspired by the decade's advertising and popular posters. His frequent combination of images and words reflects a background in graphic design, as well as his repeated focus on books and literature. Chicagoans may find another 70's style link in that some of his work seems tied to the Imagist movement that occurred in Chicago at that time- particularly one ink drawing that involves bizarrely proportioned, spindly cowgirls with blue skin and giant red hats, titled "Agnes Lake Memorial Summer Program for Girls Survival Guide." In an interview he did with Schafer, who runs Home Gallery, Russell discussed his fascination with cowboys and cowgirls as the "American Knights"
NOWS remains on display at Home Gallery until the closing brunch and reception this Sunday, February 28th from 12-3pm. Home Gallery is located at 1407 E. 54th Place, in Hyde Park.
— Britany Robinson
Art Wed Feb 10 2010
Do you like paintings? Well then pay attention: this Saturday the 13th, four Chicago galleries will open exhibits of exceptional paintings by 13 artists, (who are all, as far as I know, currently working in Chicago.) This is in conjunction with the College Art Association's annual conference convening in our wonderful city this week.
The festivities will kick off at the ungodly hour of 9:30am with a panel discussion on the state of painting at the Hyatt Regency. A glorious team of local painters/academics will address questions such as: What's to be done about painting? How is painting valued? How does painting assert its authority? What is painting's speed? Can painting enact radical social and cultural critique? What is painting's place within the mainstream? And how does painting implicate itself in capital?
After that, each of the artists on the panel will exhibit their work at four Chicago galleries that afternoon, starting at JULIUS CÆSAR at 4pm, continuing to Shane Campbell Gallery at 6pm, and ending at the 119 N Peoria Building in the West Loop at Rowley Kennerk Gallery and Western Exhibitions, from 7 to 10pm.
I am particularly exited about the Painter's Paintings show at Western Exhibitions, which will feature new work by the talented Carl Baratta and Nicholas Frank, among others. Visit the individual galleries' websites for specific information about each of the exhibitions. Don't miss these!
Carl Baratta's "These Hands Around Your Neck, Like Flames To A House", courtesy of Western Exhibitions
— Kelly Reaves
Art Wed Feb 03 2010
Almost every day I discover a new cellphone artist. It started with the iPhone Therefore iArt show last month, and hasn't stopped since. Remember when people were complaining about how digital photography allows "just anyone" to be an artist? Now, cellphone cameras allow anyone to be an artist, at any time, without even requiring the forethought of bringing a camera with you when you leave the house.
Sure, this means we're all going to be exposed to even more crappy art. But every once in a while, we'll run into some nice stuff that is beautiful in its spontaneity, like Jeremy Edwards' From the Pocket photos and Sarah Best's Daily Photos series, which will be exhibited at Antena Gallery in Pilsen, opening on February 19.
Photo by Sarah Best
— Kelly Reaves /
Art Thu Jan 28 2010
It's a relaxing way to spend your Saturdays: Chicago Gallery News leads a free tour every Saturday (rain, snow or shine) through various River North galleries and every sixth Saturday (the next taking place on Jan. 30) they host a guided West Loop gallery tour.
So that means this Saturday, there are two tours to choose from--or do both.
The River North Tour will meet at Starbucks, 750 N. Franklin St. at 11am and will be lead by Addington Gallery. The tour will be showcasing Byron Roche Gallery, 750 N. Franklin St. (which opens Jan. 30 and will be Roche's last showing in this space), Ken Saunders Gallery, 230 W. Superior St., Jennifer Norback Gallery, 215 W. Huron St. and then Addington Gallery, 704 N. Wells St.
The West Loop Tour will be lead by Thomas McCormick Gallery and will visit and meet at Walsh Gallery, 118 N. Peoria St., 2nd floor, at 1:30pm. The tour will continue to Dubhe Carreno Gallery, in the same building; Western Exhibitions, 119 N Peoria St.; and then Thomas McCormick Gallery, W. Washington Blvd.
The tours are free and no reservations are required. For more information visit the Chicago Gallery News website for art tour details.
*The photo above is "Mexcian Retablos" at Byron Roche Gallery
— John Lendman
Art Mon Jan 18 2010
Letinsky's "Untitled #19" courtesy of Monique Meloche Gallery
Before Laura Letinsky's opening last Saturday, I hadn't been in Monique Meloche's new location on the west side of nightlife mecca, Wicker Park. I assumed it would be a giant space that showcased her stamp on the art scene, especially when I looked in from the outside and saw the 10 by 25 foot, psychedelic mural by Assume Vivid Astro Focus in the window that certainly didn't suggest modesty. However, I was baffled when I realized Letinsky's show was comprised of only five photos. Five! I am so impressed by Meloche's confidence and ability to surprise.
Letinsky is a still life photographer. But these photos are not Cezanne's apples and pears. They are delicately morbid, always suggesting something slightly depraved has taken place just before the photo was taken. The pictures involve objects like fruit, eggs, oysters, birds, and unidentifiable furry creatures, all gutted or skinned. However, Letinsky's meticulous placement of these objects indicates care on the artist's part and ere on the side of quixotic rather than gore.
This show is titled The Dog and the Wolf which partly refers to the French phrase L'heure entre chien et loup--the time when both dog and wolf are seen when dusk becomes night. Unlike Letinsky's last photos, set in daylight, these have a beautifully melancholic atmosphere when set at dusk. Almost always, there lies a wrinkled white tablecloth beneath the objects, adding texture and shadow. Dead flowers and wine stains add a nostalgic and romantic approach to these photos as well. Letinsky also has an unsettling talent for skewing perspective, shoving the table to the very foreground and leaving an uncomfortably large, grey background or giving the tables an apocryphal lack of depth.
Exhibiting only five photos invited in depth analysis of the photographs that perhaps a larger show would not have afforded. Letinksy's work is both inviting and confrontational and simply put, really really good. The show closes on March 13, 2010.
— Whitney Stoepel
Art Tue Jan 12 2010
On February 26 and 27, threewalls gallery will host Chasing Two Rabbits as part of a two week animation festival featuring animation programs curated by local and national artists. Chasing Two Rabbits is a special event curated by Sonia Yoon and Shannon Stratton that pairs animators with live performances by sound artists and musicians.
Inspired by the experimental films of Norman McLaren, who combined abstract imagery (including scratching and painting into the film stock in earlier work, as well as paper cut-outs and live action and dance) with imaginative music and sound, Chasing Two Rabbits acts to pair artists in both genres to produce a unique event with sound and vision illuminating each other.
Currently threewalls is looking for proposals from both animators and sound artists and/or musicians who would like their work to be matched up with each other's. Pairings will be chosen from submissions, with animations provided to musicians and sound artists to review and score for live performance in February.
Animators can submit pieces for sound, no longer than 10 minutes in length, on DVD. Sound artists can send audio files (mp3, aiff, wav) on CD to Chasing Two Rabbits, c/o threewalls, 119 N Peoria #2D, Chicago, IL, 60607 or can send files or links to Shannon and Sonia c/o rabbits@three-walls.org. Materials must be submitted by this Friday, January 15.
— Kelly Reaves
Art Fri Jan 08 2010
Three interesting shows of paintings and drawings open tonight at Packer Schopf Gallery. Jason Lahr shows DEATHMETALHIPPIEKILLER, Tim Vermeulen shows Moby Dick, and Gene Hamilton shows Vent Figure Fun! (Ventriloquist Dummy Portraits).
According to the press release, "Jason Lahr's [work] integrates darkly comic texts with appropriated images, creating shifting narratives of working class male identity as influenced by popular culture." In other words, you might say he makes "dude art." He might be a masculinist! (Yes, it's a real thing.) Either way, I'm intrigued. Gene Hamilton-- an artist, actor, and ventriloquist, presents us with very creepy and strangely hilarious dummy paintings. Tim Vermeulen is showing Moby Dick paintings-- small, figurative, autobiographical work, inspired by the epic novel, addressing giant themes of existence and consciousness. Although the subjects are heavy, the paintings appear lighthearted and are fun to examine. The aesthetic is similar to the Hamilton paintings in their detailed, colorful, almost "outsider" rendering, but the heady subjects seem very insider.
This show looks like it will be colorful-- literally and figuratively-- and good enough to warrant trudging through the snow this afternoon to attend the opening (from 5-7pm). Have no fear, though, if you miss the opening you've got until February 13 to check it out. Packer Schopf gallery is located at 942 W. Lake Street. Visit their website for more information about the show and the gallery's hours.
Gene Hamilton at work, photo courtesy of Packer Schopf and the artist
— Kelly Reaves /
Art Wed Jan 06 2010
The Zhou B. Art Center, a rather new art studio in Bridgeport, has high expectations and even deeper ambitions in stake for Chicago's contemporary artist community.
Gallery owners and brothers, Shan Zuo and Da Huang Zhou's latest exhibition celebrates young artists from all over the United States, featuring recent MFA (Masters of Fine Arts) candidates and recipients working in the medium of contemporary painting. The National Wet Paint Exhibition, a reference to the collective of fresh artists, starts January 15 at the 87,000 square-foot gallery--a gallery that houses several exhibition spaces, artist studios, a café and even an art store.
Think of Wet Paint as a representation of contemporary art graduate programs across the country, seeking to display resulting innovations in painting materials, techniques and methods. There's even a free multimedia iPhone app to keep patrons up to date on the artists and their exhibitions.
Continue reading this entry »
— John Lendman
Art Mon Jan 04 2010
Technology has done wonderful things for art. One of my personal favorite new tools is the cell phone camera, as I have never been in the habit of carrying a camera around, and I used to miss priceless photo opportunities on a daily basis. Now, when I see a car on fire, a porch with 15 tricycles on it, or a girl peeing in the middle of the sidewalk in Wicker Park, I whip out my phone and capture it instantly. When I do, I amuse myself by deeming it art, and apparently I'm not the only one.
The Chicago Art Department has organized an exhibition of new art made with iPhones, most likely because there's so darn much of it. Plus, if you think about it, we are in the midst of an incredible technological revolution and iPhone art is a symptom of this distinct moment in time (whether you like it or not). And that's pretty cool.
The show, amusingly titled iPhone Therefore I Art, is the culmination of a class led by CAD artist Mike Nourse, in which ten local artists met weekly, working towards a completed project in the forms of photo, digital sketching (finger painting), animation, sound, and video--all made with iPhones, of course. For this exhibition, in addition to local artists, Nourse brought in iPhone artists from as far away as Russia, Norway, Spain, France, and Germany. The end-result is a comprehensive investigation and celebration of this fancy new tool. iPhone Therefore I Art addresses issues dealing both the identity of the artists using iPhones and the identity of art itself. Check out the show to see how the ubiquitous iPhone has worked its way into contemporary art, and to imagine where it will go next.
iPhone Therefore I Art opens this Friday, January 8, at Chicago Art Department (1837 S. Halsted). The public reception is from 6-10pm.
— Kelly Reaves
Art Fri Jan 01 2010
"Weatherbee's Revenge," a solo show by California-bred New York artist Mark Mulroney is opening at ebersmoore gallery next Friday. The work, though "dirty" in nature, has a clean, pop sensibility that makes it massively appealing. You must admit, Mulroney makes reliving the horrors of adolescence kind of fun.
The press release for the show opens with Mulroney explaining how a book about puberty scarred him as a child. He describes how his youthful imagination completely misconstrued the information given him: "My theory was as follows...If you are ever to shower with another boy this giant sperm would erupt from your stomach, fall to the floor of the shower and lay there wet and smiling all the while whistling a little tune."
Continue reading this entry »
— Kelly Reaves
Art Sat Dec 26 2009
Starting on January 26, UIC's Gallery 400 is hosting The Free Store, a nomadic, temporary store full of free stuff that moves around the city. It only works, though, if it has stuff in it. If you've got something to get rid of, perhaps a Christmas fruitcake or an ugly sweater, drop it off so it can be art for a little while. Then, if it's lucky, someone will take it home and love it in a way you never could.
Items can be dropped off at Gallery 400 during open hours beginning January 5. Pick-ups can be arranged for some items or larger collections on a case-by-case basis. For questions on what items and services are acceptable, or to try and arrange a pick-up, you can contact The Free Store directly through their website or by calling 773-562-1428. They want anything and everything except people, animals, toxic stuff, and illegal stuff. Gallery 400 is located at 400 S. Peoria.
— Kelly Reaves
Art Wed Dec 16 2009
If you've never been to I Space Gallery in River North before, go see "Architecture of Crisis" before it closes this Saturday along with the gallery itself. "Architecture of Crisis," co-curated by Beat Steuri, Julie Larsen and Roger Hubeli with the help of U of I architecture students, rethinks how to use existing housing materials to benefit the environment. This reexamination is important considering there is a potential surplus of 22 million vacant homes due the housing bubble and economic crash in the coming months.
In yesterday's Sun-Times, Hubeli said "In America, standard construction is harmful to the environment on so many levels. Not only do we use cheap materials that are not sustainable, but we also have created an illusion of value."
The show is a bittersweet elucidation on the current state of real estate that coincides with the closing of the University of Illinois' I Space Gallery in River North. In October, I spoke with Mary Antonakos, the gallery's director since its opening 18 years ago. With all the budget cuts, she explained, they just couldn't afford to run the gallery anymore and they were out of solutions.
The show and gallery's last day is Saturday, December 19th. It is free.
— Whitney Stoepel
Art Thu Dec 10 2009
For a guy who doesn't even have a Wikipedia page, Gregory Battcock had a very interesting life, and an equally interesting death. Born in 1937, Battcock was a painter in the early 1960s who found his way into several of Andy Warhol's films (he starred in "Horse" and "Drunk"), and later he became a critic with eclectic interests--he wrote about minimalism and performance and video art as well as the aesthetics of ocean liners. He lived a short life, though, and was found dead on Christmas day in 1980 on the balcony of his San Juan condo. He was stabbed 102 times.
Continue reading this entry »
— Kelly Reaves
Art Thu Dec 10 2009
Funeral is the third and final installation at the temporary alternative art space, Garage Spaces. Perhaps you remember the last one, Stolen, which received a lot of press. Funeral opens tomorrow, Friday, December 11 at 5pm and closes the same night at 10pm.
For Funeral, artists and curators Mike Bancroft and Evan Plummer will complete the series with a performance that poses a dialogue on the culture and commerce of death in contemporary America. Garage Spaces will be recreated as a funeral home/parlor to mourn the death of Garage Spaces. Viewers can participate in the performance, if they want, by communally mourning their losses in life.
Garage Spaces is located at 1337 North Maplewood Ave. Admission is free. Call 773-216-5580 for more information.
— Kelly Reaves /
Art Mon Nov 16 2009
The directors of Home Gallery, in Hyde Park, have an exciting and interesting pilot event coming up called the Op Shop. The name refers to Opportunity Shop, and the idea here is to open a temporary space where artists can bring their work, as well as services and ideas, in order to barter, sell and openly exchange. I don't want to give the impression that this is a just retail space, although that is one aspect of what will happen within this space. Artists are being encouraged to be a part of this event organically, utilizing the space to create a dynamic and evolving installation. All mediums are welcome, so artists may host a workshop, lessons, or performances as well as sell paintings or sculptures.
Another aspect of this pilot project, which, if all goes well there will be more of, is to work in conjunction with property owners, bringing attention to their vacant spaces while helping to keep the Op Shop's costs down. This will also attract new consumers to an area and will aid in revitalizing neighborhood shops that may have seen a drop in sales over the past few months. This Op Shop will be located in a vacant space currently owned by Mac Properties in Hyde Park at 1613 E. 55th St.
If you are interested in participating in The Op Shop, you should contact the Laura Shaeffer immediately. They are also looking for people to donate time to help run the space during its open hours.
laura.shaeffer@gmail.com
www.thelarch.org
The planned timed and days for this event are as follows
Dates: 11/27 Fri - 12/31 Thu
Visitor hours: 11am-7pm, Thu-Sun,
Evenings, coinciding with events.
Opening reception: 11/27 Fri, from 6-10 p.m.
Silent Auction: 12/5 Sat from 6-10 p.m
Closing party: 12/31 Thu from 6-10 p.m.
— MartinJon /
Art Sun Nov 08 2009
The Torn Pages Show is a Chicago collaboration of artists and writers teaming up to write and draw "pages torn from our most favorite imaginary books": eleven children's stories of their own invention. Artist-writer pairs include Joe Meno & Cody Hudson, Amy Guth & Pea-Be, Zach Dodson & Allison Dunn Burque, and more.
The show is set to open at OhNo!Doom Collective in early 2010, but curator Josh Lucas hopes to immortalize the original tales in a small, full-color book. Like many other creative types, he's using Kickstarter. Help the Torn Pages show reach their $2,100 goal by December 5th -- they're currently a little under halfway there.
Donate here. Preview images and excerpts from the show after the jump.
Continue reading this entry »
— Rose Lannin
Art Thu Oct 08 2009
Tony Wight Gallery is very quiet right now, like the stark silence after a tornado passes through, but the scene is much less cluttered. In the front room, Robyn O'Neil's giant graphite drawings hang on the walls, floating in clean, white frames, with plenty of breathing room between them. They depict post-apocalyptic scenes, which, without a familiarity with her previous work, might just look like textural investigations of hair and water. In the back room, her small drawings continue the same style and theme, but more intimately, and an upside-down ship and a cluster of pyramids are added to the mix.
Continue reading this entry »
— Kelly Reaves
Art Wed Sep 30 2009
If you were at the West Loop gallery openings on Sept. 11, you may have noticed a girl walking around with a dead cat on her head. As it turns out, the girl is an artist, an MFA student at UIC, and her name is Rebecca Beachy. The cat hat is one of her new pieces. I paid her a studio visit last week, and we talked about her work.
Kelly Reaves: Did you know that if you google "West Loop gallery openings," one of the first things that comes up is Alicia Eler's post on Chicago Now about you and your taxidermied cat hat?
Rebecca Beachy: Yeah, I saw that but I didn't know that it comes up when you google the art openings.
KR: Yep. You were at number three the first time I checked it but today you've moved up to the top. And your hat was also mentioned in an article on Art Talk Chicago about the openings. So I think it was a hit. How did you come up with the idea to make the hat?
Continue reading this entry »
— Kelly Reaves /
History Wed Aug 19 2009
Still basking in the glow of Lincoln's bicentennial, the Chicago History Museum plans on celebrating two influential presidents struck with the perils of turbulent change--The U.S.'s Abraham Lincoln and Mexico's Benito Juárez.
The dual exhibitions, opening October 10, will tell the stories of how the then-contemporaries helped transform and unite their countries during the 1800's.
Lincoln's exhibition, "Abraham Lincoln Transformed," is geared towards his radical steps to end slavery and extend equal citizenship rights, featuring more than 150 original artifacts, including fan and hate mail sent to Lincoln during his time in office. Juárez' exhibition, "The Making of Modern Mexico," on the other hand is co-curated by the National Museum of Mexican Art, displaying more than 25 artifacts never before exhibited in the United States, including a bronze Juárez death mask. Juárez' exhibit will also highlight his devotion to equal citizenship rights and economic development in Mexico, among other accomplishments. Both will have their signature top hats on display.
The Chicago History Museum, 1601 N. Clark St., will allow admission October 10th and 11th for anyone presenting miniature copper plaques of Lincoln.
— John Lendman /
Dan Rybicky took this picture of Katrina by Mark McGinnis at the "Signs of the Apocalypse/Rapture" group show currently up in the Hyde Park Arts Center.
Join the A/C flickr pool!
— Andrew Huff /
Gallery Wed Jul 15 2009
Dip into the art scene next month with two free gallery events, both brought to you by the Art Dealers Association of Chicago.
Take a free guided tour during lunch Saturday, Aug. 1, in the River North Gallery District. From 11am to 12:30pm, the Starbucks Saturday Guided Art Tour will bring you to the Printworks Gallery, Catherine Edelman Gallery, Byron Roche Gallery and Habatat Galleries. Meet at the Starbucks at 750 N. Franklin St.
From 5 to 7pm Aug. 6, stop by galleries in River North and West Loop to explore art, meet friends and enjoy some refreshments.
For more information on either of these events, visit chicagoartdealers.org or call 312-649-0065.
— Margo O'Hara
Art Mon Feb 09 2009
Among cultural centers dramatically affected by the economic downturn, the Hyde Park Art Center (HPAC) has been particularly affected. In anticipation of even rougher times, the Board of Directors has reduced its budget by 15% for 2009 and four employees -- a quarter of the staff -- have been laid off. In response, the HPAC is holding a public forum tonight in which they "want your questions, reactions and suggestions to changes at the Center." The event starts at 6pm in its 4833 rph space, 5020 S. Cornell.
— David Schalliol
Art Tue Jan 06 2009
There's a great opportunity at the Museum of Contemporary Art for some stitching, bitching and conversation with the great artist Karen Reimer.
From 5:30 to 8pm at the MCA's Puck Café, knitters and hookers (crocheters) will be getting together with guest artist Karen Reimer to share techniques and stories and some good wintery bitching.
Check out more of Reimer's conceptual fiber art including embroidery here, here (LOVE the Equal packet and crossword puzzle) and here.
— Kristin Barrick
Gallery Thu Dec 04 2008
The Contemporary Art Workshop mounts its final exhibition this Friday, Dec. 5, with a reception from 5:30pm to 9pm celebrating the opening of "The End" by Matt Davis and John Lyon, and honoring CAW's 60-year history. The exhibition runs through Jan. 23; the Workshop remains open until April 30.
32nd and Urban, a street art gallery at 3201 S. Halsted in Bridgeport, is closing due to the down-turning economy and the opening of a new police station across the street. "Our new neighbors are making it difficult for us to continue what we do," owners Peter Kepha and Lauren Pacheco said in an email. They are searching for a new space, but in the meantime will be throwing a $5 fundraiser/closing party this Saturday, Dec. 6, from 10pm to 3am, with DJs and live art
installations. Should be a fun, bittersweet time.
There will be a memorial show for artist Patrick W. Welch this Saturday from 6pm to 9pm at 1407 E. 54th Pl. in Hyde Park. The show will exhibit his micromentalist paintings from 1997 to 2007. Call 773-363-5935 for more information.
— Andrew Huff
Gallery Wed Nov 19 2008
On November 22, The Green Lantern Gallery and Press throws its first-ever fundraiser. Since opening three and a half years ago, the Wicker Park-based institution--run by Caroline Picard and a dedicated volunteer staff--has exhibited art, screened films, published books, started a monthly literary podcast, and hosted readings and live music events. (I even saw a mind-blowing breakdancing performance in the gallery space a couple years ago. Amazing.)
Given the range of programming and The Green Lantern's desire for sustainability (not to mention the current state of the economy), the staff decided it was an appropriate time for a fundraiser. Says Picard, "I want to make sure that we can continue as a venue for independent media and emerging or marginalized art."
The fundraiser is an all-day affair. From noon to 1:30pm, the gallery hosts a crepe breakfast and mimosas (in exchange for donations). From noon to 9pm, there will be a silent auction featuring a range of artworks by friends of The Green Lantern. From 6 to 9pm, the gallery hosts a cocktail party, followed by live music from 9 to 1am, featuring The Lanterns, lowland, and Joan of Arc.
The event entry fee is $12. For $25, you can get show admission and free drinks. For $40, you can get show admisison, free drinks, and annual membership to The Green Lantern.
Saturday, November 22, 12pm-1am
The Green Lantern / 1511 N. Milwaukee, Second Floor
— Laura Pearson
Gallery Mon Sep 08 2008
DvA Gallery is closing its Lincoln Park location after five years, and merging with Rotofugi Toy Store & Gallery. David van Alphen will be taking the position of Gallery Curator at Rotofugi in order to devote more time to caring for his son Jack, diagnosed with Down Syndrome. David's other venture, Slingshot! Press, a source for limited edition affordable prints, will continue to bring top notch underground artists to your collection. DvA Gallery's Going Away Party will be held Saturday, September 13th from 6-9pm, and the last official day will be Sunday, September 28th. Be sure to stop by and say hello and goodbye to one of the more interesting underground artist galleries in Chicago.
DvA Gallery is located at 2568 N. Lincoln Ave.
Rotofugi Toy Store & Gallery is located at 1953-55 W. Chicago Ave.
— Christian Scheuer
Art Thu Aug 07 2008
While the final nail isn't yet laid in the Polariod coffin, a group of Chicagoans and New Yorkers are contemplating its and our demise in "Death + Extinction: A Polaroid Exhibition" at the Chicago Art Department. A selection of 250 of the 300 photographs taken for Before I Die I Want To, a project by Nichole Kenney and K.S. Rives, will be on display until the end of the month.
— David Schalliol
Art Thu Jul 24 2008
Walk into Three Walls Gallery right now and you'll wonder if the insurance agent has been by yet. A fallen oak tree with a treehouse in it fills the space, seemingly dropped there by some magical tornado.
The installation is the work of Material Exchange, entitled The way things drag their futures around. Although it looks like the tree is intact, F News' Untitled blog reveals that it was brought in in pieces and carefully reassembled, with bark hiding the seams. The piece is on display through Aug. 2.
— Andrew Huff
Art Wed Jul 23 2008
On Friday, July 25, those non-elitist kids at the Country Club Chicago play host to GLOW, a show organized by local button makers Busy Beaver and featuring glow-in-the-dark buttons for their Button-o-matic button vending machine. Contributing artists include Bird Machine poster artist Jay Ryan, pattern designer Julia Rothman, Angry Youth Comix artist Johnny R., Chicago painter Derek Erdman, California painter Jacob Magraw, artist Alex Jovanovich, illustrator Kevin Hooyman, L.A.-based design collective Quietlife, Chicago rain-cloud street artist Sonny, and Milwaukee poster makers Little Friends of Printmaking. This show only lasts two days, so don't be lackadaisical in planning to attend. 6-10 p.m. 1100 N. Damen.
— Lauri Apple
Art Sat Jun 21 2008
Matthew Schommers has owned the same deck of old-timey, paper playing cards since he was a little kid. Six years ago, he began transforming the cards into a series of art works – the results of which were on display Friday night at AllRise Gallery on N. Milwaukee. The most striking aspect of the series was the variety of lines Schommers used: Some portraits were raw and choppy, while others – particularly his portraits of women, and decapitated characters of both sexes – showed smooth, rounded curves. And a few drawings drew inspiration directly from pin-up posters of the 1950s. Schommers' show was the last at AllRise’s current location; the gallery's first show at its new location at 1370 W.Grand Ave. will feature the works of Chantala Kommanivanh on Friday, July 11.
— Lauri Apple
Gallery Wed Jun 04 2008
This Friday more than 20 Chicago-area galleries will be holding receptions to open new exhibits. Chicago Gallery News has an alphabetical list and maps of who and what will be shown across the city. If you can’t pick just one to visit, Art View in Lakeview also takes place this weekend and gives you the opportunity to be shuttled from gallery to gallery to sample art and wine all for the amazing price of nothing. Not to be outdone, Saturday and Sunday offer the 61st annual 57th Street Art Fair.
If you can’t make it out this weekend, Gallery News also lists openings through August.
Of course, other events are listed in Slowdown.
— Jamie Smith
Gallery Fri May 30 2008
Galleries come and go, but few have the staying power of Mary Bell Galleries. Founded 32 years ago by its namesake, the gallery was one of the pioneers of the River North arts district. Bell first opened her gallery in 1979 on Hubbard Street before moving it to 740 N. Franklin.
However, time has caught up with Mary Bell, and she recently made the decision to sell the gallery to Lissa Kivisto and Kristen Hagan, who have moved it to a new space and transformed it into Gallery KH with the help of Mary Bell veteran Shannon Rather. The new gallery makes its debut next Friday, June 6, from 5pm to 8pm with a reception for the show "Tribute," which is, yes, a tribute to the history of the its predecessor, featuring the latest work by 27 of the gallery's core contemporary artists. More information on Gallery KH's website.
— Andrew Huff
Gallery Thu May 08 2008
Next Wednesday the Oriental Institute is offering a free tour of its special exhibit Catastrophe! The Looting and Destruction of Iraq's Past. This guided tour (the only one they have planned for the next few months) will give you the opportunity to speak with archeologist and co-curator Katharyn Hanson as she leads you through the gallery. The exhibit chronicles the initial looting of the Iraq National Museum and the on-going and heartbreaking damage that is being done to Iraq's cultural heritage as a result of the conflict there.
The Oriental Institute and its staff have been incredibly active since the beginning of the war in the efforts to prevent looting and protect the integrity of Iraqi archeological sites and artifacts, many of which date back to the very beginning of civilization. In addition to the exhibit going on through the end of the year, they host a database of objects that the Iraq Museum is believed to have contained that includes pictures and information about the objects' status. If you can't get enough of marveling at solid gold vases and man's earliest musical instruments, check out their recently released book "Antiquities Under Siege." It admittedly contains fewer pictures but has more suggestions on how to keep something like this from happening again.
The tour begins at 12:15 next Wednesday the 15th. The Oriental Institute is located in Hyde Park at 1155 East 58th Street. If you can't make the tour you can still view the exhibit from now until December 31 during the museum's normal business hours.
— Jamie Smith
