Gapers Block has ceased publication.
Gapers Block published from April 22, 2003 to Jan. 1, 2016. The site will remain up in archive form. Please visit Third Coast Review, a new site by several GB alumni.
✶ Thank you for your readership and contributions. ✶
TODAY
Wednesday, November 26
Slowdown
BY DAY
Friday, September 10 2010
William "Upski" Wimsatt @ Chicago Urban Art Society
William "Upski" Wimsatt first got his name out in the world as a graffiti tagger on the South Side. Growing up in Hyde Park he was entranced by African-American hip hop culture from an early age. As he told the New York Times, "I saw it as my job to get white people to talk about race." In 1993 he published an influential article on "wiggers" in The Source. His books include 1994's Bomb The Suburbs and 2000's No More Prisons. Tupac Shakur declared Bomb The Suburbs "the best book I read in prison" and No More Prisons won the 2000 Firecracker Alternative Book Award for Politics. (Incidentally, "bomb" is slang for "to cover a surface with graffiti"). Wimsatt puts his activist money where his mouth is: In 2003 he founded the League of Young Voters, and he's the Chief Executive Officer of All Hands On Deck, a political, organizational and communications consulting firm designed to organize unlikely voters. His latest book, Please Don't Bomb The Suburbs, comes out this October. Tonight his book tour stops at Chicago Urban Art Society, 2229 South Halsted Street, 6-11pm.
Skybox @ the Subterranean
Local indie pop group Skybox are playing tonight at the Subterranean (2011 North Ave.) at 9:30pm in support of their new album, Morning After Cuts. Opening the show is What Laura Says. Tickets are $10; you can get yours online or at the show.
Midnight at The Music Box: Judge Dredd
Come see the film the Washington Post hailed as "relentless" and "a noisy shoot'em-up." For two nights only, Judge Dredd is back on the big screen to dole out his own brand of justice. He doesn't break the law. He is the law. Opens tonight at the Music Box Theatre (3733 North Southport Avenue) and runs through Saturday.
Art Opening After Party @ Maria's Packaged Goods & Community Bar
Lord of the Yum Yum plays Maria's Packaged Goods & Community Bar with Lazer Crystal guest spinning all night. Lord of the Yum Yum will go on at 11pm. Maria's is located at 960 W 31st Street. Admission is free. 21+. For details, visit Maria's website.
Megan Greene & Carolyn Ottmers Exhibition Opens @ Carrie Secrist Gallery
Megan Greene's current body of work includes drawing and collages built using Audubon bird prints. This exhibition showcases her interest in hybridization, extended to the treatment of surface, i.e. the seamless and discordant shifts between passages drawn v. photographic and representational v. abstract. The original image of each creature is elaborated and dissolved, elided with found images and subsumed by pattern. As a result the images are intermediate, shifting, and newly animate. Carolyn Ottmers work often calls attention to the detail and beauty of the natural world. She accomplishes this by representing it in an exaggerated scale. In her most recent body of work, the artist has made use of her exceptional fabrication skills, by producing absurdly oversize yet still delicate models of plants cast in stainless steel. In the "Splice" series Ottmers has completed studies of plants that thrive in urban environments, such as those that are seen breaking through cracks in city sidewalks and growing up sides of buildings. The sculptures produce lyrical shadows on the gallery walls, creating an installation that mimics a forest or jungle. The opening reception for these shows is today from 5 to 8pm at Carrie Secrist Gallery: 835 W. Washington Blvd. Visit the gallery's website for details.
Poignant Trash @ EC Gallery
At 6pm, experience Connie Noye's Poignant Trash at EC Gallery, 215 N. Aberdeen! This exhibitions is a part of her series, which deals with metaphor of living in an urban environment, the detritus of life such as dust, debris, and items normally ignored and underutilized. For more information, please contact Ewa Czeremuszkin at info@ec-gallery.com or call (312) 850-0924.
Michael Nudelman's Light & Magic & Samantha Bittman Open @ Thomas Robertello Gallery
Nudelman's painstaking process of creating ballpoint pen drawings, rendered in tens of thousands of small diagonal lines, currently is engaged with the hyper-romanticized landscape. The sources of his imagery are reproductions of famous artists' work. For this show, consisting of nine drawings made in the past two years, Nudelman explores the work of American landscape artists, including several Hudson River School painters. Exploring the relationship between structure and image, Bittman's paintings follow a predetermined set of guidelines dictating color, pattern, order, and texture. Four of the five paintings in the exhibition are on stretched handwoven cloth. The warp, weft, and weave structures remain visible, and are underscored or fully revealed by the painted patterns. A balance of play and logic becomes evident as underlying texture and form melds with a rational but imperfect overlay of painted areas. This subtle juxtaposition often gives way to an optical buzz that breaks down upon close inspection, making perception elusive and fully dependent on the viewer's physical proximity to the work. The wide array of visual effects produced by individual works is extraordinary, ranging from a razor sharp flicker, much like a strobe light, to a meditative calm. The opening reception for these shows is today, probably from 5 to 8pm, but please contact the gallery to be sure. Thomas Robertello Gallery is located at 939 W. Randolph St.
PDBTS Book Signing & Reading @ Chicago Urban Art Society
In Please Don't Bomb the Suburbs, graffiti artist-turned-organizer Billy Wimsatt charts the rise and future of Obama movement, hitting the road for a book tour through twelve swing states. Equal parts hip-hop memoir, razor-sharp analysis of the current political climate, and self-help manual for the progressive movement, Please Don't Bomb the Suburbs: A Midterm Report on My Generation and the Future of Our Super Movement (Akashic) will hit bookstores in September.
Limited Edition designed PDBTS screen printed posters designed and signed by Erik RISK DeBat available. For more information about Please Don't Bomb the Suburbs or Wimsatt's Swing State Book Tour, please visit http://www.akashicbooks.com/pleasedont.htm. This event is tonight from 6 to 11pm at Chicago Urban Art Society: 2229 South Halsted Street.
Michael Ferris Jr., Eric Stotik & Frank Trankina @ Packer Schopf Gallery
To start their 23rd fall season Packer Schopf gallery has grouped three artists into three solo exhibitions: Michael Ferris Jr., Eric Stotik and Frank Trankina. All three artists work in a traditional format (painting, drawing, and/or sculpture) but share an underlying forwardness in the way they approach their particular subject matter through composition. They all mine the figure, directly or indirectly, and communicate different aspects of art history and personal narrative via their straightforward mediums. Each is obsessive in their own way and manifests it through exceptional technique. The opening reception is today from 5 to 8pm at Packer Schopf: 942 W. Lake St. Visit the gallery's website for details.
Ben Stone & Joey Fauerso @ Western Exhibitions
Western Exhibitions kicks off the fall season with new work by Ben Stone and Joey Fauerso. Stone's six new sculptures and one small painting transform two-dimensional images culled from popular sources into compelling and uncanny three-dimensional forms. "Act Natural", a solo exhibition by Joey Fauerso opens in Gallery 2. Fauerso will show two videos and figurative watercolors on paper that combine landscapes and figures, exploring a grey area between fantasy and reality. The opening reception for these exhibitions is tonight from 5 to 8 at Western Exhibitions: 119 N. Peoria, #2A. For details, visit Western Exhibition's website.
Justin Henry Miller: Remnants of a Radiant Tomorrow Opens @ Zg Gallery
Justin Henry Miller's new paintings and altered vintage photographs will be on display at Zg Gallery today through October 23. The opening reception is today from 5:30pm-7:30pm at Zg Gallery: 300 W. Superior. The artist will be on hand for conversation. For details, click here.
Kelly Kaczynski's The Stagehand's Unseen & Kirsten Leenaars Exhibitions Open @ Threewalls Gallery
In The Stagehand's Unseen, Kelly Kaczynski constructs a stage that fills threewalls gallery to its perimeter. Arranging sculptural objects from "Olympus Manger" onto the stage, the objects take the place of actors and propose narrative as a topography that is open to the wanderings of the individual. Unlike previous installments of "Olympus Manger", The Stagehand's Unseen does not invite the audience to interact with the exhibition, rather this landscape of objects creates desire through their stasis and limited accessibility, as the props remain just on the verge of being re-deployed yet on pause. Kirsten Leenaars work is also on exhibit in the project room. The opening reception for these shows is tonight from 6 to 9 at Threewalls: 119 N. Peoria #2C.
John Henley & Carol Jackson Exhibition Opens @ Roots & Culture
The work of John Henley and Carol Jackson exists in a world where ideological fervor and the quest for power have become empty exercises. Henley's paintings of primitive figures comingle with Jackson's icons of former triumph in a still hopeful ghost town of former
sophistication and glory at Roots and Culture gallery. The opening reception is tonight from 6 to 9 at Roots & Culture: 1034 N Milwaukee Ave. For details, visit Roots & Culture's website.
Chris Johanson Backwards Toward Forwards Opens @ Kavi Gupta
Chris Johanson's Backwards Toward Forward opens in the main gallery and a group show curated by Johanson, including work by Julia Asherman, Gary Groves, Dave Schubert and Masao Yamamoto opens in the project room. Visit Kavi Gupta's website for details. The opening reception is from 5 to 8 tonight at Kavi Gupta Gallery: 835 West Washington Blvd.
Philip Hanson The Subtle Diagram & Michiko Itatani Cosmic Wanderlust Open @ Corbett vs. Dempsey
Long-time Chicago imagist Philip Hanson shows his new, very ambitious paintings and drawings incorporating poetry by several writers, primarily Emily Dickinson but also William Blake, William Shakespeare and Gerard Manley Hopkins in the main gallery. In the east wing, Michiko Itatani shows 50 5"x5" new paintings, each one its own complete cosmos, part of an interrelated series of images based on fantastic intergalactic libraries (Itatani calls these "hyper-baroque") and a magical nighttime woodland scene ("Moon-Light/Mooring") with rings of mysterious illuminated globes that appear in both series. The opening reception is tonight from 5 to 9pm at Corbett vs. Dempsey: 1120 N. Ashland Ave. #3.
R'Fuah: New Works by Max Kauffman Opens @ Pawn Works
Popular Denver folk artist Max Kauffman is showing new work at Pawn Works: 1050 N. Damen. The opening is tonight from 6pm to 10pm.
Clip Art @ Hideout
Local musician Andy Rosenstein and his band Clip Art open for Death Ships tonight at Hideout. Rooted in 70's rock, this band takes cues from modern pop and even sneak in a little heartfelt piano. John Roeser Avenue and T'bone also play. Tickets are $7. 10pm. 1354 W. Wabansia. 21+
DEATHHATCHERY @ The Bakery
Come out tonight at 8pm for the finale of shows at The Bakery, 1854 W 21st Pl! The bands featured in this final performance are Tiger Hatchery, Heat Death, Criminals, Billington/Laughlin Duet, Wyoming, Brain Forest and many more. Come on kids, lets finish this! Don't miss out! Admission is free, donations are suggested. To RSVP, please click here!
Adrian Orange, Ali Baba, Shakers, Chaperone and Vince Gaulin @ CAMP BELL
Come out this evening at 9pm to celebrate and donate at a fundraiser show for Mali at CAMP BELL, 4929 S. Campbell. It's Steps away from the Orange Line- Western stop, or take the #49 to Western and 50th. The entertainment this evening includesAdrian Orange, Ali Baba, Shakers, Chaperone and Vince Gaulin! Admission is free, but a $5 donation is encouraged.
John Henley and Carol Jackson @ Roots & Culture
Come out this evening at 6pm to explore the opening reception of an exhibition by Carol Jackson and John Henley at Roots & Culture, 1034 N. Milwaukee Ave. This dynamic duo's show garners inquiry of material values that affirm and revoke one's entity. Henley's figurative paintings question the idea of dominance in relation to supremac,y while Jackson's recall a nomenclature reassignment of former respected symbols.
Meet Illinois Artisans @ Water Works Visitor Center
The newly remodeled Water Works Visitor Center, 163 E. Pearson, will host art-making demonstrations and offer artisan wares for sale from 1-5pm. Visitors will have the opportunity to purchase one-of-a kind jewelry, fiber, and ceramics pieces during the monthly program, hosted by the Chicago Office of Tourism and the Illinois Artisans Program.
Sónar Chicago
Esteemed Barcelona music festival Sónar makes its first appearance in Chicago starting today. Continuing through September 11, the event brings a host of experimental electronic luminaries to Millennium Park's Pritzker Pavilion and the Chicago Cultural Center, including Oval, Ben Frost and Martyn. Today's events occur entirely in the Chicago Cultural Center and feature two rooms of music and one room of film screenings. Sónar Chicago occurs in conjunction with the Empty Bottle and Wire magazine Adventures in Modern Music festival. All Sónar Chicago events downtown are free, while the Empty Bottle / Wire gigs start later in the evening and range in price from $10 to $30.
