Cauleen Smith, “Performance view, The Solar Flare: Arkestral Marching Band Project #3: Meat Packing District,” 2011. Photo: Orla McHardy, courtesy of the artist

By Anthony D. Stepter

“I wonder if he’s heard of Chet Haze?” I thought, as Kodwo Eshun, one half of the UK-based art collective The Otolith Group, took the first question at the Black Collectivities conference (May 3–4) from a “gentleman with the backwards cap.”

The event’s organizers, Northwestern University professor Huey Copeland and MCA curator Naomi Beckwith, insisted that each question asker share their name and affiliation before proceeding. This is how I came to realize that the Northwestern student asking for clarification on “hermetics and hermeneutics” was Chester Hanks, better known as the middle son of actor Tom Hanks, and perhaps even better known as Chet Haze, aspiring rapper and the subject of snarky gossip blogs across the internet.

A deeply academic gathering of artists and scholars focused on black art collectives is an unlikely place to cross paths with an internet celebrity. At least it seemed so at first. During opening remarks, Copeland mentioned that the conference’s specific topic allowed for a “fuller understanding of black collectives” specifically and the field generally. This idea of looking at broader vistas from specific perspectives was a common thread throughout the two days of discussions, screenings and performances. Read the rest of this entry »

RECOMMENDED

American museums once displayed rooms full of plaster casts of famous sculpture as a way to fulfill their original mission of bringing European high culture to the hinterland. (Reproductions of the Parthenon frieze can still be seen high above the grand staircase of the Art Institute.) Since originals are far more precious, and classical art no longer sets the cultural standard, museums dumped their plaster cast collections of ancient, medieval and Renaissance sculpture decades ago.

But what if the originals can no longer be put on display anywhere? The Lascaux caves, in southwestern France, are the setting of the most celebrated Paleolithic cave paintings in art history, and were permanently closed in 1963 due to rapid deterioration. A concrete reproduction, Lascaux II, was built nearby to accommodate viewers. Now, with advances in technology, the rough, complex surfaces of the original cave walls have been digitally recorded and reproduced within a single millimeter onto sheets of fiberglass. The resulting copies, called Lascaux III, are now on international tour, with a stopover at the Field Museum. Read the rest of this entry »

Karl Wirsum, “Melon Balls”

Why is it that whenever “humor” is the theme of an art exhibition or book, you barely find yourself laughing out loud? When paired with art, humor is meta, more hmmm than haha. What does it mean to laugh? we ask ourselves. (Have you ever really laughed at a Richard Prince “joke” painting?) And now, there are several new online videos produced by Patrick Boblin and Ali Clayton called “What Am I Looking At?” where exhibition openings are the stage for stand-up comedians to joke about art. Each episode is a disaster. Let’s say that Boblin and Clayton have good intentions. Why not combine the popular art of comedy performance with the less-popular art of galleries, and maybe make contemporary art more accessible? It ends up as tragicomedy. A symposium has been convened to discuss the crisis of humor in art. Two curators (Lynne Warren and Robert Cozzolino), a professor (Janice Fodor), an art dealer (John Corbett) and the artist Karl Wirsum will tackle this topic as it relates to the art of the 1960s and 1970s—particularly hilarious decades—in “Laughing Matters” at the DePaul Art Museum, this Saturday, April 27, from 10am–5pm. Register to attend at public.elmhurst.edu/cultural_events/humor_art. Read the rest of this entry »

“Why,” by Richard Hunt, 1974

By Jason Foumberg

I have yet to meet an artist who is unwilling to answer questions about their artwork. Audiences are hungry for information about art and artists. It’s true, the more you know about an artwork, the better you understand it, the more you’re apt to appreciate it. So, where do you begin? Despite having the best intentions, some questions about art can come out sounding vague and predictable, as if designed to make an artist’s eyes roll. I asked nearly one-hundred artists to divulge the dumb questions, the ones that get asked too much, the clichés that reveal assumptions about art and stereotypes about artists. Airing them here may be a way to vanquish them forever.

“What kind of art do you do?”
—Cassy Smith

“So, what’s your process? [stares meaningfully]”
—A-J Aronstein

“I’m related to you so, I can ask you for free art, right?”
—Patrick Willett

“Your work isn’t Mexican enough.”
—Jaime Mendoza Read the rest of this entry »

Lauren Weinberg did a fine job in Time Out documenting the basic facts around the shuttering this month of storefront community arts center Mess Hall’s decade of free offerings to the Rogers Park neighborhood and innumerable points beyond. Dan S. Wang gave a philosophical insider’s perspective on his Propositions Press blog. But, for someone who dragged my sorry carcass up north a paltry few times a year to a space that offered multiple unique events on most weekends, there are just so many memories that I associate with that tiny distant nook, that I am compelled, by way of elegy, to just indulge in something of a freeform brain-dump.

The first time I visited Mess Hall may have been for Thai activist-artist Vasan Sitthiket’s display of T-shirts; there were a series of presenters who talked about his work, which I witnessed mostly via audio while sitting on the floor within the clothesline-suspended forest of shirts. Alternately, it may have been when Temporary Services member Marc Fischer invited me to come and do a presentation about the hostile yet visionary 1980s Michigan hardcore band The Crucifucks, which accompanied Marc’s sermon on French punks Les Thugs. And there was Mike Wolf doing a slide show for perhaps over two hours on his experiences on foot wandering the Midwest during the summertime. I really regret missing Seattle artist and urban planner Sarah Kavage’s presentations on her “Industrial Harvest” project, where she bought and gave away one-thousand bushels of wheat. Read the rest of this entry »

Due to the response and feedback we have received for our article Friends Curating Friends we have decided to produce a report focused on those artists who have never had any type of exposure or love from Chicago’s art scene. There are thousands of artists working hard in their studios, yet somewhat invisible due to Chicago’s small gallery scene. If you are one of those artists who has a healthy and productive studio practice, we would like to see it, and we want everyone in Chicago to see it too. So put some beers in the fridge, brew some coffee and invite us to your studio. Reach out to artedit@newcity.com.

Artwork available by Andrew Falkowski at the Autumn Space benefit auction

By Jason Foumberg

Auction Season

Spring is benefit auction season. These fundraising events should be on your radar because they’re good opportunities to score some art by coveted emerging and established artists and a good way to support alternative exhibition venues. (Digression: a successful commercial artist once told me that donating artwork to such auctions can decrease the value of the artwork if collectors know to shop for steep discounts at auction rather than at a gallery.)

The Autumn Space benefit auction is Sunday, March 10, from 6-9pm, at 1700 West Irving Park, Suite #207. Works by over fifty artists are available, many starting at $30, including pieces by Candida Alvarez, Michelle Grabner, Dan Devening, John Phillips, Frank Piatek, Richard Rezac, Adam Scott and Molly Zuckerman-Hartung. $10 at the door and online bidding and preview at autumnspace.com/secondary.html.

April 14 is the benefit auction for Queer Thoughts, and will include work by William J. O’Brien, Alex da Corte, Mindy Schwartz, and others. May 4 is the benefit for Roots & Culture.

100 Paintings and 101 Sculptures

It’s good to have goals. Brandon Alvendia has created 100 paintings for his solo exhibition at Sofa King, opening March 9. They can be previewed at sofa-king-chicago.tumblr.com. Jennifer Mills has created 101 “one-liner” sculptures, for her solo show at Chicago Artists’ Coalition, opening March 15.

Prizes and Grants

ArtFutura is an annual open call for artworks, to be displayed and sold as a benefit to the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago’s Art Therapy program. There is a $30 entry fee and prizes ranging from $500-$2,500. Same as last year, the exhibition juror is James Rondeau and the theme is, once again, “motion.” Deadline is April 2 at www.ric.org/about/people/boards/associate/activities-events/artfutura.

The Chicago Artists’ Coalition and OtherPeoplesPixels, a website service for artists, have partnered to offer a $3,000 Maker Grant for artists. The deadline to apply is March 31, and the entry fee is $15, at chicagoartistscoalition.org/maker-grant. Read the rest of this entry »

“Critiquing Criticality”

By Jason Foumberg

A four-day conference on art is like the internet, providing a seemingly limitless stock of nonsense and boredom, and a perfect forum for trolling inconclusive debates. Still, there are gems to be plucked from the madness. Here, I’ve distilled several days’ worth of panel discussions from last weekend’s College Art Association conference held at the Hilton in Manhattan attended by artists, professors, critics and curators. Accompanying this article are images of the conference’s chandeliers, photographed from the audience by artist Conrad Bakker and titled with the session topic.

On Art Theory

“Artists have long made good use of discarded technologies,” said Buzz Spector, an artist and professor, on the persistence of art theory.

“Art is where ideas go to die,” said Ben Davis, executive editor of Artinfo.com, nodding to Clement Greenberg and Michael Fried.

Read the rest of this entry »

At “Shit Is Real,” Devening Projects + Editions

By Pedro Vélez

Gallery hopping in Chicago can be a real pain in the ass since there is not a single substantial gallery district where to spend a Saturday afternoon. Art spaces are spread all over town and to reach at least a handful of them one must do it by car. What we do have are conglomerates, kind of like pimple colonies where a few successful commercial galleries are surrounded by a bunch of alternative spaces that seem to grow out of nowhere every two years, making themselves visible in a blemish and vanishing away without notice. It’s a gallery scene in eternal puberty. Consider yourself lucky if in four hours you manage to see at least ten galleries.

That is why I cringe every weekend when I receive invites to see exhibitions curated by my friends’ friends. I do so because the people curating my friends are my friends too. Which means I must make an effort to see my friends in their friends’ show if I don’t want to offend them or their friends. The fact that I might have seen my friends’ work in a dozen shows through the year is no excuse for missing their new thing. So I do what everybody else does, inhale, put lotion on the palm of my hand, and pat my friends on the back, and their friends’ backs too, for a job “well done.” Read the rest of this entry »

By Jason Foumberg

A crumbling old mansion beside the lake seems more befitting of an Edgar Allan Poe tale than a community art center, but it has been the Evanston Art Center’s home for the last four decades. The City of Evanston owns the Harley Clarke Mansion and decided to market the 20,275-square-foot residence, which sits on a large property, in 2012. Last month the city acknowledged a bid from billionaire investor James Pritzker, as reported by Crain’s.

Where does this leave the eighty-three-year-old art institution? For most of its existence the EAC has made do with very little. At one point it occupied a library’s basement, and then an abandoned barbershop, and then leased the lakeside mansion for a token $1 per year.

The EAC’s executive director, Norah Diedrich, considered her options: aggressively fundraise in order to stay in a building that is structurally inadequate for an art center’s needs, or locate a new facility and potentially modernize the art center into a thriving community resource. Diedrich and the EAC’s board of trustees have chosen to relocate. Read the rest of this entry »