RECOMMENDED Megan Sterling’s wall-sized drawings of legs and arms, hands and feet, imply certain situations, but an underlying duality draws the viewer into a thought experiment. The apparent agony with which a giant hand contorts as it reaches from the ceiling by its arm contrasts with the poised hand beneath, appearing to press up from the floor. The incongruity of the hands’ posture allows introspection into one’s own interpretation of the limbs, and the space between. In a separate drawing, the position of two feet that hang from the ceiling is contrasted by toes curled upward toward the ceiling, constricted tendons noted by shadows. Do the legs belong to a child, whose toes are stretching as the feet leisurely swing? Do they belong to a criminal hanging in the gallows, with toes contorted in a last spasm before suffocation? Or are the legs not dangling, but lying on a floor? The shadow of muscles and tendons that appear to work both separately and together may prompt a viewer to consider the ideas of force and acquiescence, work and leisure, constancy and change, and whether the space (or lack thereof) between limbs implies that they are related at all. (Ben Broeren) Through December 4 at Contemporary Art Workshop, 542 West Grant
For Us: A Review of "Something from Something" at Engage Projects Kushala Vora and Adia Sykes’ collaboration "Something from Something" tells us as viewers that knowledge, art, creation, inspiration, love—really anything you can think of—has a place of origin.
Women Behind the Lens: A Review of "From Her to Eternity" Courtney Love curates on the street. Just west of Wabash on the corner of Eighth Street, there is a wall of stellar rock star images that includes a special collection made by women photographers over the years.
Looking Down: A Review of Bob Tanner at Perspective After the loss of his wife, Bob Tanner made two photography series, “At Ocean’s Edge” and “At Winter’s Edge,” that are shown in this meditative show filled with graceful visual poetry.
Microcosm: A Review of “Dialogues” at Patron Through each artist-relationship, "Dialogues" offers the viewer a rare opportunity to witness the direct connections that flow through the electric nervous system that both infiltrates and generates Chicago's art world.
