If pigeons are rats on wings, what are the ubiquitous geese that populate Chicago’s lakefront parks and lagoons? More than fifty young local photographers answer that question in ninety unassuming straight color shots that present our avian neighbors in all their familiar guises. When we see them soaring in elegantly ragged geometrical formation through an ink-blue sky, they evoke admiration and exude nobility. When we see them scrounging around in the park with high rises in the background, they morph into the oversized and ungainly pests and moochers that have become our uninvited guests. Love them or hate them—or most likely both—this show makes it plain that the geese are sublimely indifferent to us, except as sources of provender. Any joke—and these images cannot fail to make one smile in some way—is on us. (Michael Weinstein) Through January 16 at Illinois Institute of Art
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