Commissioned by Chicago’s Wright Auction House to have free run of the premises and take whatever pictures in whatever ways they pleased, emerging photographers Jason Lazarus and Brian Ulrich each chose to engage in the play with his distinctive signature style. Indifferent to surroundings and passionate about concepts—as long as they are subversive—Lazarus brought in his “favorite” image of Marilyn Monroe (dressed as a distaff Mao), got on the floor on his belly and snapped himself hiding behind the large print with only his hands visible. Ever the renegade documentarian preoccupied with the plethora of things, Ulrich went to a back storage room and came out with a shot of a thicket of lamps pointing in every which way at every angle, waiting to grace the excessively ordered display showroom that he also faithfully recorded. (Michael Weinstein)
Through August 3 at City Gallery, 806 N. Michigan.
Symbols of Life: A Review of Theaster Gates at the New Museum in New York City Gates unites his artistic beginnings as a ceramics sculptor with the impressive amount of objects that he has acquired as an archivist. Titled “Young Lords and Their Traces” it follows the lineage of his artistic and archival practice through multiple times and histories.
Sounding the City: How Experimental Sound Studio Reaches New Audiences Newcity spoke with Olivia Junell, development and outreach director of ESS, about accessibility of sound art, plans for future iterations of the festival and how the main mission of ESS has shifted to accommodate the needs of artists today.
