Live, dead, whole, mangled, stuffed and plastic, fauna are the subjects of Colleen Plumb’s decidedly less-than-cute color photos that comment on our ambivalent, widely variant and often neglectful or even downright sadistic relation to the animal kingdom at our urban doorsteps. Do not expect any of Plumb’s images to grace a greeting card or children’s book; a bloated black fly feasting on the remains of a carcass—probably a rat—in a crumbling alley is not the stuff that cheery uplift is made of. Far from trying to mobilize for the animal-rights movement or to offend sensibilities, Plumb’s intent is to subvert shallow romantic myths about all creatures great and small, and to jog viewers into getting real. She succeeds admirably in giving visitors the chance to open their eyes and minds to all the myriad ways in which we allow animals to enter our midst, and how we deal with them when they are inside the spaces that we arrogantly claim to dominate. Unfortunately, most people who pass through the show do not seem to get the point, responding to the sights with “Ugh!” and “Gross!” (Michael Weinstein) Through March 22 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.
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