In this high-energy retrospective of premier French rock photographer Richard Bellia’s twenty-five years of shooting idols from James Brown to Nirvana and beyond, one experiences the (dis)passion of a man who goes for the jugular—the money shot as some say—and captures his subjects in their most exaggerated and iconic moments of their shticks, or enjoying the rewards of rock ’n’ roll fantasy. Only a Frenchman would have dared to snap the shutter behind a groupie in a tight skirt kneeling as she gives a blow job to Stiv Bators of the Dead Boys, who winces with ecstatic pleasure as Joey Ramone stands behind him like a Praetorian guard, with a bottle of beer in his hand rather than a spear. Whether it is Radiohead being hipper than hip or Marilyn Manson mugging as a transgendered ironical monstrosity, Bellia gives us Baudrillard’s hyper-reality on steroids—the simulation is the standard. (Michael Weinstein)
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.
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.
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.
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.
Other Forces: A Review of Maw at Apparatus Projects Ailes and Lopez’s installations, images and sculptures function as a cosmos of life—worlds where the viewer is placed in a disordered exercise of cognitive sense-making between rather than sense-making of.
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