Top 5 Trends of 2014
Casts of body parts
Cultural appropriation
Parenting
Bricolage
Glam
—Matt Morris
Top 5 Controversies
Joe Scanlan’s Donelle Woolford
Terry Dowd’s art handlers struggling to unionize
George Lucas’ proposed Museum of Narrative Art on the lakeshore
David Bowie at the MCA rather than a more appropriate venue
Hebru Brantley’s Tuskegee Airmen sculptures vandalized
—Matt Morris
Top 5 Solo Exhibitions at the Art Institute that Kicked Ass This Year
Christopher Williams
Lucy McKenzie
Ethel Stein
René Magritte
Sarah Charlesworth
—Matt Morris
Top 5 Exhibitions in Alternative Galleries
Gordon Hall at Night Club
Tony Greene at Iceberg Projects
Sebastian Black and India Donaldson at Queer Thoughts
Doug Ischar at peregrineprogram
Edra Soto at Lloyd Dobler
—Matt Morris
Top 5 Photo Shows of the Year
Susan Aurinko and Tammy Kohl, Takohl Gallery
Sandra Binion, University Club of Chicago
Elizabeth Ernst, Catherine Edelman Gallery
Adam Holtzman, Alibi Fine Art
Andre Kertesz, Stephen Daiter Gallery
—Michael Weinstein
Top 5 Confrontations of the Male Gaze and Ugly Patriarchy
Lise Baggesen’s “Mothernism” book and traveling tent installation
Anne Collier’s photographs at the Museum of Contemporary Art
Claire Arctander’s video work at Flat Space
Chloe Seibert’s concrete faces and odalisque at Courtney Blades
Barbara DeGenevieve’s oeuvre left behind after her untimely passing this year
—Matt Morris
Top 5 Projects Demonstrating that Black Lives Matter
Hank Willis Thomas’ public art project “Bench Marks” through Monique Meloche
Mickalene Thomas at Kavi Gupta
Deana Lawson at Rhona Hoffman
How to Make A Hood at the Arts Incubator
Paul Mpagi Sepuya’s residency at the Hyde Park Art Center
—Matt Morris
Top 5 Overused Art Jargon
Networks
Contingency
Body without organs
Atemporal
Social Formalism
—Matt Morris
Top 5 Favorite Things for a Young Art Critic to Say to Even Younger Artists
Casual mention of email correspondence with Important Art People.
Requisition thoughts on show; revel in explanation still chitinous with art school hermetic.
“Review? Send a show listing to my editor.”
“Yes, of course I know gallery owners.”
Disabuse them of the notion that their favorite artist doesn’t use assistants.
—B. David Zarley
Top 5 Video Artworks Shown in Major Museums
Isaac Julien’s “The Long Road to Mazatlàn” at the Art Institute of Chicago
Wangechi Mutu’s “The End of eating Everything” at the Block Museum of Art
Wu Tsang’s “Mishima in Mexico” at the Museum of Contemporary Art
Lucy McKenzie’s “The Girl Who Followed Marple” at the Art Institute of Chicago
Shirin Neshat’s “Turbulent” at the Museum of Contemporary Art
—Matt Morris
Top 5 Bricolage exhibitions
Isa Genzken at the Museum of Contemporary Art
Josef Strau at the Renaissance Society
Sabina Ott at the Chicago Cultural Center
Claire Ashley and Cameron Harvey at O’Connor Art Gallery, Dominican University, Forest Park
Laura Davis at the Elmhurst Museum of Art
—Matt Morris
Top 5 New Gallery Projects
Ordinary Projects
Sector 2337
Kitchen Space
Hidden Dog
Regards,
—Matt Morris
Top 5 Art and Fashion Mash Ups
Lindsey Whittle’s #sageexperience at SAIC
Diane Simpson’s sculptures (at Corbett vs. Dempsey and Monique Meloche)
Clare E. Rojas’ dresses accompanying paintings at Kavi Gupta
Vincent Tiley’s club kid body suits at elee.mosynary gallery
BucketFeet’s artist-designed footwear
—Matt Morris
Top 5 Painting Coups
Michelle Grabner’s floor of the Whitney Biennial
Magalie Guérin at Corbett vs. Dempsey
Judy Ledgerwood at the Graham Foundation
New Image Painting at Shane Campbell Gallery
David Schutter at Rhona Hoffman Gallery
—Matt Morris
Top 5 Chicago Art Web Projects
Inside\Within
Sandcastle
Gallerista
Contemporary Art Daily
Painter Steven Husby’s many tumblrs
—Matt Morris
Top 5 Gratifying Talks and Performances I Made It To
William Pope.L’s barn yard animal panel “The Diversity Talk” at the MCA
Precious Davis’ “Transgender History, Drag, and Transformation of Self” at SAIC
Rashayla Marie Brown’s a capella megaphone performance at Terrain’s “Queen Bee”
Liam Gillick at University of Chicago
Val Jeanty and Douglas Kearney’s “Freedom of Shadow: A Tribute to Terry Adkins” at the Poetry Foundation
—Matt Morris
Top 5 Floral Art Projects
Morgan Manduley at Yautepec in the Chicago Artists Coalition’s EDITION fair
Aron Gent at Devening Projects
Dana Degiulio at Night Club
Stephen Eichhorn at Johalla Projects
Joshua Kent’s “The flowers of the field are free”
—Matt Morris
Top 5 Curtains as Artworks
Greg Ito’s “ease, breeze, beauty” at Hills Esthetic Center
Latham Zearfoss’ “Preserve” at Iceberg Projects
Corkey Sinks and Jamie Steele’s “Black Cauliflower” at Roots & Culture
Wolfie E. Rawk’s Walking Dead montage in the windows of the Chicago Artists Coalition
Columbia College’s Glass Curtain Gallery makeover
—Matt Morris
Top 5 Artworks as Activism
Maria Gaspar’s documentaries, research and conceptual projects about Cook County Jail and Little Village
Laurie Jo Reynolds and Tamms Year Ten’s protests of Tamms C-MAX prison
Michael Rakowitz’s engagements with Iraqi culture and American mis/conceptions
Chances Dances’ inclusive parties, programming and funding opportunities for queer, trans*, and artists of color
Theaster Gates mobilizing and revitalizing South Side communities, fostering growth for black artists and connecting spend-happy art economies with focused, localized social change
—Matt Morris
Top 5 Art Spaces in Tiny Places
Meg Duguid’s Clutch Gallery
Lovey Town (technically based in Madison, Wisconsin)
Loo (the gallery inside the bathroom at Slow, the alt space in Pilsen)
The Thorne Collection of miniature interiors at the Art Institute
Jesse Malmed’s Trunk Show
—Matt Morris
Top 5 Drawing Shows
Margaret Lee’s “Sometimes Maybe” at the Green Gallery, Oak Park
Ryan M Pfeiffer + Rebecca Walz’s “Rebis Rebus” at peregrineprogram
Nate Young’s “Diagrams with My Father” at Richard Gray and Valerie Carberry
Lilli Carré’s moving drawing “The Negotiation” at the Museum of Contemporary Art
Caroline Carlsmith’s graphite on limestone slab in “Archipelago” at the Block Museum of Art
—Matt Morris
Top 5 Subversively Conceptual Crafters
William J. O’Brien
Mindy Rose Schwartz
Victoria Martinez
Sarah Beth Woods
Chris Edwards
—Matt Morris
Top 5 Sweater Weather Artists
Mike Andrews
Samantha Bittman
Sam Jaffe
Miller & Shellabarger (particularly their Pink Tube project)
Karolina Gnatowski
—Matt Morris
Top 5 Saints in Chicago
“Saint Alicia” Florrick, Julianna Margulies’ protagonist on CBS’ Chicago-set “The Good Wife”
Florine Stettheimer’s painting at the Art Institute that pays homage to Gertrude Stein’s “Four Saints in Three Acts”
Hip-hop artist Saint Millie
The edgy runway fashions imitated by clothier ALLSAINTS on Mag Mile
A quiet year for the street gang the Almighty Saints
—Matt Morris
Top 5 Chicago Decorative Painters
Lina Caro Studio
Ken Wilson, Kawcuts Studio
Molly Cranch
Diane Ponder, Living Room Projects
Lydia Cash Studio
—Michael Workman
Top 5 Chicago Alt/DIY Art Salons
Handsome Squid
Tritriangle
Floor Length & Tux
Dollhouse DIY
Antena
—Michael Workman
Top 5 Chicago Artists Print Presses
Spudnik Press
Dan Estep & Jessica Rosenbaum, Flooding Factory
Ryan Duggan, Drug Factory Press
We Are Fatherless
Tandem Felix
—Michael Workman
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