Art Seen: Chicago
SAIC // Fashion 2013
The School of the Art Institute of Chicago presented its 79th annual Fashion show this past Friday at Millennium Park’s Chase Promenade. Over 80 talented student designers sent a spectacular variety of pieces down the 90-foot runway. Sophomore designers presented one piece each in an array of experimental shapes, textures and techniques that embodied the[...]
Sonnenzimmer // Studio Visit + Interview
Sonnenzimmer is the Chicago-based art, design, and screen print studio of Nick Butcher and Nadine Nakanishi. The couple has created their own niche through a series of commission-based projects for a wide array of clients as well as self-initiated experimental artworks. The two halves of Sonnenzimmer have uniquely collaborated to redefine the career narrative of[...]
Model Studies // Graham Foundation
Model Studies: Thomas Demand with Fernand Léger, Francis Bruguiere, Thomas Sceibitz, and the VKhUTEMAS School The link between Demand and architecture is a natural one. Demand, a photographer who builds life-sized architectural models of familiar scenes from the news out of paper then photographs and destroys the original model. The photograph is the artwork. Never[...]
MCA Chicago // Installing with Amalia Pica
London-based, Argentinean artist Amalia Pica arrived to Chicago on Sunday, April 15, straight from Mexico City where she has a solo show at the Rufino Tamayo Museum. Amalia is in town for two weeks to install her upcoming exhibition at MCA Chicago, which I co-curated with João Ribas of the MIT List Visual Arts Center,[...]
Helium Gallery // Tony Orrico: Penwald 4
I had no idea what to expect as I walked into the space way up in the Ravenswood neighborhood in Chicago. I know that the artist is based in Chicago and that he is represented by a gallery in Mexico City. Other than that, I was in for a surprise. This live drawing took place over[...]
MCA // Goshka Macuga: Exhibit, A
Polish born, London-based artist Goshka Macuga was born in 1967. This is the first survey of her work in the United States and it is not an easy one to digest but I found it fascinating. Macuga looks at and uses art as a form of research. Her interest lies in strategies of display and blurring[...]
Hauser Gallery // Atalanta & the Lion
The River North Gallery District in Chicago hosts the largest concentration of art galleries in the United States outside of Manhattan. The neighborhood has a long history of housing a number of significant Chicago galleries, which are visited by international collectors regularly. Unfortunately, visitors wishing to actually meet many of the living, working artists of[...]
2014 Whitney Biennial // An Interview with Michelle Grabner
Michelle Grabner, celebrated Chicago artist and Professor and Chair of Painting and Drawing at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC), was recently named a curator of the 2014 Whitney Biennial. Grabner will work with Stuart Comer (Tate Modern, London) and Anthony Elms (Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia) to develop the exhibition. The three curators will organize the[...]
Veronica Bruce // Studio Visit
On an unseasonably balmy Saturday afternoon in Chicago, I made my way to an industrial area north of United Center that I had never been to before. The young artist Veronica Bruce let me in and we made our way to her fifth floor studio. As she gestured where I could place my bag, she let[...]
MCA Chicago // Goshka Macuga
A seemingly concrete sculpture takes up nearly an entire exhibition room at the MCA. The heads of the figures almost touch the ceiling. From the rough formation, one can recognize a mother, father, and child sitting and reading a book. This monumental structure is a tribute to Oscar Bony’s “La Familia Obrera (Blue Colar Family),”[...]
The Art Institute of Chicago // Building: Inside Studio Gang Architects
Over 100 people packed into the Architecture and Design Gallery on the second floor of the Modern Wing for the final Archi-Salon on Saturday, February 2, 2013, which was moderated by Clare Lyster. The roundtable discussion invited a group of panelists and respondents to focus on outside research and its influences not typically associated within[...]
MCA Chicago // Miguel Gutierrez and the Powerful People
Miguel Gutierrez concerns himself with the aura and sensibility of his performances rather than a clear understanding of actions. “And Lose the Name of Action” makes that explicit. Interaction with the audience, passionate, almost ritualistic dance, and humorous dialogue are juxtaposed with moments of idle chatter as if the performance was not occurring. Gutierrez thereby[...]
The Renaissance Society // RH Quaytman
Entitled Passing Through the Opposite of What It Approaches, Chapter 25, Rebecca Quaytman’s exhibition follows the same pattern as all of her previous shows–she calls them “Chapters” and divides them as if they were a book. This way she is able to retain past works and develop a connected body of work that relates. Her[...]
The Gene Siskel Film Center // Highlighting the Artist’s Process
Consuming Spirits 2011, Chris Sullivan Nearly fifteen years in the making, Chris Sullivan’s dark animated film Consuming Spirits will start its first Chicago run at the Gene Siskel Film Center on January 25. Sullivan, an instructor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, will be available at select screenings for audience discussions on[...]
Elmhurst Art Museum // Alyssa Miserendino
“Our World Insideout: Chicago Before and After” is a project based on residential photographs taken in 2009, coupled with photographs completed in 2012. This exhibition is a series dedicated to the definition of home. The photographs highlight humanity’s wasted and used resources at our most sacred place: home. The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation funded Miserendino’s[...]
USA Fellows // 2012 Grantees
Every year, the United States Artists honors 50 of America’s finest artists with individual fellowship awards of $50,000 each. The artists work in architecture & design, crafts & traditional arts, dance, literature, media, music, theater arts and visual arts. Four Chicagoans are among the artists selected: Theaster Gates USA Kippy Fellow, 2012 Visual Arts David[...]
MCA Chicago // Goshka Macuga: Exhibit, A
Goshka Macuga: Exhibit, A opened at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago this weekend. On view through April 7, 2013, this exhibition is the first survey of work by Polish-born, London-based artist Goshka Macuga. Goshka Macuga: Exhibit, A from MCA Chicago on Vimeo.
MoCP // 1979:1 – 2012:21: Jan Tichy Works With the MoCP Collection
One year ago, artist Jan Tichy was commissioned by the Museum of Contemporary Photography to develop a project based on the museum’s permanent collection of nearly 11,000 artworks. As a member of the MoCP staff, I’ve watched the exhibition 1979:1 – 2012:21: Jan Tichy Works With the MoCP Collection develop into a elegant installation that spans[...]
2012 National Plastic Arts Award of Spain // Jaume Plensa
Congratulations to conceptual artist Jaume Plensa (Barcelona, born 1955) who has been awarded the 2012 National Plastic Arts Award of Spain coordinated by the Ministry of Culture. Plensa is best known locally for his public artwork at Millennium Park, the Crown Fountain, which opened in July 2004. The work is composed of a black granite[...]
Collector Tour // Dirk Denison & David Salkin
Upon arrival in the airy lair perched above Lake Shore Drive the visitor is struck by the floor to ceiling windows facing west and north and the gigantic terrarium, centered in the entry and a metaphor for the expansive, evolving and very much alive collection. David and Dirk seek out regional artists and consider many[...]
Richard Gray Gallery // Marc Swanson
Brooklyn-based artist Marc Swanson’s work was not only on view at booth 305 for the inaugural EXPO CHICAGO, but he also came to town the weekend of the event. Simultaneous to the fair’s kickoff back at Navy Pier, Richard Gray Gallery Chicago, located in the city’s iconic Hancock building hosted an artist talk on Friday[...]
MDW Art Fair // 2012 Highlights
The third installment of the MDW Fair was held at Mana Contemporary Art Center November 9-11, and brought artist-run spaces, publishers and programmers together under one roof, with a variety of performances, artist projects and events happening over the course of the weekend. MDW was formed in spring 2011 as a collaborative project between the Public[...]
Donald Young // Gallery Closes
After twenty-nine years and almost two hundred exhibitions, the Donald Young Gallery has shuttered its doors. On Friday, November 2nd, the gallery had its final reception to say goodbye. On view was the sixth show in the series: In the Spirit of Walser including new work by Rodney Graham and Josiah McElheny. Published in conjunction with the[...]
Aspect Ratio // Gallery Opening
This September, Aspect Ratio Gallery opened with an exhibition by Gilad Ratman. The gallery will focus on video work by established and emerging artists working in media. Aspect Ratio’s first exhibition was a video work by Gilad Ratman who will represent Israel in the next Venice Biennale. This clever work explores human behavior and the need for community versus[...]