The TOP NON-ART-FAIR Shows to go See

(Actual Exhibitions as opposed to last weekend’s big tent revivals)

There were countless art exhibitions launched this past weekend along with the temporary mega events. Crowds were out and about and everything was well attended, here are a few that stick out as top spots. They are all still on view, so go out and see them.

PILEism at Heaven Gallery
On view through May 21
1550 N Milwaukee 2nd Floor
Saturdays 1-5 & by appointment
Damen Blueline, Milwaukee Bus

Forget Lyricism or Narritivism, Pileism is the “new art that stacks up.” Essentially a novel concept that expands into a surprisingly rich territory for exploration, Pileism stems from the concept of stacking or piling. This can be objects, layers or concepts.

Highlights include: Elke Claus’ meticulous prints that pile on layers of images and collaged in found images. Nate Euhus’ transplanted billboard, the sort found all over the gallery’s neighborhood, feature thought provoking, spiritual and political postings in place of the standard band announcements found on the pedestrian ones. Doug Fogelson’s all American installation, Spin, (a flapping Uncle Sam blown by a fan, a clothes dryer and tons of red, white & blue party favors) chokingly calls to mind the new quote-end-quote patriotism. But his disgustingly sweet photograph of a Fourth of July cake, piled high with every sort of candy crap a fat American would love to gobble down is the strongest. Keep an eye on Fogelson, he’s Art or Idiocy?s pick for a “break out artist.” Over all, the show is very strong with a good group of artists. Only a few don’t quite make par.

The Hollingsworth Natural History Collection
At Gallery X
On view through May 14
280 S Columbus #2
Tues – Fri 12:30-5:30, Saturdays 10-3
That hallway which connects the back of the Art Institute to the School

History and installation art merge in this high concept exhibition drawing inspiration for the Museum of Jurassic Technology.

The Acme Novelty Library
Chris Ware at Carl Hammer Gallery
On view through May 28
740 N Wells
Tues – Fri 11-6, Saturdays 11-5 & by appointment
Chicago Brownline, Chicago Bus

From the specially designed announcements:
“The general public is invited to attend the unveiling of original cartoon –drawings -diagrams -doodles...by the internationally-acclaimed children’s entertainer, social muralist and motivational speaker F.C.Ware.”

The work is beautiful, meticulous and precise, as is to be expected. Also you'll find a vitrine of his multitudinous publications and a mock up of the forthcoming Rocket Sam. Ask for a specially made exhibition flyer. Looking at the works as drawings on a wall, and not imperfect production originals, I wonder what it would mean for comics to be made to hang on the wall, as a singular object rather than as a step in the process of making a multiple.

Westown at ,40000
inaugural exhibition,
On view through May 27
1001 N Winchester
Saturdays 12-6 & by appointment
Blueline Damen or Division, near Damen & Augusta

Forty Thousand is a startup gallery with a space that rivals the pros. The exhibition features an excellent selection of up-and-coming artists who also happen to come from the area ,40000 is calling home. Westown, mutherfucker!

With a multitude of works that span every aspect of contemporary practice, you are bound to find something you love.
The website is up an running and it is pretty nice.

AND FINALLY
Drawn to Drawing at The Betty Rymer Gallery
On view through July 1
280 S Columbus
Tues-Sat 10-5
Jackson & Columbus, behind the Art Institute

D2D takes a cue from MoMA’s Drawing Now, but expands the concept of drawing to include nearly all media and practices. Here we have traditional notions, but also drawing with paint, working on paper, drawing with a camera, drawing with birds and birdfeed, drawing as sculpture and as destruction & reduction, and so on.

Especially popular are: Michael Goodlett's intricate paper businessman/angel/demons emerging from sketchbooks and Rebecca Carter’s Drawing Machine.

*Yes, I am in this show. But there are lots of quality artists in this exhibition, which is one reason I am so happy to be a part of it. Do blogs have ethics anyway? At least I’m not listing it as number one.

They Call it the Windy City Cos of the Politics

I went by the NOVA party last night (to rendezvous with the Artist Extraordinaire entourage.)

You’ve got to hand it to the Young Art Fair for pulling it all together after getting booted from their choice venue in the 11th hour. Politics and interdepartmental city government infighting are supposedly to blame. In any case, a tight little show has come about. And being a hop, skip and a jump from the West Loop galleries is a prime location. For once this is a situation where having openings “coincide” isn’t counterproductive but actually beneficial.

When we arrived around 9:30, it was quiet and empty. I wondered if there was no party, no opening event, if things were that dire. People were still putting things up, adjusting their booths and installing. So it goes with art fairs. The first rule is that nothing ever goes completely smoothly. Just it’s usually a lit bit smoother than abruptly relocating.

Regardless, there is a hot concentration of art. At NOVA you’ll find a good selection of work in a manageable sprawl. It’s a nice relief from the endless rows and intersections in the football field style Navy Pier, or even Stray Show of previous years. As time went by last night, it slowly began to fill up. Tensions eased and everyone started having a good time. It was a good party with good art. And that’s important. It was fun. Finally! some fun amidst all the clenched teeth and bulging veins. I doubt hitting Art Chicago or CC&C will be as much of a good time. And I wonder if the art will seem as good or fresh. I have a feeling that Art Chicago will have some good art but also be depressing and that CC&C will have less good art that’s not as good and be even more depressing. I hope these fairs don’t call it quits as Paul Klein suggests, but keep trying to figure things out.

Chicago Has Caught A Fever-

ART FEVER!

The Chicago art scene is like a school full of excited and frightened elementary schoolers in a blizzard that will either send everyone home early or force them to spend the night in the gymn.

Paul Klein’s bloggofab ArtLetter today is unusually perceptive and intelligent. Klein weighs in on what is the hot topic of the moment-the art fairs, of course. As usual, though, it spirals out of control into megalomania. The gist: “All you art fairs just give up, cos me and the Klein-ites are starting a Chicago-centric art museum.” Also, he may want to proofread a little more carefully instead of putting useless links all over the place.

At any rate, the scathing take down of Chicago Contemporary & Classic is classic and ballsy:

“The Chicago Contemporary and Classic Art Fair, at Navy Pier, pushed me to words I’ve never used for art: despicable, drek, and horrendous. This show is an insult to taste, aesthetics, quality, commerce and common sense.“

Thomas Blackman doesn’t fair much better, though:

“...[T]his is a decent fair, despite Thomas Blackman Associates’ best efforts to further ruin what was once the best art fair in the land.”

In other art fair news, Artnet reports that Kavi Gupta has partnered up with Friedrich Loock and Ulrich Voges to start a third art fair in Basel called VOLTAshow01. It is a “nonprofit, dealer-run enterprise,” which is a statement where someone has taken the meaning out of all the words, stomped on them and then shoved them back in. But it is also right in step with the NADA art fair.

All’s Fair in Love & Art Fairs

The first paragraph will make you want to throw up in your mouth, but the rest of this Suntimes article is definitely worth the read.

Drawn to Drawing

Enamored onlookers take in Erik Wenzel, Self-Promoter Extraordinaire’s mural in progress at the entrance of the Betty Rymer Gallery. They Were Modernists Doing Modern Things was created especially for the exhibition Drawn to Drawing, opening this Friday, form 5 – 7pm. The BRG is conveniently located directly across Columbus drive from Butler Field, the staging grounds of Art Chicago in the Park.

The Betty Rymer Gallery is located at 280 South Columbus at the corner of Jackson & Columbus. (The Siamese twin sister of the Art Institute museum.)

Too Much Rock for One Dog

Erik Wenzel, Artist Debauch-inaire, poses in front of his freshly completed piece in the NOVA Art Fair’s project space. This is as close as an artist can get to rocking- giant dogs adjacent to the stage. More info on NOVA

Total Diaristic Post

I hope everyone makes it out the Butcher Shop tonite. Spring Break Chicago 2005 has gotten an insane amount of press, and it hasn't even opened yet. artLedge is on the forefront of the art party phenomenonsnndinnon (SP?) basically, where the opening IS the after party. The Newcity has ranked SBC2005 as the NUMBER 1 SHOW to go See Right Now. TimeOut Chicago also has a feature on it. So it's gonna be killer, I'm assuming. (for the details scroll down to "Artists Gone Wild")

This is a message to all galleries, organizers and would-be curators:
There are way too many fucking art things going on next weekend. There are three art fairs, a hot drawing show at the Betty Rymer Gallery, a new gallery that is innaugerating itself & a show about making piles of things. So my weekend is full and I will probably end up just sitting at home alseep anyway.

So NO MORE openings. I am not going to go hit all the usual spots when there is all sorts of other awesomeness going on. And if any collectors and gallerists from Zurich are in town, I'm pretty sure they aren't either. So before you rent a warehouse and a DJ and ask everyone to make an ironic painting about President Bush on a moldy sheet of cardboard think twice. Cos no one is going to be able to go to all the shit going down. This is a good thing, it means there's a lot shit going on in Chicago. But the downside is that the next weekend there will be nothing. And the weekend after that. Everyone is all banking in on this one weekend and then there will be a huge drought afterwords. This is going to be bad. Summer is the off season for art. That's really the best time to experiment and have crazy giant shows. I am more likely to go to a one nite show in a one-time gallery/apartment when there is nothing else going on. In the summer you want to get out and do stuff anyway; and so on a nice summer nite it is fun to venture to a new place you've never been to and check it out. Same is true for the "mainstream" galleries. Why would I go to Westloop and River North when all this other stuff is happening? When there's no artfairs, that's when I go to galleries. And in the middle of summer, it would be nice to have a opening or two to go to.

This is a total haphazard rant and rave. So don't be surprised to see it dissappear after this weekend. Just consider it free market research for all the art business people.

420 Dude

Image courtesy of Gregory Hess

Artists Gone Wild

Erik Wenzel • Every Summer We Can Rent A Cottage, in the Isle of Wight, if it's Not Too Dear • 2005 • Acryilc on found image mounted on panel

This Saturday you should definitely make your way to the Butcher Shop for Spring Break Chicago 2005. It is organized by artLedge, the Animal House of the art world. ArtLedge’s home space is one of those architectural excentricites that is one’s joy to find in a city like Chicago. It is literally a ledge, a bit of unusable flooring at the top of a precarious winding metal staircase that links a top floor reminiscent of a suburban house, and a main floor apartment. All this atop a hodgepodge of various styles and hallways leading up to it off the street.

So artLedge is transporting this to a much larger venue for more work and more party. Everyone is in the show. I’m in the show and you’re in the show too. Really, you might not know it, but your work is already installed. And it looks fabulous. There are about 9,000 artists involved, 16 curators, some 24 rockstars, 8 fashionistas, 90 microbreweries a stray dog and a 5ft length of garden hose.

Neither have web sites, but here are google search results for both, these should fill you in on ArtLedge & Butcher Shop.

And from the press release:

artLedge presents:

Spring Break Chicago 2005

April 23 – April 30, 2005
Opening Festivities: Saturday, April 23, 2005,
6pm-12am
Gallery Hours: Saturday, April 30, 2005, 12pm-6pm

At the Butcher Shop
1319 W. Lake, Chicago, IL 60607
(3 blocks east of Green Line to Harlem, Ashland stop)
Appointments and info: artLedge@yahoo.com

artLedge is proud to present SPRING BREAK CHICAGO 2005 at the legendary Butcher Shop. Occupying the entire Butcher Shop gallery, this exhibition unites the efforts of 100 artists with an evening of festivities to thoroughly engage your senses. Come celebrate the global spring break phenomenon, relish in the emergence of spring, and take part in one of the most exciting events of the season.

Brian Andrews, Loo Bain, Kimberley Baker, Lauren Ball, Leon Carver, John Collins, Tom Colley, Rob Davis, Vince Dermody, Andreana Donahue, Stephanie Dowell, Jeff Earhart, Stephen Eichhorn, Ken Fandell, Cayetano Ferrer, Diane Figueredo, Katie Fitzgerald, Ben Foch, Erin Foley, Rebecca Grady, Sayre Gomez, Frank D. Giovanni, Matthew Ginsberg, Kate Gronner, Antonio Guerrero, Jacob Christopher Hammes, Justin Hansch, Brandon Heuser, Peter Hoffman, Alex Hertzog, Dennis Hodges, Jakub Jerzy, Stacie Johnson, Gwen Jones, Wyatt Kahn, Lauren Kessenger, Alessandro Keegan, Gerard Kilgallon, Michael Langlois, Ross Luebe, Katharine Lion, Colin Lyons, George Liebert, Eric Mirabito, Teena McClelland, Jameson McShane, Becca Mann, Deirdre McConnell, Amy Mayfield, Thea Miklowski, Ralph Moran, Duncan MacKenzie, Anna Mayer, Chad Magnuson, Josh Mannis, Rich Mansfield, Rob Meinhardt, Eric May, Julia Marsh, Lindsay Madden, Don Moore, Liz Nielsen, Tish Noel, Jamisen Ogg, Lonnie Potter, John Phillips, Jon Phillips, Daniel Pineda, ChaeEun Chaenny Rhee, Scott Reeder, Amanda Ross-Ho, Nathan Redwood, Jeremy Roberts, Katie Scanlan, Min Song, Bert Stabler, Jason Starr, Ben Seamons, Susan Smolinski, Stan Schultz, Shannon Stratton, Maria Stubbs, Justin Schaefer, Michael Thibault, Adrian Tone, Julia Tcharfas, Amber Vilas, Roseann Vital, Siebren Versteeg, Kevin Vlack, J. Patrick Walsh III, Nate Wolf, Brandon White and others. (Erik Wenzel, Artist Extraordinaire)

Schedule of events:
6 pm: Doors open.
7 pm: Anna Mayer's "Reggae Butterfly" performance
8 pm: The musical stylings of Mr. Wiggles and DJ
Miamay begin.
10 pm: Spring Break Fashion Show presented by Diane
Figueredo.
11 pm: Raffle winners announced.
12 am: Doors close.

Primo custom airbrushed apparel will be provided by Graphic Pointe, Chicago. Provide your own items for a discount.

Refreshments kindly provided by Pabst Blue Ribbon.

Best wishes,

-artLedge
Caleb Lyons
Brandon Alvendia
Alberto Hernandez
--------------------
artLedge is a non-commercial exhibition space
committed to presenting artists’ work created
specifically for the unique parameters the ledge
provides. Exhibitions are celebrated with a festive
one-night social nexus for artistic contemplation.
Visible from the spiral staircase that connects the
two floors of an apartment at 1638 N. Western,
artLedge lends itself to a surprisingly infinite
number of exhibition possibilities.

Premature Graduation

I had no intention of going to the Art Institute’s BFA show, but like a demon black hole, it sucked me into its vortex. So I ended up wandering around the three floors in the show’s final hours on Friday night after dining on a Greektown gyro.

It was a show of a thousand sub shows. A lot of artists felt the need to title their small plots of land. Vinyl lettering, some were pre-made kits, some custom die cut into specific fonts, said, “this is MY show.” Production value was very high. Along with the expensive lettering, everywhere were large format ink jet digital photographs mounted on panel. This goes with the over-titling of everyone’s personal sliver of land. The work that came out strongest was the photo-based work.

Painting stuck out as the worst. It occurred to me that painting must be the hardest and therefore best form of art. There were some good paintings, but on the whole, people were noticeably struggling. Installations, especially in the floor/wall tracts, spaces came off looking far better with a lot less effort expended.

I was most disappointed with the lack of political art. You should always be able to count on that, and especially right now. Something is seriously wrong when art students aren’t crying out against global injustice. No really. As tired as you get of pounding your head against a brick wall, there is always a comfort that conscientious art students are always full of vigor and anger about the current state of things. When I was installing my BFA work, Bush was leading America down the road to war in Iraq. Working on the installation, we had our radios on as he made his ultimatums regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction (remember those fictitious creatures?) troops marched in and bombs knocked down buildings as we were putting up our art. This shocked a lot of people out of apathy, including me. And lots of reactionary and immediate art turned up in that BFA show. Not so this time around, two years on. It seems everyone is tired and doesn’t care. When art students reflect this exhaustion, we are truly in trouble. Maybe to the Undergraduates of this show, the battles over painting’s relevance and how to make high quality ink jet prints are ones they feel they have a shot at winning.

ASSES of EVIL

Today we have two posts, which are, coincidentally, both from the “art and politics” department. The first is an editorial-style commentary on the controversy at Columbia College, which has erupted, if you could call it that, in the last few days. The second piece is another pick from my visit to the Tate Modern in London.

Contact via the electronic post? artoridiocy@yahoo.com

The current exhibition at Columbia College’s Glass Curtain Gallery, Axis of Evil: the Secret History of Sin, is causing quite a stir. Curated by mail artist Michael Hernandez deLuna, the exhibition features politically charged images from a number of artists in the medium of postage stamp. Two Secret Service agents turned up at the opening asking questions and demanding answers. They were keen to know about who this “Mr. Hernandez” was. They were also poking their noses around one work in particular. A sheet of suspicious stamps depicting President Bush with a gun aimed at his head by artist Al Brandtner. In no time all the newspapers and TV stations were hot on the story. (That was my attempt at pulp novel narration.)

It’s depressing that the only time art gets any coverage is when a controversy like this boils up. And of course all sorts of issues are raised that are difficult to ignore. First is censorship and the State. Is this the most efficient use of our Secret Service agents? You’d have to be a complete idiot to think a stamp in an art show is an actual threat to the physical being of the President. But then again, if something did happen, you’d be even more of an idiot for not investigating something so out in the open.

The fact that the Feds are breathing down the backs of the artists, the curator, and Columbia College is serious cause for concern. Have you noticed that the staunchest supporters of the Bush Administration, when backed into a corner retaliate with remarks like, “God [is] really busy protecting America's soldiers, who are protecting your right to say stupid crap and act like a butthole!!!” ?

That is from a funny but creepy site called the met.org, which I’m sure the real Met is happy about. Along with the most retarded pro-war, pro-fundamentalist, anti-intellectual, anti-free-speech parable ever, you’ll find “two Things Navy SEALs are taught,” a quote from Norman Schwartzkopf, “Restaurant Pick: Chapala’s Mexican Food,” and “Church Pick: Copperfield Baptist Church.”

Back to the heart of the matter; the statement, “God is really busy protecting America's soldiers, who are protecting your right to say stupid crap and act like a butthole,” and the increasingly pervasive mindset it represents, basically criticizes anyone for exercising the very freedoms Americas soldiers are out in world protecting. The implication is that you should be so grateful for having the freedom of speech that you shouldn’t exercise it. But now with Secret Service agents investigating politically charged art exhibitions, the circular argument of celebrating your rights by not exercising them is nolonger implicit.

I support the artist’s right to make and exhibit such work. Although, I don’t really understand it as a work of art. It is a bit confusing and I think it is obviously aimed at being incendiary along the lines of the School of the Art Institute student’s installation where viewers stepped on the American flag.

What is so confusing about Al Brandtner’s piece is that it says “Patriot Act,” across the bottom. So, shouldn’t it be Bush pointing a gun at the head of an American citizen about to do something "unpatriotic?"


Axis of Evil: The Secret History of Sin is on view at Glass Curtain Gallery, 1104 S. Wabash, through May 11. For more on this, visit Fresh Paint and the Sun-Times.

Tate Pick

Thomas Hirschhorn • Drift Topography • 2003 • Mixed media
• 2600 x 4600 x 2800mm

A rectangular construction is centered in a stark white room. This particularly stands out as many galleries in the Tate Modern are dimly (poorly) lit, or lit by natural light from a window in another room. A full size cutout of a U.S. soldier borders the table top of the sculpture. The repeated shapes resemble the architectural motifs of the Middle East. Drift Topography is a made up diorama of Iraq. To view the piece, one must peek between the soldiers’ shoulders, almost as if you’ve come across a crowd watching a fallen victim (an enemy, a civilian, someone who’s been lynched) die and you want a peek as well. But what we see is an expertly crafted junk metropolis, the sort of which we’ve come expect and love from Hirschhorn. Or hate, depending whose side you’re on.

The other visual motif is the orange mushrooms. Orange mushrooms have been a theme in recent memory. Carsten Höller did some spinning ones, a tiny on in a motorized brief case, and then giant ones in an upside down room. And also a photographer, a woman whose name escapes me, did a picture of one. And now Hirschhorn is using this same type of orange mushroom. I’m not sure what it means in terms of Iraq. Maybe it is Alice in Wonderland, or that mold is sometimes good and sometimes bad.

Oil cans and giant cardboard books are stand-ins for the buildings of Baghdad. It’s not so clear which views Hirschhorn is trying to represent, or champion. We see lots of titles in conflict with one another and none of the books seem to distinguish themselves from the others. In war we’re supposed to pick sides and with all these books and no spin to tell which side they are on, it is all very confused. But at least we have the Coalition Troops (read: U.S.) safely cordoning off the whole mess. It’s crazy in there, maybe they’ve isolated it, and their presence gives the air of order, protecting the rest of the stark, civilized world from the grubby mess. And as viewers peeking in, we are very much in the position of the outside world. As an American viewing it, I feel “US,” even if I don’t agree with “US.” I would assume others, Britons, might feel similarly, as they are part of the “US,” but not so much. Maybe other Europeans just feel superior to the whole thing. I think an interesting way the Iraqis themselves have summed it all up is in a protest this past weekend (4-8-5) where effigies of President Bush AND Sadaam Hussein were both burned. This seems to say: “Fuck all y’all.”

My favorite bit is a little cutout of Bruce Willis. When war broke out, Err, we invaded Iraq, Bruce Willis called up the White House and offered his services. I’m not making that up. He was told thanks, but that he was too old to enlist. What a fucking idiot, this isn’t the Die Hard movie set! I’m sure he knew what they would say, but what if someone had called him out on his bullshit and let him sign up? He would have probably gotten his ass killed. Then America would have had a real martyr to the cause: a celebrity. There was also a mosque-shaped alarm clock in there–brilliant!

Art Imitates Onion

I was just flipping through the new ArtNews, and God Bless ‘em, what an entertaining publication! The hilight of the issue is the blurb about the current fight for rights the Guerilla Girls are embroiled in. Namely, which one of the factions has the right to the name Guerrilla Girls. I love how the term “factions” is used. It calls to mind the steamy jungles of South America, mysterious hideouts in Eastern Germany’s bombed out public housing blocks and remote caves in Afghanistan. Military juntas, rogue agents and dangerous splinter cells of feminist terrorists are battling like Amazons for the brand name.

Don’t get me wrong; I like the Guerrilla Girls, especially the early agitprop posters like the one below. But you have to admit it is pretty funny, and akin to an Onion headline. Visit the Guerrilla Girls, although I’m not sure which faction runs it.

We’ve got lots of new things coming, so hold on tight. Reports from England, TOP TENs and much, much more. OK, not “much, much more,” maybe just "much more.”

• Also be sure to check out our latest TOP TEN by artist and writer Terence Hannum.

Irrascables

This image is a cover of the New York Times Magazine reenacting the famous “irascibles” group portrait of the 40s New York School art scene but with super hot 80s artists. The Guerrilla Girls point out that all the “good” artists are white men. In the white men’s defense, one of them is differently-abled.