CGN
CHICAGO GALLERY NEWS
SPRING / SUMMER 2022
Nick Cave, Soundsuit, 2021. Courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York.
Learn more and book tickets in advance at mcachicago.org.
NICK CAVE: FOROTHERMORE OPENS MAY 14 ON VIEW NOW: CHICAGO WORKS: CAROLINE KENT THROUGH JUN 12
BANI ABIDI: THE MAN WHO TALKED UNTIL HE DISAPPEARED THROUGH JUN 5
ALFREDO JAAR: THE STRUCTURE OF IMAGES THROUGH JUL 3
VERTICAL GALLERY Chicago’s premier urban-contemporary art gallery
April 2–23: NINE, our 9-Year Anniversary Show Nine artists all showing nine 12”x12” paintings
May 7–28: Hama Woods “Enjoy the SIlence” Debut USA solo show from the Norwegian stencil artist
June 4–25: Joseph Renda Jr. “Larger Than Life” Our 2nd solo with the Chicago surrealist painter
July 9–30: Collin van der Sluijs “Collision” Our 4th solo with the Dutch painter & illustrator
Vertical Gallery, 1016 N. Western Ave., Chicago, IL 60622 | 773-697-3846 www.verticalgallery.com Second gallery: Vertical Project Space, 2006 W. Chicago Ave. #1R – view exhibition calendar online
100 acres of open prairie Grass paths guide visitors around a lake and through a collection of 31 monumental outdoor sculptures On and around the campus of Governors State University Free admission and parking Free Otocast app for GPS guide to the collection Open from dawn to dusk 365 days a year During a recent “Ambassadors for theNate” event, Jane Castle gets the perfect shot of the new acquisition: “Stargazing with Contrails”, 2021 by Terrence Karpowicz. Find out more about volunteer and docent opportunities on our website.
www.govst.edu/sculpture Governors State University 1 University Parkway University Park, IL 60484
BUZZ SPECTOR— reading matter through MAY 29, 2022
OPEN THU-SUN, 10 AM–5 PM | FREE ADMISSION | rockfordartmuseum.org ROCKFORD ART MUSEUM | 711 N MAIN ST, ROCKFORD This survey of Buzz Spector’s work with the book as both subject and object includes the artist’s large-format Polaroid photographs of books, whether from his own library or from various private or public collections, along with prints, drawings, and altered books. The centerpiece of the exhibit is A Confluence, a new book construction for the museum, made up of more than 4,000 books donated by the Rockford and Evanston Public Libraries.
Buzz Spector is represented in Chicago by Zolla/Lieberman Gallery which will host a major show of his work September 9th through October 15th at 325 West Huron Street. Reading Matter is organized by Executive Director/Curator Carrie Johnson. Free admission sponsored by Liz Dickinson. The exhibition and its related educational programming are sponsored and supported by the Community Foundation of Northern Illinois, Partners in Excellence Grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency and Women’s Art Board.
INSPIRED. POWERFUL. TRANSPORTING. AMERICAN FRAMING The U.S. Pavilion entry for the 17th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia
RIRKRIT TIRAVANIJA: (who’s afraid of red, yellow, and green)
MOGA: Modern Women & Daughters in 1930s Japan
OPENING MAY 6, 2022 Wrightwood 659 invites you to experience three immersive, thought-provoking new exhibitions
wrightwood659.org IMAGE CREDITS TOP TO BOTTOM: American Framing. Installation view of Rirkrit Tiravanija: (who’s afraid of red, yellow, and green), Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, 2019. Photo: Shannon Finney. Courtesy Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. Moga: Modern Women & Daughters in 1930s Japan; Ito Shinsui, Girls Jumping Rope, Six Panel Screen, 108 in x 75 in, © Private Collection.
SUPPORT FOR THESE EXHIBITIONS IS PROVIDED BY ALPHAWOOD FOUNDATION CHICAGO American Framing is presented at Wrightwood 659 by Alphawood Exhibitions in cooperation with the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC).
Rirkrit Tiravanija: (who’s afraid of red, yellow, and green) is organized by the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC.
McCormick Gallery
Modern & Contemporary Art Mary Abbott (1921-2019) Bill Barrett (b. 1934) Janice Biala (1903-2000) Norman Bluhm (1921-1999) Dusti Bongé (1903-1993) Art Brenner (1924-2013) Sam Feinstein (1915-2003) Perle Fine (1905-1988) Michael Goldberg (1924-2007) Darrin Hallowell (b. 1969) Michael Hedges (b.1976) Richard Hunt (b. 1935) Norman Kanter (1927-2010) Wonsook Kim (b. 1953) Harold Krisel (1920-1995) Anna Kunz John Little (1907-1984) Michael Loew (1907-1985) Jan Matulka (1890-1980) Andrea Myers (b. 1979) Lisa Nankivil (b. 1958)
Robert Natkin (1930-2010) Melanie Pankau (b. 1977) Pooja Pittie (b. 1977) Colleen Plumb (b. 1970) Gordon Powell (b. 1947) Janis Pozzi-Johnson (b. 1951) Melville Price (1920-1970) Darrell Roberts (b. 1972) Jack Roth (1927-2004) John Sabraw (b. 1968) John Santoro (b. 1963) Kyle Surges (b. 1989) Yvonne Thomas (1913-2009) Ben Tinsley (b. 1981) Barry Tinsley Preston Trombly (b. 1945) Taro Yamamoto (1919-1993) Vidvuds Zviedris (b. 1976) + Who knows what interesting works we will find tomorrow?
22 years in Chicago’s West Loop 835 W. Washington Blvd. Chicago, IL 60607 312-226-6800 • www.thomasmccormick.com
ONE-OFA-KIND As Milwaukee’s only Arts Hotel, we invite creative spirits to mold their story on our extraordinary canvas where art and hospitality collide. Experience modern luxury with an artful twist in the center of Milwaukee’s theatre district.
139 EAST KILBOURN AVENUE — DOWNTOWN MILWAUKEE — SAINTKATEARTS.COM
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YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL NOT THE DIASPORA LESSER PART March 3 —
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June 26, 2022
Museum of Contemporary Photography Columbia College Chicago mocp.org
Joel Philip Myers, White Hand
the
shape of light
contemporary painting + studio glass
CELEBRATING THE INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF GLASS
june 10 through september 25 ROCKFORD ART MUSEUM
Threaded Together
Eternal Thread Series No. 4 by Kenny Nguyen
Art and Interiors
Opening: May 7th, 5–9pm
Threaded Together is an exhibition of
Runs through July 31st, 2022
leading Chicago artists, merged with mid-
Hours: Sundays, 12–5 and by appt.
century furniture all inside an expansive
3636 S. Iron St., Chicago, IL
and open 1900s loft space.
South of 35th St. and just west of Ashland
Lynn Manilow
773.456.3263
Gosia Korsakowski
224.522.4525
Kimberly Oliva
847.922.5736
Tony Fitzpatrick, “Stone Cold Mephisto,” 2021 Drawing, Collage, Watercolor, ink, paper ephemera.
T O N Y F I T Z PAT R I C K
N e w Wo r k s tonyfitzpatrickno.9@gmail.com • 773.850.9702 • tonyfitzpatrick.co
Bob Thompson, The Snook (TheSack), 1961. Oil on canvas. Collection of Andrew Nelson. © Michael Rosenfeld Gallery LLC, New York.
February 15–May 15, 2022 Smart Museum of Art | The University of Chicago 5550 S. Greenwood Avenue | Chicago, IL 60637 smartmuseum.uchicago.edu
CGN SPRING/ SUMMER 2022
IMAGE: FREDERICA RITTER CUTCHEON (AM. 1904-1983) UNTITLED (HARBOR SCENE) OIL ON CANVAS, CA. 1935 18” X 24” (FRAMED: 22” X 28”) SIGNED F. CUTCHEON, LOWER LEFT. COURTESY RICHARD NORTON GALLERY CHICAGO
CONTENTS
34 16
SEASON HIGHLIGHTS Notable exhibitions in galleries + museums
17 18
GALLERY OPENINGS ON VIEW: APRIL–AUGUST Galleries, museums, exhibitions, maps
18 30 44
32
38
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: EXPO CHICAGO IS BACK, PAGE 34 NICK CAVE’S RETROSPECTIVE AT THE MCA, PAGE 30 WEARABLE ARTIST COLLABORATIONS, PAGE 38 ARTIST CANDIDA ALVAREZ, PAGE 44
14 | CGN | Spring/Summer 2022
FEATURES
48
An Interview With Artist Nick Cave Sneak Peak: The Obama Presidential Center EXPO CHICAGO Returns This Spring Big is Back: Summer Markets and Fairs Return A Cézanne Retrospective at The Art Institute Collector Chris Craft’s Journey of Discovery Gift Shop Coveting: New Artist Collaborations A Q&A With Artist Candida Alvarez Book Report: THE CLIP-ON METHOD by Cady Noland The Kohler Foundation’s Lasting Impact on Art
52
ART SERVICES + RESOURCES
30 33 34 36 37 38 42 44 47
PUBLISHER’S LETTER
S P R I N G I N C H I C A G O : W H AT O N C E W A S A N D I S A G A I N over again how precious each day is and how fortunate we are to safely be able to make it around the corner at all. We never know what’s ahead. *
CGN PUBLISHER GINNY (BERG) VAN ALYEA ON A TRIP TO CHICAGO IN 1994 – NOTICE THE ART CHICAGO BANNER IN THE BACKGROUND... PHOTO: JO SITTENFELD
By GINNY VAN ALYEA Finally, spring is here, just in time, and I feel blessed. The events that have roiled the world, just between the publication of this new issue and the annual arts guide we sent out at the end of 2021, have been breathtaking. A COVID surge roared back and threatened to once again change plans that had already been put on hold. Then case counts and measures improved so far the other way we could go mask optional nearly everywhere. When my son learned he didn’t have to wear a mask to school anymore, he said to me, “My friends will see my face!” The fact that businesses and spaces are open, with most restrictions gone, is very exciting as life begins to spring up again. There is so much to do. Where do we start? Maybe by enjoying and holding on to the freedom to see friends and favorite places again in person. As many of us find our footing after two years of being apart and following varying rules, it can feel hard not to worry if there is another setback around the next corner. Emerging from the pandemic, we are suddenly watching a shocking, new war in Europe, understanding all
I’m beginning to feel in 2022 how long I have been here in this city and in this job. I first started at CGN 20 years ago this fall. In digging through boxes of old photos recently, I came across a picture of myself as a very young tourist in Chicago, several years before I began working at CGN. I was visiting from Cincinnati for a weekend with my parents and a friend, and we were strolling on Michigan Ave., most likely having just come out of Crate and Barrel, when their flagship store was where Starbucks is now. In the picture it is spring, it’s the mid-90s, there are daffodils and there is no danger. I wasn’t even old enough to drive. I could not have known yet where I would end up, but there was literally a sign over my shoulder. I didn’t give a second thought to it then: there, in black and yellow, is an Art Chicago street banner advertising the fair at Navy Pier. 28 years later I know that kind of fair, and I know art fair weekend very well. I would first work at CGN’s booth at Art Chicago in the spring of 2003, nine years after that trip to the city. Within the next decade, from my job at CGN I watched Art Chicago change ownership as well as locations. Then Tony Karman’s EXPO CHICAGO debuted in 2012 and moved the fair back to Navy Pier and to a September time slot. Now another decade later, the fair takes place once again in the spring, during the season when it all began. This April’s return of EXPO feels almost divinely arranged. The opportunities, new perspectives and energy borne from such a barren two years of life and business during COVID are blessings. Things are growing back and renewing, ushering in the start of a full season to be embraced and enjoyed. I know now how lucky I am to be here. We all are.
Founded in 1982/1983 Chicago Gallery News is the central source for information about the area’s art galleries, museums, events and resources. CGN aims to be a clear, accessible guide to the region’s visual arts, as well as an advocate on behalf of the local cultural community. Annual magazine subscriptions are available for $25 / year. Complimentary issues are available in galleries, museums and art centers, the Chicago Cultural Center and select hotels. Chicago Gallery News Chicago, IL 312-649-0064 chicagogallerynews.com Published 3 times annually: CGN Arts Guide / Spring / Fall © 2022 Chicago Gallery News, Inc. Publisher + Executive Editor Virginia B. Van Alyea Managing Editor + Business Manager Emily Ackerman Contributors Bianca Bova Anna Dobrowolski Jacqueline Lewis Alison Reilly Jason Pickleman Interns Isobel Van Alyea Thomas Van Alyea Spring 2022 Vol. 37, No. 1 © 2022 ISSN #1046-6185
CGN
ON THE COVER: Nick Cave, Arm Peace, 2018. Cast bronze and vintage tole flowers. 57 1/2 x 19 3/8 x 13 1/2 in. © Nick Cave. Courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York. CHICAGO GALLERY NEWS
SPRING / SUMMER 2022
Spring/Summer 2022 | CGN | 15
THE SEASON’S HIGHLIGHTS MEL BOCHNER DRAWINGS: A RETROSPECTIVE Mel Bochner has been at the forefront of Conceptual Art for six decades. This exhibition includes nearly 90 works from all phases of his career and is the first to use drawing as its principle organizing focus. MEL BOCHNER, PORTRAIT OF EVA HESSE, 1966. COLLECTION OF THE ARTIST. © MEL BOCHNER. PHOTO BY NICHOLAS KNIGHT
The Art Institute of Chicago • Apr 23–Aug 22 artic.edu
SCULPTURE MILWAUKEE Sculpture Milwaukee’s 6th exhibition, curated by Ugo Rondinone and entitled Nature Doesn’t Know About Us, will include “13 works by 13 artists who combine skeptical clarity and at times humor-tinged desire to locate the intersection of spiritual and physical presence in our daily life,” says Rondinone. • Jun 2022–Oct 2023
KARA HAMILTON, CURTAIN WALL, 2021, CREAM CITY BRICK, TYNDALL LIMESTONE, DIMENSIONS VARIABLE. COURTESY OF KARA HAMILTON AND COOPER COLE, TORONTO. IMAGE: BRIAN PFISTER / SCULPTURE MILWAUKEE. PART OF THE 2021/2022 EDITION OF SCULPTURE MILWAUKEE
sculpturemilwaukee.com
AMERICAN FRAMING Wrightwood 659 will reinstall American Framing, the U.S. entry in the Pavilion for the 17th International Architecture Exhibition – la Biennale di Venezia (2021). In addressing the theme of, “How Will We Live Together?”, the U.S. entry presented wood-framed construction, a practice popularized in America in the 19th century, and still used in 90 percent of new homes today. This presentation includes a three-story installation in Wrightwood 659’s atrium. • May 6–Jul 16
ADDITION TO THE PAVILION OF THE UNITED STATES. COURTESY THE PAVILION OF THE UNITED STATES AT THE 17TH INTERNATIONAL ARCHITECTURE EXHIBITION AT LA BIENNALE DI VENEZIA.
depaul.edu
JENNIE C. JONES This is the artist’s first show back at PATRON Gallery following her recent exhibition at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum earlier this year. • Jun 4–Jul 16 patrongallery.com 16 | CGN | Spring/Summer 2022
JENNIE JONES, CONSTANT STRUCTURE, ABELARDO MORELL, CAMERA OBSCURA: 2020, ACRYLIC ON CANVAS. 4 PARTS: 1 PIECE 12” X THE PANTHEON IN HOTEL ALBERGO DELAT SOLE, 36” AND 3 PIECES 12” 2008 X 16”, EACH ROOM #111, ROME,AT ITALY,
GALLERY OPENINGS APRIL F APR 1 ARC SA APR 2 Dragonfly Ken Saunders Vertical Gallery Stola FLXST Snite
F APR 29 ARC Corbett vs. Dempsey Weinberg/Newton Western Exhibitions Stola TACHP Anne Loucks SA APR 30 DOCUMENT PLHK FLXST Elmhurst Art Museum
TU APR 5 Arts Club of Chicago Salon Artists
MAY
W APR 6 Kavi Gupta Christopher
TH MAY 5 McCormick Perspective
TH APR 7 Rosenthal
F MAY 6 Addington Carl Hammer Vale Craft Eat Paint Wrightwood 659 Alma Tandem
F APR 8 Epiphany Center ENGAGE Kavi Gupta Gallery Victor Elephant Room South Asia Alma Woman Made Tarble TH APR 14 TACHP F APR 15 Lily Pad | West SA APR 16 Vertical Project Space TU APR 19 FLXST TH APR 21 Stony Island F APR 22 Rhona Hoffman PATRON Oliva SA APR 23 Monique Meloche gallery 1871
F MAY 27 ARC Gallery Victor Tarble
JULY
SA MAY 28 Chicago Printmakers
F JUL 8 Addington Gallery Victor Carl Hammer Vale Craft
JUNE TH JUN 2 Perspective F JUN 3 ENGAGE SA JUN 4 Dragonfly PATRON Vertical Gallery Cleve Carney TU JUN 7 Salon Artists F JUN 10 Corbett vs. Dempsey Stola Racine Art Museum
SA MAY 7 Dragonfly Vertical Gallery Alma Oliva Krannert Art Museum
SA JUN 11 Monique Meloche Vertical Project Space
F MAY 13 Rosenthal
SA JUN 18 UIMA
SA MAY 14 Bert Green MCA The Ren
F JUN 24 ARC Western Exhibitions Elephant Room
F MAY 20 Zolla / Lieberman Bridgeport Art Elephant Room Oliva
SA JUN 25 DOCUMENT Kavi Gupta
SA MAY 21 Krasl
F JUN 17 Elmhurst Art Museum
TU JUL 5 Anne Loucks
SA JUL 9 Dragonfly Vertical Gallery Vertical Project Space Bert Green F JUL 22 ARC ENGAGE Stola
AUGUST
DISTRICT KEY: WEST SIDE RIVER NORTH SOUTH SIDE MICHIGAN AVE / LOOP NORTH SIDE SUBURBS/ MIDWEST
chicagogallerynews.com has daily updates and additions to the openings calendar
TH AUG 4 Perspective SA AUG 6 Dragonfly Vertical Gallery Chicago Printmakers F AUG 12 Elephant Room SA AUG 13 Vertical Project Space TH AUG 25 Krannert Art Museum
TH JUN 30 Perspecitve
TH MAY 26 Firecat
Spring/Summer 2022 | CGN | 17
ART LISTINGS: APR–AUG ‘22 WEST TOWN UKRAINIAN VILLAGE KINZIE CORRIDOR GARFIELD PARK ARC Gallery
1463 W. Chicago (60642) www.arcgallery.org Opening Receptions in 2022 take place on the following Fridays from 5-8pm: Apr 1 and 29, May 27, June 24, July 22, Sept 9 and 30, Oct 28, Dec 2. Gallery closed Aug 14–31 & Dec 18–31
Chicago Artists Coalition 2130 W. Fulton (60612) www.chicagoartistscoalition.org
CAC is a non-profit organization that supports contemporary Chicago artists and curators by offering residency programs, exhibitions, professional development and resources.
Chicago Truborn
1741 W. Chicago (60622) New hours: Tu/W/Th/F 12–7; Sa 2-6; Su/M by appt. www.chicagotruborn.com Focused primarily on Street Art, the gallery has a reputation for breaking down the boundaries of what one may find in traditional galleries and has subsequently coined the term “Become A Collector”.
Circle Contemporary (Arts of Life)
Dragonfly Gallery
2436 W. Madison (60612) www.dragonflygallery.space Dedicated to providing a space that inspires, provides resources and offers opportunities. Bi-level gallery offers monthly exhibitions showcasing new and emerging, established, women and minority artists. Monthly openings on first Saturdays. View exhibitions online and by appt only.
Catherine Edelman Gallery
1637 W. Chicago (60622) Check website for hours or call 312.266.2350 www.edelmangallery.com Celebrating 34 years as one of the leading galleries in the country devoted to the support and exhibition of prominent international photographers, alongside new and emerging talent. Thru May 14: Clarissa Bonet: Chasing Light
DOCUMENT specializes in contemporary photography, film, and media based art. The gallery has organized more than 50 solo exhibitions and actively promotes the work of emerging national and international artists. Thru Apr 23: Stan VanDerBeek Apr 30–Jun 18: Kiah Celeste Jun 25–Aug 6: Laura Letinsky 18 | CGN | Spring/Summer 2022
Founded in 1991, Intuit is a premier museum of outsider and self-taught art. Its mission is grounded in the ethos that powerful art can be found in unexpected places and made by unexpected creators. Thru May 30: The Life and Death of Charles Williams
Mongerson Gallery
2251 W. Grand (60612) www.mongersongallery.com
Mongerson Gallery specializes in paintings by Surrealists Gertrude Abercrombie and Julia Thecla, and Black artists Charles McGee and Harold Neal.
Thru Apr 9: Jake Troyli: Slow Clap Apr 23–Jun 4: Nate Young Jun 11: Cheryl Pope
Goldfinch
1709 W. Chicago (60622) www.parislondonhongkong.com
319 N. Albany (60612) goldfinch-gallery.com April/May 2022: Jenny Kendler June/July 2022: Jory Drew
Corbett vs. Dempsey
1709 W. Chicago (60622) www.documentspace.com
756 N. Milwaukee (60642) www.art.org
Apr 8–May 21: Chris Larson Note: this show takes place at the gallery and at 401 N. Paulina) Jun 3–Jul 16: Derrick Woods-Morrow Jul 22–Aug 27: Noah Hanna curated Exhibition
Thru Apr 16: Aleshea Harris: What to Send Up When It Goes Down. A play jointly presented by GRAY, Congo Square Theatre Company, and Theaster Gates’s Rebuild Foundation
DOCUMENT
Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art
Monique Meloche Gallery
864 N. Ashland (60622) www.engage-projects.com
GRAY
Closes April 23: Rebecca Morris, #29 April 29–Jun 4: Gina Litherland (South Gallery) and John Heliker (North Gallery) Jun 10–Aug 6: Magalie Guérin (South Gallery) and Margot Bergman (North Gallery)
Chicagogallerynews.com is updated daily with new exhibitions and events.
ENGAGE Projects
Chicago: 2010 W. Carroll (60612) North Shore: 1963 Johns Dr., Glenview (60025) www.artsoflife.org
2156 W. Fulton (60612) www.corbettvsdempsey.com
A note about exhibitions and events: the info here is current as of press time.
2044 W. Carroll (60612) www.richardgraygallery.com
Rhona Hoffman Gallery 1711 W. Chicago (60622) www.rhoffmangallery.com
Specializing in international contemporary art in all medias, and art that is conceptually, formally or socio-politically based. From its inception, the gallery has launched emerging artists’ careers. Thru Apr 16: Martha Tuttle: An ear, a hand, a mouth, an offering, an angel Apr 22–Jun 4: Michael Rakowitz: The Monument, The Monster, and The Maquette
451 N. Paulina (60622) www.moniquemeloche.com
Paris London Hong Kong Thru Apr 23: Cowboy X Lightbound X Cowboy Apr 30–Jun 18: Matthew Fischer
PATRON
1612 W. Chicago (60622) www.patrongallery.com Thru April 16: Bethany Collins: Cadence; Soo Shin: We, Dandelions Apr 22–May 28: The Set-up, Nyeema Morgan Jun 4–Jul 16: Jennie C. Jones
Ken Saunders Gallery
2041 W. Carroll, Ste. C-320 (60612) www.kensaundersgallery.com Thru April 30: Reappraising a Pandemic Apr 2–Jun 1: Rick Beck: New Perspective
Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art (UIMA) 2320 W. Chicago (60622) www.uima-chicago.org
UIMA preserves and promotes contemporary art as a shared expression of the Ukrainian and American experience and develops, utilizes and encourages artistic talent through programs serving the cultural needs of our community and city. Jun 18–Sept 25: Michel Andreenko: Revisited
• UKRAINIAN VILLAGE • WEST TOWN • KINZIE CORRIDOR
GOLDFINCH
CARROLL WOLCOTT
LAKE
HOYNE
OAKLEY
LEAVITT
KEN SAUNDERS CORBETT VS DEMPSEY CHICAGO FULTON ARTISTS COALITION
KINZIE CORRIDOR
0/
GRAND
INTUIT WEINBERG /NEWTON
HALSTED
MONIQUE MELOCHE
94
HUBBARD KINZIE CARROLL FULTON
KAVI GUPTA #2
HINDMAN
RANDOLPH
ADA
DRAGONFLY
MADISON
LAKE
WEST LOOP
WASHINGTON
CARRIE SECRIST
MADISON
• KAVI GUPTA • MCCORMICK
ADAMS HARRISON
Vertical Gallery
Weinberg/Newton Gallery
Hindman
Apr 2–23: NINE: 9th Anniversary Show May 7–28: Hama Woods: Enjoy the Silence Jun 4–25: Joseph Renda Jr.: Larger Than Life Jul 9–30: Collin van der Sluijs: Collision Aug 6–27: AlexFace, solo show
Thru Apr 16: HUMAN/NATURE Apr 29–Jul 16: Exhibition in partnership with Mercy Housing Lakefront
Hindman operates more U.S. salesrooms than any other firm and conducts over 100 auctions annually in categories such as fine jewelry, fine art, modern design, books and manuscripts, furniture, decorative arts, couture, Asian art, arts of the American West, and numismatics.
1016 N. Western (60622) www.verticalgallery.com
Vertical Project Space 2006 W. Chicago, 1R (60622) www.verticalgallery.com
Thru Apr 10: Laura Catherwood: Book of Yielding Apr 16–May 15: Sentrock: GANG Jun 11–Jul 3: Brad Novak: Hybrid 2.0 Jul 9–30: Collin van der Sluijs Aug 13– Sept 4: AJ Ainscough
Volume Gallery
1709 W. Chicago, 2B (60622) www.wvvolumes.com Focusing on design and art, with a strong emphasis placed on emerging contemporary designers and artists. Thru Apr 23: Françoise Grossen
688 N. Milwaukee (60642) www.weinbergnewtongallery.com
Western Exhibitions
1709 W. Chicago, 2nd Floor (60622) www.westernexhibitions.com Thru Apr 23: Lilli Carré: Arrangement in the Steps of a Horse Apr 29–Jun 18: Michael Pellew: No Life Till Kings County Jun 24–Aug 13: Azikiwe Mohammed; Julia Schmitt Healy
WEST LOOP Kavi Gupta Gallery 835 W. Washington and 219 N. Elizabeth (60607) www.kavigupta.com
Apr 6–May 21: (Washington Blvd.) • Beverly Fishman, FEELS LIKE LOVE (Floor 1) • Arghavan Khosravi, The Witness (Floor 2) Apr 8–Jun 11: (Elizabeth St.) • Devan Shimoyama, A Counterfeit Gift Wrapped in Fire (Floor 1) • Alisa Sikleanos Carter, Stars Are Born In Darkness (Floor 2) Jun 25: (Washington Blvd.) Skin + Masks, Decolonizing Art Beyond the Politics of Visibility. Guest curated by Vic Mensa.
1338 W. Lake (60607) www.hindmanauctions.com
Epiphany Center for the Arts 201 S. Ashland (60607) www.epiphanychi.com
Thru Apr 9: Agave! Thru Apr 30: • C.J. Pyle: Skin Tight • Mary King: Curious Home and Soap is a Noun Thru May 7: • Family Resemblance: The Evolution of Chicago Style Graffiti • Juan Fernandez: Line, Shape, Form, Repeat
McCormick Gallery 835 W. Washington (60607) www.thomasmccormick.com
Thru Apr 30: Melanie Pankau: When the Center Stands Still, new paintings May 5–Jun 18: Vidvuds Zviedris: New Work
Carrie Secrist Gallery 900 W. Washington (60607) www.secristgallery.com
Check gallery for exhibition dates and info.
Spring/Summer 2022 | CGN | 19
I-90
WASHINGTON
GARFIELD PARK
RIVER WEST
GREEN
GRAY WAREHOUSE
E
PEORIA
KINZIE
ARTS OF LIFE / CIRCLE CONTEMPORARY
KE
I-9
ELIZABETH
HUBBARD
AU
CHICAGO
EN
MONGERSON
• PLHK • VOLUME • DOCUMENT • WESTERN EXHIBITIONS • RHONA HOFFMAN
GRAND
IL W
ARC
PATRON
GD
D N
ERIE
CHICAGO TRUBORN
CATHERINE EDELMAN
O
CHICAGO
DAMEN
RA G
WESTERN
THE MARTIN
M
ENGAGE PROJECTS
WEST TOWN
ASHLAND
UKRAINIAN INST. OF MODERN ART
PAULINA
VERTICAL PROJECT SPACE
WOOD
AUGUSTA
NOBLE
UKRAINIAN VILLIAGE
VERTICAL
• RIVER WEST • WEST LOOP • GARFIELD PARK
RACINE
THE WEST SIDE
IN GALLERIES THIS SEASON INSIDER / OUTSIDER The Best of Both Worlds
Michael Rakowitz The Monument, The Monster, and The Maquette
CARL HAMMER
Thru Apr 30
RHONA HOFFMAN
FRANCOIS BURLAND MICHAEL RAKOWITZ
Devan Shimoyama: A Counterfeit Gift Wrapped in Fire KAVI GUPTA
Apr 8–Jun 11
Apr 22–Jun 4
Caren Helene Rudman – Days of Quarentine STOLA CONTEMPORARY
Thru Apr 24
DEVAN SHIMOYAMA
CAREN HELENE RUDMAN
Theodora Allen: Saturnine
Susanne Doremus
DRIEHAUS MUSEUM
ZOLLA/ LIEBERMAN
Thru Jul 10
Thru Apr 30 THEODORA ALLEN
SUSANNE DOREMUS
Katrina Andry: Unthinkable Renderings— An Appraisal
Fool the Eye: Addressing Illusion in Contemporary Art
FLXST CONTEMPORARY
RACINE ART MUSEUM
Thru Sept 24 JOHN CEDERQUIST
20 | CGN | Spring/Summer 2022
Apr 2–May 15 KATRINA ANDRY
ALAN KOPPEL
SUPERIOR
ZOLLA / LIEBERMAN
HURON
CLARK
JEAN ALBANO HILTON | ASMUS ADDINGTON
RIVER NORTH PISTACHIOS
RUSH
ROSENTHAL FINE ART
LASALLE
ORLEANS
FRANKLIN
VALE CRAFT
WELLS
VICTOR ARMENDARIZ
DEARBORN
CARL HAMMER
WABASH
CHICAGO
STATE
CHESTNUT
Alan Koppel Gallery
ERIE
ONTARIO
The River North Design District, an organization comprised of design showrooms located from Chicago Ave. to the Merchandise Mart hosts public and professional events throughout the year Rivernorthdesigndistrict.com
OHIO HERITAGE 222 W. HUBBARD
RICHARD NORTON
JOHN DAVID MOONEY FOUNDATION 114 W. KINZIE
14–119 MERCHANDISE MART PLAZA
Addington Gallery 704 N. Wells (60654) www.addingtongallery.com
Thru Apr 30: All Terrain: Landscape Explorations May 6–July 2: Michael Hoffman, new paintings, Judson Chatfield, bronze sculpture Jul 8–Sept 3: Jeff Hirst, new encaustic paintings; Carl Linstrum, new paintings
Jean Albano Gallery 215 W. Superior (60654) www.jeanalbanogallery.com
Apr 7–10: Margaret Wharton, Solo Exhibition, EXPO Chicago - Booth 317, Curated by Lisa Wainwright, Prof. School of the Art Institute of Chicago May/Jun: John Maloof: Painting and sculptures. Jul/Aug: Group Show featuring Allison Zisook, Amy Perlmutter and Bonnie Star.
Gallery Victor Armendariz 300 W. Superior (60654) www.galleryvictor.com
April 8: Mary Borgman: New Work May 27: Rick Sindt: Skin Remembers July 8: Mid Summer Art Walk
Carl Hammer Gallery
740 N. Wells (60654) info@carlhammergallery.com • 312–266–8512 www.carlhammergallery.com Thru Apr 30: Group Show May 6–Jul 2: Marcos Bontempo Jul 8–Sept 3: Summer Group Show
Heritage Auctions
806 N. Dearborn (60610) 342 Park Ave., Glencoe (60022) www.alankoppel.com For over two decades, Alan Koppel Gallery has played a leading role in introducing contemporary international artists to American audiences. In addition to organizing extensive solo and group exhibitions the gallery maintains an inventory of select primary and secondary works by leading artists from the major movements in 20th C. American and European Art.
Pistachios Jewelry 716 N. Wabash (60611) www.pistachiosonline.com
Thru May 22: Pistachios Artist Series II: Elisa Bongfeldt, Emanuela Duca, Margo Kalinska, Judith Neugebauer.
Richard Norton Gallery 14–119 Merchandise Mart (60654) www.richardnortongallery.com
Founded in 2000, the gallery offers a diverse selection of notable American and European Impressionist and Modern paintings, drawings and sculpture from the 19th and early 20th Centuries. The gallery provides a wide range of services, including consultation, appraisal, consignment and purchase of artwork. Annual participant in EXPO CHICAGO
Rosenthal Fine Art 210 W. Superior (60654) www.rosenthalfineart.com
222 W. Hubbard (60654) www.ha.com
Apr 7–29: Group Show, selected works May 13–Jun 10: Sharon Kopriva: Rebirth
Heritage Auctions is the largest fine art and collectibles auction house founded in the United States, and the world’s largest collectibles auctioneer, with locations in New York, Dallas, Beverly Hills, San Francisco, Chicago, Palm Beach, London, Paris, Geneva, Amsterdam and Hong Kong.
Vale Craft Gallery
Hilton | Asmus Contemporary
Thru April 30: Art Aquatic May 6: Spring show opening Jul 8: Summer show opening
River North: 716 N. Wells (60654) Bridgeport: 3622 S. Morgan (60609) www.hilton-asmus.com
John David Mooney Foundation 114 W. Kinzie (60654) www.mooneyfoundation.org
Thru May 1: Beuys’ Life and Works
230 W. Superior (60654) www.valecraftgallery.com
Contemporary American fine craft objects and sculpture. Works in clay, fiber, metal, glass and wood.
Zolla/Lieberman Gallery 325 W. Huron (60654) www.zollaliebermangallery.com
Thru Apr 30: Eye-diolect: Susanne Doremus selects May 20–Aug 6: • René Romero Schuler: Reflections • Suzanne Rose: Moments of Being
Spring/Summer 2022 | CGN | 21
INTL. MUSEUM OF SURGICAL SCIENCE • LES ENLUMINURES • SOTHEBY’S
OAK WALTON
GRAY
DELAWARE CHESTNUT
MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART (MCA)
PEARSON
The Arts Club of Chicago
CHICAGO
201 E. Ontario (60611) www.artsclubchicago.org
HURON
RUSH
MICHIGAN AVE MICHIGAN AVE
ERIE
WABASH
STATE
The Chicago Cultural Center 78 E. Washington (60602) www.chicago.gov
Elephant Room Gallery 704 S. Wabash (60605) www.elephantroomgallery.com
HUBBARD KINZIE
Apr 8–May 7: Dear Mama Group Exhibition curated by Kyle Lilly May 20–Jun 18: Fantasía Ariel Solo Exhibition Jun 24–Aug 6: Messejah Washington Solo Exhibition Aug 12–Sept 24: Jaime Foster Solo Exhibition
Les Enluminures
980 N. Michigan Ave., Ste. 1330 (60611) www.lesenluminures.com Apr 1–10: The Winter Show, New York Apr 21–24: New York International Antiquarian Book Fair Jun 25–30: TEFAF Maastricht
Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (MCA) 220 E. Chicago (60611) www.mcachicago.org
Thru Jun 12: Caroline Kent Thru Jul 3: The Structure of Images Thru Jun 5: The Man Who Talked Until He Disappeared Thru Aug 14: for Based on a True Story May 14–Oct 2: Nick Cave: Forothermore Aug 14: Based on a True Story...
22 | CGN | Spring/Summer 2022
WACKER
BERT GREEN
ADAMS JACKSON VAN BUREN CONGRESS HARRISON
THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO
GRANT PARK
COLUMBUS
MADISON MONROE
R.S. Johnson Fine Art 312-943-1661 info@rsjohnsonfineart.com www.rsjohnsonfineart.com
NAVY PIER
MILLENIUM PARK
SAIC SULLIVAN GALLERIES
WABASH
May 14–Jun 24: Mac Pierce Jul 9–Aug 26: Julia Marchand & Deirdre SullivanBeeman. Curated by Alix Sloan of Sloan Fine Art
ILLINOIS
WASHINGTON
STATE
Contemporary Art and Limited Edition Publishing
GRAND
RANDOLPH CULTURAL CENTER
Downtown: 875 N. Michigan (60611) • 312-642-8877 West Town: 2044 W. Carroll (60612) www.richardgraygallery.com
8 S. Michigan, Ste. 620 (60603) • www.bgfa.us Fridays 12–4 pm and by appt. other days
THE ARTS CLUB
OHIO
CHICAGO
GRAY
Bert Green Fine Art
ONTARIO
LAKE
MICHIGAN AVE
111 S. Michigan Ave. (60603) www.artic.edu
DRIEHAUS MUSEUM
FAIRBANKS FAIRBANKS
SUPERIOR
Apr 5–Aug 13: Kamrooz Aram: Privacy, An Exhibition Apr 6: Exhibition Walkthrough with Kamrooz Aram Apr–Oct: Adrian Wong: Oogenesis
The Art Institute of Chicago
DR
MICHIGAN AVE GOLD COAST THE LOOP / SOUTH LOOP
RE HO ES LAK N.
DOWNTOWN
MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY PHOTOGRAPHY (MOCP) SOUTH ASIA INSTITUTE (1925 S. MICH)
ELEPHANT ROOM
BALBO
Museum of Contemporary Photography (MoCP)
Columbia College Chicago 600 S. Michigan (60605) • www.mocp.org Founded by Columbia College Chicago in 1976 as an intimate and comprehensive visual study center for students, educators, and general audiences alike, the MoCP presents public programs and exhibitions that foster a greater understanding of the artistic, cultural, and political implications of the image in our world today.
South Asia Institute
1925 S. Michigan Ave. (60616) Also see map on p. 24 www.saichicago.org South Asia Institute amplifies and cultivates art and culture of South Asia and its diaspora through curated exhibitions, innovative programs and educational initiatives. Apr 8–Jul 9: The Spider Speaketh In Tongues Solo exhibition of sculptures and new media works by Amin Gulgee.
The Richard H. Driehaus Museum 40 E. Erie (60611) www.driehausmuseum.org
Thru Jul 10: A Tale of Today – Theodora Allen: Saturnine
International Museum of Surgical Science (IMSS) 1524 N. Lake Shore Dr. (60610) www.imss.org
Thru Apr 24: Searching For An Exit
FOSTER
LIN
NORTH SIDE
CO
LN
INE
LAWRENCE
Chicago Printmakers Collaborative
LINCOLN SQUARE RAVENSWOOD
4912 N. Western (60625) • 773 293 2070 www.chicagoprintmakers.com
RAVENSWOOD
MONTROSE
BRO
ST
Thru Apr 16: 56 Milwaukee Apr 22–May 14: Earth Abundance May 7–Jul 31: Threaded Together (at Alma Art & Interiors, 3636 S. Iron) May 20–Jun 11: Meditations on Shape
T.F Projects / The Dime 1513 N. Western (60622) thedimechicago@gmail.com
HALSTED
ASHLAND
RACINE
DAMEN
WESTERN
CALIFORNIA
KEDZIE
CENTRAL PARK
SHERIDAN
3816 W. Armitage (60647) www.olivagallery.com
WICKER PARK
N
Oliva Gallery
UR
Thru May 21: Heather McAdams: Are We Having Fun Yet?
DEPAUL ART MUSEUM
O
2019 N. Damen (60647) www.firecatprojects.org
NORTH AVE
PAGODA RED
YB CL
Firecat Projects
E
BUCKTOWN / LOGAN SQUARE / WICKER PARK
ARMITAGE
KE
Thru Apr 24: Caren Helene Rudman: Days in Quarentine Apr 29: Rahmon Olugunna Jun 10: Joey Africa Jul 22: Democracy in Danger: Group show
OLIVA
FIRECAT PROJECTS
WRIGHTWOOD 659
LINCOLN PARK
AU
3738 W. Irving Park Rd (60618) www.stolacontemporaryart.com
WRIGHTWOOD
FULLERTON I LW
Stola Contemporary
DIVERSEY
BUCKTOWN
M
LOGAN SQUARE
LAKEVIEW
BELMONT
E IN NE R LA KE SH OR
ON
BASIA KROL AT EAT PAINT STUDIO
ROSCOE
LAKE SHORE DR.
EL
ADDISON
AY
K
94 0/
ADW
Eat Paint Studio is a storefront gallery that showcases emerging and mid-career artists. We exhibit painting, drawing, and photography.
IRVING PARK CLAR
STOLA CONTEMPORARY
I-9
Eat Paint Studio 5036 N. Lincoln (60625) www.eatpaintstudio.com
UPTOWN CLARENDON
Thru May 14: Staff Picks! May 28–Jul 30: Junli Song, solo exhibition Jul 23: Steamroller Printing Festival 11–7pm Aug 6-27: $20 Print Sale Reboot!
May 6–Jun 11: beWILDerment: paintings by Basia Krol
EDGEWATER
CHICAGO PRINTMAKERS COLLABORATIVE
MAR
LINCOLN SQUARE / RAVENSWOOD
EAT PAINT
GALLERY 1871
OLD TOWN THE DIME
LAKEVIEW / LINCOLN PARK / OLD TOWN DePaul Art Museum (DPAM) 935 W. Fullerton (60614) www.artmuseum.depaul.edu
Thru Aug 7: Remaking the Exceptional: Tea, Torture, and Reparations | Chicago to Guantánamo
Gallery 1871
1871 N. Clybourn (60614) www.chicagoartsource.com (Formerly Chicago Art Source Gallery) Apr 23–Jun 25: The Elusive Figure: New Work by Melissa Herrington and Bill Sosin. Opening reception 5-7pm on Saturday, April 23 Summer show: Jackie Battenfield and Elise Morris
MADRON
NORTH AVE
Madron Gallery
1000 W. North Ave, 3rd Fl. (60642) 312-640-1302 www.madrongallery.com Our extensive inventory showcases the breadth and depth of art in the U.S. between 1890–1940, as well as a growing inventory of modern and contemporary artists.
Pagoda Red
1740 W. Webster (60614) www.pagodared.com
Wrightwood 659
659 W. Wrightwood (60614) www.wrightwood659.org May 6–Jul 16: • American Framing • Rirkrit Tiravanija: (who’s afraid of red, yellow, and green) • Moga: Modern Women & Daughters in 1930s Japan • We Shall Defy: Shahidul Alam Spring/Summer 2022 | CGN | 23
PILSEN / CHINATOWN / BRIDGEPORT / BRONZEVILLE
SOUTH SIDE BRIDGEPORT / PILSEN / CHINATOWN
18TH ST 18TH ST
PILSEN EAST
33 Contemporary Gallery
PRAIRIE DISTRICT
PILSEN CULLERTON
RT
WOMAN MADE GALLERY
PO
MORGAN
L
A AN
ASHLAND
• MANA CONTEMPORARY • FRACAS GALLERY
RACINE
C
HALSTED
CULLERTON
CANAL
19TH PL
SOUTH ASIA INSTITUTE
MICHIGAN AVE
19TH ST NATIONAL MUSEUM OF MEXICAN ART
1029 W. 35th St., 4th Floor (60609) www.33contemporarygallery.com
19TH
STATE
PROSPECTUS PILSEN ARTS & COMMUNITY HOUSE
CERMAK
CHINATOWN
23RD ST
R
AR
KENNY NGUYEN, ETERNAL THREAD SERIES NO. 4, AT ALMA ART AND INTERIORS
1200 W. 35th St. (60609) www.bridgeportart.com
31ST ST
Thru Apr 29: 9th Annual Illinois High School Art Exhibition May 20–Jul 1: • Illinois High School Art Teacher Show • 10th Annual Bridgeport Art Competition. Deadline for artwork: Apr 11.
BRIDGEPORT ART CENTER
35TH ST MORGAN ARTS
May 7–Jul 31: Threaded Together
Bridgeport Art Center
BRIDGEPORT
ALMA
3636 S. Iron (60609) www.olivagallery.com
FLXST
26TH ST
E CH
Alma Art + Interiors
FLXST Contemporary
2251 S. Michigan Ave., Suite 220 (60616) www.flxst.co
BRONZEVILLE
PERSHING
SOUTH SIDE COMMUNITY ART CENTER
Apr 2–May 15: Katrina Andry, Unthinkable Renderings—an Appraisal Apr 19: Colin Fleck, Directions to Another Day Apr 30–Jun 19: Corrine Slade & Araceli Zuniga, Embodiment. More on website.
Fracas Gallery
43RD ST
CANARYVILLE
GRAND BOULEVARD 47TH ST
24 | CGN | Spring/Summer 2022
Mana Contemporary 2233 S. Throop, Studio 601 (60608) www.fracasgallery.com Thru Apr 19: Colin Fleck: Directions to Another Day
Hilton | Asmus Contemporary Bridgeport: 3622 S. Morgan (60609) River North: 716 N. Wells (60654) hilton-asmus.com
HYDE PARK / UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO / DORCHESTER / HYDE PARK BLVD
51ST ST
WOODLAWN ORIENTAL INSTITUTE
KENWOOD
RENAISSANCE SOCIETY
HYDE PARK
5020 S. Cornell (60615) www.hydeparkart.org
Apr 10–Sept 3: Loving Repeating: New Work by Miller and Shellabarger
University of Chicago 1155 E. 58th St. (60637) oi.uchicago.edu
STONY ISLAND
WOODLAWN
740 E. 56th Pl. (60637) www.dusablemuseum.org
The Oriental Institute
DORCHESTER
63RD ST
DuSable Museum of African American Art Hyde Park Art Center
MUSEUM OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY
MIDWAY PLAISANCE
ELLIS
COTTAGE GROVE
MLK DRIVE
58TH ST
UNIVERSITY
56TH ST
DUSABLE MUSEUM
60TH ST
CORNELL
SMART MUSEUM OF ART
WASHINGTON PARK
HYDE PARK / DORCHESTER
HYDE PARK ART CENTER
67TH ST
The Renaissance Society University of Chicago 5811 S. Ellis, 4th Fl. (60637) www.renaissancesociety.org
Thru Apr 17: Meriem Bennani: Life on the CAPS Apr 23 & 24: Intermissions: Joe Namy May 14–Jun 19: Diane Severin Nguyen: IF REVOLUTION IS A SICKNESS
STONY ISLAND ARTS BANK
Morgan Arts Complex
Woman Made Gallery
2150 S. Canalport, Ste. 4A3 (60608) www.womanmade.org
DIANE SEVERIN NGUYEN, STILL FROM IF REVOLUTION IS A SICKNESS, 2021. COURTESY THE ARTIST AND BUREAU, NEW YORK. AT THE RENAISSANCE SOCIETY MAY 2022.
National Museum of Mexican Art
Chicago’s feminist art gallery.
Smart Museum of Art
3620 S. Morgan (60609) morganartscomplex.com
1852 W. 19th St. (60608) www.nationalmuseumofmexicanart.org
Apr 8–May 14: The Deeply Rooted
Jul 24: Tectonic Reflections: Works by Rubén Aguirre
University of Chicago 5550 S. Greenwood (60637) www.smartmuseum.uchicago.edu
Please check website for hours and reservation info. Closed Monday.
Pilsen Arts & Community House
Thru May 15: Bob Thompson: This House Is Mine Thru Jun 26: Unsettled Ground
1637 W. 18th (60608) www.pilsenartscommunityhouse.org
South Side Community Art Center 3831 S. Michigan Ave. (60653) www.sscartcenter.org
Stony Island Arts Bank 6760 S. Stony Island (60649) www.rebuild-foundation.org
Apr 21–May 1: What to Send Up When It Goes Down, the critically acclaimed play by award-winning playwright, Aleshea B. Harris. Presented jointly at GRAY Chicago and Stony Island Arts Bank THE DEEPLY ROOTED, AT WOMAN MADE GALLERY APRIL 8 – MAY 14
Spring/Summer 2022 | CGN | 25
SUBURBS + MIDWEST EVANSTON Block Museum of Art, Northwestern University 40 Arts Circle Dr., Evanston (60208) 847–491–4000 www.blockmuseum.northwestern.edu
Thru Jul 10: A Site of Struggle: American Art against Anti-Black Violence
Evanston Art Center
1717 Central St., Evanston (60201) www.evanstonartcenter.org • 847-475-5300 The Evanston Art Center is a non-profit that inspires art education, exhibitions and expression for all. Our galleries exhibit contemporary artwork by emerging and established artists, and are committed to providing a venue for new artistic ideas and forms.
Perspective Group + Photography Gallery
1310-1/2 Chicago Ave., Evanston (60201) www.perspectivegallery.org Thru May 1: Student Perspectives 2022 (Juried exhibit of Chicago area high school students) May 5–29: Nelson Armour: 28 Days Jun 2–26: Kambua Chema: Postcards from Morocco; Suzanne Metzel: Still Life Jun 30–Jul 31: Vicinity: Juried Exhibit Aug 4–28: Verna Todd: Vi Reste Hemifrån (We Left Home), & Jeffery Chirchirillo: Bad Weather Makes For Good Photography
Blue Moon Gallery
18620 Belvidere Rd. Grayslake (60030) www.thebluemoongallery.com May 28: Kristin Ashley (Montages) & Marjorie Davidson (Oils) Jun 25: Rebecca Stahr (Encaustics) Jul 23: Scott Mahr & Dean Habegger (Paintings & Assemblages) Aug 27: Colleen Steenhagen (Drawings, Sculpture, Photography)
THE NORTH SHORE AND NORTHWEST SUBURBS The Art Center – Highland Park 1957 Sheridan Rd., Highland Park (60035) www.theartcenterhp.org
A non-profit arts organization dedicated to education in the contemporary visual arts through classes, outreach programs, gallery exhibitions and events.
DEAN HABEGGER & SCOTT MARR, BLUE MOON GALLERY
Apr 14-24: CSL: Central Suburban League Apr 29–Jun 11: Fiber-Fashion-Feminism
Art Post Gallery
984 Willow Rd., Ste. G, Northbrook (60062) www.artpostgallery.com • 847–272–7659 For nearly 42 years, Chris Bates has helped clients create beautiful and unique fine art collections. She is especially proud of the gallery’s reputation for art expertise and good design sense. Offering one of the largest selections of original art in Chicagoland. Specializing in large/ oversized pieces.
NORTH SHORE + NW SUBURBS
Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center 9603 Woods Dr., Skokie (60077) www.ilholocaustmuseum.org
Alan Koppel Gallery – North 342 Park Ave., Glencoe (60022) www.alankoppel.com
Anne Loucks Gallery 309 Park Ave., Glencoe (60022) www.loucksgallery.com
Anne Loucks Gallery, celebrating our 20th year, specializes in contemporary American painting, photography, and works on paper. The gallery curates six exhibitions annually. Thru Apr 26: Richard Kooyman and Melanie Parke: New Paintings. Reception April 8, 5–7pm Apr 29–Jun 30: Rodger Bechtold and Mary Jo O’Gara: Painted Short Stories. Reception Apr 29, 5–7pm Jul 5–Aug 31: Maggie Meiners: Selected Work
WESTERN SUBURBS Cleve Carney Museum of Art College of DuPage 425 Fawell Blvd., Glen Ellyn (60137) theCCMA.org
Apr 18–May 8: Student Exhibition Jun 4–Aug 7: Hooking Up: Meet the Collection
Elmhurst Art Museum
150 S. Cottage Hill Ave., Elmhurst (60126) www.elmhurstartmuseum.org
O’Hare
26 | CGN | Spring/Summer 2022
Apr 30 & May 1: 25th Annual Art in Wilder Park. 10am–5pm Thru May 29: • Houses of Tomorrow: Solar Homes from Keck to Today • Jan Tichy: Reflectance Jun 17–Aug 14: • Nature’s Blueprints: Biomimicry in Art and Design • McCormick House: From the Collection
WESTERN + SOUTH SUBURBS
Toomey & Co. Auctioneers 818 North Blvd., Oak Park (60301) www.toomeyco.com
A specialty auction house since 1987, Toomey & Co. Auctioneers is considered one of the premiere auction houses in the country to sell 20th Century Art & Design. 4–6 carefully curated annual auctions include Paintings, Prints, Drawings and Sculpture from the 20th and 21st Century, works from the Arts & Crafts movement, Art Nouveau and Art Deco Periods and Mid-Century Modern Design.
GREATER ILLINOIS Krannert Art Museum (KAM) University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 500 E. Peabody Dr., Champaign (61820) kam.illinois.edu • Tu–Sa 10–4 Free Admission
Thru Jul 9: Latina Community Voices Thru Sept 3: To Know the Fire: Pueblo Women Potters Opening Aug 25: Fake News & Lying Pictures: Dutch Political Prints
Northern Illinois University (NIU) Art Museum Altgeld Hall, 1st Fl., West End, DeKalb (60115) www.niu.edu/artmuseum
Expression Gallery of Fine Art 10 E. First St., Hinsdale (60521) wwww.expressiongalleries.com
Since 2005 our gallery has specialized in 19th, 20th century works on paper by Masters, contemporary French painters like Coulomb, Moiras, Millan, and paintings by Russian Master Nikolay Blokhin. Known for works by Renoir, Klimt, Picasso, Miró and others. Thru May 28: Nikolay Blokhin Exhibition
Fermilab Art Gallery
Kirk Rd & Pine St., Batavia (60510) events.fnal.gov/art-gallery Fermilab is America’s particle physics and accelerator laboratory, bringing the world together to solve the mysteries of matter, energy, space and time. The Fermilab Art Gallery specializes in the connection of art and science though exhibits, gallery talks and artist-inresidence programs. Many of these offerings are virtual. Thru Apr 29: #DATAATADATA: Angular Momentum Thru Dec 2022: Be a part of pARTicles 2.0 May 2–Jul 29: Seeking the Unseen – Gina Gibson
Kavanagh Gallery at Fine Line Creative Arts Center 37W570 Bolcum Rd., St. Charles (60175) www.fineline.org
Apr 1–May 7: Terry Lacy: Of Sky, Earth and Water Midwestern Landscapes and Seascapes in Handmade Paper May 12–Jun 24: Sculpture Inside & Out Jun 30–Aug 10: On the Wing
SOUTH SUBURBS
Thru May 14: Biennial NIU Faculty Art Show
Christopher Art Gallery at Prairie State College
202 S. Halsted St., Chicago Heights (60411) prairiestate.edu/christopher-art-gallery/index.aspx Apr 5–17: Faculty Exhibition. Reception Apr 6, 11am-1pm Apr 25–May 18: Annual Spring Exhibition of Student Art Jun 6–Jul 13: Storytellers: Works by Marcia Babler and Steve Sherrell. Reception Jun 15, 11:30–2pm
Nathan Manilow Sculpture Park Governors State University, 1 University Pkwy., University Park (60484) • www.govst.edu/sculpture
Apr 23: Earth Day Walk May 19: Wright in Kankakee Friendraiser: Featuring the glass work of FLW and Christine Tarkowski Jun 18: Juneteenth Summer Solstice Jul 29: Ann Coddington: Sculptural Basketry Workshop Voted Best Sculpture Park 2021, USA Today, 10 Best Readers’ Choice! Open dawn to dusk 365 days a year, free admission and parking.
Salon Artists Gallery
294 Main St., Park Forest (60466) www.salonartistsgallery.com Apr 5–30: Recycled Art Show: Artists re-purposing found objects. May 9–31: Found Space: Arts & Science Learning From School District 163 Jun 7–29: Busting Out: The Art of Janice Pratt and CouSandra Armstrong
NIU BIENNIAL FACULTY SHOW THRU MAY 14
Rockford Art Museum 711 N. Main St., Rockford (61103) www.rockfordartmuseum.org
Thru May 29: Buzz Spector: Reading Matter. Featuring large-scale Polaroids and site-specific book installation Jun 10–Sept 25: The Shape of Light. Contemporary painting and studio glass.
Tarble Arts Center
Eastern IL Univ., 2010 9th St., Charleston (61920) www.eiu.edu/tarble Apr 8–May 7: 2022 EIU Undergraduate Art Exhibition & 2022 EIU Master of Arts in Studio Art Exhibition May 27–Jun 25: Art from Here
Spring/Summer 2022 | CGN | 27
John Michael Kohler Art Center
WISCONSIN John Michael Kohler Arts Center
608 New York Ave., Sheboygan (53081) www.jmkac.org Ongoing: On Loan: Objects from Barbara Rossi’s Home Collection and Selected Works Thru May 1: Bernard Langlais: Live and Let Live On Thru Aug 8: Lee Hunter: Cosmogenesis Thru Aug 28: Sarah Zapata: a resilience of things not seen
Saint Kate Arts Hotel
Lily Pad | West
215 N. Broadway, Milwaukee, WI (53202) www.lilypadgallery.com Lily Pad | West is a contemporary art gallery that presents artwork from over 70 artists. We showcase a wide range of artwork from photorealism to abstract art in our virtual and in-person exhibitions. Visit our website to view more information and our full exhibition schedule.
Milwaukee Art Museum
700 N. Art Museum Dr., Milwaukee, WI (53202) www.mam.org
OS Projects
601 6th St, Racine, WI (53403) www.osprojects.art Thru Apr 16: Rebellious Fibers
Racine Art Museum
441 Main Street, Racine, WI (53403) www.ramart.org Home to America’s Largest Contemporary Craft Collection.
ILLINOIS, INDIANA, MICHIGAN, WISCONSIN MICHIGAN Krasl Art Center
707 Lake Blvd., St. Joseph, MI (49085) www.krasl.org
INDIANA Lubeznik Center for the Arts 101 W. 2nd St. Michigan City, IN (46360) www.lubeznikcenter.org
Krasl Art Center offers high-quality contemporary art in the galleries, unique artist-made items in The Shop, ongoing studio classes, special events, and dynamic programs. KAC is free & open to the public.
Thru Jun 11: LatinXAmerican Jun 18: Diversity & Inclusivity: Celebrating 20 Years with Monique Meloche Gallery Jun 25: 2022 ArtBash: Starry Night
Thru May 15 in The Lab: Broken Alphabet: a love letter to Graffiti May 21–Aug 28: American Monuments: Sculpture from 1850-2000. A Detroit Institute of Arts Statewide Exhibition.
Snite Museum of Art
University of Notre Dame, 100 Moose Krause Circle Notre Dame, IN (46556) www.sniteartmuseum.nd.edu Thru May 15: Who Do We Say We Are? Irish Art 1922 | 2022 Apr 2–May 14: 2022 MFA Candidates Thesis Exhibition
Thru Aug 27: Blurry Boundaries: Contemporary Artists, Imagination, and the Spaces Between
Saint Kate Arts Hotel
139 E Kilbourn Ave, Milwaukee, WI (53202) www.saintkatearts.com
Sculpture Milwaukee
Various locations. Milwaukee, WI www.sculpturemilwaukee.com Opening Summer 2022: Nature Doesn’t Know About Us, Curated by Ugo Rondinone Still on View: there is this We, Curated by Theaster Gates and Michelle Grabner.
Tandem Press
1743 Commercial Ave., Madison, WI (53704) www.tandempress.wisc.edu Mar 28–Apr 15: Katelyn St. John: Dream House. Reception Apr 1, 5–8pm. Apr 25–May 20: Carley Schmidt: MFA Thesis Exhibition. Reception May 6, 5–9pm.
University of Wisconsin-Parkside 900 Wood Rd, Kenosha, WI (53144) www.uwp.edu
Thru May 13: Together Again: Racine Kenosha
28 | CGN | Spring/Summer 2022
2 JUNE 2022
DARK ROOM TO BENEFIT THE MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY PHOTOGRAPHY Co-Chairs: Jennifer and Joe Shanahan
mocp.org
Hand Heart by Jason Pickleman 2021 Fiberglass 54 x 70 x 17 inches
Sculpture Milwaukee there is this We Curated by Michelle Grabner and Theaster Gates Installed in Catalano Square Milwaukee, WI July 2021—October 2022 For information about this and additional work: jason@jnldesign.com pickleman.art
NICK CAVE ART GUIDED BY HISTORY IN THE MCA’S RETROSPECTIVE By ALISON REILLY Nick Cave’s highly anticipated retrospective, Forothermore, is a much-needed respite, a shared space to both celebrate and grieve as we emerge from the isolation of the past two years. Opening at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (MCA) in May, the exhibition presents an indepth view of Cave’s multidisciplinary works and still-expanding influence. The artist, designer, educator, and mentor to many in the Chicago community will not only be honored, in typical showstopping style, in the galleries at the MCA but at locations across the city, including: Art on the Mart, the DuSable Museum of African American History, 679 North Michigan Avenue, and the Garfield Green Line CTA station, demonstrating how Cave never does just one thing. Highlights of the MCA’s exhibition include Spinner Forest, an immersive installation comprised of thousands of kinetic spinners and Beaded Cliff Wall, made of millions of colorful pony beads threaded by hand onto shoelaces. Cave, born in Fulton, Mississippi, received his B.F.A. from Kansas City Art Institute. He is known for his transportive performances and iconic Soundsuits, which he originally made in response to Los Angeles Police department officers brutally attacking Rodney King in 1992. 30 years later, Cave continues to make Soundsuits both as a form of self-expression and reflection of society. His work has 30 | CGN | Spring/Summer 2022
NICK CAVE, PHOTO: SANDRO
evolved to include videos, bronze sculptures, and largescale, immersive installations. Along with his day-to-day work as an artist and as a professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, in 2018 Cave, with his partner Bob Faust, co-founded Facility, a 20,000 square foot multidisciplinary art space in Old Irving Park in Chicago. Through Facility, Cave and Faust were able to provide support for students and artists throughout the pandemic when many other organizations and institutions shut down. * CGN: What was your experience as a graduate student at Cranbrook Academy of Art like? Nick Cave: Amazing! I mean to be surrounded by [Eero] Saarinen’s architecture and to be part of an institution so focused around the arts and crafts was fueling. But it was the balance between Cranbrook and Detroit at the end of the day. I needed both to really make it work for me. CGN: How has teaching at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago influenced your art practice? NC: I don’t know that it influences my practice as much as it provides a way for me to give back, as well as stay connected and current being surrounded by the students. I like to be around young, creative minds. CGN: It was so generous for Facility to host the 2020 SAIC master’s graduates in Fashion, Body, and Garment thesis exhibitions. Please tell me about your relationships with your students and what it meant to be able to give them that space during such a tumultuous time? NC: My relationships with my students are really important, because they’re the next generation of artists, creators and designers. I’m curious to see what they do with themselves and how their careers are designed and shaped. But you know to be able to host them here at Facility was really just the right thing to do. Bob Faust and I have the space and the desire to use it this way. CGN: What do you see for the future of Facility? NC: The future Facility is just as it is today. To facilitate whatever is needing attention at the moment. A place where we can act immediately with passion and purpose and without waiting for approvals or grants or permission for that matter. CGN: What significance do rabbits or bunnies play in your work? NC: It stems from our Easters as kids on my grandparents’ farm. You know, with seven brothers, we would all get our own live bunnies each year that would then live on the farm. It was such a joyous time, exuberant and really sort of epic.
NICK CAVE, SOUNDSUIT, 2011. MIXED MEDIA INCLUDING VINTAGE BUNNY, SAFETY PIN CRAFTBASKETS, HOT PADS, FABRIC, METAL, AND MANNEQUIN. 111 X 36 X 36 IN. ©NICK CAVE. COURTESY OF THE ARTIST AND JACK SHAINMAN GALLERY, NEW YORK.
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NICK CAVE, UNTITLED, 2018. MIXED MEDIA INCLUDING A TABLE, A CARVED EAGLE AND 119 VARIOUS CARVED HEADS. 48 1/4 X 120 X 45 1/4 IN. ©NICK CAVE. COURTESY OF THE ARTIST AND JACK SHAINMAN GALLERY, NEW YORK.
CGN: How did you decide to incorporate cast bronze elements in your work? NC: Bringing cast bronze elements into my work was my way of preparing myself for my first bronze sculpture. It was really me learning and getting a solid understanding of how I could utilize the medium in my own way. CGN: How has your relationship with the Soundsuits changed since you first created them after Rodney King’s beating? NC: Soundsuits 2.0 are a more extreme version of the original, in terms of the materiality and couture making, but they are also sort of shrouded in a black netting that darkens the light dramatically. What’s going on in the world will dictate the next sort of direction or the shape that they may take... CGN: Can you tell me about your new installation for the MCA retrospective - Spinner Forest? NC: It’s the first piece that you encounter when you come into the exhibition, and it’s a reflection on the state of Chicago and the world. It shines a light on all the senseless gun violence that’s happening right in our own backyards. 32 | CGN | Spring/Summer 2022
CGN: Tell me a bit about what it has been like working with Naomi Beckwith to organize the retrospective? What has your collaboration looked like? NC: Working with Naomi around the exhibition has been amazing. Just getting the invitation alone was exciting, and then to collectively come together and really put everything out on the table and distill the show was a very interesting process, too. I am grateful for this opportunity, and it’s been really quite lovely to work with her. CGN: Your retrospective is not just limited to the galleries at the MCA. Why was it important for you to have collaborations with other organizations like DuSable Museum and Art on the Mart? NC: It’s about bridging gaps, building relationships, and making connections. We all need to connect with our neighbors and what’s better than art to do that? Bringing my art into other neighborhoods and into the public realm helps us find commonalities and ultimately to unify. NICK CAVE: Forothermore Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago May 14–Oct 2, 2022 mcachicago.org
SNEAK PEAK: THE OBAMA PRESIDENTIAL CENTER THE NORTHERN FACADE OF THE MUSEUM BUILDING, AS VIEWED FROM STONY ISLAND AVENUE. CREDIT: THE OBAMA FOUNDATION.
By JACQUELINE LEWIS After several years of will-they, won’t-they updates widely in the press, the Obama Presidential Center finally broke ground in Jackson Park on Chicago’s South Side in September 2021. Though still early in the construction process, plans for the Center and its promised programs herald an exciting cultural and artistic addition to a part of the city that often receives less development and attention than North Side neighborhoods. Most notably the Museum’s architecture is designed to embody ascension: the building appears to move upward towards the sky, symbolizing Obama’s own grassroots movement that started with little and ultimately made him the first African American President of the United States. The Center’s shape visualizes hands coming together to honor all of the hands that shaped America and now the Center itself. On the side of the main building a portion of one of Obama’s speeches will be visibly carved, with words honoring those who crossed the Edmund Peters Bridge in Selma, Alabama, highlighting their strength and courage in a new time and place. The museum’s ambitious goal, made real through its physical structure, is to tell the full story of America, including the voices of the unheard.
C E L E B R AT I N G O U R
Celebrating Our
JUNE 4 – 5, 2022 Between Kenwood and Woodlawn in Hyde Park
w w w. 57t h s t r e e t a r t f a i r. o r g
Gallery Space Available Space for any Type of Event Contact: dbeard@morganartscomplex.com
Barack Obama has said, “Part of what makes Chicago a worldclass city is its cultural and artistic institutions.” The Obama Foundation has made it a goal to include Chicago artists in the creation of the Center, commissioning a sculpture by Richard Hunt, who was born in nearby Woodlawn and raised in Englewood. At age 86 Hunt continues to be a prolific titan of Chicago art. Hunt’s sculpture for The Center depicts a bird breaking joyfully out of an opened book; it will be installed in the reading garden of the library. Hunt states that the sculpture “encapsulates the progress one can make through reading and studying” and it will help visitors find their own wings to The Obama Center and well beyond.
(312)-735-6308 www.morganartscomplex.com
Visit the MAC 3622 S. Morgan St, Chicago, IL Spring/Summer 2022 | CGN | 33
EXPO CHICAGO, 2019 VERNISSAGE. IMAGE BY CORY DEWALD COURTESY OF EXPO CHICAGO
HELLO EXPO CHICAGO: A FAIR RETURNS TO SPRING By BIANCA BOVA This April EXPO CHICAGO returns to Navy Pier. It is set to be a substantial ninth edition, with 140 galleries representing 25 countries slated for inclusion. As is the case with most public experiences the pandemic forced onto hiatus over the last two years, the version that comes back will inevitably differ in some ways from its former self. The most notable difference, however–the fair being held in April rather than September– is not a radical departure from the old Art Expo, so much as it is a second kind of return. Founded by the print dealer John Wilson, the Chicago International Art Exposition–the city’s first contemporary art fair of note–premiered in the spring of 1980 at Navy Pier. The show established itself quickly, attracting 80 dealers and 10,000 visitors in its first year. In 1982, Wilson’s colleague Tom Blackman took the reins, steadily laying the groundwork for what would become Art Chicago. Under Blackman’s directorship this new fair ballooned to 220 exhibitors by the year 2000, and shortly thereafter it relocated from Navy Pier to Butler Field in Grant Park, where it was held in a purposebuilt tent, still a novel choice of venue at the time. By 2004, however, its exhibitor list had begun to dwindle, and in 2006, days before the fair was to open, construction of the tent at Butler Field was halted and rumors flew about Blackman’s serious financial troubles. Overnight, the fair was relocated unceremoniously to the Merchandise Mart. Shortly thereafter, it was announced that Merchandise Mart Properties Inc. (MMPI) would buy the fair from Blackman. The following years saw Art Chicago subsumed in Artropolis, 34 | CGN | Spring/Summer 2022
a five day long event at the Merchandise Mart that also encompassed versions of the Bridge Art Fair Chicago, The Intuit Show of Folk and Outsider Art, and The Artist Project Independent Artist Exhibition + Sale, among others. This carried on with variations until 2011, when MMPI announced it would no longer produce the event. In 2012 EXPO CHICAGO debuted as the latest heritor to the legacy of Chicago art fairs, under the directorship of Tony Karman. It swiftly redoubled Chicago’s reputation as a global contemporary art destination and brought the fair back to its former home, Navy Pier’s hanger-like Festival Hall (a slick space that subtly recalls the industrial charm of the “sheds” that still ran the length of the Pier in its earliest days as a fair venue). EXPO has been, from its inception, a well-rounded fair, introducing in its inaugural edition a robust selection of on-site programming with its /Dialogues series, and the presentation of a slate of curated large-scale installations with its IN/SITU program. In the years between its establishment and its postponement in 2020, EXPO swiftly attracted blue chip galleries (counting among its exhibitors the likes of Gagosian, David Zwirner, and Hauser & Wirth), and grew to include sections of the fair dedicated to young galleries (Exposure), solo presentations of notable artists (Profile), and books and editions. It has become host to a Museum Directors Summit and a Curatorial Forum, the latter in partnership with Independent Curators International. It began a regular alignment with the Chicago Architecture Biennial in 2017, saw satellite fairs pop up (most notably NADA’s inaugural Chicago Gallery Invitational in 2019), and became the central event around which Chicago’s Gallery Week (and art world in general) orbit.
EXPO didn’t disappear during the pandemic. Like many others, it maintained operations with online editions in 2020 and 2021 (a model which, while effective from a business standpoint, once led an art dealer from New York to confide in me that it made her “want to put a nail gun to [her] head.” A sentiment she was far from alone in). Naturally there was much speculation as to when it (and indeed, all art fairs) could resume normal operations. The April 2021 news that the fair would return in-person one year later was met with a collective sense of relief from the industry. For those of us who are members of the Chicago chapter of the art world, EXPO 2022 is set to be a kind of homecoming. A return to the old ways of being social and doing business. There is the strange summer camp aspect of being back together with the same 200 people that you only ever see in the context of the fairs, eight or ten times over the course of a year, in half a dozen cities spread out across the globe. Outside of the fair itself there is the ever-lengthening itinerary of dinners to attend and gallery hopping to do and cocktail hours at the homes of collectors to occupy your evenings. For a certain (younger) set, add to this a string of after parties and late night warehouse discos that keep you out until 2am, despite knowing you’ll be back on your feet in the lobby with a cup of coffee in hand, ready for another day on the show floor no later than 7am. There is the endless flow of gossip and mythic stories of affairs between dealers who only see each other at EXPO and Basel. And there is, as the most glorious kind of afterthought, the art. Art fairs belong categorically to the world of trade shows (anyone who tells you otherwise is being paid to, I promise), and the reality of their commerce means most of the works on view are destined for private collections. For every opportunity to round a corner and be suddenly, shockingly lovestruck when confronted with, say, a work by Janine Antoni at Luhring Augustine or an early Tom Wesselman at Tina Kim, there is a melancholic realization when you inevitably notice the accompanying red dots. When you pause to appreciate them, as you dash between your post and the Champagne counter, you are wishing the works a fond farewell; they may be gone and the booth rehung by the time you come back to refill your glass. In three days time, they could be anywhere. This, of course, only adds to their allure. In a quiet way, this experience–more than the thrill of closing a big sale, or of acquisition, or the familial nature of the event itself–is why many of us missed the fairs. So then, the return of EXPO Chicago is a joyful occasion, a lifting of the limitations of the last two years, a welcome reacclimation to a certain lifestyle. And moreover, it feels in keeping with the fair’s historically resilient nature. Through many owners and many iterations, through many venues and formats, Chicago has always held a space for the art world to gather, once a year, at the fair. This time it will be at EXPO. April in Chicago. Be here. Again.
HOT TOPICS EXPO weekend will be busy for sure. This is no stroll through a street fair. To get the most out of your visit to the fair, the first in person since 2019, spend some time in advance reviewing weekend programs and special exhibitions taking place both on and off Navy Pier and don’t think you have to do it all – do what you like. – GV
MARY LOVELACE O’NEAL, IT TAKES THREE (TO DO IT) (FROM THE WHALES FUCKING SERIES), CIRCA 1981-1982. COURTESY OF JENKINS JOHNSON GALLERY, SAN FRANCISCO AND NEW YORK AND THE ARTIST. ARTIST TALK APRIL 7, 3:30PM
/Dialogues Presented in partnership with the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC), /Dialogues offers panel discussions and artistic discourse with leading artists, curators, designers, and arts professionals on current issues. Highlights of this year’s edition include a historic gathering of members of AFRICOBRA in conversation with Hans Ulrich Obrist; Generative Art and NFTS, a panel featuring Erick Calderon (Art Blocks), Kenny Schachter (Artnet), Lesley Silverman (UTA). Talks with artists Derrick Adams, Dawoud Bey, Devon Shimoyama, and more.
KEIKEN & GEORGE JASPER STONE, FEEL MY METAVERSE, 2019. CREATED FOR JERWOOD COLLABORATE! SUPPORTED BY JERWOOD ARTS. COURTESY THE ARTISTS AND DAATA. PART OF EXPO CHICAGO’S DIGITAL WORKS.
Digital Works The 2022 edition of IN/SITU is the first to feature a section dedicated to digital works, featuring artists aaajiao and Keiken + George Jasper Stone in collaboration with Daata. Spring/Summer 2022 | CGN | 35
BIG IS BACK WHAT ONCE WAS LOST IN 2020, WE NOW HAVE FOUND IN 2022 RANDOLPH STREET MARKET DRAWS THOUSANDS TO THE WEST LOOP ON SUMMER WEEKENDS
This spring and summer the City That Works will be working it, bringing back what we haven’t had in two years, and in other cases starting from scratch to deliver art fairs, markets and special events to get you out of the house. – CGN
ALMA ART & INTERIORS Dealer Kimberly Oliva turned lemons into lemonade last fall when Intersect Chicago (formerly SOFA CHICAGO) was cancelled. She drew on her own art history, connections and experience in the vintage market to come up with Alma, Art & Interiors, a large-scale exhibition that combined the sensibility of a living room with the prestige of new art. Bringing the spirit of the home to the gallery, Alma features artists from Chicago and around the world in dozens of mixed media vignettes. A grand opening for Threaded Together is set for May 6. Alma has been extended through at least summer 2022. • 3636 S. Iron in Bridgeport
THE OTHER ART FAIR The Other Art Fair was one of the first and only in-person fairs to take place in Chicago in 2021 when it opened last September. With limits in place in consideration of COVID, the fair lacked some of its usual party vibrancy but they got the job done and welcomed artists and fair-goers for a weekend Spring/Summer 2022 | CGN | 36
of in-person art viewing and buying. The fair is back again, this time taking place April 21–24 on Fulton Market. • theotherartfair.com/chicago/
RANDOLPH STREET MARKET After an almost 3-year hiatus Randolph Street Market returns to its West Loop location this summer, taking place both outdoors and indoors. The beloved mega-treasure hunt was put on hold first in 2020 due to COVID, and then in 2021 in light of construction at Plumber’s Hall. They were able to open markets a few summer weekends in Michigan as well as host weekend Holiday PopUps downtown in Chicago on Michigan Ave. In 2022 once again the market will offer “continuous live entertainment, food, booze & BIG FUN,” says founder Sally Schwartz. Jul 30/31, Sept 24/25, Nov 12/13, Dec 3/4, 10/11, 17/18 • randolphstreetmarket.com
57TH STREET ART FAIR Mary Louise Womer, a silversmith artist from Kansas City, was the visionary behind Hyde Park’s 57th Street Art Fair back in 1948. Due to studio space constraints, she took advantage of local streets that weren’t busy, stringing wires from trees and along fences of 57th Street where artists could hang their works. 51 artists, many of whom were students at the Art Institute and the Institute of Design, each paid 50 cents to participate for the weekend. Today, up to 200 artists from all over North America set up shop on 57th Street the first full weekend of June, attracting over 20,000 visitors annually • June 4/5, 2022 • 57thstreetartfair.org
AN ARTIST’S ARTIST: PAUL CÉZANNE By JACQUELINE LEWIS Paul Cézanne has been widely considered the father of modern art, perhaps the G.O.A.T. of his accomplished peer group, as Claude Monet and Camille Pissaro called him the “greatest of us all.” Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse later affirmed the sentiment.
PAUL CÉZANNE. BATHERS (LES GRANDES BAIGNEUSES), ABOUT 1894–1905. THE NATIONAL GALLERY, LONDON, PURCHASED WITH A SPECIAL GRANT AND THE AID OF THE MAX RAYNE FOUNDATION, 1964.
An upcoming retrospective of Cézanne’s art at the Art Institute of Chicago will delve into the 19th century artist’s mind, dissecting his creative practices and highlighting why they remain so vital more than 100 years later. Cézanne’s artistic process sought to answer the question of whether or not an artist could create art by utilizing only one sensation at a time – sometimes color, then technique or subject. He wanted to understand what happened by working in a singular focus. Was the art truer, more visceral? These were novel considerations that led Cézanne to develop his own deliberately nonlinear process, which led to the birth of the Modern Art movement and also gained him the eternal reputation as “artist’s artist.” Ccurated by the Art Institute of Chicago’s Gloria Groom and Caitlin Haskell, with the Tate Modern’s Achim Borchardt-Hume and Natalia Sidlina, the exhibition features an astounding 90 oil paintings and 40 watercolors acquired from public and private collections, and it’s the first major Cézanne retrospective in the U.S. in more than a quarter century. It’s the first exhibition on Cézanne organized by the Art Institute in more than 70 years. To support this staggering presentation, Cézanne includes a technical distillation of the artist’s process, supported by a collaboration amongst current Art Historians, artists and conservators, illuminating Cézanne’s position as a giant of art history for our own time. MAY 15–SEPT 5, 2022 • THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO • ARTIC.EDU
Kamrooz Aram April 5, 2022 – August 13, 2022
www.artsclubchicago.org
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A COLLECTOR DISCOVERS FRIENDS AND HISTORY THROUGH ART
KAJAHL BENES, ALCHEMIST, 36 X 48 INCHES, OIL ON CANVAS OVER PANEL, 2021
By ANNA DOBROWOLSKI Picture being so close to a piece of art—no white-gloved museum guard barking at you to step back—that you could almost smell the coconut. Just by pointing a finger at the wall, an artist appears, espresso in hand, ready to answer your questions. This is not a fever dream, or a pitch for the next “immersive art experience,” but the home and art collection of Chris Craft. Craft is a tech entrepreneur by day, and a self-professed ‘amateur’ art aficionado by calling. Though Craft considers himself a novice art collector, his collection is already outgrowing his Ravenswood home. 38 | CGN | Spring/Summer 2022
* When I visited Craft at on a January morning, he was drinking coffee with Jabari Jefferson, a mixed-media artist from Washington D.C. As any Chicagoan could attest, a bleak mid-winter visit signals a true friendship. “Jabari’s like a brother to me.” Craft says when he introduces the artist of The Library Series. “He was just teaching me about some art techniques. It’s how I like to learn about art.” It’s not unusual for Chris to talk about artists as though they are a part of the family. Each painting features a character, or a personal history, which anchors him to a specific moment in his life.
echoes a page from yesteryear.
The three of us talked about how artistic talent, and by extension objects, gets passed down as we made our way to the piece that started it all: a sculpture by his father. “I started collecting as a tribute to him.” In 2017, he remembers visiting the Art Institute for the first time after his father died. While there he gravitated towards pieces by Matisse and Braque, colloquially known as ‘Picasso’s competitors.’ He stopped when he recognized Caravaggio by name rather than reputation. “That’s my stepbrother’s middle name!” he thought. Suddenly the fraternal association convinced him that art had always been a part of his story, and he realized he wanted to actively add to it. One of Craft’s first acquisitions, and the first painting that greets us in his living room, is Sungi Mlengeya’s Mdada. For the uninitiated, Mlengeya is a Tanzanian self-taught artist, whose mastery of minimalism and striking contrast is unparalleled. Mdada, the cool woman in the portrait, wears negative space well, making any viewer feel underdressed. She seems at home in the Craft residence, as do his other 150+ pieces. Across the hall we encounter Kajahl Benes’ Alchemist. The painting’s sculpted protagonist looks like he is carved out of onyx. He is caught in a moment of pensive illumination, interrupted only by Craft leaping onto the desk to point out the lustrous sheen of the painted robes. Craft’s energy and appreciation for art and its history is contagious. When I ask him about his approach to collecting, he admits that he is still learning. Guided by intuition, this makes his collection more intimate– refreshingly less ‘branded,’ or motivated by boosting one’s portfolio. Yet it is still both business and personal. If Craft is drawn to a piece or believes in its message, he makes the effort to get his name on endless waiting lists for art (these days, getting an organ transplant might seem easier than acquiring a coveted artwork). “I love
SUNGI MLENGEYA, MDADA, 2020, ACRYLIC ON CANVAS, 59 1/10 × 55 1/10 IN
living with art; it’s my own personal and emotional album,” he tells me. Deeper into his home, Craft’s basement feels like an exclusive club. It’s also where we enter the ‘un-curated’ part of the house (the guest room has an 83”x 68” in painting by Aplerh-Doku Borlabi titled Tomboy. Doku’s ‘tomboy’ is literally made from coconut.) Here, we play the-floor-is-lava around an unfurled canvas that was just delivered—it’s a painting by London based artist Richard Mensah titled Hold On, part of his Why We Resist series. Mensah visually juxtaposes the 1968 Olympics medal ceremony in Mexico City with a cotton plantation. My gaze moves from overseer on horseback to police car, cotton fields to polypropylene surgical face masks littered on the ground. Among them, I can see a poster of Breonna Taylor, captioned “Say Her Name,” that
As we move from the background to the foreground - past to present - the focus ends up on a young girl. Like Delacroix’s Liberty Leading the People, she charges ahead on her scooter, raising a Black Barbie donning Nigerian colors instead of a French flag. Her black sock quotes a new iconography that athlete John Carlos sparked when he took off his shoes at the Olympic ceremony. One wonders: if history is written by the winners, then who are the illustrators? Craft’s basement holds some of the answers. * Though Craft has had an eye towards preserving history through art for awhile, in recent years, it became important to him to find art that speaks to the times we are living in now. “I do not want these stories to be lost,” he says. His way of holding himself accountable and keeping the Spring/Summer 2022 | CGN | 39
COLLECTOR CHRIS CRAFT SEATED IN FRONT OF CONTEMPORARY GHANAIAN ARTIST APLERH-DOKU BORLABI’S TOMBOY, 83” X 68”, COCONUT SHEATH AND OIL ON CANVAS. 2021
conversation going was to found the Black Collectors Guild, a network of collectors interested in supporting emerging artists while also helping each other navigate the nebulous world of art collecting. From conversations that have come out of the group’s time together, Craft has been able to fill his walls with work by artists such as Max Sansing, David AplerhDoku, Solomon Adufah, and Anthony Akinbola, to name a few. It is important to note that though Craft is refining his interests and building his art network, his tastes continue to evolve. At one point, he recalls, he was drawn towards bright colors and textures, seeking out Akinbola’s weavings of durags into 40 | CGN | Spring/Summer 2022
artwork and Sansing’s saturated designs that can rupture monotony. Ismael Kateregga’s Nakawa Market Corridor even offered a kind of visual escape for Craft during a time when actual travel was not possible. “I wanted to be there [in that painting],” he explains. * As we wrap up our tour, Chris points back to Jabari’s Response of the Navigator (Library Series, 2021) and A Bright Future, They Say (Library Series, 2016-2018). Jabari says he had almost forgotten about the Bright Future piece, as it was a painting he worked on B.C. (before COVID).
Each of these pieces seem to offer a snapshot retrospective of the artist’s own trajectory as he moved away from repetitive painterly strokes in favor of incorporating textiles, texts, and found objects. A morning spent discussing art felt familiar after so much time mostly isolated from others. Here a collector’s basement ends up being more than a place to look at art or entertain. It has becomes a place to leaf through books on African Art and debate where artists will go next. Here, fortunately, is where the man wearing white gloves waves you over for an opportunity to really get to know the art, an artist, and all the stories behind the scenes.
Michel Andreenko: Revisited June 18 -September 25, 2022
Career survey exhibition of Paris-based Ukrainian refugee modernist – from theatrical set designs and non-representational work of the 1920s, surrealistic naturalism, his Vanishing Paris series of the 1940s-1950s and return to nonrepresentation in the mid-1950s. Loaned by Drs. Alexandra and Andrew Ilkiw, it represents the largest collection of his work in the United States. A catalog is already available for purchase on our website. 2320 W Chicago Ave, Chicago, IL 60622 Open Hours; Wednesday- Sunday 12-4 pm
GIFT SHOP COVETING BRANDED ARTISTIC COLLABORATIONS BANISH THE IMPULSE BUY
By GINNY VAN ALYEA Prior to the pandemic, museums were popular high-end party venues. The money brought in by hosting exclusive events fattened the bottom line, but as we know, that bottom fell out during COVID. Extracting income from less volatile sources (art on the walls, or even in storage) gives museums new ways to sustain operations while also sending their brand home with visitors and patrons. No longer is the cheap canvas tote bag where culture-signaling ends. Today’s art retail can go decidedly high-end as well as on-trend. Anyone remember the rush for Kerry James Marshall’s MZ Wallace collaboration a few EXPOs ago, or Hebru Brantley’s MCA capsule collection? Museum gift shops are now just the beginning. In Chicago the award-winning MCA Store offers a second floor for browsing 40-pound art tomes, but you may just leave out the ground floor with a cashmere and modal scarf exclusively designed by Orkideh Torabi in hand. Edie Fake, Mickalene Thomas and Christina Quarles all do scarves too. The Art Institute has two gift shops – one at each entrance, ensuring you really can’t escape without the temptation to buy some clever, classic museum-store find, like an Edward Hopper puzzle, a vibrantly hued flower vase, a cheeky t-shirt, socks, or, of course, posters, postcards and magnets featuring the museum’s famous bronze lions. 42 | CGN | Spring/Summer 2022
The Richard H. Driehaus Museum offers period-specific and giftable items, like a tiny brass ornament featuring the Nickerson Mansion’s historic facade, as well as of course neck ties and other textiles reflecting the art, architecture and social mores of the period known as the Gilded Age. * Something else entirely more attention-getting–and usually also exceeding your average gift shop tab–has been the increasingly prominent, and often very “must-have,” artist/brand collaboration. These partnerships, which are intentionally more creative kismet than department store sales, move what used to be a unique or editioned actual work of art into the wearable, retail realm. Artnet shared in a March op-ed that companies like Artistory, founded only in 2020, is both licensing museum designs and works of art to brands and creating the merchandise being sold, vastly scaling up the revenue institutions (largely nonprofits) can draw from their collections and exhibitions, both in the short and long term. Though museums own most of the world’s most famous works of art, and therefore the most widely marketable, contemporary artists are also getting involved in the creation
of new, commercial forms of their own art. LIZWORKS, founded by Liz Swig, lists 14 artist partners, from Laurie Simmons to Robert Longo and Cindy Sherman, each designing limited edition jewelry, from pendants and rings to cameos and charm bracelets. Swig, who has recently teamed up with Chicago-born Rashid Johnson on a line of jewelry based on his Anxious Men series, shared with CGN, “There does seem to be a lot of attention on creating shopping experiences in museum gift shops right now. What brought me to creating the collections I do is I see them as mini sculptures and an extension of the artist’s body of work.” These works also give back, in Johnson’s case, where 100% of the artist’s proceeds will be donated to The Black Mental Health Alliance and Prep for Prep. Whatever you think of art in its gift-shop form, or even as a contemporary costume jewelry, it’s clear that artists and museums are thinking outside the box in new and meant-to-be-seen ways. You never used to be able to take your Kruger (or Sherman or Johnson) out around your wrist or neck, but now art can be an accessory while still being art. The right partnerships can make pieces (more) accessible as well as appealing – in price and wearability – to new audiences in endless places.
Opposite page: Upper left: Charmed – 2016, Featuring seven of the most important women artists working today: Laurie Simmons, Shirin Neshat, Barbara Kruger, Cindy Sherman, Rachel Feinstein, Mickalene Thomas, and Wengechi Mutu. Each was asked to conceive a charm that considers both her personal history, and her vision as an artist. 18k gold with 7 unique charms. 8 in diameter. Limited ed. of 50 bracelets. Price upon request. Photo by Victor Prado. Right: Anxious Men series. Gold Signet Ring by Rashid Johnson — 2020. 9k gold ring with 1 ruby and red enamel. Edition of 25. Size 19 x 24mm. $10,000. Photo by Thomas Kletcka.
Clockwise from above: Swap out your ladies luncheon Hermès for the conversational Orkideh Torabi (Iranian, b. 1979) Peach House Scarf, $160.00 at the MCA; Edie Fake Mural 2 Silk Scarf, $160 at the MCA; Georges Seurat, A Sunday on La Grande Jatte—1884 Socks, the Art Institute of Chicago, $16.00
Spring/Summer 2022 | CGN | 43
CANDIDA ALVAREZ, PICA, PICA 5, 2021 ACRYLIC ON LINEN 20 X 20 IN. 50.8 X 50.8 CM. COURTESY MONIQUE MELOCHE GALLERY, CHICAGO
CANDIDLY CANDIDA AN ARTIST EMBRACES CHARTING HER OWN PATH By ANNA DOBROWOLSKI Who’s afraid of Picasso? Many artists love to hate him— his audacity, controversial personality, and, we daresay, knack for abstract have earned him a spot in the “one-name-only” hall of fame. Candida Alvarez, through her dazzling configurations, shows us that associating Picasso with mosquito bites is just one way to upend the canon. As we learn in a recent conversation with Alvarez, Picasso is yet another source to be reckoned with, and further proof that to survive as an artist we don’t always need to start from scratch. Sometimes we just need to scratch the surface. * New normal is a funny thing. I caught Alvarez adding colorful daubs to a 44 | CGN | Spring/Summer 2022
canvas (I, a floating head on her screen, and she, wearing a yellow apron speckled with paint). This is the first year in her new studio after an impressively productive and fruitful year. In February 2021 she was granted the Foundation of Contemporary Art’s Helen Frankenthaler Award for Painting (2021). On May 19th, 2022, she will be honored, alongside Chicago art-dealer Monique Meloche, at Chicago Artists Coalition, Works in Progress: Radiance and Reunion. Add to the accolades her recent appointment as F.H. Sellers Professor in Painting at the School of the Art Institute and it’s a wonder how she does it all. “Why did I suddenly move to Michigan?” She says, “I listened to that voice that said ‘Girlfriend, you need to be here.’” By “here” she means a 2,500 square foot barn-turned-studio
with lots of natural light, replete with a library, quotes by Frida Kahlo, Rainier M. Rilke, and John Cage, house plants she brought from Chicago—and paintings of course. One observation from the move was the change in color-scape, and how it makes a cameo on her canvases in surprising ways: “I’m surrounded by a lot of brown, lately, from all the trees and mud. There’s even a hops farm and a prairie next door. I’ve been living in the city for so long that the move was a huge transition. The chatter you usually hear in the city disappears.” Since listening plays a major part in her practice, she uses the change in volume to muse over the artists she invites onto the canvas. “I spend a lot of time listening to them instead, and searching for patterns.”
* Alvarez is currently working on a new painting, in all its kaleidoscopic glory, for her son. “I just finished putting some bling on it.” Next to it are a couple of paintings from Pica Pica, a series loosely based on Picasso. Several paintings from her Pica Pica series will be on view at Monique Meloche Gallery’s booth at EXPO CHICAGO in April.
collage-sense, but by shifting shapes by adding and taking away from them. I don’t hold on to an ideal, I just love the process of finding, searching, and witnessing the painting become itself.”
“I grew up looking at these dead artists, who seem to follow me around like ghosts,” she tells me. “I started bringing Picasso into the studio because he was someone I have looked at for a long time—everybody knows him. Because it was 2021, I thought ‘Wow. In 1921, Picasso painted Three Musicians.’ I could either love Picasso or hate him. Actually, he makes me itchy. Hence the name of my series, Pica Pica— from me pica (it itches)— because I was getting bit by mosquitoes. But also because I wanted to figure [the painting] out.” To do so, she uses a range of sources such as personal photographs, drawings, and famous paintings. “I have cultivated a way of working where I can source from the history of painting and weave in what is in front of me in the present,” Alvarez explains. “Lately I’ve been inviting Bob Thompson to the canvas, but I find inspiration in everything: Matisse, Kahlo, Piero della Francesca are just a few of the artists I’ve worked with.” After she manipulates or distorts her reference she is then able to fully dive into the process. “I might enter a painting with a certain color palette in mind, but it might change in order to achieve that harmony. It’s like alchemy.” Painting on this scale requires the meticulousness demanded of Paint by Numbers—except that in this case the artist is responsible for both lines and colors. “There’s a membrane that gets pierced. It begins with a drawing that is added to, or taken away from. The drawing is a holding pen for the liquid,” Alvarez reveals. Due to the complexities of each piece–and each one comes with a unique set of challenges– Alvarez tends to focus on one piece at a time. * Alvarez compares the end result to a palimpsest: an unearthed, multilayered, vellum-y object harking back to medieval history. Her Palimpsest series emerged from that fascination with transparent layers and traces of what lies beneath the surface. She recently finished showing these “chatty abstractions that mix and remix themselves” in GAVLAK Gallery in LA. “I wanted to work with a series of ten drawings that I had done two years ago, and bring them together. I looked at words that were ten letters long and came across ‘palimpsest,’ which is a beautiful word all about process. It has multiple histories. Painting is like that for me. I assemble it from a Rolodex of images that I cut and paste, not in a
CANDIDA ALVAREZ, STAND, 2020-2021, ACRYLIC POLYMER PAINT WITH GLITTER AND UV-CURED INK ON CANVAS 80 X 60 X 2 IN, 203.2 X 152.4 X 5.1 CM. COURTESY OF THE ARTIST AND GAVLAK
Having worked with a myriad of materials, from vellum for drawings, watercolor pencils and acrylics on gessoed linen, to PVC plastic hung from aluminum frames, she explains that, with each layer she learns how the materials react to each other. She seeks balance between the base material, which sometimes peeks out from under matte, subdued shapes, pops of pigment, undirected lines, or bling of course. “I used oils in the past, but over time I really loved acrylics. You just needed the paint, the brush, the bucket. I loved that it was fake, that it was plastic. It was not beautiful. But I loved the rawness of the material.” * Alvarez always suspected she would become an artist. As a student at Fordham university, she was mesmerized by the oversized portfolio her friend was carrying for drawing classes. “It was settled, I was going to take art classes, too.” Through the encouragement of some of her professors, such as Jack Whitten, she abandoned her tiny paintings in favor of larger, more robust works. This cemented her decision to return to Yale and later Skowhegan. “I just fell into it and never stopped. I can’t believe I’ve been doing this for a long time.” Spring/Summer 2022 | CGN | 45
“I was born in Brooklyn, but my parents were from Puerto Rico. It is an interesting thing, because while we are Americans, they were first and foremost Puerto Ricans. In New York we became ‘Nuyoricans.’ In a way that absence makes the longing deeper, there’s a kind of romanticism about it, a connection to a place even when you aren’t on that land.”
CANDIDA ALVAREZ, MARY IN THE SKY WITH DIAMONDS, 2005 ACRYLIC AND ENAMEL ON CANVAS 72 X 84 IN. 182.9 X 213.4 CM, COURTESY OF ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO
One of the most impactful experiences was producing artwork at the then PS1 Residency. “I was affiliated with Museo del Barrio in Upper Manhattan in the ‘70s. It was glorious because it was full of Latinx artists. It was the first time that I encountered real collaboration, in that we could work on something together.” The collaborative spirit finds its way into her teaching as well as her practice.“I have been teaching at the Art Institute for over 25 years, and I find that it brings contemporariness and conversation to the canvas. When you are in collaboration with others, the conversation becomes another way of being present. In the same vein, it helps us be critical.” Otherwise, painting can be a solitary endeavor. Alvarez moved to Chicago in 1998 to take up a teaching position at SAIC and has since become a community staple. One of her first shows in the city was through Hyde Park Art Center, Mambomountain in 2012. In 2017, she was commissioned by the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE) to create paintings to be displayed on Lower Wacker Drive. However, in a manner of months, she experienced a tremendous set of losses. Before the exhibition Here at the Chicago Cultural Center closed, her father died. Three months later, Hurricane Maria swept across Puerto Rico, leaving her to worry about how to reach her mother and sister. 46 | CGN | Spring/Summer 2022
While the hurricane brought these connections to the surface, Alvarez was always invested in the process. So, she wanted to create work that stood on its own. It was during this period that she created Air Paintings, or paintings “with little feet,” as she calls them.
When she set out to create the paintings, she realized she didn’t have to work from scratch. “I was able to use the proofs from the Chicago Cultural Center, and work on top of them. Air also became this material I had to consider. I thought about airplanes and the passage from Puerto Rico to Chicago. The whole idea that a lot of them had to rely on planes to see family.” For Alvarez that was a turning point. Gathering shapes from that painting, and embracing the flexibility of the material in order to make something that you can almost see-through. “I love to laugh,” she explains. “You have to keep yourself alive! You can’t take yourself so seriously. I like to be the person who is flexible, who can move at the drop of a hat.” “For people who trust themselves,” says Alvarez, “who have the courage to be themselves, doubts and risks are all part of the process. You have to be willing to take the risk. There is no manual. Plus, there is a mystery to the kinds of processes that choose us.” In 2022, Chicago Artists Coalition will honor Candida Alvarez and Monique Meloche during its annual fundraising event in May. Candida’s work will be featured in the Museum of Contemporary Art’s upcoming Forecast Form: Art in the Caribbean Diaspora, 1990s - Today (Nov 19, 2022–Apr 23, 2023). If you are in New York, her work in no existe un mundo poshuracán: Puerto Rican Art in the Wake of Hurricane Maria will be on view at the Whitney Museum of Art Nov 23, 2022–Apr 2023
BOOK REPORT:
THE CLIP-ON METHOD BY JASON PICKLEMAN
FRONT COVER AND SPINE, THE CLIP-ON METHOD, 2021, COURTESY: CADY NOLAND, RHEA ANASTAS AND GALERIE BUCHHOLZ.
THE CLIP-ON METHOD by Cady Noland is the most significant artist book to be published by a living artist within generations. If you want to know why, keep reading. If you don’t, unsubscribe. Measuring 8.5 by 11 inches, the standard size 2-volume book belies its complexity with a format that appears to be generic, but is in truth much more. Comprised primarily of black and white reproductions of Noland’s work and related texts selected by the artist, the book acts as archive, overview, reader and syllabus. THE CLIP-ON METHOD’s two volumes can be picked up and read in any order: back to front, front to back, start in the middle. Doesn’t matter. The net result is the same. The volume with the words “Cady Noland” on the spine is 306 pages; the volume with “THE CLIP-ON METHOD” on it’s spine clocks in at 290 pages. Both books commence their page numbering (their pagination) with the cover, an uncommon design-sleight-of-hand. Within the body of each book, page numbers appear only on the left hand pages, always in the lower left hand corner; 3/8-inch from the left trim and 1/2-inch above the bottom trim—an elegant proportion. They, along with most of the original body copy, are set in an innocuous typewriter-like font. THE CLIP-ON METHOD, simply put, is a book made from photographs of Noland’s artworks, often shown within their first installations and, one would assume, arranged by the artist—an important distinction that adds both subjective gravity and artistic personality to each page layout. Noland’s
primary materials are on display throughout the book (fencing, pipes, poles and rails; aluminum walkers, crates, and metal baskets; newspaper clippings, flags and beer cans) and are seen aggregated, arranged and assembled, equally menacing and left akimbo. Leafing through these pages feels like viewing Noland’s work through her eyes alone, on the artist’s terms: resolutely displaying the way her abject materials add an unnerving energy to the rooms in which they are installed. There is an experiential energy to the reproductions and texts, as scale and placement on the pages shift with a seeming disregard for rules or grids. The layout sings of an artist’s voice, not a designer’s voice. Physically, the two soft cover volumes feel hefty, weighty in the hand and lap. The body of each book is printed on a dull-finished paper, most likely an 80# text weight sheet with decent opacity that appears to be around 94%. The covers of each book utilize what feels to be an 18pt C1S cover weight sheet. The front cover has a soft, supple feel compared to the uncoated feel of the inside-front and inside-back covers. Both back covers are blank—indicative of an elegant reserve common to both volumes. As Noland’s artwork can sell in the millions, and as this book is presumably an artist/publisher-funded venture, the production team could have afford anything in terms of printing: case bound hard cover, head and tail bands, pasted end sheets, fly sheets, inserts, fold outs, die cuts—you name it, they could have afforded it, and yet all such bibliographic extravagances are not to be had in THE CLIP-ON METHOD. Still, the book is luxurious. Spring/Summer 2022 | CGN | 47
CADY NOLAND, UNTITLED, 1994, AS REPRODUCED ON PAGES 208-209 IN THE CLIP-ON METHOD, 2021. COURTESY: THE ARTIST, RHEA ANASTAS AND GALERIE BUCHHOLZ.
One of the most interesting stylistic decisions of the books’ design is that artwork reproductions exist without an image caption near them. All caption citations are combined at the back of each book, and are listed across a 2-page spread in vertical columns delineated by date, title, page number, and location—in that order. All artwork titles are presented in ALL CAPS, with any lengthy two-line title indented 1/2-inch on its second line. The same indentation rule applies to the location citation when needed. As this list traverses across the gutter of the book and onto its facing page, horizontal alignment is of paramount importance. To wit, the printing and bindery by Graphius in Ghent Belgium is second to none. If you need an art book printed, call them, but be prepared for no response, as my inquiries to them regarding certain printing specifications of THE CLIP-ON METHOD went unanswered. It’s not unusual for an art book to note its print run within its colophon. My inquiries into this number also proved futile, thwarted by the publishers’ democratic impulse to remove the idea that the books’ print run become precious. Released in 2021, THE CLIP-ON METHOD is already on its second printing and costs $65 USD; the same price as the sold-out first printing. My guess is the second printing may not even note “second printing”: a move to deincentivize re-sale, price hike, or covetousness. Kudos to the publishers Rhea Anastas, Robert Snowden, and the artist herself. The meat of any art book are the reproductions of the artwork, and THE CLIP-ON METHOD delivers with abundance. In total, 168 images of Nolands’ art are reproduced; but uniquely only 9 are printed in color. Again, for an artist that can presumably afford anything, this can only be read as a conceptual hedge, like hiding a royal flush with only a single card showing. Instead of this appearing as a deficit, the black and white reproductions come across as original testament. I’m told the black and white images were 48 | CGN | Spring/Summer 2022
printed with two black inks, giving them a depth and tonal evenness despite their apparent economy of reproductive means. When a color reproduction is introduced, it’s almost startling. Over her exhibition career, Noland participated in the photography of many of the works, and a considerable number in THE CLIP-ON METHOD are shown in-situ. Many are shown multiple times, from various angles, and not necessarily placed chronologically within the book(s). Noland’s work at the legendary New York gallery American Fine Arts is, for example, presented 17 times. Had this number been doubled I wouldn’t have minded, nor probably noticed. Each photograph bears witness to sculpture as historic documentation while acting as forensic evidence. Some of the photos are “bad”: blurry or off center. A few are turned 90-degrees. Some of them are a bit dark and with an excessive grit or grain. Some of the images are reproduced to show their physical source: 35mm slide, 4x5 transparency, lab print, or existing offset reproduction. The sequence of the images was arranged by Noland and, since they unfold devoid of strict chronology, rely on an intuitive visual rhythm wherein graphic or conceptual presence supersedes annual sequentiality. An image from 1989 might, for example, be followed by one from 1995 and then followed by one from 1988, then 1999, then 1993, then 1989 etc. What is strange is that this bouncing chronology is generally unnoticeable: that is, unless like me, you find yourself psychotically flipping to the back of each book to reference dates and locations. With scant regard for chronology, the layout invites an experiential immersiveness. The sequence and scale of the reproductions rely on few design rules: relying instead on the artist’s intuition to guide the reader through an encounter with the materials which, as mentioned, are often shown in their first presentation. I’ve been told the layout was done analog, by hand, by Noland herself. Only in the late stages of the layout was the project given to the designer Will Holder
(LEFT) CADY NOLAND, PRESS CZAR, 1990; (RIGHT) UNTITLED 1991-92, AS REPRODUCED ON THE COVERS OF THE CLIP-ON METHOD, 2021. COURTESY: THE ARTIST, RHEA ANASTAS AND GALERIE BUCHHOLZ.
for re-composition within Quark Express, an unusual, and now uncommon, choice in digital layout software for book production. One of the most extravagant design gestures within THE CLIP-ON METHOD is the unconventional use of blank pages as frequent pauses to the design narrative. Not only might an image on the left-hand page face off with a blank right-hand page, but a subsequent 2-page spread might contain no text, no image, no page number whatsoever: nothing at all. This is the sort of design move that only an artist can get away with. Designers may try to rationalize the use of “negative space”, but only an artist can in negating space create drama and reprieve in service to the framing and focus of image and content. Thank you for nothing. Beyond the images, both volumes contain significant reprints of existing texts: some by Noland, like her “NOTES FOR 1989 SHOW” and her “Towards a metalanguage of Evil” (the latter in both English and Spanish); and others reproduced via full page scans that look as though the books from which they came were plopped down on a photocopier, with any grime on the glass transferred and repeated. Along with the many installation reproductions, the nine reprinted sociological essays cast a shade of paranoia, manipulation, and since this is Noland, the despoiling of the American project—from corporate industries’ disregard for product safety (the explosive Ford Pinto) to the administrative blind spots of minority recruitment in higher learning (Stephen N. Butler, to whom, along with Noland’s mother Cornelia Ries, this book is dedicated). Texts entitled “Night as Frontier”, “Freak Shows and Talk Shows”, and “Paranoid Style”, might even act as surrogate titles to Noland’s artwork. Truth be told, these essays are a heavy slog, and require a concentration in direct proportion to the immediate gut-punch of Noland’s artworks. The reproduced book covers for each essay might even be construed by some as de facto Nolands.
It’s been well noted that Cady Noland’s artworks exude an unrelenting cavalcade of menace from what appear to be store bought or cast-off items. The artworks invoke a sense of violence, deviance, and degeneracy; power, control, and manipulation; anxiety, paranoia, and aggression—not always in that order. Yet, the artist states that the works are not risky or subversive. To my mind, if they are anything, they are uniquely American. We get what we deserve: aluminum walkers as sculpture; metal railings as prison bars; walls of Budweiser as a stand-in for America herself and the arenas of her spectacle. The 2-volume collection is the perfect vehicle to contain such an inventory: an artist’s archive more than a catalog raisonné. And for those of us with our ears to the ground, the inclusion of three images dated 2021 reproduced on pages 182-83, 196-97, and 208-09 of the “Cady Noland” volume offer a ground shift for those unaware of any work from Noland dating post-1999. When I inquired, I was told “these are drawings reproduced in the books’ pages, their published form is a work.” Which brings me back to why THE CLIP-ON METHOD is such a remarkable book. Not only does the work present an archive of materials, but it notes that the archive is alive and growing, as every living artist’s work should. Few artists within the last fifty years have so poignantly dreamed, and damned, the United States of America as vociferously as Noland. THE CLIP-ON METHOD is a great book because it is true to itself. The book does not try to be like other art books by other artists; it is a book about Cady Noland, by Cady Noland, and it looks like a Cady Noland. Artists: take note.
Spring/Summer 2022 | CGN | 49
A VIEW INTO EMERY BLAGDON’S THE HEALING MACHINE AT THE ART PRESERVE. PHOTO: CGN
By GINNY VAN ALYEA When I asked myself this winter where I should travel for a weekend away with my husband and children, I didn’t think about somewhere with an average temperature of 75°, I thought about heading to Kohler, an art-filled village in Sheboygan, WI just a couple hours north of Chicago. How did this sleepy Midwestern town by Lake Michigan become a center for art and design? Curious to know, I booked a room at The American Club, located half way between Milwaukee and Green Bay in the heart of Kohler. Built as a dorm to house Kohler factory employees in 1918, The American Club has been a five-star, five-diamond destination resort hotel since 1981. Today the American Club is one more Kohler company success story. Located in the center of a campus that is home to four of the world’s best golf courses, one of the world’s best spas, nine restaurants and much more, the building itself, listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1978, is a testament to how a company has stood the test of time by continuing to innovate, with quality and creativity at the center of everything. *
THE KOHLER FOUNDATION PRESERVATIONISTS OF ART AND DESIGN 50 | CGN | Spring/Summer 2022
The name Kohler is synonymous with plumbing, specifically: toilets, sinks and fixtures, and a stay at The American Club means as a guest you can “test-drive” Kohler products–a genius approach to brand-building. It’s tempting to not even leave the hotel room, but we were there for art. Exploring the campus I notice the very same materials utilized to make Kohler fixtures have been incorporated into various sculptures scattered around the grounds, from the sports center to the central shopping area. Over a dozen, glazed vitreous China waves by Natalie Clark were installed adjacent to the pool, while tiny, colorful fish by Carlos Alves also swam among the wall tiles. An expressive cast iron figure, by Steve Bradford/Martha Heavanston, was placed along the path into the tennis center. Each work I saw was by an artist who had been a resident of the Kohler Foundation’s arts / INDUSTRY program. These weren’t works purchased to furnish a hotel, they were an investment in artists made real, showcasing the visions artists bring to life when given access and meaningful support. Not all the art on view was installed around the resort. The Kohler Design Center is a destination in its own rite, and it’s open to the public as well as members of the design trade. Here Kohler fixtures, including cast iron bathtubs, are artfully displayed–including on the center’s famed “Great Wall of (vitreous) China.” The basement features a museum about the Kohler family and an overview of the arts / INDUSTRY residency program. Conceived in 1974 by former John Michael Kohler Art Center (JMKAC) Director Ruth DeYoung Kohler II, the program is both unusual and obvious, in an ‘A-ha!’ kind of way. arts / INDUSTRY offers artists time and space to focus on the creation of new work while in residence at the Kohler Co. factory in Pottery and /or Foundry. They are not limited by their medium–experience with clay or metal are not prerequisites. Much of the residency is technical, but what may begin as utility can spur creative thinking and maybe a little bit of magic.
After visiting the Design Center I checked in at the John Michael Kohler Art Center, an art space founded in 1967 that hosts extensive programming and exhibitions today. At the front desk, the staff reviewed photography protocols and then made a point of encouraging me to stop into each washroom on site. I was glad they did. In the late 1990s, JMKAC commissioned six artists to design, create and install the tiles, plumbing, and other components of the bathrooms, using these immersive hybrids of public and private space to convey the belief that art can rouse you from routine. Cynthia Consentino’s The Women’s Room is super girly – a physical top ten list of feminine stereotypes depicted in over 120 glaze paintings: lacy undergarments, hats, shoes, bras, stockings, jewelry, and handbags. On the other side of the Center, entering Merrill Mason’s Filling and Emptying you are greeted by grooming objects that have been cast in iron and tucked into marble nooks: perfume bottles, delicate gloves, fragile hand-mirrors and combs, each blackened and weighted like they could be effective weapons, if they weren’t used to prep for a fancy dinner party. These spaces, usually private and reserved for necessity, challenge not only the idea of objects and places we take for granted but also what a center for art can offer its artists as well as the visiting public. * While the focus of the arts / INDUSTRY program is innovation today, another concentration of Kohler Foundation is preserving the overwhelmingly expansive but undoubtedly mind blowing world of art environments, folk architecture, and collections by self-taught artists. Ruth Kohler, who died in late 2020, was instrumental in providing the leadership and vision that has brought Kohler Foundation to a preeminent position in the field of art environments. In 1983 when Ruth encountered the life’s work of Wisconsin artist Eugene Von Bruenchenhein, just two weeks after he had died, she was compelled to find a way to bring the prolific artist’s body of work to be seen in its entirety. It was a tall order, but soon after the Arts Center acquired 6,000 objects, including paintings and bone sculptures, marking the beginning of the Arts Center’s commitment to artist-built environments. It is one thing to seek out the best representations of an artist’s work, acquire them and make individual pieces part of a museum collection. It is another to track down, transport and reinstall thosands of expressions of an artist’s mind. Following last summer’s opening of an extention of the JMKAC, The Art Preserve, a three-story space that is the world’s largest collection of artist-built environments, the Foundation’s efforts make it a national leader in the preservation of and respect for these collections. There has been a lot of attention on “immersive” art experiences recently, but so much of that has been virtual, digital or just made for Instagram. At The Art Preserve, you’re invited to immerse yourself in the artist’s world, where you can see wild visions in-person: Loy Bowlin’s The Beautiful Holy Jewel Home from McComb, Mississippi is wallpapered in glitter and construction paper reminiscent of Moroccan tile; Von Bruenchenhein’s gold-painted chicken bone thrones are displayed, along with hundreds of the artist’s paintings;
dozens of Dr. Charles Smith’s concrete and tile figures make up a sort of miniature army. Complementing The Art Preserve itself is the center’s website, which provides additional context as well as images of the artist sites as they originally existed. I marveled at not just the obsessions of these individuals but the sheer scale of the institutional effort it must have taken to make these tableaux available to the public. It’s a one-ofa-kind experience to wind through Ray Yoshida’s recreated home and see his work, and that of his famous students– Roger Brown, Gladys Nilsson, Karl Wirsum and Jim Nutt– alongside Native American Kachinas, African masks, wooden figurines and folk art that influenced the Imagists. All of this is presented without typically verbose explanations, only identifications–another sign that this is an altogether different place with entirely different art. In 36 hours I completed a crash course on the Kohler family’s remarkable impact on industrial design and contemporary art. My experiences at Kohler were cohesive as well as disparate: an education on the large-scale weathered wood friezes of Bernard Langlais and his life in Maine followed a showroom viewing of a tower of sinks and toilets in every color. I played tennis and then wandered over to Emery Blagdon’s The Healing Machine at The Art Preserve. What began as a family getaway left an impression. Here, art informs everything and will continue to for generations, thanks to the success the Kohler company, and its Foundation, is paying forward.
A VIEW OF RAY YOSHIDA’S HOME COLLECTION. PHOTO: CGN
Spring/Summer 2022 | CGN | 51
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ARTISTS FRAME SERVICE • ARTISTSFRAME.COM PETERSON PICTURE CO • PETERSON–PICTURE.COM PRACTICAL ANGLE • PRACTICALANGLE.COM SEABERG PICTURE FRAMING • SEABERGFRAMING.COM
ART CONSULTANTS, PRIVATE DEALERS & APPRAISERS ADAMS APPRAISAL LLC • ADAMSAPPRAISALLLC.COM ART ADVISORY LTD • ARTADVISORYLTD.COM CHICAGO ART SOURCE • CHICAGOARTSOURCE.COM GB FINE ART • GBFINEART.COM LOVELL ART ADVISORY • SUZANNELOVELLINC.COM
ART HANDLING
Includes Transportation, Crating, Installation, Rigging and more CALLAHAN ART & ASSOCIATES • CALLAHANARTANDASSOCIATES.COM TERRY DOWD INC. • TERRYDOWD.COM THE ICON GROUP • ICONGROUP.US
ART SUPPLIES BLICK ART MATERIALS • DICKBLICK.COM
52 | CGN | Spring/Summer 2022
FRAMING
GROUPS/ART ASSOCIATIONS CHICAGO SCULPTURE EXHIBIT • CHICAGOSCULPTUREEXHIBIT.ORG CHICAGO SCULPTURE INTERNATIONAL • CHICAGOSCULPTURE.ORG RIVER NORTH DESIGN DISTRICT • RIVERNORTHDESIGNDISTRICT.COM
IMAGING SPEKTRA IMAGING, LLC • SPEKTRAIMAGING.COM
INSURANCE CHARTWELL INSURANCE SERVICES • CHARTWELLINS.COM WILLIS TOWERS WATSON, FINE ART, JEWELRY & SPECIE • WILLISTOWERSWATSON.COM/EN-US COMPLETE ART SERVICE LISTINGS AND DETAILS ARE AVAILABLE IN OUR PRINTED 2022 ANNUAL CGN ARTS GUIDE AND AT CHICAGOGALLERYNEWS.COM/ART-SERVICES
A N E X H I B I T I O N O F F I N E A R T W O R K S P R E S E N T E D BY
DIASPORAL RHYTHMS FOUNDED 2003 | CELEBRATING 20 YEARS | THE LOVE AFFAIR CONTINUES
THIS PROGRAM IS MADE POSSIBLE THROUGH SUPPORT OF CHICAGO CULTURAL TREASURES TRUST
APRIL 7—10 NAVY PIER THE INTERNATIONAL EXPOSITION OF CONTEMPORARY & MODERN ART
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