Artist Kay Rosen’s message to Chicago..?  GO DO GOOD.  Rosen was in the city this morning along with the Chicago Loop Alliance (CLA) crew to unveil and announce Chicago’s newest summer-long public art installation.

State Street light posts are donned with bright yellow banners displaying vertical text with Rosen’s slogan.  A huge painted mural of the text appears on the side of a building at State and Washington (above Old Navy).  The message also appears on select CTA stops, on mounted information boards, and is stretched horizontally above the width of State Street on the train platform at State / Lake.  Passersby are surrounded by the mantra of doing good deeds – like a direct marketing scheme, minus the subtext of buying.

A follow up to last year’s Tony Tasset Eye & Cardinal display, the CLA describes this second annual installation and the process of interpreting it in three stages – seeing, reading, and performance.  At first glance, the broken up characters (G, D, O) look very similar and sometimes are not immediately readable.  Once the viewer recognizes and reads the full phrase, “Go Do Good”, the final phase of the experience can happen when the viewer takes that message with them and acts upon it.  Rosen hopes “the message will encourage good deeds and gestures, large and small, public and private, and that viewers will act out these words on a daily basis.”

The Go Do Good movement aims to connect art to action and will focus on three areas of quality education over the summer including reading, health, and school preparation.  An initiative of the CLA and in association with United Way of Metro Chicago, this project was created to prepare Chicago’s kids to succeed in school and encourage youth to contribute to their communities and workforce, and to foster support and outreach.  Visit GoDoGoodChicago.com for donation information, sponsor partnerships and a tally of good deeds.  (Also check out the city’s progress at the good deeds barometer between Madison & Washington on State Street!)

A midwest-based artist from Texas, Kay Rosen has been exhibited nationally and internationally and is known for her text-heavy paintings, drawings, collages and installations that play on the connection between language and imagery.  

Left: Ty Tabing, Executive Director, Chicago Loop Alliance.  Right: Kay Rosen

The demolition of the last high-rise building at the notorious Cabrini-Green housing projects (1230 N. Burling) on the city’s near-north side, which began earlier this week, continues with a poetic public light art installation titled Project Cabrini Green. 

The installation, conceived by artist/educator Jan Tichy, is a community-based project involving 134 LED lights (one for each apartment in the building) that flicker and are visible in the evenings.  Throughout the four-week demolition period, the lights will eventually be destroyed along the famous building that houses them.

This project has been in the works for months.  Brainstorming and collaborating with 20 students from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC), Tichy held workshops with a number of different local youth programs including Cabrini Connections, Marwen, After School Matters Creative Writing Program at Gallery 37, and ThaBrigade Stamps – Cabrini Green Marching Band. 

For the past few months, the groups discussed public and light art, concepts of home, community and demolition; which resulted in an SAIC-developed computer program that translated sound to a system of light patterns used to express some of those ideas.  With the lights now in place in the vacant apartments, viewers can watch the illuminated spaces as the light bounces and flickers between floors and units.

The Museum of Contemporary Art is partnering with the project and will be projecting live-feed footage from the site, at street-level on the corner of Pearson and Mies Van der Rohe, so the video will be visible at night.  A voice/light-activated model of the building will also accompany the installation with text and audio from the students. 

For more information on this project and to see live footage of the site, visit: www.projectcabrinigreen.org.

The City of Chicago recently announced upcoming public art project opportunities for artists. You may download information and an application here: http://bit.ly/g9KZZg

Many people in the art world bring up the Percent for Art Ordinance in Chicago from time to time, and the time to pay attention is now, when new projects and opportunities come up for artists. According to the City's website, "In 1978, the Chicago City Council unanimously approved the Percent for Art Ordinance, which stipulates that a 1.33% of the cost of constructing or renovating municipal buildings and public spaces be devoted to original artwork on the premises; it also stipulates that at least half of the commissions be awarded to Chicago area artists to provide opportunities to the local arts community. At that time, Chicago was one of the first municipalities, and the largest, to legislate the incorporation of public art into its official building program. Today, there are more than 200 similar programs throughout the United States, due in large part to the success of the Chicago ordinance."  It's an ordinance that's not perfect, but it's been a key part of our cultural development and a strong, beneficial link between the art and corporate worlds.  Together with the Chicago Public Art Program, the ordinance has brought more than 700 works of art to our city's public areas for all to enjoy.

Details about the latest opportunities may be found online. Contact the City for more info.  

A map of Chicago's Public Art may be found here. Let us know what some of your favorite public art works are.

Virginio Ferrari, Being Born, 1983, stainless steel, 25' x 25' x 20', Intersection of Ohio & Orleans Sts, City of Chicago Public Art Collection

For more info, visit the City's website or contact:

Benjamin Kelner
Communications Specialist
Chicago Office of Tourism and Culture
312-744-8948
www.ChicagoCulturalCenter.org

Paul Klein has worn many hats in Chicago's gallery scene, owning a gallery, Klein Art Works, many years ago, and eventually playing the role of curator for McCormick Place West's permanent Chicago artist exhibition. For the past several years, Klein has written a free, straight forward email newsletter called The Art Letter. Klein visits galleries and musems, sees shows and gives a quick, honest, personal assessment of what he enjoys and thinks others should make sure they see. 

Klein's latest project is called Klein Artist Works - a project at least I haven't seen anyone else attempt in Chicago.  Klein's site describes the course as "A series of potent webinars and in-person meetings with Experts. Everything will be covered in 10 to 12 weeks. The course repeats 3 times a year. You have 12 months, at your own pace, to complete the course. There are no exams or tests - just your career."  You do pay a fee, and the idea is that no matter how many books you've read, blogs you've perused, or panels you've attended, you need a single person to present you with a road map to becoming a more connected, professional and hopefully successful working artist.  You meet other artists, visit studios, museums, get one on one time in gallery and collector's home visits.  And to be totally in keeping with these busy, technological times, you can participate in webinars.  And this next one on Thursday, March 10 @ 7 PM sounds like a big ticket.

I'd venture to say that more people in Chicago's art world know the name Paul Klein than they do Jerry Saltz, but I could be wrong. Saltz has been nomintaed for the Pulitzer Prize in criticism three times, and he's been the head art crtic for New York magazine since 2006.  He's consulted on the Whitney Biennale, and most recently, been a tough judge on Bravo's reality art show, Work of Art.  And, he's married to Roberta Smith, the chief art critic and career maker at the New York Times.  So, a webinar with Saltz, and Chicago artist Lynn Basa (always a pleasure), could be big time.  Even if you're not an artist, the dialogue should be really interesting and revealing. (Note: there is a $100 fee to participate in these webinars, or to access old recordings.)

That's my plug - I think what Klein is doing is really interesting, and I'd love to see it launch the careers of hundreds of artists, but even if that wish does not come true, in the mean time, Klein's helping people realize, as well as access, the many voices of wisdom, experience and encouragement that are out there for artists today.  If you've been a part of the course or have any feedback on Klein's concept, I'd love to hear it!

Last week, the Chicago Loop Alliance (CLA) announced plans for this summer’s follow up to the unforgettable, gigantic Eye, by Tony Tasset, that stood in Chicago’s Pritzker Park at State/Van Buren last year.  Tasset’s Eye was installed in July of 2010, and was on view to passersby through October. 

This summer, Chicagoans and visitors to the city will see work by Midwest-based, Kay Rosen, the artist that the CLA has commissioned to create this year’s Art Loop 2011 installment.  Rosen’s work has been exhibited nationally and internationally and she is known for her text-heavy paintings, drawings, collages and installations, playing on the connection between language and imagery.   

No specific dates have been released for this installment; see www.chicagoloopalliance.com for more information.

Art Loop Open was another product of the CLA (in collaboration with Chicago Artists’ Coalition) that took place last October.  The inaugural juried art showcase / competition paired artists with ten venues throughout the loop, and depended on public votes to determine the top pieces from over 200 artists, for a variety of prizes. 

To increase awareness and to further engage the art community, the CLA announced they will partner once again with the Chicago Artists’ Coalition, but will expand their partnership to include MMPI’s Art Chicago and NEXT; Art Loop Open will next be held in 2012. 

Tony Tasset, Eye, Chicago Installation, July-October 2010

Yours/Ours, 2010, Collection Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Photography © Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Photographer: Nathan Keay; http://www.kayrosen.com/work.html

Hi, Highway billboard, Pennsylvania; http://www.kayrosen.com/work.html

Blurred, wall painting, MCA Chicago, 2004/Second Street Gallery, Charottesville, Virginia; http://www.kayrosen.com/work.html

S words, 1994, 13" x 19"; Oil Shtick, 2002, oil stick on paper, 8" x 10"; http://www.kayrosen.com/work.html