<html><head></head><body><figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721419059/bij2zm7ylqt8jqnvtspu.jpg"><figcaption>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.&nbsp;</figcaption></figure>&nbsp;By GINNY VAN ALYEAPrior 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? Nick Cave has done his own <a href="https://mcachicagostore.org/collections/nick-cave-forothermore/products/nick-cave-mz-wallace-tote">exclusive version</a> for his show that just opened at the MCA. Hebru Brantley and Virgil Abloh also did their own capsule collections and pop-ups at the museum.&nbsp;Museum gift shops are now just the beginning.&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721419060/mp14nzxmayzx13tgnbtu.jpg"><figcaption>The exclusive, limited-edition MZ Wallace × Nick Cave Truth Be Told Large Metro Tote Deluxe is inspired by Cave’s thought-provoking public artwork of the same name along with his immersive Soundsuit sculptures. The tote is rendered in his vibrant mixed-media prints and is accompanied by three accessory pouches in complimentary prints. 100% of the proceeds support educational programs at the MCA and Facility Foundation. $325 before member discount.&nbsp;</figcaption></figure>&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721419060/v33vfm9ahygwpygbhr4c.jpg"><figcaption>Swap out your ladies luncheon Hermès for the&nbsp; conversational Orkideh Torabi (Iranian, b. 1979) Peach House Scarf, $160.00 at the MCA&nbsp;</figcaption></figure>&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721419062/oetcifgu5fvsmkefvmdk.jpg"><figcaption>Edie Fake, Mural 2 Silk Scarf, $160 at the MCA</figcaption></figure>&nbsp;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.&nbsp;The Art Institute has <a href="https://shop.artic.edu">two gift shops</a> – 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.&nbsp;<a href="https://shop.driehausmuseum.org">The Richard H. Driehaus Museum</a> 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.&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721419062/usvlhqttxrddz711ygog.jpg"><figcaption>Georges Seurat, A Sunday on La Grande Jatte—1884 Socks, the Art Institute of Chicago, $16.00 &nbsp;</figcaption></figure>&nbsp;*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.&nbsp;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.&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721419063/l5r1viluckcqssi7zt9l.jpg"><figcaption>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.</figcaption></figure>&nbsp;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. <a href="http://www.lizworks.net">LIZWORKS</a>, 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&nbsp; 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.&nbsp;&nbsp;</body></html>

Gift Shop Coveting: Branded Artistic Collaborations Banish the Impulse Buy

<html><head></head><body><figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721419059/gkhkshsv4p7ctvecpko1.jpg"><figcaption>Front cover and spine, THE CLIP-ON METHOD, 2021, Courtesy: Cady Noland, Rhea Anastas and Galerie Buchholz.</figcaption></figure>&nbsp;By JASON PICKLEMANTHE 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.&nbsp;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.&nbsp;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.&nbsp;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.&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721419060/qiqv3th2x0jkqypphmzs.jpg"><figcaption>Cady Noland, Untitled, 1994, as reproduced on pages 208-209 in THE CLIP-ON METHOD, 2021. Courtesy: the artist, Rhea Anastas and Galerie Buchholz.</figcaption></figure>&nbsp;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.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. &nbsp;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 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 for re-composition within Quark Express, an unusual, and now uncommon, choice in digital layout software for book production.&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721419060/dkpg4k6tjzuruewjwwlw.jpg"><figcaption>(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. &nbsp;</figcaption></figure>&nbsp;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 re-prints 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 &nbsp; 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.&nbsp;</body></html>

Book Report: THE CLIP-ON METHOD

<html><head></head><body>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&nbsp; &nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721419053/imfoajra8vd6wpseuesk.jpg"><figcaption>Kenny Nguyen, Eternal Thread Series No. 4, at Alma Art and Interiors</figcaption></figure><a href="https://www.facebook.com/Alma-Art-Interiors-101686555682040/">ALMA ART &amp; INTERIORS</a>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 &amp; 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&nbsp; artists from Chicago and around the world in dozens of mixed media vignettes.&nbsp;A grand opening for Threaded Together is set for Friday, May 6. Alma has been extended through at least summer 2022.&nbsp;• 3636 S. Iron in Bridgeport&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721419054/atw9agvndvzq5xgncp7x.jpg"><figcaption>Randolph Market returns outdoors in the West Loop</figcaption></figure><a href="https://www.randolphstreetmarket.com">RANDOLPH STREET MARKET</a>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 Pop-Ups downtown in Chicago on Michigan Ave. In 2022 once again the market will offer “continuous live entertainment, food, booze &amp; BIG FUN,” says founder Sally Schwartz.&nbsp;Jul 30/31, Sept 24/25, Nov 12/13, Dec 3/4, 10/11, 17/18&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721419054/ilxlkdevmjwfd4fmj0b0.jpg"><figcaption>57th St Art Fair in Hyde Park</figcaption></figure><a href="https://www.57thstreetartfair.org">57TH STREET ART FAIR</a>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 •&nbsp;June 4/5, 2022&nbsp;</body></html>

Big is Back: What Once Was Lost in 2020, We Now Have Found in 2022

<html><head></head><body><figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721419036/iykhd2uxyyucem3ykzhn.png"><figcaption>Image: mundissima/Shutterstock.com</figcaption></figure>By GINNY VAN ALYEAAfter consuming so much virutal content and aligning business practices to accomodate the shift to a more engaging and receptive online marketplace these past two years, which of these now entrenched vestiges will continue in 2022 and beyond? Many of the design and digital access features created in response to COVID’s immediate market limitations–online viewing rooms, for instance–now seem suited for the long term. Gallery clients, from the comfort of home, are able to ask galleries for custom decks to review specific artists or art that meets certain design parameters. Timed access for appointments or events creates just enough of a sense of urgency to spur collectors to show up and engage with art. In 2020 the virtual became necessary. In 2022 I sense it’s inescapable. As technology gets better faster and touches every level of our lives, it’s becoming inextricable from everything from entertainment to finance, to art. That is something we should pay close attention to. &nbsp;&nbsp;AN AUCTION REVEALED THE MARKETIt was just over a year ago, in March 2021, when Christie’s launched non-fungible tokens into the international art consciousness when it sold the first NFT, based purely on a digital work of art, ever offered by a major auction house for $69.3 million. “Everydays: the First 5,000 Days” by the artist Beeple was the the most-expensive NFT ever sold. The price was so shocking and the concept still so weird in many ways the sale itself didn’t seem real. Suddenly, art is not just available digitally. It is digital. Since the Beeple sale, NFTs have exploded beyond the auction house. What’s perhaps more eyepopping than a hammer price of more than $60 million is, as Christie’s shared on their website, the notion that NFTs have the potential to transform how we think about and establish creation as well as ownership, and not just of art but anything we can buy. The slipperiness of provenance and authenticity of physical art is moot with the symbiosis of digital art and its perpetual link to the blockchain.Sites like OpenSea and others specializing in crypto allow collectors and lookers to see what NFTs have been created (“minted”) and when, followed by when they have been sold and in what edition, and ultimately when they’re traded. Consider the value of this eight decades from now and what this chain could mean for any surprise sales or reappearances, particularly sinister ones such as from war time looting. &nbsp;“NFTs have proven to be a remarkable force in the art world,” says Gary Metzner, Sotheby’s Head of Office, Chicago, “opening up a whole new market for digital artists in such a short amount of time, while also providing a new avenue for established, more traditional artists to experiment in new forms.” Metzner elaborated on collector interest at Sotheby’s, “Since Sotheby’s first began NFT sales almost a year ago, we’ve seen a tremendous response from both digitally native collectors who are new to Sotheby’s, as well as collectors more accustomed to physical art. In a period of only about 8 months, Sotheby’s sales of NFTs hit $100 million, having never before explored this category; a remarkable feat for a 278-year-old auction house!”&nbsp;You’re only young once, which as we all know is its own major advantage. NFTs seem to live, for now, in the sandbox laboratory of contemporary artists (and of course celebrities)–undoubtedly because NFTs are a fresh, new medium. Many of the most active players are ones who speak the language of crypto art best, even if it’s outside the mainstream art market, much in the way street artists have been recognized and lauded in off-market circles long before they hang 3D art on white walls. NFTs are by no means limited to art. Says Metzner, “It is a very exciting time in the world of NFTs and the art market, as NFT application has only just begun, and there is much more to discover in how NFTs can be applied across a variety fields, like pop culture, entertainment, sports, and much more.”&nbsp;NFTS IN CHICAGOThis spring at EXPO CHICAGO will we see booths displaying monitors offering NFTs for sale at? Very likely. A /Dialogues panel titled Generative Art and NFTs, features artist and NFT evangelist Kenny Schachter. Schachter recently wrote on Artnet about teaming up with NFT designers to publicly raise money to benefit Ukraine through the launch of a collection entitled NFTUkraine and through NFT donations. He cited that in the first two weeks of the war against Russia, NFT sales had contributed $9 million in crypto currency, serving, also according to Artnet, as modern day war bonds.&nbsp;In general Chicago’s art community hasn’t prostrated to trends the way other cities’ have. Typically there is a wait-and-see appoach to anything that could seem flash-in-the-pan.&nbsp;Vertical Gallery owner Patrick Hull shared, “[Vertical hasn’t] yet participated in the release of a NFT, although we work with artists that have. I haven’t purchased a NFT -– I haven’t seen anything that I want to own -– but I actively follow the market. The industry is still in its early stages, so we will continue to evaluate if and when we will offer them.”Collector Tim Garvey, skeptical of the appeal of NFTs and value long term shared, “NFTs are a bit opaque to me; the notion feels cold and gimmicky. I don’t understand where the attraction lies – except to the sellers. I assume once this gold rush period is over, NFTs won’t hold much sway for the average collector or art-appreciator. The concept, as I understand it, has nothing to do with the underlying merit or impact of the work.”At least one gallery in Chicago’s Wicker Park–cheekily called imnotArt–is the city’s first brick and mortar space dedicated to NFTs, founded by a duo of collectors who opened a gallery to display the NFTs, first virtually, and now, physically once they began to build a collection.It doesn’t seem that long ago that curators and collectors were having conversations about how to maintain and conserve works such as video stills, some of which required periodic updates to new formats, for instance from VHS to DVD to thumb-drive. Will the named museum wings of the future even be built, or will they occupy future digital realms and metaverses of major institutions?&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721419037/p7bj2h4fe5dzfvpxwd6t.jpg"><figcaption>Immersive Van Gogh at Lighthouse ArtSpace Chicago</figcaption></figure>IMMERSIVE ARTStand in front of a painting. Think about when it was painted, who painted it, the colors, the medium, the image. Just put yourself in it–immerse yourself–for more than 30 seconds. When the world started to open up again, albeit in fits and starts following the initial phase of life during COVID, business owners and event organizers needed to do something to get people not just out of the house but willing to put down money for tickets.&nbsp;What tickets did they buy? 2021 in Chicago saw the raging success, and some puzzlement of more than a few in the local art market, of Immersive Van Gogh, a show that sold hundreds of thousands of tickets for $40 and up. It was essentially a sunflower and star-filled light show, where on some mornings you could do yoga. Immersive Van Gogh, appealed to everyone who wanted to get out and see something new, but familiar, and very colorful. Because of its digital nature, the experience ran in multiple cities, even much smaller markets, simultaneously. When it finished its Chicago run, Immersive Frida took its place– pausing only for a special edition, Immersive Shevchenko: Soul of Ukraine, that raised over $200,000 for Ukraine. There will undoubtedly be more editions, running through the list of the world’s most famous, and licensed, artists.&nbsp;The addiction to buzzy, fast moving tech-art experiences has the potential to overshadow the real thing–the works that inspired today’s reimagined art in the first place. Though the temptation won’t go away, maybe some works are better left as they are. The digital is here and everywhere, but a summer without restrictions could mean that you can also buy a regular old museum ticket. Stand in front of a photograph or an installation for longer than you normally would. Put down your phone. See what happens. When no one else is looking.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</body></html>

The Digital Overflow in Art: Viewing Rooms, NFTS and Immersive Experiences

<html><head></head><body><figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721419041/tijndvkfmwhy4yqta1wr.jpg"><figcaption>EXPO CHICAGO, 2019 Vernissage. Image by Cory Dewald Courtesy of EXPO CHICAGO &nbsp;</figcaption></figure>By BIANCA BOVA&nbsp;This April <a href="https://www.expochicago.com">EXPO CHICAGO</a> 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 purpose-built tent, still a novel choice of venue at the time. &nbsp;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.&nbsp;The following years saw Art Chicago subsumed in Artropolis,&nbsp; 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.&nbsp;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 &amp; 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.&nbsp;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.&nbsp;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.&nbsp;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.&nbsp;April in Chicago. Be here. Again.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.expochicago.com">Expochicago.com</a>&nbsp;</body></html>

Hello EXPO CHICAGO: A Fair Returns To Spring

<html><head></head><body><figure class="image image-style-side"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721419041/lm64wwmyjsxvbmqb6lhj.jpg"><figcaption>CGN publisher Ginny (Berg) Van Alyea on a trip to Chicago in 1994 – notice the Art Chicago banner by JNL Design in the background. Photo: Jo Sittenfeld</figcaption></figure>By GINNY VAN ALYEAFinally, 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.&nbsp;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.&nbsp;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 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.&nbsp;*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.&nbsp;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.&nbsp;I know now how lucky I am to be here. We all are.&nbsp;See you in the galleries and see you at the fair!&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721419042/ypn7uutt6zb2tvihnz3g.png"></figure><a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/print-subscriptions">To subscribe to the Spring/Summer 2022 Issue click here</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;</body></html>

Publisher's Letter: Spring In Chicago: What Once Was and Is Again

<html><head></head><body><figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721419022/h78hcfy1mhlb279bxqky.png"></figure><a href="https://news.wttw.com/2022/02/20/west-loop-mural-honors-late-fashion-designer-virgil-abloh">West Loop Mural Honors Late Fashion Designer Virgil Abloh</a>Chicago’s first mural honoring the late fashion designer Virgil Abloh is now standing in the West Loop’s Time Out Market.&nbsp;The work was curated by Levar Hoard of B_Line Projects, a local organization that works to reserve murals throughout the West Loop, and created by Rahmaan Statik. The mural uses several different graffiti styles, and Hoard says it not only reflects elements that inspired Abloh, but what he did creatively for the city.Via WTTW&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://news.artnet.com/art-world/judge-postpones-decision-henry-darger-estate-2077430">A Judge Tells Relatives of Henry Darger That There Are ‘Lots of Holes’ in Their Claim to the Late Artist’s Estate</a>A court hearing to determine the rightful heirs to the estate of reclusive Chicago artist Henry Darger,&nbsp;who died in 1973, has been delayed until May while the judge reviews documents brought by distant heirs of the artist.Christen Sadowski, one of the heirs, is seeking to wrest control of the estate from Darger’s former Wicker Park landlords, who have been the longtime stewards of the artist’s work.Via Artnet&nbsp;<a href="https://ew.com/tv/the-andy-warhol-diaries-trailer-ai-narration/">Hear an Andy Warhol A.I. voice narrate the trailer for new Netflix docuseries</a>Andy Warhol always dreamed of becoming a machine. The Andy Warhol Diaries, the new Netflix documentary series about the influential artist, honors that desire by using cutting-edge A.I. technology to resurrect a fascimile of Warhol's voice for the narration. You can see that voice in action via the exclusive trailer below.Via Entertainment Weekly&nbsp;</body></html>

What We're Reading: 2/24/22

<html><head></head><body><figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721419022/du9nmee6zfvpygh2sqrc.png"></figure>HATCH is a juried program for emerging and mid-career Chicago visual artists and curators. It offers the opportunity to produce collaborative exhibitions and strives to support an ecology of curatorial and artistic practice. Please read COVID-19 Update below (last updated 10/13/2020).&nbsp;How the HATCH residency worksOnce selected, we divide HATCH Artist Residents into groups of 4 to work with one Curatorial Resident. Selected artists will participate in a duo and 4-person exhibition organized by their HATCH Curatorial Resident. Each Artist Resident receives professional development through dynamic exhibitions, one-on-one studio visits with their curator, public programs, and community building to develop a sustainable creative practice.Through this unique hands-on experience and professional development program, Artist and Curatorial Residents develop valuable insight and experience in contemporary exhibition-making.&nbsp;HATCH at-a-Glance<ul><li>12 Artist Residents</li><li>3 Curatorial Residents</li><li>Each artist participates in one 2-person exhibition and one group exhibition</li><li>Each curator organizes three exhibitions</li></ul>&nbsp;Curators<a href="https://news.chicagoartistscoalition.org/t/i-l-chthuc-dlvzir-y/">Vasia Rigou</a> <a href="https://news.chicagoartistscoalition.org/t/i-l-chthuc-dlvzir-j/">Nicky Ni</a> <a href="https://news.chicagoartistscoalition.org/t/i-l-chthuc-dlvzir-t/">John H. Guevara</a> Artists<a href="https://news.chicagoartistscoalition.org/t/i-l-chthuc-dlvzir-i/">Becca Thomas</a> <a href="https://news.chicagoartistscoalition.org/t/i-l-chthuc-dlvzir-d/">Breanna Robinson</a> <a href="https://news.chicagoartistscoalition.org/t/i-l-chthuc-dlvzir-h/">Chloe Munkenbeck</a> <a href="https://news.chicagoartistscoalition.org/t/i-l-chthuc-dlvzir-k/">Eseosa Edebiri</a> <a href="https://news.chicagoartistscoalition.org/t/i-l-chthuc-dlvzir-u/">James Hosking</a> <a href="https://news.chicagoartistscoalition.org/t/i-l-chthuc-dlvzir-o/">Jessica Ferrer</a><a href="https://news.chicagoartistscoalition.org/t/i-l-chthuc-dlvzir-b/">Josué Esaú</a> <a href="https://news.chicagoartistscoalition.org/t/i-l-chthuc-dlvzir-c/">Luis Rodríguez Rosario</a> <a href="https://news.chicagoartistscoalition.org/t/i-l-chthuc-dlvzir-q/">María Antonia Villaseñor-Marchal</a> <a href="https://news.chicagoartistscoalition.org/t/i-l-chthuc-dlvzir-a/">Mariel Harari</a> <a href="https://news.chicagoartistscoalition.org/t/i-l-chthuc-dlvzir-f/">SUNGJAE LEE</a> <a href="https://news.chicagoartistscoalition.org/t/i-l-chthuc-dlvzir-z/">Yoonshin Park</a>CAC is pleased to announce HATCH 2022-23 Residents.&nbsp;HATCH is a juried program for emerging and mid-career Chicago visual artists and curators. It offers the opportunity to produce collaborative exhibitions and strives to support an ecology of curatorial and artistic practice.&nbsp;&nbsp;</body></html>

Meet the HATCH 2022-23 Residents

<html><head></head><body><figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418996/zhv7qwbero6jvq9njcvi.jpg"></figure>&nbsp;As 2021 comes to a close, we wanted to share some of CGN's top interviews, features and announcements from this past year. 2021 began with optimism, and we're ending it amidst a somewhat weird yet familiar place where we navigate new areas of the pandemic but we are still keeping a positive mindset for 2022. We are proud of our 2021 coverage of the many artists, collectors, dealers and other community members we spotlighted during this challenging and changing time.&nbsp;2021 saw a return to more coverage of exhibition previews and art world announcements. We profiled some of Chicago's most prolific and interesting artists and designers, and we highlighted a few very special art collectors and their collections.&nbsp;Below is a chronological summary of 2021's CGN features. You can read all the news of this past year <a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/news">here</a>.Thank you all as always for your vital support of CGN and its mission. We look forward to sharing even more news and events with you in 2022. The new annual Arts Guide is out the first week of the new year!&nbsp;– Ginny Van Alyea, CGN Publisher&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418997/fcjfbn8glyanqdvad7sa.jpg"></figure><a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/news/2021/1/olafur-eliasson-debuts-new-lake-michigan-inspired-cultural-landmark-at-willis-tower">Olafur Eliasson Debuts New Lake Michigan-Inspired Cultural Landmark at Willis Tower</a> – January 2021&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418998/ezh1uulmppz1iy1wfxy7.gif"></figure><a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/news/2021/5/taking-the-temperature-in-2021-how-is-it-actually-going-in-chicago-s-art-world">Taking the Temperature in 2021: How Is It Actually Going in Chicago's Art World?</a> – May 2021<h3>&nbsp;</h3>&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418999/lwxwfl2ba8icwcld9xbe.jpg"></figure><a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/news/2021/6/june-preview-art-auctions-and-a-return-to-parties">June Preview: Art Auctions and a Return to Parties</a> – June 2021&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721419000/gxfz5tpkyurcyx7nzbrs.gif"></figure>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/news/2021/5/frida-kahlo-timeless-at-the-cleve-carney-museum-of-art-a-transformative-exhibition-for-the-glen-ellyn-community">Frida Kahlo: Timeless, at the Cleve Carney Museum of Art. A Transformative Exhibition for the Glen Ellyn Community</a> – May 2021&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721419001/bjcptouhhsukzobvodea.gif"></figure><a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/news/2021/5/hurvin-anderson-s-artistic-translations-at-the-arts-club-of-chicago-ea7a466f-b0a2-4615-adc1-71bef9d59201">Hurvin Anderson's Artistic Translations at The Arts Club of Chicago</a> – May 2021&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721419001/hoiutnjofehhddzpdfhh.jpg"></figure><a href="Vibrant Art Enlivens a Home: Collectors Gary Metzner and Scott Johnson">Vibrant Art Enlivens a Home: Collectors Gary Metzner and Scott Johnson</a> – June 2021&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721419002/ry3dicqjb9rxajhpckhw.png"></figure><a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/news/2021/8/a-man-walks-into-a-museum-for-tony-fitzpatrick-2021-is-a-return-to-more-than-before">A Man Walks Into a Museum: For Tony Fitzpatrick, 2021 is a Return to More Than Before</a> – September 2021&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721419003/crorftuoihje8gwoy5lx.png"></figure>Stewards For Generations: The Neal Family's Influential Support for Black Artists– September 2021&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721419004/b5kgos1i6dxrcm81qnjm.jpg"></figure><a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/news/2021/9/inpursuit-of-bookish-things-audrey-niffenegger-on-building-artists-book-house-a-home-in-evanston">In Pursuit of Bookish Things: Audrey Niffenegger on Building Artists Book House a Home in Evanston</a> – September 2021&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721419005/kmvagh1wglnnusiev1qe.jpg"></figure><a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/news/2021/9/pooja-pittie-s-colorful-energy">Pooja Pittie's Colorful Energy</a> – September 2021&nbsp;&nbsp;</body></html>

CGN's 2021 News Highlights

<html><head></head><body>&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418988/vwptcjxldsbhtexqqguq.jpg"><figcaption>CGN Publisher Ginny Van Alyea</figcaption></figure>By GINNY VAN ALYEA2022 has a nice, balanced ring to it. It sounds like a skip, or a heartbeat. I hope that the way the year sounds when spoken aloud might just mean that it will be a lighter, fulfilling, year.&nbsp;During the weeks of production for this CGN Arts Guide, naturally we look ahead to what will come and what we will be different, usually better, than the preceding year. At the end of 2019 could not have fathomed the 2020 that was coming. At the end of 2020 we were grateful that galleries were open and still in business. Now, with a view of 2022 on the horizon, I’m an optimist. With the expectation that 2022 will be a good year, I’m most interested in what exactly will take shape and how we will settle into a landscape that is fully opened up following the challenges and limits of the past couple years. We can’t expect to do all that we did before the pandemic. The to-do list we had needs to be rewritten.I think 2022 will come with a broader acceptance–versus fear–of COVID in day-to-day life. Galleries and their collectors, along with museums, have come to appreciate appointments, ticketed entries and time set aside to intentionally view and consider art. Time, space and people are each very precious resources, so planning and making choices has become essential to everything, even more than before.&nbsp;Art fairs, long a much-loved, yet widely lamented, mainstay of the art market, will return in full this year. Many galleries and collectors will be grateful for their return and the exposure and sales they bring. Others will have decided they can do without them. Either way, regularly practicing being intentionally present in the real world, as opposed to the virtual one, is good.&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418989/wfo9ybqcd7w9cg1fai0z.jpg"><figcaption>Sarah Blood, "I'm So Fucking Tired" (installation), gold sequins, neon, fan, gold streamers, mixed media, variable dimensions, 2017. Courtesy Ken Saunders Gallery, Neon and Light Museum installation 2021</figcaption></figure>*&nbsp;Mid-way through 2021 my husband and I bought a house, moving our family from an apartment to a home with more room, including space for the CGN office. Moving is hard work – something I knew on one level but experienced on another. My optimism carried me a long way, but there was a point where being in between our familiar home of a decade and moving into another was unsettling. Nothing felt in place and the to-do list seemed insurmountable.&nbsp;One morning, right after we finally moved in, artist James Mesplé called saying he wanted to stop by the house. James was one of the only people who actually stopped into CGN somewhat regularly over the past few years, and I had worried that leaving the office would mean I wouldn’t get his dear, friendly visits any more. But James made it a point to come to the house, and he was bearing a gift. He shared that it was a tradition when he was growing up that whenever someone would move to a new home, all the relatives and friends would arrive with a little something in a red envelope as a sign of good luck and as a means of “feathering the nest.” James told me you never know what you’re going to need, but you’ll always need something. His kindness was exactly what I needed – a sign for the year ahead, one in a new nest, and one, hopefully, for a new post-COVID world, where we will gather the feathers and settle into new ways of doing many things together.&nbsp;&nbsp;</body></html>

Publisher's Letter: 2022

<html><head></head><body><figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418973/dlvweb8olufj8pjylqd2.jpg"></figure>By GINNY VAN ALYEA2021 is racing along, and it's hard to believe we're looking at the end of another unusual year. Despite ups and downs and many changes in the local as well as global art world – including the absence, for the most part, of international art fairs – there have undoubtedly been opportunities and changes for innovation. After all, ours is a creative community.&nbsp;When dealer Kimberly Oliva knew that this year's Intersect Chicago (formerly SOFA CHICAGO) was not going to take place, she drew on her own art history, connections and experience in the vintage market to come up with a new event and creative gathering.&nbsp;Alma, Art and Interiors is an exhibition of 30 leading Chicago artists, presented by Oliva Gallery and Architectural Anarchy. Exploring contemporary art alongside distinct antiques and modern design, Alma, Art and Interiors reimagines the gallery as the spirit of the home. In 18,000 sq. ft. of 20th century loft space, Kimberly Oliva of Oliva Gallery and Gosia Korsakowski of Architectural Anarchy have curated dozens upon dozens of vignettes, each consisting of a few pieces, drawn from a variety of artistic disciplines and time periods — antique furniture, vintage lighting, modern ceramics, contemporary painting, fiber artists, photography, sculpture wood work, metal art, and more.&nbsp;Rather than a traditional gallery setup, the choice to stage mixed media vignettes rescues the works from seeming isolated and spiritless. Furniture and ceramics paired with visual art and vintage lighting produces the effect of a living home. “An interior without art is like a place without soul. We want to create the feeling of people who live there,” Gosia explains. “A painting or a sculpture brings another level to every home, and each vignette invites you to visualize the spirit of your own home, in all its levels.”Beyond returning spirit to the gallery, Alma, Art and Interiors also restores the highly missed conveniences of in-person furniture and art dealings, following more than a year of show cancellations, supply-chain delays, and exorbitant freight costs. “I’ve been holding back my premier pieces in hopes of the return of large scale exhibitions, and Alma is a vision of what I would’ve exhibited if SOFA — now Intersect Chicago — had taken place at Navy Pier in 2020 and 2021,” says Kimberly Oliva. “Alma is the very latest extension of the Chicago arts community that I’ve fostered at Oliva Gallery.”&nbsp;With exhibitions no longer stuck in the midst of an indefinite hiatus, all of the art and vintage furniture at Alma, Art and Interiors is available for cash and carry. Works include ceramics from Nathan Mason, Chris Heck, Zachary E. Weber, and Louise Pappageorge; fiber artists Melissa Leandro, Yasmin Spiro, and Macus Alonso; sculptures from Mia Capodilupo, Beth Lefauve, and Salvador Dominguez; wood work from Michelle Peterson Albandoz; metal artist Eric Gushee; photography from Sean Williams; paintings from Tony Fitzpatrick, Thomas Masters, Lucca Colombelli, Cormac Steinbock, Madeleine Finley, Juan Arango Palacios, Griffin Plumer, William Schaeuble, Nathalie Gribinski, Stanley Dean Edwards, Marc Benja, Jane Barthès, Anthony Adcock, Valeria Terrazas, Melissa Leandro, Bojana Ilic-Bojitt, Curtis Anthony Bozif, Sarah Dupré, and Walter A. Fydryck.&nbsp;•&nbsp;Years ago Oliva got her start selling out of a vintage red Cadillac at Chicago's Randolph Street Market and quickly became a veteran dealer of the city's market scene. Alma, Art and Interiors brings her career full circle. As a young dealer herself, she worked hard to create a network of collectors and fellow dealers to achieve her dream of selling vintage full time. Fast forward to 2016 she launched <a href="www.olivagallery.com">Oliva Gallery</a>, a contemporary fine art gallery in Logan Square. Oliva continues to launch vintage and modern art as well as consulting, trade shows and exhibits across the country.She told CGN, “Gosia and I met at Chicago Randolph Market over 13 years ago. As a source for Bill Rawski from Zap Props, the largest Prop House in the Midwest Gosia appreciated the vintage offerings I presented. We became clients, colleagues and friends.”Oliva has also kept up with Randolph Street Market's Sally Schwartz, who shares, "For anyone who loves both contemporary art and one of a kind vintage furnishings and decor, ALMA looks like the place where one gets to witness the combined talents of two pros creating exciting stage sets -- I can't wait for the eye candy!&nbsp;&nbsp;•<a href="mailto:AlmaArtInteriors@gmail.com?subject=Alma%20CGN">AlmaArtInteriors@gmail.com</a>1.224.522.4525Alma, Art and Interiors opens Saturday, November 6, 11:00am - 7:00pm3636 S. Iron St., Chicago, IL 60609Additional shows will be on November 7, 11:00am - 5:00pm, and the following weekend (Nov. 13–14) during the same hours. Visit by appointment any day of the week throughout November.&nbsp;&nbsp;Wine and cocktail service will be provided during the first two weekends. A portion of opening night sales will go to the Infant Welfare Society.&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418974/yxpy58onemcko2x00t8x.jpg"></figure></body></html>

Dealer Kimberly Oliva Adds her Own Endeavor to a Changing Fall Calendar: Alma, Art and Interiors: 30 Artists. One Soul 

<html><head></head><body><figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418952/kep4rtjdrz4nauqomaqd.jpg"><figcaption>One of two collections on permanent display is the Early Wisconsin collection, unveiled in 1998 upon Wisconsin’s sesquicentennial. Photo: Jamie Stukenberg Photography</figcaption></figure>By JACQUELINE LEWIS<a href="https://wisconsinart.org">The Museum of Wisconsin Art (MoWA)</a> is celebrating their 60th Anniversary in 2021. Located in West Bend, Wisconsin, MoWA started as a small, hometown gallery and has flourished into one of the leading regional art museums in the country, dedicated to showcasing the art of Wisconsin artists as well as offering a dynamic cultural community just outside of Milwaukee. Back in 1961, founder Melitta Hedwig Suder-Pic opened the institution with her two daughters in honor of her uncle, artist Carl von Marr. At the time not even the founders could have imagined the museum’s future growth.The Museum of Wisconsin Art is commemorating this achievement throughout this year with exhibitions and activities focused on female success. Exhibitions and events celebrate their founder and countless other women visionaries of Wisconsin.This July they celebrated with a community Birthday Bash, in conjunction with the opening of their new exhibitions Claiming Space: A New Century of Visionary Women and Carey Watters: Tiny Cuts. The opening celebration relaunched studio classes at the museum, along with an artist meet and greet – a fitting event that captured the sentiment of the moment, the survival of the museum during a challenging year, and offered a look towards the future: 60 years, and going strong.&nbsp;Claiming Space is on view through October 3, 2021. Just as Melitta Hedwig Suder-Pic funded visionary women of her time, this exhibition honors Wisconsin’s current cohort of innovative women, showcasing art from female artists across the state who work in an array of media. The artists can finally “claim space” in museums that were historically dominated by men.Tiny Cuts is on view until September 12, 2021 and displays Carey Watters’ detailed paper reliefs that capture her feelings of distress and marginalization. The tiny pieces of paper were painstakingly cut from their original source and brought to new life as fragments hanging onto a new source. Watters created the works to demonstrate the difficulty in finding emotional and physical support in society, especially as a woman.&nbsp;MoWA is located at 205 Veterans Ave. West Bend, WIVisit <a href="https://wisconsinart.org">wisconsinart.org</a> for information&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418953/epqpxbhgmmaodah7c5ea.jpg"><figcaption>Beth Lipman’s InEarth, Glass, wood, metal, paint, adhesive, 2017, is part of Mowa’s permanent collection, as well as 5,000 other works of art. Photo: Jamie Stukenberg Photography &nbsp;</figcaption></figure>&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418954/fafdaujgujrg243mpecf.jpg"><figcaption>Works on view at the opening of Carey watters: Tiny Cuts, on view through September 12</figcaption></figure>&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418954/niyanhv2ncl0ftxyhkgt.jpg"><figcaption>Visitors to Claiming Space: A New Century of Visionary Women, on view at mowa through October 3. &nbsp;</figcaption></figure><figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418955/vupjfkbmnnvpb75xumr1.jpg"><figcaption>MoWA is located less than 40 miles from Milwaukee, and 125 miles from Chicago &nbsp;</figcaption></figure></body></html>

Six Decades Proud: The Museum Of Wisconsin Art Marks a Milestone of Celebrating Local Artists

<html><head></head><body><figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418944/y1jvh2ovohnifrpdnffv.jpg"><figcaption>The 2020 Youth Art Winner displays her work at the Chicago Urban Art Retreat Center’s Youth Fest &nbsp;</figcaption></figure>&nbsp;By Jacqueline LewisIt’s difficult, maybe impossible now, to go one day without seeing heartbreaking news about violence and fear rippling through Chicago’s underserved neighborhoods. However, the plague of crime and grief in the city can obscure notable successes borne from a great deal of resilient creativity and a love of culture.Many collectors and arts patrons in Chicago, as well as around the world, are familiar with the groundbreaking art and community efforts of artist Theaster Gates, who has founded multiple arts organizations in areas facing challenges foreign to most neighborhoods in the city – Gates’s Dorchester Art &amp; Housing Collaborative, Chicago Arts &amp; Industry Commons, <a href="https://rebuild-foundation.org/chicago/">Rebuild Foundation</a>, and the Stony Island Arts Bank have become dynamic spaces for artists as well as their communities.&nbsp;CGN wanted to share the missions and efforts of several additional area arts organizations, many of which have been operating for decades to support Chicago’s youth one student at a time. Each one is devoted to cultivating and facilitating impactful programs while utilizing arts education as a vehicle through which to bolster underserved communities. By harnessing their energies towards furthering their education through creativity, who knows, one of the students in these programs could become the next Theaster Gates.&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418944/nsltm5y5mhj9fjtf3d7h.png"></figure><a href="https://marwen.org">Marwen</a>Located at the top edge of River North, Marwen offers free visual arts classes and college career programming to Chicago’s middle and high schoolers, with courses ranging from color theory to photography to social responsibility. The organization has recently launched The Artist Roster, which exhibits art from local emerging and teaching artists and alumni.Marwen sees art as a vehicle for social change, leadership development, and a path to employment and seeks to inspire young people to build their future through art.A former student testified, “Marwen made me more comfortable with myself and helped me become more involved in my community.”&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418945/ul77blsxs04p2mpyl9na.jpg"></figure><a href="https://www.urbanartretreat.com">Chicago Urban Art Retreat Center&nbsp;</a>North Lawndale’s Chicago Urban Art Retreat Center (CUARC) offers workshops, women’s retreats, and volunteer opportunities, in addition to free youth programs that work with students where they are, at any age, and whether or not they are in school.&nbsp;Director and Board President Dianna C. Long shared a story with CGN about the program’s impact on just one student, emphasizing that tangible successes are what these organizations hope to accomplish.“Demarcus and his older brother Chris came into our art program when they were 6 and 7 years-old. Demarcus clearly enjoyed making art. I remember we were working on writing and illustrating a little book about family for each child, and Demarcus was very frustrated. When I offered to help, he told me that he could not spell or write. I had him tell his story to me so I could put the words into his book and he made the pictures. He revealed that this dad was in prison, and his mom was in a drug treatment center. He and his siblings were living with his grandmother. &nbsp;After a year, I noticed that Chris no longer came to art, and Demarcus told me Chris had joined a gang and had also said he was too old for art. Demarcus learned to read and write, and he continued to enjoy making art. Quite a long time later, a very tall Demarcus came to the door with his family for our Christmas giveaway. I didn’t recognize him, but he remembered me. It was a tearful reunion. I was so happy to see him. He never joined a gang or been in trouble with the law.”&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418946/gkkjoh48ibkg6l4fkm2j.jpg"></figure><a href="https://www.lbpacademy.org">Little Black Pearl Art &amp; Design Academy</a>Little Black Pearl Art &amp; Design Academy is a 40,000 square foot center serving the youth of Kenwood, Woodlawn, and Bronzeville. Since 2011 Little Black Pearl has combined art and more formal education, focusing on STEAM studies and prioritizing creativity, culture, and entrepreneurship skills.The organization believes that “no gift is as precious as a child.” Because students entrust their hopes, needs, questions, and talents to their leaders, in turn, LBP attests they must guide, support, and challenge them to reach their full potential. Through programs like Arts = Smarts, and by exhibiting student art for sale, LBP offers its students opportunities to pursue a career in the arts.Aware of the challenges urban youth face LBP aims to provide a safe environment led by positive role models who offer can offer students a physical and emotional alternative in which to creatively explore instead of turning to more destructive outlets.&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418947/rujlbnrox25rqsamchuq.webp"></figure><a href="https://www.skyart.org">SkyArt</a>SkyArt, based on Chicago’s South Side, offers visual art programs for students 5–24 years old and brings consistent and free art education to areas of Chicago with few other cultural opportunities.&nbsp;What started as a passion project with one employee and 18 students has flourished into a bustling organization whose mission is to “transform the lives of young people who call these underserved parts of the city home.” Classes include cultural field trips and a year-long program for serious art students called Project 3rd Space.Studio programs utilize an approach called SkyWay, which blurs the lines of formal art education and the less subjective experience of art-making. SkyArt also runs school and community programs that venture out to classrooms and other community venues, bringing the art directly to the students. A beautiful artist garden on site covers four city lots.&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418947/iaya5sxqwiiv3bp9gugx.jpg"></figure><a href="https://thefcac.org">Firehouse Community Arts Center</a>In 2003 Pastor Phil Jackson hosted hip-hop services for young adults in North Lawndale. After noticing that people with a passion for the arts were coming from all over the city, Pastor Phil began the early stages of Firehouse. With a mission to “interrupt the cycle of violence among youths in North Lawndale through the power of the arts” Firehouse offers year-round arts programming as well as mentorship and career development opportunities.Using what they call the Theory of Change, Firehouse guides participants to discover their worth and mission in a safe, loving space while sparking an interest in the arts and working to prevent violence by channeling art and creativity. For Firehouse, the goal is for students discover their life’s purpose and forage their own path while halting violence cycles.&nbsp;</body></html>

Art in Action: Supporting Chicago’s At-Risk-Youth

<html><head></head><body><figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418944/pettrawdjc62qjrqxnes.jpg"><figcaption>Ray Johnson c/o, front cover with orange ink &nbsp;</figcaption></figure>By JASON PICKLEMAN&nbsp;It’s a wonderful thing that museums continue to create well-produced exhibition catalogs. Blockbusters come and go, but what remains after these shows are gone are the collected photographs, images, and essays reproduced, printed and bound in the volumes that carry the exhibition title. To that end, I present for your consideration Ray Johnson c/o, a marvelous monograph available in advance of the exhibition at the <a href="https://www.artic.edu/exhibitions/9300/ray-johnson-c-o">Art Institute of Chicago</a> of the same name.&nbsp;Edited and curated by Caitlin Haskell and Jordan Carter, Ray Johnson c/o measures 9-inches wide, 12-inches tall, and has a spine width of just more than 1-inch. With a soft cover, artfully folded, the 376-page body feels casual in the hands thanks to the recurrent use of a kraft-color text weight sheet (possibly 70#) that is gently textured on one side, but smoother on the other. It is interesting to note that the images printed on this paper have different levels of clarity and snap depending on which textured side the work is reproduced: just look at the differing density of the black ink on pages 6 &amp; 8, for example. Not that this matters, as Johnson’s work only rarely relies on reproductive verisimilitude. Suffice it to say, the kraft-colored pages give the catalog the air of a vintage store find, a retro suggestion of aged paper and graphic pluck.What is not printed on this kraft paper is printed on an uncoated natural white text weight sheet (possibly 80# with modest show-through). These two papers alternate every 8, 16, 24 or 32 pages creating the visual equivalent of skip and hum. I mention this because the experience of looking at this book is constantly framed by this design decision. The kraft colored pages are mostly dedicated to vintage-looking reproductions of Johnsonian ephemera: letters, collages, drawings, envelopes—the remains of an epistolary exchange. The natural white text pages contain twenty-one short essays, easily digestible, and amounting to a veritable “Ray Johnson Reader”, which, in total, present a strikingly spot-on overview of one of the most wily artists of the 20th Century.&nbsp;The book and exhibition chronicle the 55 year artist-collector relationship between Johnson and his patron/archivist William S. Wilson (commonly referred to, and written as: Bill). The collection spans many thousands of works which were painstakingly saved, filed and inventoried by Wilson. Organized into a series of more than 175 three-ring binders containing transparent plastic sleeves, the collection has entered the Art Institute of Chicago’s permanent collection and will be on view this November. The exhibition in the Modern Wing promises to be an eye opening affair luxuriating in the flotsam and jetsam of aged paper, hand-addressed envelopes, canceled stamps, and cheeky turns of phrase.Johnson’s artwork is all play. Suggestion, innuendo, and mischief seem to be Johnson’s creative repartee. Conventional images are often captioned or titled in such a way as to develop new readings, often sly, humorous, or tawdry. Along with an ever-growing cadre of personal glyphs (bunnies, ducks, snakes, buttons, phalluses), Johnson détourned the most conventional source material into the equivalent of visual koans with attendant instructional dictates.&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418944/maysa6di3gb6zhpa4wuj.jpg"><figcaption>Ray Johnson c/o, interior spread with 3-ring binder, pages 198-199 &nbsp;</figcaption></figure>&nbsp;Though he showed with the New York gallery Feigen for many years starting in 1967, the bulk of Johnson’s artistic practice skirted the gallery market place; he seemingly preferred mailing his art to friends and colleagues in lieu of pursuing substantive exhibition opportunities. Fabled stories circulate of Johnson’s reluctance to give his gallerist-admirers the pleasure of exhibiting his work. Often, given the opportunity to exhibit or perform, Johnson would produce what he called “a nothing”, and often mistaken as such.&nbsp;The book, Ray Johnson c/o, was designed by Irma Boom, a rock star in the world of exhibition catalog design. When you go see the Rolling Stones you don’t tell Mick Jagger how or what to sing: he can sing whatever the hell he wants, because he’s Mick fucking Jagger. Likewise, if you hire Irma Boom to design your exhibition catalog, you let her do whatever the hell she wants. She’s Irma fucking Boom. For the most part, the team behind the Ray Johnson c/o catalog has given Boom full creative license to interpret and present Johnson afresh. With that freedom, she has delivered a catalog that is gallopingly eccentric, and novel in a thoughtfully sensitive manner with an artistically commiserate wit to keep up with the creative dexterity of the book’s namesake. The catalog is beyond excellent. You should buy one immediately. I paid $60 for mine.&nbsp;Stylistically, the book is adventurous, with graphic conventions nudged throughout: eliminating the use of italics in favor of underlining being one such example. This is the sort of graphic intervention that only a supremely trusting client can foster through the arduous nit-picky process of book production. Everybody always says they want something different; that is, until you show them something different—at which point, most clients turn tail and assume the dictatorial role of conservative editorship. Not so with Ray Johnson c/o. The book layout is awash with odd column arrangements and irregularly placed image reproductions with captions at custom angles relating to the frequently unusual shapes of Johnson’s hand-cut and torn visuals.On a personal note, I’d like to commend the curators and editors for the inclusion of many examples of Johnson’s earliest commercial design practice. Letterhead announcing “Ray Johnson–Graphic Design” and examples of book cover designs for New Directions Paperbooks portray Johnson as someone determined to bring a stamp of personal artistic touch to client-directed projects. How many of you as angsty teenagers had a copy of Arthur Rimbaud’s book Illuminations, with the poet’s serious, side-ways gazing, black and white, high contrast portrait egging you on into artistic admittance. Well, you can thank Ray Johnson for the cover, a 1957 commercial design job. Dare I say, the dot screen, color and demeanor of the Rimbaud portrait could almost be mistaken for one of Andy Warhol’s 1964 Most Wanted Men. Warhol and Johnson were good friends, so one can only wonder if Warhol cribbed the style of Johnson’s Rimbaud portrait for his own pop use.&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418945/c7jpzv5a3y9rvjzambwc.jpg"><figcaption>Ray Johnson c/o, interior spread with Rimbaud, pages 304-305 &nbsp;</figcaption></figure>&nbsp;Many of the reproductions in Ray Johnson c/o are photographs of the 3-ring binders organized by Wilson and splayed open to various 2-page arrangements (what Boom calls “Bill’s collages”). Wonderfully photographed by Amy Kaczmarek with a dead-pan clarity that includes stray post-it notes and additional hand-written adhesive labels, these documentation photos are clinical but personal—the work of a cold-blooded archivist. The binders are the key to understanding the exhibition. The order and the sequence of images contained within the binders was not dictated by the artist, but by the collector and archivist: Bill Wilson. Without Wilson, there is no Ray Johnson c/o. In this light, Wilson can be thought of as a collaborator and enabler of the artist—a patron of the highest order. Whether money between the two men ever changed hands I don’t know, but nobody continues a 55-year artistic project with another person without the involvement of a far more radical currency: love.The cover of the book is a marvelously tactile collage of Johnson’s greatest hits. Technically a glued-to-the-spine, uniquely folded dust jacket, the cover sports a spot orange ink (most likely Pantone 021U) that I have on good word was not originally specified by Boom. Rumor has it that Boom wanted the name of the show (set in sentence case Cooper Black) to print in black ink; but the book’s distributor, Yale University Press, got worried that the book-buying public wouldn’t recognize and differentiate the typeset title of the book from all the other graphic language of Johnson’s artwork that is also reproduced on the cover. Boom lost this one creative battle. The book title is printed in orange ink, not black. [Hey, Mick: play Sympathy for the Devil for me.]The book’s underlying architecture is that of a 4-column grid that is adaptable into both 2-column and 3-column variations. Set in a typewriter-like font, the text is large and easy to read, with ample word spacing creating text fields that are visually steady even when line lengths get short owing to weirdly-placed inset reproductions of Johnson’s art. Folios are indented from the outer margins. Double hyphens are used in place of em dashes. Two spaces separate sentences. Attention to these conventions matter, as the sum total of them are what gives any book its character, charm or heft. Ray Johnson c/o, the book, comes off as warm, approachable, and lovingly researched and reported—the furthest thing from “fussy” the Art Institute of Chicago has ever produced.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.artic.edu/exhibitions/9300/ray-johnson-c-o">Ray Johnson c/o, at the Art Institute of Chicago</a>, Nov 26, 2021–Mar 21, 2022&nbsp;<a href="https://www.jnldesign.com/studio/">Jason Pickleman</a> is an artist and graphic designer in Chicago. He has produced graphic identities for EXPO Chicago, Millennium Park, and the Museum of Contemporary Photography. His professional design work is in the permanent collection of the Art Institute of Chicago.&nbsp;&nbsp;</body></html>

Book Report: Ray Johnson c/o 

<html><head></head><body><figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418952/kvmaihhog34aru9ehruf.jpg"><figcaption>Paula Crown, JOKESTER, 2018 &nbsp;</figcaption></figure>&nbsp;By ANNA DOBROWOLSKIA crushed 10-foot-tall red solo cup, a stack of coolers, and acoustic drums may seem like the remnants of a giant’s tailgate—in Milwaukee, WI these larger-than-life sculptures are part of there is there is this We, Sculpture Milwaukee’s fifth run, guest curated by Michelle Grabner and Theaster Gates.&nbsp;Grabner is a Milwaukee-based artist, writer, and curator who was recently named a 2021 Guggenheim Fellow. Gates, a Chicago-based artist and curator and professor at the University of Chicago in the Department of Visual Arts and the College, is known for his work with urban spaces.&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418953/wmxz16skrinqatgkcnnj.png"><figcaption>Kara Hamilton</figcaption></figure>&nbsp;This year, Gates and Grabner’s initiative galvanized working artists and the community. In just under six months, the exhibition gained more than half a dozen new works, including Plein Air Super Catcher, a premier sandcast work by Brad Kahlhamer; the first large-scale sculpture by Jason Pickleman, Hand Heart; and work made of locally sourced cream city brick by Kara Hamilton, the Curtain Wall. Facilitating these (often-experimental) processes required a great deal of flexibility, problem solving, and quick thinking by both curatorial and exhibitions teams, according to Bianca Bova, Sculpture Milwaukee’s Associate Curator.&nbsp;“We worked with not just the artists, but a range of commercial fabricators, stone masons, and foundries (along with our dedicated team of installers at Methods &amp; Materials) closely and collaboratively to realize these works,” she said.&nbsp;Students and community members also participated in some installations. In July, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Architecture and Urban Planning students assisted with artist Matthias Neumann’s wood sculptures in his series “Basics 51.”&nbsp;“Sculpture Milwaukee understands the power that artists have, and the power that art has to potentially help give new form to the city,” says Gates. “To reshape the conversations that are happening socially by not just having one or two artist commissions in a downtown but really having a brief that brings in artists from all over, and who have a relevant voice, to be present in Milwaukee – I think that this is a transformation. It’s really the way a radical city should work.”&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418954/yvvegdtniyhd26obmewn.jpg"><figcaption>Curators Theaster Gates and Michelle Grabner</figcaption></figure>&nbsp;Grabner mentions the ‘poetics of perseverance’ as the driving factor in selecting the works. As poet Gwendolyn Brooks poignantly conveys in her poem An Aspect of Love, Alive in the Ice and Fire, “In a package of minutes there is this We. / How beautiful.” The exhibition’s title reminds us about the elusive thing we call community. “[It] reflects the collective power of the works included and honors a belief in social change through the provocations of the artistic imagination,” says Grabner.&nbsp; Sculpture Milwaukee’s fifth edition looks at sculptures and public art as social commentary on what’s left behind, and how we can continue building a radical city.&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418954/ktlqf4z0rh7dvmmyfrmb.png"><figcaption>Matthias Neumann</figcaption></figure>&nbsp;‘there is this We’: Sculpture Milwaukee 2021 investigates global issues and shared urban spaces using public art. It is free and open to the public until fall 2022 •&nbsp; <a href="http://sculpturemilwaukee.com">sculpturemilwaukee.com&nbsp;</a>&nbsp;</body></html>

Sculpture Milwaukee No. 5: There Is This We

<html><head></head><body><figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418944/dorcqeicy22motxrwrjs.jpg"><figcaption>Publisher and Intern Supervisor Ginny Van Alyea enjoying art in person again. Pictured: A Mirror Painting by Anjali Srinivasan at Ken Saunders Gallery</figcaption></figure>By GINNY VAN ALYEAI listened to a church sermon recently about brokenness and disrepair. The priest then asked the parish to consider, ‘What’s wrong with being broken?’&nbsp;We typically regard fragmentation as bad. A mess is there to be cleaned up.&nbsp;His question made me think, if we’re always seeking perfection, we are certain to never achieve it. We will be left unfulfilled. What if we look at broken as a new state of being – like a work in progress? Being less than whole may not equal imperfect.&nbsp;We are each living amidst ongoing uncertainty, and in response many of us have been reaching our individual and collective limits, sometimes hitting new breaking points. As we continue to live life in a pandemic, we also have the chance to look at ourselves with fresh eyes and take on new projects and causes. &nbsp;I keep looking at this fall compared to 2020, or even 2019. I see that day to day life is still weird, but it’s beginning to take shape. At CGN I’m especially grateful we have had the chance to interview artists and collectors in person in order to learn from them as well as be in the presence of figures who have been a part of, and influenced, Chicago’s artistic legacy.&nbsp;&nbsp;In this issue we hear from the following people (stories will all be posted online in the coming days and weeks): &nbsp;• Artist <a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/news/2021/8/a-man-walks-into-a-museum-for-tony-fitzpatrick-2021-is-a-return-to-more-than-before">Tony Fitzpatrick</a> says he became an optimist after a serious heart attack in 2015. Now 63 he’s still a work in progress, and he’s not done yet.&nbsp;• Isobel Neal started a revolutionary gallery in the 1980s dedicated to exhibiting Black artists. What Neal saw as an imperfect art market led her to open a business to serve as a solution for more meaningful and representative exposure.&nbsp;• Artist Pooja Pittie was cut off from her new studio space during lockdown, but her day to day challenges living with a disability were eased by proximity to a home studio and by the chance to work on a new scale.• Audrey Niffenegger is putting together the Artists Book House piece by piece, and it’s been a multi-year project already. It won’t be ‘finished’ for years to come. &nbsp;&nbsp;*&nbsp;&nbsp;We are steadily seeing <a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events?filter=upcoming">CGN’s exhibition calendar</a> fill up again. In-person art events still change frequently and are less predictable but planning and making the effort is brave. There is still a lot to go out and see.&nbsp;Two exhibitions I visited with my children this past summer aligned with my new outlook on the splintering of things and how to enjoy beauty in the unexpected:• <a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/organizations/ken-saunders-gallery-bdeab8a5-f8dd-41ff-8ec9-1c2d97c08a4f">Ken Saunders Gallery</a> had two large mirror paintings on display by Anjali Srinivasan (pictured above). The glass had been smashed into pieces that were still held together. Whatever your superstitions might be about broken mirrors and bad luck, the result is beautiful and captivating – the old mirror showed one image. The new, broken one revealed many more.&nbsp;• Theaster Gates’s <a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/theaster-gates-how-to-sell-hardware">How to Sell Hardware</a> at Gray Warehouse told the story of a South Side True Value that went out of business and sat, intact, for years before Gates purchased it and scattered the contents into breathtaking gallery installations. The store was never going to be made whole – the stock suddenly for sale again on the shelf, but it did transition into something beautiful and revelatory.&nbsp;&nbsp;Maybe as we look at art again in fall 2021 we can each be rescuers of overlooked treasure, seeing something anew, appreciating the value and opportunity of a fresh start this season.&nbsp; &nbsp;– Ginny Van Alyea&nbsp;You can subscribe to the new fall 2021 issue of CGN <a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/print-subscriptions">here</a> for $20/year for three issues&nbsp;</body></html>

Fall 2021 Publisher's Letter: Regarding Beauty And Opportunity in The Broken

<html><head></head><body><figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418923/tve24w1f2zoqfx7rqhws.jpg"><figcaption>The CGN Super Heroes</figcaption></figure>&nbsp;By GINNY VAN ALYEAMy 5 year old son loves Spider-Man. Some days he is dressed head-to-toe in Spider-Man clothes. He likes the Spider-Man socks a little better than his Iron Man ones. He can strike up a friendship at the playground with any other kid wearing a Spider-Man t-shirt.&nbsp;So he's really the reason we bought tickets for the Museum of Science and Industry's Marvel: Universe of Super Heroes. When I went to buy tickets in March, planning for a spring break stay-cation and a return to Chicago museums, I found out, like so many others, that tickets were sold out for weeks. So we waited to go in May.&nbsp;What started out as a "cultural" diversion for our kids turned out to be a deeper education about the artistic storytelling mastery of Marvel for adults, or at least this one. I cannot claim to have ever been interested in super heroes or comics before I had kids, but much like how I gained my broad knowledge of construction vehicles, super heroes have come to our home through my son.&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418924/klnqal0tvobicasfqwam.jpg"><figcaption>Human Torch #16, Cover, art by Alex Schomburg, 1944, pencil and ink on Bristol board</figcaption></figure>&nbsp;The exhibit is so big that is spans two galleries at the museum. Some of this is no doubt due to social distancing, but it is also because there is so much to display as well as to explain in detail.&nbsp;Marvel: Universe of Super Heroes celebrates Marvel history with more than 300 artifacts, including original comic book pages (marked as such by a jagged comic book word bubble heralding 'Original Art'), sculptures, interactive displays, and costumes and props from Marvel’s blockbuster films. Visitors are invited to discover the origins of iconic characters such as Spider-Man, Black Panther, Hulk, and Captain Marvel and see how they have evolved alongside society, as well as world history, over the past 80 years, making these characters a pop culture mainstay.&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418925/ganzn5xnlknkqx6q52gu.jpg"><figcaption>Marvel Comics (1939) #1, Published: August 31, 1939. Writer: Al Anders, Bill Everett, Paul Gustavson, Ben Thompson. Penciler: Bill Everett, Paul Gustavson, Ben Thompson, Carl Burgos. Courtesy Marvel Comics.</figcaption></figure>&nbsp;The very first Marvel comic, issue no. 1, was published in 1939. Displayed near the entrance of the first gallery, it's a valuable treasure that sets the tone for the significance of this exhibition. A nearby text explains that in the beginning, in 1938, the modern Super Hero "ignited a national craze." Visitors must spend time up close with rare artifacts like this one, as well as rare original covers and artwork making their exhibition premieres at MSI. Accompanying each piece is a contextual explanation that covers its place in time as well as the events that were taking place in the US and beyond - such as the inaugural issue's featured battle between Human Torch and The Sub-Mariner. An explanation goes on to note that the rivalry between the two heroes recedes during WWII, as they become allies against real world forces of evil like the Nazis. The notion is clear that were it not for America's role in the war, "It's unlikely that the Super Hero boom would have taken off as it did." Conversely, once the war was over, interest in super heroes waned when a unified nationalism was not as prominent throughout the country.&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418926/utxtz5obnhuzus2ydu1l.jpg"><figcaption>Self-portrait with Marvel Super Heroes, Jack Kirby (pencils) and Mike Royer (inks), 1969</figcaption></figure>&nbsp;I came away with an understanding that so much of the vision for Marvel and its well-known characters was borne from two very talented artists, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, who were immigrants to the United States and who joined the new company in 1939 and 1941, respectively. They spun stories that have stood the test of time, embodied by characters who have also evolved from moral standard bearers and war effort boosters to those who reflect our diverse population today. Super heroes are not intended to stand high above every day people – they can be allies of hope, bravery and the confidence to be different. The heroes tend towards urban characters who offer save harbor for those who have ever felt left out or at a disadvantage. The villains represent the more evil forces in the world as well as the vulnerability and doom of being on the bad side.&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418926/rypqeyd0v6yzfpfo3xul.jpg"></figure>&nbsp;Complementing the historic components of the exhibition are the things that make this fun for the youngest Marvel fans (like mine) as well as very Instagrammable for older kids and adults. Even though my son and his 7 year old sister are too young for the Marvel Studios films, they had a lot of fun posing with life-size Marvel characters including Black Panther, Ms. Marvel, and yes Spider-Man. The thoughtfully designed and set-worn Marvel Studios film costumes are works of art in their own rite.&nbsp;Trippier portions of the exhibition include set pieces like Tony Stark’s lab, the mirror dimension of Doctor Strange, and a tiny exhibit contained in sort of mirrored box with (spoiler) projected images of a flying Ant-Man and Wasp Girl. You have to watch closely, seeking out the art as well as some of the magic of super heroes.&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://www.msichicago.org/explore/whats-here/exhibits/marvel-universe-of-super-heroes/">Marvel: Universe of Super Heroes</a> runs through October 24. And yes, tickets are still selling out weeks in advance, so don't delay.&nbsp;&nbsp;P.S. Shortly after seeing the MSI Marvel exhibition I discovered a 2009 limited edition issue of <a href="https://www.marvel.com/comics/issue/24039/pride_prejudice_2009_1">Pride and Prejudice</a> by Marvel at a thrift store! Had I only known, I may have gotten into comics back in high school!&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418928/wbtsmn24g76lla7wphsj.jpg"></figure>&nbsp;</body></html>

MSI's Marvel Exhibition Tells an Artistic Origin Story

<html><head></head><body><figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418918/piwemfolx8lchh7yxubt.jpg"><figcaption>Installation view of the UIMA permanent collection &nbsp;</figcaption></figure>BY ANNA DOBROWOLSKIArmed with my art gallery guide, mask, and hand sanitizer, I headed out West. West Town, that is. On my mission to rediscover art in a recuperating city, I serendipitously came across the gleamingly white façade of the <a href="https://uima-chicago.org">Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art</a>. Docent Elena Smolynets caught me peeking through the door: “Yes, we are open!” No reservation necessary, I sauntered in. Not only is the UIMA open, it’s also preparing to celebrate 50 years of robust existence.President Motria Melnyk, curator Adrienne Kochman, and Smolynets—three women who help keep UIMA’s legacy in the heart of Chicago’s Ukrainian Village alive—spoke with me about the UIMA’s history and plans for the future.Pre-pandemic, the UIMA had an ongoing rotation every six months displaying select works from their permanent collection, which currently houses around 1,200 objects ranging from photography and artifacts to kinetic sculpture. To date the UIMA earned a reputation for having one of the largest collections of Ukrainian art, globally, housing work by Soviet era Ukrainian Non-Conformists such as Alexander Archipenko, Alexis Gritchenko, Mychajlo Andreenko, and other artists of Ukrainian descent. Notably, it features art created by the first generation of artists ever to exhibit with the UIMA, including work by two of its founders: sculptor Konstantin Milonadis and sculptor/painter Mychajlo Urban. It also boasts a growing collection of Chicago-based artists, such as Martin Hurtig, Morris Barazani and Roland Ginzel. Soon (in September) we will be able to appreciate their collection in the context of UIMA’s fast-approaching 50th anniversary.&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418918/gpka0kugsdpgob3bugnk.jpg"><figcaption>Mykhajlo Urban, Pulsating Form, 1969 Acrylic, light bulbs, steel plates, Gift of Dr. Philip and Mrs. Falk &nbsp;</figcaption></figure>&nbsp;Now, playing catch up with a pandemic-caused backlog of shows slated for 2020, they are leaving exhibitions up longer for visitors to enjoy in person. During my visit, the permanent collection that would usually inhabit the east gallery space was replaced by 38 paintings from Work, People, Art (WPA): selections from the Works Progress Administration collection of the Illinois State Museum. The label introducing the exhibits of WPA, a child program of President FDR’s New Deal, invites us to “consider whose work and perspectives are missing.” Contrary to all talk about ‘unprecedented times’, there is an uncanny parallel between the work of artists commissioned by the WPA, and the art produced eight decades later. Though there are similarities in context, we are challenged to look deeper and be better: art—then and now— is on the frontline, responding to a shift in values spurred by crisis, social fractures, and economic strife.Stepping into the west gallery one could relish in Not Afraid, a dual exhibition featuring the abstract, textural sculptural work of Gina Lee Robbins and the bold, expressionist paintings of Janice Elkins. These two self-taught artists hailing form Oak Park regale in the uncertain, and their uninhibited approach to their practice falls in line with the attitudes of the institute’s founding artists.&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418919/jh6pkpqc35bp1ykgla3u.jpg"><figcaption>Ruminate installation</figcaption></figure>The U in UIMASince its genesis, the UIMA existed as an alternative venue for artists. Following WWII, Konstantin Milonadis and Mychajlo Urban emigrated from Ukraine and met while taking courses at the School of the Art Institute under the GI Bill. While they shared a Ukrainian background, what really drew them together was their love for art that did not fit the status-quo. These artists were experimenting with minimalism, geometric abstraction, and even kinetic media—and it was not just a phase. At the time, they were conscious that these modes of expression were not openly practiced in Ukraine. Curator Adrienne Kochman adds, “When they were working in the late 60s and 70s, Ukraine was still part of the Soviet Union. In the Ukrainian Republic, at least officially, it was forbidden to pursue Western aesthetic modes, such as abstraction, or they would suffer dire consequences such as loss of income or jobs. The official aesthetic, at least in the late 60s, was Soviet socialist realism.” Many of the literary, artistic, and cultural figures who pushed back faced persecution, imprisonment, or death. This “fueled the need to have a safe haven for artists who wanted to work this kind of aesthetic mode outside of Ukraine.”In Chicago, these artists wanted to explore these ‘modern’ styles without the limitations imposed by larger, often more traditional institutions and sanctioned “academic” styles. To the artists, “Major art institutions like AIC were conservative, and the general feeling was one of ‘If you waited for them to change, they wouldn’t.’”&nbsp;<figure class="image image-style-side"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418920/efwoi5eozgl4y6onyu1v.jpg"><figcaption>President Motria Melnyk</figcaption></figure>So, the artists carved out a space for themselves through makeshift art organizations such as the Lion’s Club. The UIMA as we know it was founded through the initiative of prominent doctor and active community member Dr. Achilles and Vera Chreptowsky, and lionhearted artists Konstantin Milonadis and Mychajlo Urban. Thanks to Dr. Achilles and Vera Chreptowsky, who became the patrons, and the efforts of volunteers, the UIMA metamorphosed into a proper institution.From the onset, the founders were interested in establishing a permanent collection. What started as a way to promote Ukrainian artists born in America or abroad, rapidly evolved into an institution that welcomes all walks of art— and has so for the past 50 years. Of the works they have acquired over the years, Adriene Kochman mentions that “Most donors of the artwork to the collection purchased it directly from the artist, or UIMA did through fundraising and grants specifically awarded for an organization to purchase artwork for its permanent collection. Some of course, were donated directly by the artist.” It is a dream for those studying provenance, and a testament to the close relationship between the artist community and UIMA.&nbsp;For the 50th anniversary, Kochman hopes to fill both galleries with art from the permanent exhibition so that we can appreciate its scope. Looking ahead, they will continue to welcome all contemporary artists, regardless of nationality: “We will always support Chicago artists! If you have a proposal, please submit it,” says Kochman.&nbsp;Recent Developments‘Survived first pandemic’ is just another tick off the list that makes UIMA relevant today in Chicago’s art scene. When the art world was upended over a year ago; staff remained in high spirits. On March 5th, after a mandate caused the institute to shut its doors to the public, they moved their permanent collections to a virtual exhibition space. President Motria, seizing the moment to get creative while taking stock of their collection, created “Corona Story,” to playfully present the artwork set to the upbeat instrumental version of Gloria Gaynor’s classic “I Will Survive.” In addition to uploading videos on the museum’s history to their website, she also created a downloadable activity book for children, complete with QR codes linking to the actual art.&nbsp;In our Zoom call, she describes her motivation and vision for the Institute, which includes opening up an educational program for young artists. “The founders of the institute not only envisioned an art museum, but also an institution for learning and teaching. Our dream is to incorporate a children’s art center. As an educator, I feel it is important to give young students the opportunities to explore, discover, learn, and express their appreciation and talent for art, enabling them to become life-long art advocates.” says Motria.Official plans for the 50th anniversary will be announced soon. As ever, plans are tentative, but they will find a way to celebrate and thank all those who made the 50 years possible—artists, patrons, visitors, volunteers. Looking forward, Motria says, “We wait for the day when art exhibition openings, musical concerts, distinguished speakers events, conversations, laughter and energy fills our galleries again.”&nbsp;For more information about UIMA visit their <a href="https://uima-chicago.org">website</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;</body></html>

Re-discovering the East in the West: Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art

<html><head></head><body>By CGN StaffWith many of us eager to stretch our travel legs this summer&nbsp; – to make up for all we missed during the last one&nbsp; –&nbsp; an easy trip, or two, around Wisconsin to visit the state’s many destinations for art will satisfy your wanderlust as well as your cultural cravings.&nbsp;Check out these&nbsp;highlights on now, and hit the road!&nbsp; &nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418918/nzoori6lsqaqdmavmnm4.jpg"><figcaption>Mary Giles, Fading Light, 2007, waxed linen, fine copper wire, and fine iron wire, 13 x 17” D, Racine Art Museum, gift of Jim Harris. Photo: Petronella J. Ytsma. Part of Collection Focus: Mary Giles thru July 3.</figcaption></figure><a href="https://www.ramart.org">Racine Art Museum</a>The Racine Art Museum holds the largest and most significant contemporary craft collection in North America, with more than 9,500 objects from nationally and internationally recognized artists.&nbsp;A trip to RAM is less than 60 miles from downtown Chicago. &nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418918/p7rwfkhvcgv5zthdbofb.png"><figcaption>Robert Indiana, The American&nbsp;LOVE, 1966-99. Photo by Kevin J. Miyazaki / Sculpture Milwaukee &nbsp;</figcaption></figure><a href="sculpturemilwaukee.com">Sculpture Milwaukee</a>Sculpture Milwaukee’s fifth exhibition will be co-curated by Theaster Gates and Michelle Grabner, starting June 25th through fall 2022. One of the largest annual outdoor exhibitions to focus on contemporary sculpture and public art practices, the works selected by Gates and Grabner will be explored through programming and educational initiatives.&nbsp;Also local community and corporate investment has meant that a growing number of works previously exhibited at Sculpture Milwaukee have been purchased and donated so that they stay on public view in the city.&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418919/blb0kuzo2rr8h5mht80m.jpg"><figcaption>The Museum of Wisconsin Art is located about 45 minutes from downtown Milwaukee in West Bend, WI&nbsp;</figcaption></figure><a href="http://wisconsinart.org">Museum of Wisconsin Art (MoWA)</a>For 60 years MoWA has evolved from a small hometown gallery to one of the leading regional museums in the country, devoted to exploring the art and culture of Wisconsin.&nbsp;On view through July 3 is Artists Without Borders, an exhibition that showcases the works of nine artists—all with roots abroad and currently residing in Wisconsin—to explore their distinct takes on the relationship between art and place.&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418920/bnmkve2bhq8gnzt3y14y.jpg"><figcaption>Mary Cassatt, Spanish Girl Leaning on a Window Sill, ca. 1872. Oil on canvas, 24 3/8 × 19 in. Collection of Manuel Piñanes García-Olías, Madrid. Photo, Cuauhtli Gutierrez &nbsp;</figcaption></figure><a href="http://mam.org">Milwaukee Art Museum</a>The Milwaukee Art Museum is open to the public again, with several exhibitions planned for this summer, including Americans in Spain: Painting and Travel, 1820–1920, the first major exhibition to focus on the influence of Spanish art and culture on American painting. Jun 11–Oct 3&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418920/sr2yzsu3xwipnpk2dkc6.jpg"><figcaption>Nick Cave and Bob Faust, Amends</figcaption></figure><a href="https://www.mmoca.org">Madison Museum of Contemporary Art</a>&nbsp;MMoCA's modern building, designed by world-renowned architect Cesar Pelli, offers 51,500 square feet of interior space, as well as a 7,100-square-foot rooftop sculpture garden. MMoCA also has one of the premier institutional collections of Chicago Imagist works.&nbsp;This summer <a href="https://www.mmoca.org/art/amends-nick-cave-and-bob-faust">AMENDS: Nick Cave and Bob Faust</a> runs Jun 19 – Oct 24. AMENDS is a community-based, interactive art project. The internationally known artists and collaborators created the three-component project in 2020 after the killing of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis. The ultimate goal of AMENDS is to lay the groundwork for the eradication of racism.&nbsp;AMENDS will bring together the artists, community leaders in the Madison area and the state, and members of the public to complete the three components of the project.<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418921/nue0copvhsmxlxi2ihgk.jpg"><figcaption>Painter Annabeth Marks is equally concerned with acts of construction and of deconstruction. Her work considers the boundaries of painting in both process and form. For her contribution to the Return to the Real Marks presents a new body of work in a site-specific installation paintings.</figcaption></figure><a href="https://www.jmkac.org">John Michael Kohler Art Center</a>Located along the western shore of Lake Michigan, north of Milwaukee but before you head towards Green Bay and Door County, the John Michael Kohler Art Center (JMKAC) in Sheboygan offers a range of serious, dynamic exhibitions that consider art in Wisconsin and well beyond.&nbsp;Return to the Real, on view through January 9, 2022, responds to the following question: As our lived experience is increasingly mediated by our screens, how can art remind us of the rich rewards of the real? Through a series of exhibitions, performances, and events that foreground the multisensory experience of viewing art in person, the series title is derived from art critic and historian Hal Foster’s influential 1996 book Return of the Real, a theoretical exploration of contemporary art grounded in the materiality of bodies and sites. The work featured in the series affirms the power of objects and human presence, emphasizes the nuances and subtleties that virtual viewing cannot provide or capture, and honors the irreplaceable experience of confronting—and of being confronted by—a physical work of art.&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418922/zaylkdvgpf9nhypzo5ih.jpg"></figure><a href="http://artsmp.org">Arts Mineral Point&nbsp;</a>The creative community of Mineral Point offers a haven for working artists as well as a bucolic weekend art destination southwest of Madison, towards the Iowa border. Enjoy late night shopping, live music, workshops, artist receptions and more.&nbsp;The 8th annual Paint the Point live painting fundraiser takes place August 11–14.&nbsp;</body></html>

Head North: Explore Art in Wisconsin This Summer 

<html><head></head><body><figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721417805/l6roddd2mido4bjxbnjd.gif"><figcaption>Frida Kahlo, The Bus, 1929, oil on canvas, Collection Museo Dolores Olmedo, Xochimilco, Mexico © 2020 Banco de México Diego Rivera Frida Kahlo Museums Trust, Mexico, D.F. / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York &nbsp;</figcaption></figure>BY ALISON REILLYIn March of 2020, Justin Witte, curator of the Cleve Carney Museum of Art at the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, was working tirelessly with his staff to prepare for the opening of an expansive exhibition featuring the renowned artist, Frida Kahlo. In order to accommodate the 26 works of art that were scheduled to arrive, the college expanded the gallery from a 1,850 square foot exhibition space focused primarily on showing contemporary artists to a 2,500 square foot museum equipped with state of the art lighting, security, and climate control systems.&nbsp;“While the administration of the college was closely monitoring the coronavirus situation, in the museum, we were very focused on our exhibition. The week of March 10th, we were busy with installation plans, working out final aspects of delivery and really moving towards the exhibition,” Witte recalls. “Because we had come so far with the exhibition, our immediate thought was, ‘How do we operate with less access to campus for what we hoped would be a short period of time?’ We had the idea that we may have to pause some of our in-person preparations for a week or two. At worst, a month.”<figure class="image image-style-side"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721417806/uuivfxyhhn5cl169tr5v.gif"><figcaption>Frida Kahlo, The Broken Column, 1944, oil on masonite, Collection Museo Dolores Olmedo, Xochimilco, Mexico © 2020 Banco de México Diego Rivera Frida Kahlo Museums Trust, Mexico, D.F. / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York &nbsp;</figcaption></figure>Witte had been working on preparations for the Kahlo exhibition with Diana Martinez, director of the McAninch Arts Center (where the museum is located) since 2017.&nbsp;Alan Peterson, a longtime supporter of the college and the art center, was a close friend of Carlos Phillips, the director of the Museo Dolores Olmedo in Mexico City and son of the collector Dolores Olmedo. “Alan always had the idea that he wanted to bring the collection to the College of DuPage to help bring awareness to all the amazing cultural things happening here,” Witte explained.&nbsp;While Peterson made the introduction, Witte and Martinez developed a proposal for the exhibition and outlined how it could deeply benefit the local community. “Frida was the people’s artist,” Martinez said, “To bring this to a community college with accessibility to students would have been something Frida loved, because she was a teacher herself.” Witte said that even later in her life, when Kahlo was no longer able to teach at school, her students visited her at her home, La Casa Azul, in Mexico City. “Her students were fiercely dedicated to her, and she offered them a lot.”&nbsp;Inspired by Kahlo’s own example, Witte and Martinez worked with faculty to integrate themes from the artist’s life into the college curriculum. Departments offered classes on Mexican art history, the impact of the Mexican Revolution, and the social and economic context of post-revolutionary Mexico. The fashion department organized projects related to Kahlo’s wardrobe that addressed ideas of self-identity and disability, while the culinary school delved deeply into Mexican gastronomy.&nbsp;“As a community college, we have an incredibly diverse population of students from young to old, from a variety of social and economic backgrounds,” Witte said. “DuPage County is an enormous area of land that covers a lot of different areas. The college serves a lot of communities. That idea of wanting to provide accessible education to such a wide range of people very much aligns with Frida’s beliefs.”&nbsp;Kahlo was developing as an artist at a time in Mexico City when the scene was dominated by “Los tres grandes”—the three big Mexican muralists (Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros, and José Clemente Orozco)—whose goal was to make work for the people. “Not squirreled away for the elites but very much for a broad population,” Witte said. “Those are also strong ideals of a community college. I think that nothing would have made Frida happier than the idea that her work would be serving as such a pivotal point in the education of the students at this college.”&nbsp;When it became apparent to Witte and Martinez that the exhibition could not take place during the summer of 2020, they quickly responded by reaching out to their partners at the college and Museo Olmedo to see if it could be rescheduled for the following summer. “It was never on the table,” Witte said, “maybe in the back of our minds as fears, but it was never discussed by the college or the art center or museum that we would not be doing this exhibit—it was just the focus of when. The commitment of everyone involved never really allowed for the idea that it wouldn’t happen.”&nbsp;Fortunately, with the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines across the United States and the support of the College of DuPage and the Museo Olmedo, Witte and Martinez are confident that the exhibition will open this summer on June 5, 2021. Not only have the staff at the museum and the art center worked diligently to move the programming online, many museums in Chicago and throughout Illinois have been able to reopen safely using proper protocols and social distancing. Additionally, Cleve Carney Museum of Art has created a virtual tour so that those who are not able to visit the exhibition in person will still be able to participate.“It’s made us more creative and connected in new ways,” Martinez said. “We hosted a virtual gala where over 460 people tuned in. I think if it had been a regular gala, everyone would have been sitting at their tables, just eating. But we were able to really share information. We had the Consulate General of Mexico speak, and we gave a tour of Frida’s house in Mexico City.”&nbsp;While the museum and the art center at College of DuPage have demonstrated great skill and agility in adapting to the virtual environment, for Witte, who trained as an artist, there is still no substitute for being in a room with Kahlo’s paintings. “I understand how much time is put into each work and how the decisions of the artist are recorded on the surface of the painting in every brushstroke,” he explained. “When you go to see a painting, you’re really spending time in front of something that the artist themselves spent so much time in. The way the paint dries, it captures literally whatever happens to be in the air of the studio at the time—the dust, her cigarette smoke. The opportunity to stand in front of it is the closest we can get to spending time with the artist herself.”The expansion of the space at Cleve Carney Museum of Art will allow visitors to see 19 oil paintings and seven drawings by Kahlo, which is notably the largest exhibition of her work shown in the Chicago area in over 40 years. The paintings and drawings come from the collection of Dolores Olmedo, which was originally owned by one of Kahlo’s major patrons, Eduardo Safa. Visitors may recognize some of the works, iconic self-portraits such as Broken Column or Henry Ford Hospital, which have defined her career. But alongside these notable paintings are lesser known portraits from the late 1920s and early 1930s, which give incredible insight to Kahlo’s development as a painter.“We’re doing all these amazing things for this exhibit,” Witte said, “there’s so many great aspects to it, but in the end, in those galleries, we’re really just creating a platform for Frida to tell her own story.”&nbsp;In the context of the pandemic, Kahlo’s story has taken on even more relevance. As a woman who struggled with chronic pain and illness for most of her life, she confronted the fragility of health in a way that many have experienced this past year. “Even though our time shifted and so much of the world shifted,” Witte said, “we can still find something we can relate to in Frida’s life. Her strength serves as an inspiration for how to navigate this unprecedented time.”&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721417807/hpehzxxkymlfivcyhbwt.gif"><figcaption>From left: Frida Kahlo, Portrait of Doña Rosita Morillo, 1944, oil on masonite, Collection Museo Dolores Olmedo, Xochimilco, Mexico © 2020 Banco de México Diego Rivera Frida Kahlo Museums Trust, Mexico, D.F. / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; Frida Kahlo, Portrait of Luther Burbank, 1931, oil on masonite, Collection Museo Dolores Olmedo, Xochimilco, Mexico © 2020 Banco de México Diego Rivera Frida Kahlo Museums Trust, Mexico, D.F. / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; Frida on White Bench, Photo by Nickolas Muray; © Nickolas Muray Photo Archives &nbsp;</figcaption></figure><h3>More to See</h3>&nbsp;Accompanying Frida Kahlo: Timeless this summer are several special features designed to enhance a visitor’s experience at the exhibition.&nbsp;&nbsp;Frida in PhotosFrida Kahlo: Timeless features paintings and drawings by the Mexican artist, Frida Kahlo, which will be installed in the Cleve Carney Museum of Art, but the exhibition will extend beyond the walls of the museum to the entire McAninch Art Center, located on the campus of the College of DuPage. In a space adjacent to the galleries, photographs from Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera’s personal collection will be on display. While visitors may be familiar with the iconic Kodachrome color portraits of Kahlo taken by Nickolas Muray, this selection of photographs will offer a more candid view into the artist’s life with husband Rivera.&nbsp;&nbsp;The Artist’s GardenIn 1931 while in San Francisco, Frida Kahlo painted a portrait of Luther Burbank, a pioneering American botanist and horticulturist. Kahlo was impressed with Burbank’s research related to plant hybridization and memorialized him in the painting holding a philodendron. Inspired by Kahlo’s portrait and others in the Frida Kahlo: Timeless exhibition, local plant grower and distributor Ball Horticultural Company will create and install a garden located on the McAninch Art Center’s south patio near the amphitheater. The installation will showcase flowers and plants that were part of Kahlo’s own personal garden at her home, La Casa Azul, in Mexico City. Featured plants for the garden include: agave, alocasia dark star, bougainvillea, canna cannova bronze orange, old man cactus, oleander, prickly pear, pomegranate tree, and yucca.&nbsp;Kahlo's Corner – Frida &amp; Families“Many aspects of Frida’s work and her life deal with very complex, real issues,” Justin Witte, curator at the Cleve Carney Museum of Art said, “and we thought it was important to offer some contextualization for younger visitors to get a sense of who she was.” Diana Martinez, director of the McAninch Art Center, collaborated with several partners to make a compelling and safe area for families. She befriended local author and illustrator Mike Venezia who helped interpret Kahlo’s life through the lens of a child. Venezia – a graduate of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago – has written hundreds of children’s books about artists, as part of The World’s Greatest Artists series. Venezia has also collaborated with the CCMA and the MAC to create “The Frida Kahlo Coloring Book,” for sale at the exhibition’s gift shop. Martinez also partnered with the architectural firm, Wight &amp; Company, to design a full scale replica of La Casa Azul, Kahlo’s home in Mexico City, which visitors can explore. Martinez hopes that the model will allow visitors to understand the particular architecture of the house and the central role that the garden played in Kahlo’s life. Children’s area activities will include an animated video about Kahlo’s life and a mural activity designed by Venezia.Two free printmaking workshops are planned for July 6 and Aug. 21, 10 a.m. -2 p.m., led by printmaking collective Instituto Gráfico de Chicago. Activities are geared for pre-K through third grade.&nbsp;&nbsp;Frida Kahlo: Timeless is on view June 5 – September 6, 2021 from 10am-6pm Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and 10am-10pm Thursday. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit <a href="http://frida2021.org">Frida2021.org</a>Note: On July 5 a new piece, unveiled as part of Art on theMART, will feature several of Kahlo’s most recognizable works, animated by George Berlin and projected onto the Merchandise Mart, accompanied by an orchestral score from Mexican composer Arturo Márquez.&nbsp;</body></html>

Frida Kahlo: Timeless, at the Cleve Carney Museum of Art. A Transformative Exhibition for the Glen Ellyn Community

<html><head></head><body><figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721417661/htd50vdhqvxk7bstbrur.gif"><figcaption>Haig Aivazian: All of the Lights, installation view, February–March 2021, The Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago, Photo: Useful Art Services &nbsp;</figcaption></figure>By GINNY VAN ALYEALast fall we asked some local art world figures what their <a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/news/2020/9/mirror-mirror-on-the-gallery-wall-after-this-year-who-can-predict-2021">2021 Art World Predictions</a> might be. At the time I saw two main scenarios that could shape this year: Life with a vaccine, and life without. Fortunately, we are now several months into a remarkable vaccine development effort and rollout, holding tight to all the cautious optimism we can summon. With this progress in mind, I wanted to check in again with the local art community to see how things are actually going.&nbsp;As in the fall my questions seek everyone’s candid response to how they have been faring and to get their best guess at what’s next. Responses are grouped by topic. I am grateful to those who candidly shared their collective wisdom and hopes for the future as we move through another year.&nbsp;On 2021 vs 2020How are things going for you so far this year?&nbsp;&nbsp;Catherine Edelman, Catherine Edelman Gallery: It’s been a very sobering year, as the pandemic forced me to rethink the gallery model.Tom McCormick, McCormick Gallery: This year so far is a continuation of last, which was outstanding. We finished the year on par with any normal, good year, even with the gallery essentially closed. Almost all sales were out of town and I became a one-man shipping juggernaut. The FedEx store reserved a private parking spot for me (kidding). Demand for certain work, especially from our estates and most especially by women, is through the roof and we cannot meet demand.&nbsp;Julia Nucci Kelly, Asst. Dir. for Marketing &amp; Communications Krannert Art Museum, University of Illinois: KAM has been open since February. Much of our staff is still working from home, but unlike last year, we’re able to have our major student art exhibitions (MFA and BFA) in person. That feels like progress. KAM is addressing multiple pandemics — not just COVID, but political division, racism and violence, and struggles for our environment — as much as we can through art, including exhibitions like Homemade, with Love: More Living Room that creates and holds space for Black girls, women, and femmes in the museum, providing space to gather and support one another with art space to create. In the community, we’re hosting Pandemics as a Portal to Change, a virtual community exhibition that gathers creative writing, visual art, music, and performance centered on hope, encouraging artists of all kinds to envision what we can make better beyond these struggles and pain.Kathleen Waterloo, artist: 2021 has been a whirling continuum of 2020, which proved to be one of my busiest years as an artist. I was very fortunate just prior to COVID-19 to open a solo exhibition in River North at Addington Gallery. The following week Mayor Lightfoot put the city in lockdown. My studio is isolated, so I was able to continue working almost daily on projects while maintaining social distancing. Currently I’m juggling works for a solo exhibition late 2021 at Circa Gallery in Minneapolis, in addition to a few commissions. As an artist during this bizarre time in our society, I am feeling very blessed.Karsten Lund, Curator: I don’t have a simple answer, but I’ve felt grounded by my work at the Renaissance Society throughout everything. I’m grateful to be at a nimble, resilient institution, and it has been energizing to be working very closely with a number of artists during the past year, even if most of our conversations have been over Zoom.At the Ren, we’ve been still able to do a lot, even against such headwinds. I keep returning to the fact that we have a strong close-knit team, and even before the pandemic our museum has been designed to really channel our resources towards our program and artist’s projects, which has made all the difference in a hard year like this.&nbsp;&nbsp;WORKING – OR NOT WORKING – WITH CLIENTSHave you been able to engage relatively well with current and new clients or patrons?&nbsp;&nbsp;Catherine Edelman: Many of our regular clients have stayed home, unwilling to venture to the gallery. But e-blasts, Zooms, etc. have helped us maintain a connection. Now that we are open by appointment only, new clients have emerged. I think the fact that they can have a private experience has been very powerful.Tom McCormick: Yes. One advantage to doing this for nearly 50 years is that you know a lot of people and they know you. A good reputation is the best thing one can develop, full stop, to weather any storm.Julia Nucci Kelly: Yes — our community has embraced the idea that the museum can be a safe in-person activity, and we know KAM plays a role in wellness both on campus and in Champaign-Urbana. Through our virtual programs, we’ve been able to engage a far broader geography vs. in person only. We know virtual programs are a different experience, but we are coming to understand that they supplement what we do in person and make arts programming more accessible.Kathleen Waterloo: Thanks to email, cell phones, the internet, and Zoom I’ve been able to engage with current and new clients in addition to gallerists quite well. Most are familiar with my work already, so communicating size, color preferences, budget, etc. are fairly easy to discuss. Digital images of a site, wall location, and surrounding space further helps a successful end result.&nbsp;Karsten Lund: Some projects, such as publications, can adapt relatively easily to working from home. We finished a 400-page book with LaToya Ruby Frazier this winter, which I still draw inspiration from. Now I’m working on a monograph with Kevin Beasley coming out later this year.&nbsp;It’s required accepting a lot of uncertainty and brought new challenges, for sure, but I’ve also opened three exhibitions this year, at least for more limited in-person audiences. That includes solo shows by Haig Aivazian and Jill Magid, and in ways that speaks volumes to their own resilience, both artists produced ambitious new works.&nbsp;We’ve taken this as a time to experiment too. As we’ve shifted to online talks and virtual exhibition tours, and also debuted a new digital platform, Renaissance TV, we’ve had viewers tuning in from many different countries, with great attendance. We will carry that forward and keep exploring these expanded possibilities for a global audience, or those who can’t visit us, even as we return to in-person programming.&nbsp;IT’S STILL HARD...What challenges remain for you and your business/space since the pandemic began last spring?&nbsp;&nbsp;Catherine Edelman: Creating engagement. Art fairs were a critical part of our business model. It’s been a challenge to introduce new work/artists without that network.&nbsp;Tom McCormick: Even though we are selling well I feel sorry for our contemporary artists (as opposed to the dead ones) as their exhibitions are not well attended. Even when attendance does not equate to sales it is still a great time for friends, family and interested collectors to see the stuff, and COVID has put a lid on a lot of that,Julia Nucci Kelly: I think holding our communities together and supporting one another are our biggest tasks ahead. We’re working hard to make every aspect of the museum’s work accessible to all, and our Curator of Academic Programs Liza Sylvestre is a leader for our staff in that area. We’re also looking forward to when we can do robust school and family programming again as well, so charting the path forward and doing it together in a way that is inclusive and just is an important challenge for us to meet head on.Kathleen Waterloo: Since many galleries temporarily went online and others, sadly, closed their doors due to COVID-19’s economic impact, a few galleries now show my work online only. My work is best viewed in person. If a potential client is only viewing my work digitally some things get lost in the translation – the translucency of the encaustic medium, intimate details that are lost due to the small scale of a cell phone or computer screen, and the experience of seeing the artwork itself which is an ‘object’ in its own right.&nbsp;Karsten Lund: Certain challenges have been unavoidable but we were able to work around them, such as the fact that artists mostly haven’t been able to come on site to install. But more importantly, I think we need to be responsive to the widely varied challenges and hardships different people are facing this year, whether artists, our audiences, or our collaborators. Care feels like an important word and a way of being, more than ever, now and into the future. I continue asking myself how as curators we can meet our moment and what are the best ways we can support artists’ work as our larger contexts shift and so many pressures continue.&nbsp;<figure class="image image-style-side"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721417662/qoaswcuammt86rewbt45.gif"><figcaption>Kathleen Waterloo, Texter Road Revisited, 2020, Encaustic on panel18” x 18”, courtesy Addington Gallery. Photo by Tom Van Eynde</figcaption></figure>WHAT ABOUT ARTISTS?How are your artists – or your contemporaries – doing?&nbsp;&nbsp;Catherine Edelman: I started a monthly Zoom meeting with my artists, in an effort to bring everyone together. It’s been an amazing experience for everyone, as we work together to advance the mission of CEG.Kathleen Waterloo: Ex-studiomates and artist friends stay in touch and we give each other critiques, opinions, moral support and pep talks. We like each other’s social media posts. It’s all been vital during the past year. Early during COVID–19 some artists were locked out of their studio buildings for months – a devastating blow. Those who had studio access and continued working did so diligently; it was the fuel needed to keep them going mentally. Most were prolific. Now many of us are also prepared to face the future with a toughened stamina, honed during this pandemic. I’ve seen a few artists, not previously working, who have emerged from isolation producing new and ridiculously stunning work that comes from being either on lockdown, in fear, actually sick, or recovering from 24/7 child care and home schooling – a situation which has affected many artists and non-artists alike. They are exploding with creativity and waiting impatiently to rock the town.&nbsp;Tom McCormick: The dead ones are still dead, but thriving in the market! My living artists, mostly from Chicago, seem to be getting on OK, at least they are not complaining to me. &nbsp;IF THE GLASS IS HALF FULL IS IT ONLY BECAUSE YOU’VE BEEN DRINKING?What are you optimistic about?&nbsp;&nbsp;Catherine Edelman: December in Miami. I believe collectors are hungry to see art in person, and the art fairs in Miami will be a barometer of the return to some semblance of normalcy.Amy L. Powell, Krannert: We are excited to reunite with objects and continue to build community in our spaces. In addition to A Question of Emphasis: Louise Fishman Drawing opening this fall with questions of queer feminist drawing and abstraction, we’re opening Crip*, a group exhibition and symposium curated by Liza Sylvestre that addresses disability and intersectional thinking. Things cannot “go back to normal,” and we are excited to center artists and our audiences to figure out ways of transformation, together. We’re optimistic about the lessons we learned for virtual content and programming, and hope to take those forward.Kathleen Waterloo: Galleries, museums and even art fairs will fully reopen their doors in the near future. Perhaps a few precautionary measures from COVID–19 will remain, but I’m eager to see public space become just that again, with people able to become the social animals they are. I’m still concerned about the galleries that cannot, or won’t, reopen and will only have an online presence. I recognize that for many that digital business model works, and it might be here to stay. The virtual world has been a lifeline for many attempting to keep the arts afloat. I’m hopeful that physical galleries are also here to stay. Fund the arts now – visual, dance, theater, music, film – let’s get them back on their feet.Karsten Lund: I draw so much optimism from artists, and this year is no exception. As much as ever, I’ve been reminded of how they help us see the world differently, almost in real time in some cases. LaToya Ruby Frazier, Haig Aivazian, and Jill Magid’s projects will all stay with me in that way.Maybe most of all though, this feels like a moment when so many things have the potential to be recalibrated, for museums and other institutions and in our individual lives. Change feels possible when it comes to systemic racism, inequality, accessibility, and our looming climate crisis, though that work will have to carry on long beyond this year.Tom McCormick: Oh, I’m very optimistic about everything. While many, many people were devastated economically by COVID, many collectors and others with financial means have been willing to spend more than ever. This will surely level out once things return to some sort of normal, but something good is always just around the corner.&nbsp;That from Mr. Rose Tinted Glasses!&nbsp;&nbsp;</body></html>

Taking the Temperature in 2021: How Is It Actually Going in Chicago's Art World?

<html><head></head><body><figure class="image image-style-side"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721417655/opxqnu5ng5wjmr59qpde.gif"><figcaption>Balancing work and life with one of CGN’S top interns, pictured here on an official outing to the Art Institute with publisher Ginny B. Van Alyea, spring 2021 &nbsp;</figcaption></figure>By GINNY VAN ALYEARemember when many businesses and corporate leaders declared that women “lean in” to achieve professional progress as well as a work-life balance? I think at some point we started to lean so much we tipped over. I physically did this at the time Sheryl Sandberg’s book of the same name was published, and I was a few months pregnant with my daughter. I was leaning in to admire something at an art fair, and I didn’t yet understand how my own bodily center of balance had shifted. My mother had to help me stand back up and I had to brush off my embarassment.For me, eight years after that art fair and two children later, the center of many things has continued to shift. 2020 was basically one big lurch in another direction for all of us. Settling into 2021 I’m not sure I will ever go all the way back to the late night multi-tasker I was before the pandemic. I’m finding I’m a better mother, wife and publisher when I lean back – I get more sleep and I keep my to-do list short and my social calendar more limited. Leaning, for me, is balancing, not falling over or getting whiplash.&nbsp;*When the pandemic hit last spring, I fretted about what to do at work – how could CGN help galleries and artists? Should we organize a benefit auction? A crisis symposium? Would CGN even survive? Should we find a way to build e-commerce into our website? How could I fix everything?&nbsp;Ultimately, in the CGN office Emily and I decided to just keep doing what we always do: cheerlead the arts. Doing one thing for over 38 years has worked. We haven’t taken over the world, but it also hasn’t managed to take us over either. Leaning back this past year is what kept us on track and balanced as we navigated unpredictable, sometimes scary times. &nbsp;In this summer of 2021 issue we’ve tried to seek balance and perspective once again, grateful to be publishing according to our usual schedule, not under lockdown, and with a host of exhibitions and news to cover, all while keeping our eyes open for good news and green shoots.&nbsp;So far we have seen a <a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/news/2021/5/expansions-plans-forward-momentum-after-a-hard-year">notable number of galleries</a> moving and smartly expanding this year, deepening roots in the creative economy long term. Mayor Lightfoot also announced “Arts 77” — a citywide arts <a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/news/2021/4/we-built-this-city-on-the-arts-city-of-chicago-pledges-60-million-for-recovery-and-reopening">recovery and reopening plan</a> with an initial investment of over $60 million to ”place the arts at the center of our city’s recovery efforts.” We are back to posting new (and in–person) events and exhibitions on chicagogallerynews.com every day.&nbsp;If 2020’s flood almost wiped us out, 2021 is a year of replanting ahead of what we hope will be a cultural harvest in 2022 and beyond.&nbsp;For now openings still look different and are fewer in number, and the art fairs and large events haven’t officially returned yet, but we do see people seeking out art in person this summer, visiting galleries in small groups, buying timed tickets to museums, and hitting the road on weekend trips to Midwestern cities and towns that offer art and culture within a couple hours drive. A year of leaning back has helped artists and dealers reevaluate plans as well as resources, and it has helped me build up the resolve, not to mention appreciation, to wade back into the water and enjoy our city again. I see I don’t have to do it all, but I will strive to do it well.Grateful to be able to continue publishing CGN as we approach our 40th anniversary next year, we’ve recommitted to making sure this lovely magazine continues to exist and connect to many in our little part of the art world.&nbsp;As long as I can keep my balance, and my head, we can stay right where we are. That is good, and it’s enough.&nbsp;&nbsp;</body></html>

Summer 2021 Publisher's Letter: When Leaning Back Moves You Forward

<html><head></head><body>We’ve all heard of doubling down. It’s harder than it sounds to face adversity, take a big gamble and make it happen. Amidst a challenging pandemic fortunes have been varied in Chicago’s art spaces, but everyone has been adversely affected in one way or another. CGN has been seeking out the gallerists and others who decided to make some lemonade out of 2020. Each effort is a testament to the enduring power of art and the creative people behind it all. This summer visit these spaces and places to see what’s new and to wish those leading the charge well. – GV&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721417619/s7j4ovqvfa46ahjob7yo.jpg"><figcaption>Patron's new home at 1612 W Chicago Ave</figcaption></figure>PATRON has been talking about a move from its original River West location for quite some time, but 2020 put plans on hold. As of April 2021 they have moved to a fabulous new space in a reclaimed theater in West Town.&nbsp; •&nbsp; <a href="https://patrongallery.com">patrongallery.com</a>&nbsp;The Golden Triangle held an epic sale to clear out its 18,000 sf. Clark Street space in River North to move to West Town. Co-founder Doug Van Tress says, “Our new space is a more industrial space, a combination of gallery and atelier-workshop where things are not just sold; they are made.&nbsp; •&nbsp; <a href="http://goldentriangle.biz">goldentriangle.biz</a> &nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721417620/efghayafgyxxtsapcxrn.png"></figure>2020 dealt the vintage mainstay Randolph Street Market a near-fatal blow, with the cancellation of in-person events. With construction planned this summer for the market’s traditional Plumber’s Hall home, Schwartz moved the market to Three Oaks, MI for five weekends from Memorial Day to Labor Day.&nbsp; •&nbsp; <a href="http://randolphstreetmarket.com">randolphstreetmarket.com</a>&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721417621/jsugau4tohjuhhbxk5iq.jpg"></figure> Kavi Gupta Gallery has two expansions happening. They recently announced plans for a new, multi-functioning art space on the main strip of the lakeside town of New Buffalo, MI, a common spot for Chicagoans to vacation. Plans include an exhibition space, outdoor sculpture garden, as well as art storage facilities.&nbsp;The gallery also announced in April plans to expand their 2nd floor space at 835 W Washington down into the ground floor space where <a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/organizations/carrie-secrist-gallery">Carrie Secrist Gallery</a> was prior to moving nearby to 900 W Washington. Gupta owns 835 W Washington. This expansion creates a new, multi-purpose, museum-quality exhibition space. In addition to our new rooftop sculpture garden, the space&nbsp;will allow us to host expanded programming and events, as well as a curated bookshop that extends our art publishing arm, Kavi Gupta | Editions."The inaugural exhibition in the new street-level space, opening May 22, 2021, is the gallery’s debut solo show with South African artist Mary Sibande. The gallery still has its nearby Elizabeth St. warehouse as well. •&nbsp; <a href="http://kavigupta.com">kavigupta.com</a>&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721417622/azrjtijfon8mmzkhgjla.jpg"></figure>ALAN KOPPEL GALLERY expanded beyond their downtown Dearborn Street space to open a satelite gallery in <a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/organizations/alan-koppel-gallery-north">suburban Glencoe</a> April 1. Their first show featured photographs by Diane Arbus, along with works by artists she influenced.&nbsp;&nbsp;Art De Triumph &amp; Artful Framer Studios, based at 2938 N. Clark since 2000, announced it is expanding to a gallery / artist retreat / learning center in their historic home in Rockford, &nbsp;85 miles from downtown Chicago. They're inviting clients and fellow artists to come for the day, or come for a stay. • <a href="https://artdetriumph.com/pages/about-us">artdetriumph.com</a>&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721417622/nxxq6hrhkgawpozv844j.jpg"><figcaption>Ron Gard</figcaption></figure>Chicago Sculpture International (CSI) opened 3D4D by CSI on April 16 at 1912 N Damen Ave. The space's program focuses on sculpture, time-based and performance art and is an experimental art space run by artists with the mission of showcasing fresh perspectives through unique programming. 3D4D aims to engage young emerging artists and curators whose work drives attention to current issues affecting our society. Community philanthropy is embedded in all programming, and 3D4D by CSI is under the direction of Chicago based artists, composed of women, LGBTQ+ and people of color. &nbsp;• &nbsp;<a href="https://www.3d4dbycsi.org">3d4dbycsi.org</a> &nbsp;</body></html>

Expansions & Plans: Forward Momentum After a Hard Year

<html><head></head><body><figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418894/pwucyv9ktljitq5qyhiz.jpg"><figcaption>Balloon Girl, Courtesy of The Art of Banksy</figcaption></figure><a href="https://www.theartofbanksy.com">Banksy Comes to Chicago... Sort of.</a>The Art of Banksy, the largest touring exhibition of authentic Banksy art works in the world, announced that it will open July 1 in Chicago. Hosted in a yet-to-be-disclosed location in the West Loop The Art of Banksy will feature 80 authenticated and certified original Banksy works from collectors across the globe, offering the public a rare opportunity to view art that is now privately held.&nbsp;The Art of Banksy is not authorized or curated in collaboration with the artist, but rather sourced from private collections. The exhibition features many of Banksy’s most recognizable images, including Flower Thrower, Rude Copper and Girl with Balloon, famously shredded at auction in 2018. The canvasses, screen prints, sculptures, one-off and limited-edition pieces on display date between 1997 and 2008. Banksy, whose identity is the art world’s biggest secret, is an enigmatic artist and world-recognized political activist. <a href="https://www.theartofbanksy.com">Tickets to see the works</a> – which normally you would once pass on the street for free – will go on sale at 9 a.m. May 6 and start at $39.99 ($29.99 for under 16.)&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418895/p4zsxvftoin7ad6izhvj.jpg"></figure><a href="https://www.terraamericanart.org/home/grantees-announced-re-envisioning-permanent-collections/">Terra Foundation awards 35&nbsp;grants to&nbsp;US&nbsp;arts and culture&nbsp;organizations for permanent collection projects</a>The Terra Foundation for American Art is pleased to announce the awarding of nearly $2.5 million in grants to 35 arts and cultural organizations across 30 cities&nbsp;in the United States. These grants support projects through the foundation’s new two-year exhibition grant initiative,&nbsp;Re-envisioning Permanent Collections: An Initiative for US Museums. The Terra Foundation established this grant initiative to encourage museums to delve more deeply into their collections to reveal a fuller multiplicity of artworks and voices that have shaped, in the past and up through the present, the artistic and cultural heritage of the US.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.57thstreetartfair.org/fair-canceled">57th Street Art Fair Announces It Will Take Place Virtually, Not In-Person as Hoped</a>The 57th Street Art Fair Committee announced they have made a final decision regarding the possibility of holding a scaled-down physical fair in June, 2021.&nbsp; Sadly, after much deliberation, they regretted that this will not be possible.There were many considerations behind this difficult decision, but the primary concern was for the health and safety of our artists, visitors, volunteers and community.&nbsp; And in the end, time and cost to implement a safely modified in-person event became insurmountable factors. &nbsp;Without the city permit and permission from CPS, and with only a month to go before the early June fair date, there will not enough time to implement any of the plans considered for 2021’s 74th Annual 57th Street Art Fair.&nbsp; The Committee felt they had no choice but to cancel this year’s physical event, and focus on the currently ongoing <a href="https://www.57thstreetartfair.org/virtual-fair">2021 57th Street Art Fair virtual event</a>, which is live through May 2022.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</body></html>

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