On May 13, 2016 Zolla/Lieberman Gallery will present the work of artist Deborah Butterfield. The show is the gallery&rsquo;s 15th solo exhibition for the sculptor. It also marks four decades of Butterfield and the gallery working together. Of the enduring collaboration, William Lieberman, gallery director and son of founder Roberta Lieberman, says, &ldquo;I am honored to recognize Deborah&rsquo;s forty year association with Zolla/Lieberman. She has remained true to her art, investing her sculptures with unique skill and breathtaking presence.&rdquo;

In 1965, Roberta Lieberman and Bob Zolla first opened their gallery in a coach house in Chicago&rsquo;s South Shore neighborhood, with the goal of showing important abstract artists. Friend and art critic Harry Bouras (also known as &ldquo;Hairy Who?&rdquo;) introduced Roberta and Bob to art colleagues who had acccess to the work of New York abstract artists Franz Kline, Philip Guston and many others. In 1975 Roberta and Bob travelled to New York where they befriended renowned SoHo art dealer Leo Castelli. Back in Chicago, Roberta and Bob rented space at 368 W. Huron &ndash; a loft building in a desolate industrial district almost a mile west of Michigan Avenue. In March 1976 Zolla/Lieberman opened with an inaugural exhibition featuring work from Castelli&rsquo;s gallery, which included major New York School artists such as Frank Stella, Donald Judd and Robert Morris. To this day, William can recall the exact placement of what would now be a multi-million dollar Andy Warhol painting. However, nothing sold. When the James Rosenquist show that followed fared no better, Roberta and Bob had to face a hard fact: serious Chicago art collectors still went to New York to purchase works by these prominent artists. &nbsp;

<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4QoIjoPQLTU" width="420"></iframe>

With the realization that local collectors were not coming to the gallery to buy New York School artists, they decided, boldly, to pursue their own vision and seek out emerging talent. They travelled to Roberta&rsquo;s alma mater, the University of Wisconsin, where they visited the studio of Deborah Butterfield, an art instructor at the university and a promising sculptor. By the time they had finished lunch plans were set for a July 1976 exhibition of Butterfield&rsquo;s life-sized mud-and-stick horses. These works would have an immediate national impact. &nbsp;

Zolla/Lieberman and Butterfield built on this success with three annual exhibitions of Butterfield sculptures. The gallery began representing other young artists, such as Michelle Stuart, Deborah Remington and John Buck. Fostering the careers of emerging, midcareer, and established artists &ndash; an equal mix of women and men &ndash; became Zolla/Lieberman&rsquo;s guiding principle. &nbsp;

<img alt="" data-rich-file-id="1169" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1169/original/img-6792.jpg" />&nbsp;<img alt="" data-rich-file-id="1170" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1170/original/img-6793.jpg" />&nbsp;

Zolla/Lieberman was the first art gallery in Chicago to open so far off the beaten path. It did not take long until other art galleries understood the benefits of the available, empty space. River North was born, and the energy of a vital art community blossomed. Enjoying success from their hard work, Zolla/Lieberman made the decision in 1980 to move to a 10,000-square foot loft in the Adler-Sullivan building next door at 356 W. Huron. That year Zolla/Lieberman exhibited Butterfield and other artists at the very first &ldquo;Art Chicago,&rdquo; an event that drew dealers, collectors, curators and critics from around the world. Though Chicago&rsquo;s international art exhibition has since undergone several iterations, Zolla/Lieberman&rsquo;s booth has always had a Butterfield work on display.&nbsp;

<img alt="" data-caption="Deborah Butterfield, &quot;Lemon Drop&quot;, 2014, found steel, 38” x 44” x 16.5”" data-rich-file-id="1091" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1091/original/lemondrop.jpg" />

On April 15, 1989 the gallery was dealt a devastating blow after a fire swept through the Adler-Sullivan building, ravaging not only Zolla/Lieberman but the building&rsquo;s many other galleries as well. Butterfield&rsquo;s unique copper and bronze sculpture, Louis, awaiting shipment to collectors John and Mary Pappajohn in Des Moines, melted. Despite the enormous setback, Zolla/Lieberman reopened six months later at 230 West Huron.&nbsp;

In 1991 the gallery moved to its current location at 325 West Huron. Four years later the gallery was grateful for the unique support of the building&rsquo;s owners, Jerry Meyer and Buzz Ruttenberg, who helped to keep the gallery&rsquo;s rent affordable during another challenging period.&nbsp;

<img alt="" data-caption="Cascade, on view through August 2016 at the gallery" data-rich-file-id="1171" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1171/original/cascade.jpg" />

Zolla/Lieberman Gallery has made West Huron Street its own, spanning four decades and four different addresses (368, 356, 230, and 325). Six months after Roberta passed away in 2004, Chicago&rsquo;s City Council voted to name the corner of Huron and Franklin &ldquo;Honorary Roberta Lieberman Way.&rdquo; This intersection, and Zolla/Lieberman Gallery, continue to be landmarks in Chicago&rsquo;s contemporary art scene.

 
Zolla/Lieberman Gallery | 325 W Huron, Chicago, IL 60654 | 312.944.1990 | <a href="http://zollaliebermangallery.com">zollaliebermangallery.com</a>&nbsp; | Deborah Butterfield runs May 13-August 20, 2016

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

May-August issue of Chicago Gallery News cover feature on Deborah Butterfield and Zolla/Lieberman Gallery

On the Cover, May-August 2016: Deborah Butterfield at Zolla/Lieberman Gallery

BY GINNY VAN ALYEA

When I was in college my father advised me to try to do two things every day: drink milk, and read a major newspaper. At the time, the newspaper reading was the easier of the two tasks. Fifteen years later the news landscape has gotten a great deal more crowded, while at the same time it is much less&nbsp; connected to the printed page. Now I read headlines on my iPhone in the dark when I&rsquo;m up early with a baby. I try to put my hands on a hardcopy front section over breakfast, and by the time I&rsquo;m at my desk I&rsquo;ve scanned a more few stories in the car via email and social media. The advice my father gave me was wise, but in 2016, when I I have a lot more than two things to try to do each day, it seems like I could spend all day just trying to keep up with all the news out there. &nbsp;

While it&rsquo;s easier than ever to have your questions answered, to stay up to date, and to feel widely connected to the world, it is also universally exhausting. There are days when I long to read a book without worrying I&rsquo;m missing out on something important happening in the world. I wonder if I could take a digital vacation? The pressure of being overwhelmed permeates many areas of our lives, and I have recently started to wonder about how it&rsquo;s affecting the art world in particular.&nbsp;

<img alt="" data-caption="Seeing art up close and in person is crucial to our understanding" data-rich-file-id="965" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/965/original/openings1.jpg" />

Art buying has been slow to move online compared to many other purchases, perhaps because art is visual and physical, and therefore best appreciated, and purchased, in person. However, the internet age moves along rapidly, and so many of us have become accustomed to buying things online that we previously wouldn&rsquo;t have, art included. We now choose speed and convenience in many cases. We try just to keep up with all there is to see and consume.

There have been rumbles in Chicago about a slow winter and a subsequently sluggish spring in the galleries. I recently read a New York Times article (on my phone, at 4am) titled <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/12/t-magazine/is-staying-in-the-new-going-out.html?_r=0">Is Staying In the New Going Out?</a> This wasn&rsquo;t about staycations, or taking a break after a busy week; it argued that there is so much to do online at home - streaming, socially, even romantically, that people figure, why go out?&nbsp;

Well, for galleries, museums and artists this is a problem. Art is made to be seen and experienced. You can visit websites and facebook pages. You can scroll Instagram feeds. But when we reach the point where we only view art through a third party, or you&rsquo;re only seeking out the hits you&rsquo;ve seen on social media, we forget what it&rsquo;s like to see works of art in person or at full scale. We have dismissed the power of the physical in favor of an illuminated screen and a high rate of likes and favorites. We may have even forgotten, in our ditigal age when nothing truly goes away online and things can go viral, that a work of art may be unique and that the viewing experience can be entirely individual. You can&rsquo;t go to a gallery opening from your couch.&nbsp;

After the sluggishness of the past few months and a bumpy start to spring, Chicago is starting to blossom. There are many reasons to go out. Whether you travel or stay close to home, hopefully this summer you have a chance or two to read a book or page through a newspaper or magazine. Take some time to visit a museum, learn from a dealer in their gallery or meet an artist in their studio. The experience will stay with you longer than a retweet.

&nbsp;

Pictured at the top: people going outside (on the MCA lawn)

Letter from the publisher of Chicago Gallery News, summer issue 2016

Publisher's Letter: Summer 2016

BY GINNY VAN ALYEA

Carl Hammer has been in the art business for nearly 40 years, but his journey to being one of the most well-respected dealers in Chicago started when he was an Evanston High School English teacher during a tumultous time in the nation&rsquo;s history.&nbsp;

Today, Hammer runs a gallery program from a historic building on North Wells Street in the heart of River North. Exhibitions feature work that alternates between that of noted Outsider artists like Lee Godie and Henry Darger, and contemporary art by Michael Hernandez de Luna, an artist who cleverly works with stamps, and graphic novelist Chris Ware. Hammer sees himself as a bit of an outsider, since he never had any formal art training, and it&rsquo;s his inherent curiosity and self-awareness that continues to guide his explorations and discoveries.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

CGN: Tell us a little about how you got into the art business, and how did you come to focus on Outsider art?&nbsp;

CH: As a high school English teacher in Evanston during the &lsquo;60s and &lsquo;70s, I, along with my wife, decided that we should begin collecting art. Due to the political and civil rights upheaval the country was experiencing, we decided to collect &ldquo;grass roots&rdquo; art, a term that one commonly used during that period, based on a concept of how one should live. Without fully understanding what grass roots art might be, I knew I wanted our collecting to fully integrate the ethnicity and politics of inclusiveness. Teaching at Evanston High School provided the incentive for me to do just that. During school vacations, we traveled around the country by car and looked for our interpretation of &ldquo;grass roots&rdquo; art and artists. As we did we began discovering the world of the self-taught artist. These were people who often lived in out of the way places, where they were compelled to invent and discover ways to express who they were and what they thought, without being trained nor realizing that they were creating art. The term &ldquo;Outsider&rdquo; hadn&rsquo;t been invented yet. Vernacular art, folk art, art brut, self-taught art was used in its place. In 1972 Roger Cardinale, a professor at the University of Kent, coined the phrase Outsider Art as a synonym of art brut, or art created outside the established scene, much as Dubuffet did in finding work which helped to establish his well known art aesthetic.&nbsp;

The Chicago Imagists were also major and instinctive collectors/foragers of this kind of art, and it figured greatly in the creation of their own style/genre of creating art.

The business of selling art followed suit with our interest in collecting it and doing something within the art world that was somewhat unique, yet kept within the parameters of our own idealism at that time.

&nbsp;

CGN: You&rsquo;re known for keeping up with emerging talent. What&rsquo;s your approach to finding new artists?&nbsp;

CH: I have let the same principles of discovering outsiders guide me in finding emerging talent. I travel a lot to see work by different up and coming artists. I visit all of the graduate thesis shows that I can. Not having been instructed in art making or criticism, I&rsquo;ve been somewhat freer to look beyond the prescribed components one should be looking for in creating art or in becoming an artist.

&nbsp;

CGN: What do you think about the ever-growing business of art fairs and its impact on galleries?&nbsp;

CH: Carl Hammer Gallery became known early on because we were, in our second year, invited to participate in Chicago&rsquo;s Art Expo. My first time at Expo I wall-papered my booth with work by the newly discovered Bill Traylor. We nearly sold everything. Traylor went on to become a super star with galleries and collectors throughout the world. It was a remarkable phenomenon back then. But the proliferation of art fairs today seems to have become competitive with the old notion that clients establish loyal relationships with galleries and purchase work because they identify with the aesthetic of a particular gallery. Now, collectors seem to align themselves with the art fairs as a way to build art collections. &nbsp;

&nbsp;

CGN: What are the most striking changes you have experienced in the local as well as national art scenes?

CH: My gallery&rsquo;s 37 years of existence have been a tremendous experience, due to connections with people and, especially, in the discovery process of finding new ideas expressing the essential components of our being human. I don&rsquo;t know what&rsquo;s in store for us as collectors/gallerists here in Chicago, our nation and world-wide. Certainly, today&rsquo;s average person is more engaged than ever in the pursuit of finding meaning in life through art, and our acquisition of it and appreciation for art in our daily lives. &nbsp;

Regarding the future of the River North art district, I do not like to think of a time when it eventually meets with its demise. On the other hand, River North itself was the reincarnation of a decades old art district once thriving at North Michigan Ave. and Ohio St. Perhaps, like the proverbial Phoenix rising from the ashes, there will be a rebirth of a similar River North elsewhere.

&nbsp;

<a href="http://carlhammergallery.com">carlhammergallery.com</a>

&nbsp;

Pictured at top of page: Carl Hammer in his gallery, in front of Mary Lou Zelazny&rsquo;s The Eyed Tree #4, 2015 Acrylic, collage, oil on canvas, 48&rdquo; x 60&rdquo;

Carl Hammer: 37 Years an Outsider

When the news arrived Friday that Prince had died suddenly at age 57, everyone had at least one personal memory to share about listening to a favorite song back in the day or maybe even catching a surprise performance in recent years. From Sesame Street performances to over-the-top Super Bowl half time performances, Prince was creative everywhere. And much like David Bowie, whom we lost just a few months ago, he blurred the lines between music, performance and visual art.&nbsp;

If you&#39;re looking to raise a glass and a dance move to Prince in Chicago, on Friday, &nbsp;May 6 from 7-11pm,&nbsp;the MCA will honor Prince at its Prime Time happening

The theme will be&nbsp;&ldquo;Purple&rdquo; to celebrate the life, music, and legacy of&nbsp;Prince. The evening now includes a&nbsp;special tribute performance by Chicago-based funk and soul artist&nbsp;avery r. young&nbsp;who, together with his nine-piece band, will perform a spectrum of Prince works. Tickets to Prime Time are&nbsp;$20 at the door and $15 in advance. Tickets&nbsp;at&nbsp;<a href="http://mcachicago.org">mcachicago.org</a>.&nbsp;MCA Prime Time is a 21+ event.

&nbsp;

Below are links to some of our favorite art-related Prince tributes and write-ups (plus an old favorite from the Muppets...)

<a href="https://news.artnet.com/people/prince-home-to-become-museum-481883#.Vx-Ot8EKXtU.twitter">Prince&#39;s $6.6-Million Minnesota Home Will Become a Museum for Fans</a>

<img alt="" data-rich-file-id="1096" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1096/medium/paisley-park-prince.jpg" />

<a href="http://www.blouinartinfo.com/news/story/1384637/innocence-and-experience-the-image-of-prince">Innocence and Experience: The Image of Prince</a>

<img alt="" data-rich-file-id="1098" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1098/medium/purplerain1.jpg" />

<a href="http://www.blouinartinfo.com/news/story/1384780/how-prince-the-artist-formerly-known-as-unpronounceable">How Prince, The Artist Formerly Known as Unpronounceable Symbol, Changed Design</a>

<img alt="" data-rich-file-id="1095" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1095/medium/prince-logo.jpg" />

Muppets Tonight - Featuring&nbsp;The Artist Formerly Known As Prince

<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/cgYEsfBuHoo" width="420"></iframe>

&nbsp;

The Art World Misses Prince

The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (MCA) announced yesterday that Jos&eacute;&nbsp;Esparza Chong Cuy has been appointed the Pamela Alper Associate Curator. Esparza most recently held the position of Associate Curator the Museo Jumex in Mexico City.

Chief Curator&nbsp;Michael Darling commented, &quot;With our longstanding interest in art from Latin America, we now have in Jos&eacute; an articulate advocate for presenting the best work being made in that region. Mexico City is one of the most exciting cities in the world for contemporary art, and Jos&eacute;&#39;s deep knowledge of that scene will immediately enrich our dialogues here at the MCA. Jos&eacute; is also active in architecture and design circles and that knowledge, alongside his expertise in contemporary art, will find a natural fit here at the MCA where we regularly venture out into parallel fields of activity. I think he will immediately become a great asset to our community.&quot;

Previously, Esparza was a Curatorial Associate at the Storefront for Art and Architecture in New York and a Research Fellow at the&nbsp;New Museum for Contemporary Art. In 2012, he received a MS in Critical, Curatorial, and Conceptual Practices in Architecture from Columbia University. He received his bachelor&#39;s degree in architecture from the Western Institute of Technology and High Education in Guadalajara, Mexico. He will start his new position at the MCA on April 18, 2016.&nbsp;

<img alt="" data-caption="José Esparza Chong Cuy, Photo: Camila Cossio." data-rich-file-id="1035" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1035/original/esparza-1.jpg" />

Top Image:&nbsp;MCA Building exterior at night. Photo: Peter McCullough, &copy;MCA Chicago.

José Esparza Chong Cuy Appointed Associate Curator at MCA Chicago

This week (April 7-9)&nbsp;UIC will host Latino Art Now! 5th Biennial Conference. The three-day event is organized by the Inter-University Program for Latino Research at UIC and the Smithsonian Latino Center.

<blockquote>
The Latino Art Now! Conference is the leading national forum for artists, art historians, art professionals, educators, scholars, critics and art dealers. The Fifth Biennial Latino Art Now! Re-imagining Global Intersections Conference in Chicago will examine the contemporary shifting contours of US Latino art and the (trans) national and global cultural forces that continuously shape it and how it in turn shapes these forces.&nbsp;
</blockquote>

The opening reception will take place Thursday April 7 from 6-8pm at the National Museum of Mexican Art and will feature a performance by&nbsp;Michael De Anda Mu&ntilde;iz,&nbsp;Amanda Cortes,&nbsp;Silvia In&eacute;s,&nbsp;Gibran, and Margarita Lizcano Hernandez.

Following the reception, ACRE will host an informal evening of conversations around Latinx art and artists. Attendees are welcome to give 2-3 minute slide presentations of their work or the work of others.

For more information about the conference visit:&nbsp;<a href="https://iuplr.uic.edu/iuplr/latino-art-now">iuplr.uic.edu/iuplr/latino-art-now</a>

UIC Hosts Latino Art Now! 5th Biennial Conference.

UIC Hosts Latino Art Now! 5th Biennial Conference

Ann Goldstein, who has previously held&nbsp;positions&nbsp;at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam and&nbsp;The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA), has been appointed as the new Deputy Director, and Chair and Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art. This is a newly created position, and Goldstein will be the first one to occupy it. She will be transitioning to her new position starting March 28 and will assume full responsibility on September 1, 2016.

Goldstein began her career as a research assistant at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) more than thirty years ago. She stated, &quot;I am extremely excited and thoroughly honored to assume this role&mdash;and truly a &#39;dream job&#39;&mdash;to work together with my colleague James [Rondeau], as well as the museum&rsquo;s esteemed staff and family, to the further the mission of this magnificent and beloved encyclopedic institution and foster the growth of its highly respected modern and contemporary art program...Chicago has remained close to my heart as a remarkable cultural and philanthropic community filled with dear friends and brilliant artists and colleagues who have constantly awed and inspired me.&rdquo;&nbsp;

Goldstein was a Senior Curator at MOCA, where she worked for more than 26 years, from 1983-2009. Recently, she was Director of the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, where she oversaw the reopening of the museum after nine years of renovations.

Along with her new position of Deputy Director, she will be replacing James Rondeau as the Chair and&nbsp;Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art. Rondeau was recently appointed President and Director of the Art Institute of Chicago after Douglas Druick stepped down.

For more information visit:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.artic.edu/sites/default/files/press/2016/Goldstein_PressRelease_FINAL.pdf">Ann Goldstein to Join the Art Institute of Chicago as New Deputy Director, and Chair and Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art</a>

<img alt="" data-caption="Ann Goldstein. © Albrecht Fuchs, Cologne" data-rich-file-id="1030" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1030/original/ag-pressrelease-small.jpg" />

Ann Goldstein has been appointed as the new Deputy Director, and Chair and Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art.

Ann Goldstein Joins Art Institute of Chicago as New Deputy Director and Curator 

By JULIA KERSHAW

For the first time, a trio of depictions of Vincent van Gogh&rsquo;s bedroom come together at the Art Institute of Chicago as part of exhibition examining the artist&rsquo;s exploration of home. A record number of visitors has already been coming to see the works and&nbsp;to&nbsp;experience the making of and meaning behind van Gogh&rsquo;s famous portrayals through illustrated letters, a digital bedroom reconstruction, and some of the artist&rsquo;s personal possessions and books. The exhibition shows&nbsp;36 works tracing the development of van Gogh&rsquo;s ever-changing notions of home, from his iconic Yellow House in Arles, France to an asylum in Saint-Remy to his final residence in Auvers-sur-Oise.

Van Gogh&rsquo;s Bedrooms will expose distinctive details between the paintings, but together the works reflect van Gogh&rsquo;s changing, emotional notion of home, from refuge to a creative outlet. Visitors will contemplate how they might depict their own home.

Van Gogh&rsquo;s Bedrooms, Feb 14-May 8, Art Institute of Chicago&nbsp;&nbsp; &bull;&nbsp;<a href="http://An Overnight with van Gogh"> artic.edu</a>

<img alt="" data-caption="Vincent van Gogh. &lt;i&gt;Eugène Boch&lt;/i&gt;. 1888. Musée d'Orsay, Paris, legacy of Mr. Eugène Boch, 1941." data-rich-file-id="895" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/895/original/van-gogh-eugene-boch-1888.jpg" />

Top image: Vincent van Gogh.&nbsp;The Bedroom. 1889. The Art Institute of Chicago, Helen Birch Bartlett Memorial Collection.

&nbsp;

The new Van Gogh exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago

An Overnight with van Gogh

By&nbsp;ALISON REILLY

This weekend is the last opportunity to see&nbsp;Homegrown: The School of the Art Institute in the Permanent Collection&nbsp;at the Art Institute of Chicago. In honor of SAIC&#39;s 150th anniversary, the Print &amp; Drawings Department curated a selection of works by alumni of the art and design school. The prints and works on paper are organized loosely by&nbsp;themes such as the Monster Roster,&nbsp;Chicago Imagists and the&nbsp;Hairy-Who and includes many recognizable names such as Sanford Biggers, Claes Oldenburg, Nancy Spero,&nbsp;Judy Legerwood, and Ed Pashke (Jerry Saltz even makes an appearance). The exhibition also&nbsp;delves deep into&nbsp;the early twentieth century to much success.

German &eacute;migr&eacute;&nbsp;Gustave Baumann&#39;s woodblock prints are a delight. Of note is <a href="http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/artwork/96248?search_no=20&amp;index=8">Apple Blossoms</a>, which is accompanied by seven carved&nbsp;woodblocks, illustrating the layers of color needed to achieve the impressive effect in the final print. Todros Geller&#39;s series of <a href="http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/artwork-search/results/yiddish+motifs?filters=object_type_s%3APrint+artist_name_s%3A%22Geller%2C+Todros%22">Yiddish Motifs</a>&nbsp;are also impressive. The artist was working about a decade after Baumann, and in this series&nbsp;he layers woodcuts on Japanese wood veneer paper. Geller&#39;s depictions of working class life&nbsp;centered around Maxwell Street in Chicago contrasts his choice of a&nbsp;decorative Japanese paper.

Homegrown&nbsp;makes a point to focus&nbsp;on Regionalism as it was expressed in Chicago in the thirties and forties. Many of these prints were commissioned by the Works Progress Adminsitration, which reiterates the importance of the organization in the development of modern art in the United States. Adrian Troy&#39;s&nbsp;<a href="http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/artwork/40237?search_no=22&amp;index=1">The Produce Market </a>and Bernece Berkman&#39;s&nbsp;<a href="http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/artwork/127212?search_no=23&amp;index=0">Gobbers, Git a Bag!!!</a> pulse&nbsp;with life and tune viewers into a vibrant city despite the setbacks of the Depression.&nbsp;

Margaret Burroughs&#39; linocut print&nbsp;<a href="http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/artwork/204625">Family</a>&nbsp;depicts a striking portrait of a couple.&nbsp;Burroughs first began involved at SAIC in the 1930s and eventually earned a masters in arts education from the school. She had a profound influence on the arts in Chicago; she was a dedicated arts activist as&nbsp;one of the founding artists of the South Side Community Arts Center in 1938. Decades later, in 1961,&nbsp;she cofounded, along with her husband, the DuSable Museum of African American History.&nbsp;

*

<a href="http://www.artic.edu/exhibition/homegrown-school-art-institute-permanent-collection">Homegrown: The School of the Art Institute in the Permanent Collection</a> is on display at the Art Institute of Chicago until Sunday February 14, 2016.

For more information about SAIC&#39;s 150 Anniversary visit:<a href="http://www.saic.edu/150/"> saic.edu/150</a>

<img alt="" data-caption="Gustave Baumann. &lt;i&gt;Piñon Grand Canyon&lt;/i&gt;, 1921. The Art Institute of Chicago. The William Gold Hibbard Memorial." data-rich-file-id="997" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/997/original/baumann-pinon-grand-canyon-.jpg" />

This weekend is the last opportunity to see Homegrown: The School of the Art Institute in the Permanent Collection at the Art Institute of Chicago.

Homegrown: A History in Print

<a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/art-services/expo-chicago">EXPO CHICAGO</a> announced two curators for their annual exposition taking place&nbsp;September 22-25, 2016&nbsp;at Navy Pier. Diana Nawai, associate curator at the&nbsp;P&eacute;rez Art Museum Miami, will curate IN/SITU and Daria de Beauvais, curator at Palais de Tokyo in Paris, was selected as the curator of EXPO VIDEO. IN/SITU typically features large-scale installations that fill the exposition&#39;s large hall. Alongside these works will be de Beauvais&#39; selections of videos presented in a variety of formats.

President and director Tony Karman noted,&nbsp;&ldquo;Our IN/SITU and EXPO VIDEO programming continues to receive broad critical acclaim, offering curated sections of large-scale sculptures, installations and groundbreaking video and new media work.&nbsp;It is a great privilege to be working closely with Diana Nawi and Daria de Beauvais to shape these important core programs&mdash;both represent dynamic cultural institutions and are two of the most important curatorial voices working today. Additionally, we continue to support our exhibiting dealers and the artists being presented by inviting national and international curators to attend the exposition as a part of our Curatorial Forum.&rdquo;

Last year, Louis Grachos held the position of curator for IN/SITU and Alfredo Cramerotti was the EXPO VIDEO curator.

For more information visit: <a href="http://expochicago.com/sites/default/files/2016%20Curatorial%20Announcement%20_0.pdf">2016 Curatorial Announcement</a>

<img alt="" data-caption="Diana Nawi" data-rich-file-id="1000" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1000/original/diana-20nawi.jpg" />

<img alt="" data-caption="Daria de Beauvais" data-rich-file-id="1001" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1001/original/daria-20de-20beauvais.jpg" />

EXPO CHICAGO Announces Curators for IN/SITU and EXPO VIDEO

<html><head></head><body><figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418549/ksotcjihvgsejbqfcehx.jpg"></figure>By MARY DEYOEWhen the Monster Roster artists were working in the middle of the 20th century, those who made up the group had two strikes against them – they were from Chicago, and they were figurative artists. In the late 1940s and 50s being an artist in Chicago was almost an automatic ticket to obscurity, as many contemporary critics were shining light primarily on New York. It was also nearly mandatory that an artist work in abstraction to be taken seriously.John Corbett and Jim Dempsey, curators of Monster Roster: Existentialist Art in Postwar Chicago, a new exhibition at the Smart Museum of Art, decided it was time that this group was given a reexamination.&nbsp; “We are currently seeing a widespread reconsideration of the canon of 20th century American art,” explained Corbett and Dempsey, “Specifically, what belongs as part of the enduring legacy, what has previously been excluded that needs to be reevaluated, analyzed, and readmitted? How do those new additions change the overall complexion of the story of American art?”The Monster Roster, recognized as one of the factions that made up the Chicago Imagists, was led by Leon Golub and included his wife Nancy Spero, as well as artists June Leaf, Dominick DiMeo, and Cosmo Compoli. Together the group produced work that is deeply pyschological, even unsettling. Their art, which offended crtics at the time, can still be tough to encounter; brush stokes are harsh; bodies are disfigured and contorted in pain, sometimes tortured. Much of the group’s source material: mythology, ancient art and Jungian pyschology – was out of fashion with the day’s prevailing art criticism – and the artists maintained a strong determination not to fall under the influence of the predominant cultural climate, a motivation shared with some contemporaries, like Jackson Pollock, working in Abstract Expressionism, and other avant garde movements.While resisting the notion of direct influence, Corbett and Dempsey cite an increasing interest among young artists today in the work because of a “curiosity about untold histories and an openness to alternative ways of thinking about painting.”“The spirit of self-determination among the postwar artists [in this exhibition] is a key carry-over into subsequent generations. Whether it was a direct effect or a more general attitude, taking charge of one’s destiny – especially in exhibitions&nbsp; – was extremely significant to them and today could be seen as a salient hallmark of Chicago artists, as seen in select Imagist exhibitions at Hyde Park Art Center as well as in apartment galleries over the last ten years.”The exhibition will be highlighted by an extensive lineup of talks, tours, film screenings, poetry workshops, musical performances, and family events. Programming will dive into the historical context of the Monster Roster, including a look at the unique social, cultural, and political conditions that helped shape their aesthetic.Dempsey and Corbett also aimed to use programming to explore common threads running through work by artists who were not members of the Monster Roster. Together they said, “Artists working in other media, including film, literature, and music have and continue to respond to the existential anxiety that informed the work of [the artists in the exhibition].” One planned talk presents the work of filmmaker Tom Palazzolo, who since the 1960s has produced over 50 films that explore the “complex, multi-faceted, and often overlooked events and rituals unfolding across Chicago’s neighborhoods.” Other programs include films directed by Jerry Blumenthal and Gordon Quinn, Golub: Late Works are the Catastrophes, as well as Woman as Protagonist: The Art of Nancy Spero.The free, public opening for the exhibition takes place at the museum on&nbsp;Wednesday, February 10, 2016,&nbsp;7–9 pm.&nbsp;The evening celebration will feature live music from the Josh Berman Trio, docent-led tours, in-gallery spoken word prose and poetry performances, and more.Monster Roster: Existentialist Art in Postwar Chicago features works from 1948 to the mid 1960s. It is on view at the Smart Museum at the University of Chicago February 11–June 12, 2016.Curators John Corbett and Jim Dempsey, independant curators and co-owners of Corbett vs Dempsey Gallery, worked closely with Jessica Moss, Smart Museum Curator of Contemporary Art, and Richard A. Born, Smart Museum Senior Curator.Top image: Leon Golub, The Ischian Sphinx, 1956, oil and lacquer on canvas. Private Collection.&nbsp;&nbsp;</body></html>

The Monster Roster exhibition at the Smart Museum of Art in Chicago 

Reconsidering the Monster Roster

2016 marks the Museum of Contemporary Photography&#39;s (MoCP)&nbsp;40th anniversary. In celebration, the spring exhibition&nbsp;MoCP at 40&nbsp;will draw from the museum&rsquo;s permanent collection of over 13,000 works to explore the institution&rsquo;s role as a hub of photographic research and education.

Arranged chronologically from the late 19th century to today, the opening installation will span major developments in the photographic medium as it intersects with historical moments in politics, culture, and art. Works by renowned artists including Diane Arbus, Roy DeCarava, Walker Evans, Sally Mann, and Andy Warhol will be on view along with over one hundred others. In an adjacent gallery, rarely seen correspondence and ephemera from the past four decades will give insight into individual artists&rsquo; photographs and collaborations with the museum. MoCP at 40 is organized collaboratively by MoCP staff members with assistance from graduate and undergraduate interns studying at Columbia College Chicago.

MoCP at 40 will highlight the breadth of photographic processes represented in the collection, from analogue methods dating back to the invention of the medium, to contemporary cutting edge techniques. Also on view will be a selection of works from the Midwest Photographer&rsquo;s Project (MPP), including a site-specific installation by Chicago-based artist Aim&eacute;e Beaubien. Inaugurated in 1982 MPP is a rotating collection of portfolios loaned to the MoCP for a three year period by prominent and emerging artists from Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio and Wisconsin.

The MoCP is committed to broadening the visual arts by constantly searching for new national and international talent to exhibit. To this end, the museum&rsquo;s programming guides the public to a greater understanding of thought-provoking contemporary photography as well as an appreciation for traditional work that has not yet received critical acclaim. &nbsp;

MoCP at 40 runs January 28 &ndash; April 10, 2016.&nbsp;Exhibition details and event information available at <a href="http://mocp.org">mocp.org</a>

The annual winter gala to benefit the museum, DARKROOM, takes place Thursday, February 25 at Morgan Manufacturing. Details <a href="http://www.mocp.org/events/event?id=584691">here</a>.&nbsp;

Pictured above: Carrie Mae Weems, Untitled #2451, 1990

<img alt="" data-caption="Louise Dahl-Wolfe, &lt;i&gt;Carson McCullers&lt;/i&gt;, 1940" data-rich-file-id="899" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/899/original/11-wolfe-carson-mccullers.jpg" />

The Museum of Contemporary Photography's 40th anniversary

MoCP Marks 40 Years

BY THOMAS MASTERS

In September 2015 Chicago lost one its great &quot;Aristo-Democrats,&quot; Michael Weinstein.

There are a few blowhards&nbsp;and bullies in this town who claim to be the champions of the &quot;underdog artist.&quot; &nbsp;They&nbsp;criticize galleries and institutions for&nbsp;insensitivity and abuses to those artists and they&nbsp;seem to be forever sought out by the press for their well worn opinions. They believe this somehow advances an artist&#39;s&nbsp;struggles, that tired&nbsp;rhetoric somehow makes them heroic.&nbsp;For the most part it is&nbsp;self serving and provincial.

Michael Weinstein simply described them as&nbsp;&quot;the bitter ones...&quot;

His approach?&nbsp; He helped artists to understand their work in ways that they themselves did not&nbsp;consider or comprehend, and&nbsp;he did this over lengthy conversations in galleries, while standing in front of the works, going piece by piece with the the artist or gallerist. He&nbsp;wrote reviews, catalog essays and critiques that were insightful and generous in spirit. He attended hundreds of exhibitions around the city,&nbsp;praising both galleries and artists, and&nbsp;encouraging and inspiring those who engaged him in conversation. He may have been the most intelligent writer about art in this city,&nbsp;and yet, except for his photo reviews in New City,&nbsp; his contributions were somewhat overlooked and he was seldom asked by the media in Chicago to comment on major art events. Often the&nbsp;media selected the same, tired voices.&nbsp;In this regard, Michael&#39;s enormous intelligence and advanced intellect&nbsp;in all aspects of art and life were overlooked.

<img alt="" data-caption="&quot;This Side of the Mountain&quot; part 1, (The Dance) artistic and musical collaboration between Michael Weinstein and Thomas Masters" data-rich-file-id="989" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/989/original/screen-20shot-202016-01-21-20at-202-09-02-20pm.jpg" />

I have talked to numerous people who claim to be his best friend and confidant.&nbsp;He had a special gift for making one feel like his relationship with you entitled you to believe it to be so.

Michael could talk to anybody. He could convey the most complex ideas about art, life and philosophy,&nbsp;and he would&nbsp;make the&nbsp;listener understand it all in a simple and profound way.

He could&nbsp;make&nbsp;you feel less alone in the world.

Some afternoons he would visit my gallery, and we would talk for hours over beer and french fries and walk through the exhibitions and discuss the work on display.

I will miss those times with him.

- TM

&nbsp;

Top image:&nbsp;One of many great moments with Michael and his wife Deena.

Memorial about Michael Weinstein from gallery owner Thomas Masters

A Tribute to Michael Weinstein

Tucked into the&nbsp;corner of the fourth floor of the MCA is Ania Jaworska&#39;s&nbsp;installation of screen prints featuring her playful&nbsp;interpretations of architectural columns. The&nbsp;tongue-in-cheek prints question the history of architecture while providing viewers with a moment to relax and smile.&nbsp;The opening of the exhibition at the end of August&nbsp;coincided with the Chicago Architecture Biennial but the screen prints, along with a sculptural installation in the adjacent gallery,&nbsp;are on view until January 31.&nbsp;

Top image:&nbsp;Installation view, BMO Harris Bank Chicago Works: Ania Jaworska, MCA Chicago, Aug 25, 2015&ndash;Jan 31, 2016.&nbsp;Photo: Nathan Keay.&nbsp;&copy; MCA Chicago

<img alt="" data-caption="Ania Jaworska. Faking It, 2015. Screen print on folio paper. Courtesy of the Artist. © MCA Chicago" data-rich-file-id="984" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/984/original/aniajaworska-fakingit.jpg" />

<img alt="" data-caption="Ania Jaworska, 2447 N Lakewood Ave, Chicago, IL 60618, 2015. Screen print on folio paper. Courtesy of the Artist. © MCA Chicago" data-rich-file-id="986" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/986/original/aniajaworska-lakewoodavenue.jpg" />

<img alt="" data-caption="Ania Jaworska, Wooden Column on Fire (It Was Always Burning), 2015. Screen print on folio paper Courtesy of the Artist. © MCA Chicago" data-rich-file-id="987" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/987/original/aniajaworska-fire.jpg" />

<img alt="" data-caption="Ania Jaworska, The 90s, 2015. Screen print on folio paper. Courtesy of the Artist. © MCA Chicago" data-rich-file-id="985" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/985/original/aniajaworska-90.jpg" />

Closing Soon: Ania Jaworska at the MCA

<img alt="" data-rich-file-id="983" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/983/original/getimage-aspx.jpeg" />

Lois Weisberg did more in a day than most people could try to do in a month.

She was head of the City of Chicago&#39;s Department of Cultural Affairs under two mayors, Harold Washington and Richard Daley, for the better part of 30 years, until she steppeddown in 2011. She started Cows on Parade (now replicated in many forms in cities around the world) and co-founded the Block 37 Arts program (now After School Matters) with the late Maggie Daley. We have her to thank for the Blues Festival, the Gospel Festival, the Taste of Chicago, Friends of the Parks and much more. She helped make the Cultural Center the Cultural Center&nbsp;(it used to be the Chicago&nbsp;Public Library) and she championed scores of Chicago artists and creatives while advocating for free programs for the public.&nbsp;

Lois Weisberg not only made culture count in Chicago - she showed how critical a strong arts scene is to a thriving city&#39;s&nbsp;economy, global reputation and to our every day lives. Though she will certainly be missed, her many efforts and accomplishments live on.

Here are several write-ups about the one-of-a-kind Lois Weisberg:

&bull; Malcolm Gladwell&#39;s Famous 1999 New Yorker Profile:&nbsp;<a href="http://gladwell.com/six-degrees-of-lois-weisberg/">Six-Degrees of Lois Weisberg</a>

&bull;&nbsp;Tribune - Chris Jones:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/theater/ct-lois-weisberg-was-more-than-a-connector-ae-0117-20160114-column.html">The remarkable Lois Weisberg</a>

&bull;&nbsp;Tribune - Rick Kogan:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/ct-lois-weisberg-dead-was-chicago-arts-chief-for-daley-20160114-story.html">Tireless champion of city&#39;s cultural life</a>

&bull;&nbsp;Sun Times:&nbsp;<a href="http://chicago.suntimes.com/news/7/71/1251831/legendary-landmark-lois-weisberg">Lois Weisberg, &#39;den mother of the arts&#39;</a>

&bull;&nbsp;Chicago Reader: <a href="http://www.chicagoreader.com/Bleader/archives/2016/01/14/lois-weisberg-rest-in-peace-doesnt-cut-it">Lois Weisberg:&nbsp;Rest in peace doesn&#39;t cut it</a>

&nbsp;

Top image: Chicago Tribune, Lois Weisberg

Chicago Commissioner of Cultural Affairs Lois Weisberg Dead at 90

Lois Weisberg Has Died at Age of 90 - Former Commissioner of Cultural Affairs 

By JULIA KERSHAW

The style of the English countryside is coming to Chicago, when the Driehaus Museum presents Dressing Downton&trade;: Changing Fashion for Changing Times. This celebration of the wildly popular historical drama, Downton Abbey, will exhibit over 35 award-winning costumes from the show. Created by the London costume house, Cosprop Ltd, and inspired by old photographs and magazine pictures, the Downton Abbey&nbsp;costumes provide a window into a turbulent Britain in the early 20th century, from the beginning of World War I to the exciting times of the Roaring Twenties and the Jazz Age.

The opulent interior of the Driehaus Museum, reminiscent of the lavish home of the fictional Crawley family, will help bring to life the history behind the costumes, revealing the cultural influences imbued in them.

Dressing Downton runs February 9 &ndash; May 8. Tickets must be purchased in advance and are available online at <a href="http://www.driehausmuseum.org/exhibitions">driehausmuseum.org/exhibitions</a><a href="http://www.driehausmuseum.org/dressing_downton">.</a>

&nbsp;

The Dressing Downton Exhibition at the Driehaus Museum of Art

Downton at Driehaus

BY GINNY VAN ALYEA

<img alt="" data-caption="itas” Series, 1990. Etching with aquatint. Ed. of 20. Image: 24” x 18”." data-rich-file-id="963" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/963/original/anpu001.jpg" />

35 years in the art business is no small feat, but 35 years selling works on paper, while earning the love and admiration of dozens, perhaps hundreds, of artists, is another thing entirely. Out of a friendship between Bob Hiebert and Sidney Block grew a unique gallery, Printworks, devoted to supporting both established and emerging artists and to enriching the community as a whole.&nbsp;

Hiebert and Block met as friends over 46 years ago, and in 1980, they went into business together to sell prints, original drawings, photography and artists&rsquo; books. Over the years they have placed prints and drawings in the permanent collections&nbsp;of major institutions around the world including the Tate Gallery in London, the Art Institute of Chicago, 
the Hirshhorn Museum and National Museum of American Art in Washington DC, Boston Museum&nbsp;of Fine Arts, Walker Art Center in Minneapolis and the Australian National Gallery.

There are many things that distinguish Chicago&rsquo;s art community from others around the country, but some of the first that come to mind are the resistance of trends and the collegiality between artists as well as dealers; these hallmarks are each exemplified by the program many have come to know so well at Printworks. The gallery has become a gathering place for legions of Chicago&rsquo;s most well-known and respected artists (some of whom work primarily in print, as well as others who may work in another medium entirely but dabble from time to time in paper/prints, others still just simply enjoy working with Bob and Sidney), and it has also allowed many collectors to find an accessible and affordable entry point to buying art (the gallery even has an Affordable Art program, featuring works priced for $300 and under).

<img alt="" data-caption=" Nicholas Sistler, Antechamber with Amenities, 2009. Photo-polymer intaglio prints. Image: 6” x 3”. Edition of 30. " data-rich-file-id="962" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/962/original/nsspu035.jpg" />

Hiebert and Block&rsquo;s devotion to works on paper occupies a contemporary sweet spot in the art world. They have earned a reputation for faithfully promoting their artists, and for 35 years they&rsquo;ve helped build many careers as well as assemble unique, beautiful shows that have left indelible marks on the calendar of Chicago&rsquo;s own artistic history.&nbsp;

This past November Sidney passed away at the age of 91, 9 years after the death of his beloved wife Hanna, leaving behind his dear friend Bob and an empty chair near the gallery&rsquo;s front door. In December the gallery&rsquo;s anniversary exhibition featured 35 collaborative works by 105 artists.The exhibition, The Return of the Exquisite Corpse, runs through February 13.

ON THE COVER: PRINTWORKS

A new year of art is here, and we can&#39;t wait for all the openings taking place this Friday evening and througout the month of January. &nbsp;Despite the cold weather, the winter openings have long been a popular go-to in the art world because of the opportunities for inspiration, as well as the socilization,&nbsp;they offer after a hectic holiday season. Dozens of new exhibitions open in galleries, studios and art centers from the south side to the suburbs. We are excited to see what&#39;s new from exhibiting artists, and we hope you are too. &nbsp;

We hope you&#39;ll use our Openings&nbsp;<a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/calendar?tag=opening-receptions">calendar</a> to plan ahead for an art-filled weekend and year.&nbsp;

Cheers! See you in the galleries.&nbsp;

<img alt="" data-rich-file-id="965" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/965/original/openings1.jpg" />

A New Year of Art

By MARY DEYOE

<img alt="" data-caption="Three works from Printworks' 35th Anniversary Exhibition" data-rich-file-id="964" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/964/original/printworkstrio.jpg" />

In December, when Printworks&rsquo; 35th Anniversary show The Return of the Exquisite Corpse opened, none of the 105 artists on view had seen their final works. The gallery&rsquo;s co-directors directors, Sidney Block and Bob Hiebert, invited each of the artists to create one piece of an exquisite corpse (either a head, torso, or legs). The artists knew only which body part they were responsible for creating and did not have any sense of the rest of the piece &ndash; including who the other collaborating artists would be. The resulting work is stunning to say the least, and in many cases, curious, bold and kindred.

&ldquo;We tried to include as many artists as we could,&rdquo; said Hiebert, who began organizing the show two years ago. While a large number of the artists in the show, including Audrey Niffenegger, Ed Paschke, and Karl Wirsum, are represented by Printworks, others include those who have just become wonderful friends over the years.

In talking to Hiebert it is clear that friendships and relationships have always been the driving force behind the gallery, the central one being the relationship between Hiebert and Block, who met in the 1970s and bonded over a love of classical music. They became fast friends and eventually business partners.

Exquisite corpse is a tradition that originated in the early 1900s with the Surrealists. Each participant adds to a composition, often without knowing what was done by the person before. When written, the pattern may follow rules such as: subject &ndash; verb &ndash; predicate. In art, the objective is to create a body. One artist draws a head, the next the torso, and a third the legs.

The show features 35 works and reprises the gallery&rsquo;s 2000 exhibition, The Exquisite Corpse, which presented 21 corpses for the 21st century. In 2003 Printworks did a similar exhibition in honor of Block&rsquo;s 80th birthday. Hiebert, as a surprise for his business partner, contacted nearly 200 artists asking each of them to complete a segment of a snake that would be secretly installed down the street in Jean Albano Gallery. The 250-foot long work on paper started with a head by Jules Feiffer and ended with a tail by Ed Paschke. Along the way, one encountered contributions by Leon Golub, Vera Klement, Gladys Nilsson and Nancy Spero. The snake was donated to Northwestern University&rsquo;s Block Museum (no relation) in 2006 by Sidney and his late wife, Hanna.

Return of the Exquisite Corpse is an incredible documentation of several generations of Chicago artists. It also recalls the rich history of the gallery, which has maintained an impressive roster of artists and continues to produce unique shows through many shifts in the gallery and art world. 
The show also illustrates the incredible devotion and generosity that Block and Hiebert have shown to their artists and friends. &ldquo;From the beginning, Sid always said &lsquo;pay the artists first. Without them you have nothing,&rsquo;&rdquo; recalls Hiebert.

The pair, since moving in 1982 to their current location (the gallery spent its first two years at 620 N. Michigan Avenue, along with Carl Hammer and Richard Gray) have kept their desks just inside the front door, ready to welcome each visitor. &ldquo;We specifically placed our desks in front. It is a way for us to be available to engage and to break that horrible barrier of galleries being standoff-ish.&rdquo;

When they first opened the gallery in 1980, Block and Hiebert sold only prints. Over the years, that focus shifted to include all types of works on paper, including artists books and some photographs. The overwhelming majority of the work they sell costs between three and four figures. It is a modest and rare approach &ndash; in contrast to the focus other galleries place on large pieces that can bring in a significant amount of money at once.

Just before press time in November 2015, Block passed away at age 91. Heibert, 68, admits it is hard to know how long the gallery will stay open. But after 35 years in business together and 46 years of friendship, &ldquo;It has been a charmed life,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;The gallery is a reason to get up every morning.&rdquo;

It is clear that this anniversary show honors much more than just that.

Return of the Exquisite Corpse:&nbsp;35th Anniversary Group Show runs&nbsp;through&nbsp;February 13, 2016 at&nbsp;Printworks, 311 W. Superior, Suite 105.

An interview with Bob Heibert of Printworks on the gallery's 25th anniversary

Printworks: 35 Years of Exquisite Art

BY GINNY VAN ALYEA

I think 2016 will be a big year &ndash; if we want it to be. In the office as we were planning this January-April edition of CGN, we also prepared to embrace myriad changes for the magazine and our daily lives.&nbsp;

I welcomed a baby boy in November, long time Business Manager Laura Mettam moved to her home state of Michigan &ndash; we all wish her well &ndash; and new staff member Alison Reilly hit the ground running, bringing a new energy to these pages. New voices join us as well from several professional members of the arts community as part of our online CGN Influencers series, where art world insiders share insights about everything from art school, to auctions, collection management, and more. So many changes inspired us to introduce a new look and logo and embrace a more modern font and style.&nbsp;

In the spirit of change, we are excited about much of this issue&rsquo;s news. From our profile of the two dealers and lifelong friends who started Printworks 35 years ago, to an interview with a young dealer focusing on street art, we look back in order to look ahead.&nbsp;

The always entertaining art collector Howard Tullman shares with Kevin Nance his eclectic (some will say racy) approach to zeroing in on what he likes, while Franck Mercurio profiles a young couple beginning a collection they divide between home and work.&nbsp;

Art collecting today is part of an ongoing, almost urgent, discussion in the art world. For those whose livelihoods depend on support from buyers, in addition to institutions and cultural groups, the question is simple: at a time when an older collector base is aging out of the market, why don&rsquo;t more young people buy art? What are the answers? How can we help art stand out as not just another &lsquo;thing&rsquo;? One answer may be found in artist Tony Fitzpatrick&rsquo;s call for artists to extend a hand and work with their own community. His call shouldn&rsquo;t be just for artists, but for all of us looking to add meaning to our creative experiences.

While big sales make headlines, buying art doesn&rsquo;t often make the news; more&nbsp;people must embrace the power to decide for themselves whom they want to connect with and support. This affects what art we may want to acquire, as it&rsquo;s possible to ride an artist&rsquo;s creative coattails to change our daily experiences in subtle as well as profound, ways.

CGN is devoted to making the art world accessible by promoting all there is to do and see in the visual community. We don&rsquo;t declare what is good or bad &ndash; part of the experience of art is discovering for yourself what you love and appreciate. Be part of the adventure.

2016 is a fresh chance to reprioritize our experiences and pursuits. We are eager to see what&rsquo;s next this year.

Letter from the Chicago Gallery News publisher, winter 2016

Publisher’s Letter: Reprioritizing Art

An interview between Chicago-based artist Claire Ashley and Chicago Gallery News. Claire Ashley’s work blurs the lines between painting, sculpture, installation, and performance. It evokes feelings of playfulness and curiosity; a desire to touch and feel and interact. It’s fun. The artist has stated that contemporary art takes itself too seriously, and her work is the perfect antidote for this plague.

Claire Ashley: The Evolution of Surprise

By TONY FITZPATRICK

A new year has begun, and I am reminded that there is something to be said for not looking back &ndash; for letting the past be the past... If 2015 taught us anything, it was to pay attention to the city around us. While the art world goes on about its business of being mostly about itself, nearly 400 of our citizens have died at the end of a gun; 20% live below the poverty level. Our public schools are a mess. These subjects used to be red meat for artists &ndash; there was a time when artists routinely engaged as social commentators; not everything was about fashion and celebrity and art fairs.

There are certainly artists here hard at work engaging and bettering communities. I hope that more are motivated to tackle large issues and push for meaningful changes. I cannot think of an example almost anywhere of an artist who does more than Theaster Gates, a man whose vision (and very capable team) is almost single-handedly revitalizing neighborhoods on Chicago&rsquo;s south side. Central to Gates&rsquo;s practice is finding transcendent moments in a community&rsquo;s history. Music, books, buildings are all cultural artifacts; he gathers them like a historian and shares them with neighbors and the world.

I also applaud all of the artists out there who work with children, and in particular I marvel at the work that southside artist James Jankowiak has achieved with his students. Jankowiak is a fantastic, under-the-radar artist who has been so good for so long. His work is a retinal mix of street art, op-art, and formal abstraction. I&rsquo;m always excited just to see what he posts on Facebook and to keep up with his art and his work with local students.

I&rsquo;m a fan of Facebook as a place for artists to share their work and ideas. For all of the nasty bitch-biting and 6th grade idiocy, the one benefit of this time-vacuum is that it allows artists who&rsquo;d have never otherwise known each other to have a dialogue. As a result I have artist friends in Finland, Tokyo, Joshua Tree, and Montreal.

Out of those global dialogues could come real change, though some times we will still see more pictures of cats or breakfast muffins. Facebook can bring out the 12 year old in people.

Putting certain technologies to work in the service of a better city and society is what I&rsquo;m driving at. Chicago is a luminous, beautiful city, full of grace and poetry. It is also a city of ugliness and great cruelty, classism, racism and inequity. To acknowledge one vision of our city, we must own the other. Examining both sides is where artists can do a great deal of good; we can mitigate some of the misery.

In this coming year, I want to push artists (certainly others too, but I&rsquo;ll pick on artists first, since I am one) to do one thing for their community. It doesn&rsquo;t have to be monumental.

Be the &ldquo;Picture Person&rdquo; and take some photos, or donate some art supplies to a public school. Participate in art therapy for those in hospitals or assisted living facilities. Tutor kids, not only in art, but also in reading, math, the 
sciences and computer skills. Donate (or sponsor) art in local hospitals, 
hospice facilities and old folks&rsquo; residences. You will be surprised at how much this means to patients in those places. Artists shouldn&rsquo;t be afraid to make themselves available. Collaborate with students to make their own art, like my pal James Jankowiak.

I see art as a means to celebrate life and elevate us above some grim realities; the best art does something for the artist and the viewer; it helps us reckon with those same sad facts. Artists may not be super heroes, but to make art in the face of what has been our city&rsquo;s recent, dominant narrative is a triumph of optimism over reality.

Together the many participants in the art world can hold out a hand, sharing art&rsquo;s possibilities with others. It might save us from ourselves.

<a href="https://www.facebook.com/tony.fitzpatrick">https://www.facebook.com/tony.fitzpatrick</a>

Pictured: James Jankowiak with Chicago students
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Artist Tony Fitzpatrick on what matters right now

Happy F*ing New Year, Chicago

By ALISON REILLY

This past weekend the Art Institute of Chicago reopened their contemporary galleries with a new layout that&nbsp;incorporates&nbsp;Stefan Edlis and Gael Neeson&#39;s donation of 44 major works. The gift, estimated at $400 million, is the largest in the museum&#39;s history and showcases artists like Damien Hirst, Jasper Johns, Jeff Koons,&nbsp;Roy Lichtenstein,&nbsp;Robert Rauschenberg,&nbsp;Gerhard Richter, Cindy Sherman, and Andy Warhol.&nbsp;

Warhol&#39;s iconic&nbsp;Mao&nbsp;is no longer&nbsp;on display but instead are nine new additions to the collection including Twelve Jackies,&nbsp;Liz #3 [Early-Colored Liz]&nbsp;(the face of the&nbsp;New Contemporary&nbsp;campaign),&nbsp;two self-portraits and a red and green electric chair. Other favorites like Gerhard Richter&#39;s&nbsp;Woman Descending the Staircase&nbsp;are certainly missed in the reinstallation (it&#39;s on loan through next year), but the removal of these works offers an&nbsp;opportunity to see a number of early sixties works not previously on display including Yayoi Kusama&#39;s&nbsp;No. IZ, Lygia Clark&#39;s&nbsp;Bicho - Monumento a Todas as Situa&ccedil;&otilde;es, and Gutai artist Shiraga Kazuo&#39;s&nbsp;Chikatsusei Maunkinshi (Golden Wings Brushing the Clouds Incarnated from Earthly Wide Star).

Damien Hirst&#39;s Still is another compelling addition to the collection. An array of surgical instruments are meticulously installed in an enormous glass cabinet prompting viewers to question if and how these instruments were actually used in medical practice.

For more information&nbsp;visit: <a href="http://www.artic.edu/exhibition/new-contemporary">The New Contemporary</a>.

Top image:&nbsp;Andy Warhol.&nbsp;Twelve Jackies,&nbsp;1964. The Art Institute of Chicago, Gift of Edlis/Neeson Collection. &copy; 2015 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc./Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

<img alt="" data-caption="Roy Lichtenstein. &lt;i&gt;Woman III&lt;/i&gt;, 1982. The Art Institute of Chicago, Gift of Edlis/Neeson Collection. © Estate of Roy Lichtenstein" data-rich-file-id="896" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/896/original/lichtenstein-womaniii-1982.jpg" />

<img alt="" data-caption="Jeff Koons. &lt;i&gt;Bourgeois Bust – Jeff and Ilona&lt;/i&gt;, 1991. The Art Institute of Chicago, Gift of Edlis/Neeson Collection. © Jeff Koons" data-rich-file-id="897" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/897/original/jeff-koons-bourgeois-bust-jeff-and-ilona.jpg" />

<img alt="" data-caption="Richard Prince. &lt;i&gt;Untitled (fashion)&lt;/i&gt;, 1982-84. The Art Institute of Chicago, Gift of Edlis/Neeson Collection. © Richard Prince" data-rich-file-id="898" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/898/original/prince-untitled-fashion-1982-84.jpg" />

The New Contemporary

<html><head></head><body><figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418210/bj6amv3bnunbiiln8fop.jpg"></figure>By KEVIN NANCEJudith Tullman has a special name for the Art Loft, the office/clubhouse/gallery space of her husband, the entrepreneur, venture capitalist and prolific art collector Howard Tullman. She calls it “The Breast Home.”No wonder. Perhaps one-third of the roughly 1,200 pieces on display in the 6,000-square-foot loft are paintings and drawings of nudes. The vast majority of them are female, and most are naturalistic in style, including several photorealistic pieces lifelike enough to appear in Playboy.Overall, Tullman’s collection is merrily eclectic, if almost exclusively figurative, and includes sculpture, paintings and works on paper. Most of the pieces are by young and/or emerging artists from Chicago and around the world (especially Germany and Mexico) who exude a youthful, often alternative or outsider sensibility. Several are witty, impish riffs on pop-culture figures, including David Hevel’s sculptures of Britney Spears and Jessica Simpson made of taxidermied animals, and Lizabeth Eva Rossof’s faux-Chinese warriors referencing Batman and Bart Simpson. One large painting, I’ll Have What She’s Having by John Jacobsmeyer, is a Renaissance-fair parody of the famous scene from&nbsp;Rob Reiner’s romantic comedy “When Harry Met Sally…,” with Linda Lovelace, Harry Reems and other 1970s pornography stars acting out the parts. (The exception is the director’s mother, Estelle, who appears in the painting in her original role as the speaker of the title phrase.)But there’s also an elephant in the room, and she is bodacious indeed. Visitors to the Art Loft are routinely dazzled by the display of pulchritude—which is housed at the loft, rather than at Tullman’s home, out of deference to the wishes of his wife and co-collector, Judith, whose artistic tastes lie elsewhere. &nbsp;&nbsp;Would it be accurate to classify Tullman, 70, as an admirer of the female form?“Yeah, I’d say that,” he concedes with a you-got-me smile during a recent visit. “But I also have to say, what I really admire is the execution of a lot of these artists; it is quite extraordinary.”Tullman isn’t kidding. Gazing at a realistic painting by New York artist Jenny Morgan of a young nude woman standing in a swimming pool, he says the most interesting part of the work for him is the highly accomplished way Morgan has rendered the water in the pool. “Now, I realize that that’s like saying you read Playboy for the articles, but it’s true,” he says. In front of a different painting—this of a young woman kneeling in a bathtub, presenting her glistening derriere to the viewer—Tullman focuses on the bathtub rather than its occupant. “That’s someone’s rear end, I get that,” he says. “[But] the most complicated thing for the artist is to represent water and motion.”To some extent, Tullman’s focus on the figure is an outgrowth of his desire to narrow the choices he’s forced to make as a busy executive who also happens to be an art collector. “I think it’s almost impossible to keep on top of what’s going on in the art world across all its different dimensions,” he says. “One of the ways I’ve addressed the glut—just the sheer volume—has been to say to the galleries I work with, ‘Please don’t send me an abstract piece or a landscape.’ My philosophy has been that I want to see the world’s best examples of realist, figurative representations. That’s how I’ve made my life more manageable as a collector, and that’s how I explain the concentration. Certainly I don’t acquire things to aggravate my wife or make her life more difficult.”At the same time, Tullman—a restless business innovator whose latest enterprise is a technology startup incubator called 1871, whose offices at the Merchandise Mart now house parts of his art collection—seems to enjoy his reputation as a sort of art-world Hugh Hefner. He tells with evident pleasure an anecdote of the president of a company who was photographed at the loft, but the next day, a member of his staff called and said, “Can we come back? We need to take different pictures.”&nbsp; All of the artwork shown in the background, it turned out, featured nude female figures, perky as can be.*Tullman’s interest in the figure dates back to his early years as a collector when, as a young corporate lawyer, he and his wife came to know several of the Chicago Imagists, the Pop-and-Surrealist-influenced group that included Ed Paschke, Roger Brown, Jim Nutt, Gladys Nilsson and others. The Tullmans amassed a significant collection of Imagist painting, almost all of it figurative, before donating most of it to the University of Chicago’s Smart Museum of Art about two decades ago.Tullman then found himself attracted primarily to photorealism—again with the figure front and center—before drifting away from that genre, which he came to regard as too technical, in favor of somewhat less naturalistically drawn or painted works with greater subjectivity, drama and storytelling. “Over the years, photorealism became a little boring,” he says. “These things were pristine but had no story, no particular emotion. After a while, they didn’t seem as alive as some of the pieces which are a little looser in technique but have more personality and more narrative.”During the past decade or so, Tullman has increasingly bought sculpture—much of which, in high contrast to the naturalism of the two-dimensional work in the collection, is decidedly non-realistic. Examples include works by two Chicago artists: Joe Seigenthaler’s Fly Dog, a striking male figure with a canine face hovering mournfully at the top of a ladder near Tullman’s desk, and another large piece, by Christophe Roberts, resembling a neon orange lion made from Nike shoeboxes carved up with an X-Acto knife.In these choices, as in so many others, Tullman sometimes differs from his wife. At one art fair, a quirky sculpture of a policeman prompted Judith Tullman to ask, “Who in the world would buy that?” The answer, she later discovered, was her husband.&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;“Howard has a taste for the bizarre,” says Linda Warren, one of three Chicago art dealers—the others are Ann Nathan and Carl Hammer—with whom Tullman works most often. “He likes a lot of things that are just weird. He likes nudes, he likes eroticism, and he likes things that reflect subcultures: young people, people with tattoos, people with a very 21st-century mentality. He also likes very strong images that are almost iconic from the beginning; there’s not a lot of subtlety in what he goes for. You walk in there and go, ‘Whoa! This guy’s a wild man.’ But there’s nothing amateur about the work he collects; there’s a cohesiveness to the insanity. And you know, he wouldn’t be where he is today if he didn’t think outside of the box all the time.”*The other major element that has shaped Tullman’s collection is his commitment to supporting young and emerging artists (the latter group including several painters and sculptors who turned to making art after long careers in other fields). Unlike many collectors in Chicago and elsewhere who keep artists at arm’s length by dealing exclusively with gallerists, the Tullmans are in direct, regular contact with many of the artists they collect.“As a young lawyer and having friends who were struggling artists, it seemed reasonable that we should spend some of the money we were earning to support what they were doing, which we thought was (a) more fun and (b) certainly more rewarding than being a corporate lawyer,” Tullman recalls. “That’s how we got connected with some of the earlier Imagists. They were trying to make a go of it, practicing their art, and it was a very challenging time. It’s always been a challenging time for young artists.”Today, the Tullmans work with about 20 galleries around the world that “regularly keep us in the loop on new work by artists that we have and, more importantly, work by artists that they think we should see,” he says. “Most of the artists in the collection keep us abreast of what they’re doing. A number of them are also teachers, so they feel free, and sort of make it their business, to call our attention to new artists that they think are worthy. Sometimes these artists are their students, or just young artists they’ve been exposed to one way or another.”It’s that generosity, in part, that has earned the Tullmans the respect and affection of much of the Chicago art community. “Unlike a lot of collectors, Howard doesn’t feel like he has to have a lot of blue-chip artists hanging on his walls,” Hammer says. “He’s more interested in taking risks, taking a chance, and expressing confidence in the new artists coming along. Here’s a guy who can afford pieces by established artists, but he seems to have this vision of moving the next generation along, which is a great thing.”Unlike many collectors who acquire pieces only after lengthy deliberation, Tullman is known for his quick trigger finger. “Someone comes along and he makes an acquaintance with them, or he sees their work somewhere, and he just buys it,” Hammer says. Adds Warren: “I told one artist, ‘Howard Tullman’s going to buy this.’ And the second he got the exhibit invitation, Howard picked up the phone and said, ‘How much is that?’”It helps, of course, if the piece features a figure. If she’s not overly burdened with clothing, so much the better.Top image: Howard Tullman at ease among his art. Photo: Kevin Nance.12/17/15:&nbsp;Editor’s note: Because of inaccurate information given to reporter Kevin Nance, an earlier, printed version of this article in the January-April 2016 issue of CGN misattributed the phrase “Breast Home.”&nbsp;&nbsp;</body></html>

An interview with art collector Howard Tullman