Digest: Chicago Art Scene, March 2 - 11, 2012

An informal, first-person, chronological account of eleven gallery and museum visits made in Chicago, IL, during the ten-day period from March 2 - 11, 2012

(1) Cobalt: Prima Sakuntabhai

7:56 PM, Friday, March 2, 2012: SAIC student Prima Sakuntabhai offers an installation, the main sculptural component of which is available to be seen not only in the gallery but also (by means of wall-mounted documentary photography) as it has been situated outdoors in various locations around Chicago. Said "main sculptural component" is built from construction-grade lumber and found (tires) objects.

OK. It is, not surprisingly, a young crowd. Attire is, surprisingly, formal. Several people appear to have brought "personal" bottles of champagne. Prima, however, is not pretentious; and she readily agrees to be photographed.  But, as we begin to shoot, a fellow in his 20s (?) walks over, identifies himself as a professional photographer, and proceeds to provide Prima with modelling instructions.

The proprietors of Cobalt, Adriana Baltazar and Antonio Martinez, are present at the opening and take time to engage me in conversation. Adriana lets me know that I speak with an accent; lacking a better response, I share a brief family history. Saul Aguirre, who's work I've seen at both Antena Gallery and also at the (late) NEXT art fair, enters the space shortly before I make my own exit from it. The parking on 21st Street is easy. Heineken in a can is served to everyone. And Prima makes an effort to say, "Thank you," as I depart.

Prima Sakuntabhai
March 2, 2012
Cobalt Studio
1950 W. 21st St.
Chicago, IL 60608
http://cobaltartstudio.blogspot.com

(2) Mission: Mariana Sissia
8:45 PM, Friday, March 2, 2012: Here, Mariana Sissia presents a collection of graphite on paper drawings. With exceptions, the pieces tend to be small in scale; and, within each frame, the worked area of the paper constitutes only a fraction of the available whole. It reminds me, a bit, of Robyn O'Neil's treatment of the material at Tony Wight's place in 2009. But, contra O'Neil, the human figure is absent in Sissia's renderings. I bump into Sibylle Friche and Daniel Quiles at the gallery's entrance. Inside, in Spanish, Quiles explains to a very attractive stranger that I'm an "event photographer." Gallery owner Sebastian Campos is most gentlemanly, in spite of the fact that I've arrived ten minutes before the closing time. No booze; no pics; it's a fairly quick look around the room.

Mariana Sissia
Mar 2 – Apr 13, 2012
The Mission
1431 W. Chicago Avenue
Chicago, IL 60642
http://themissionprojects.com

(3) Lloyd Dobler: Carl Baratta


9:21 PM, Friday, March 2, 2012: I catch painter Carl Baratta on the sidewalk: he's rolling cigarettes, standing near to the staircase leading up to the second-floor gallery. While Baratta is occupied with other people (as many people begging tobacco as complementing his show) I set-up the camera, flash and diffuser. Ready, I approach and find him to be a willing subject. In spite of the falling temperature, increasing wind, and steady crowd of friends and fans, his patience allows for twenty good shots. James Kao chats with us for a few minutes, outside; Samantha Bittman chats for a few minutes, inside. Bittman lets me know that I sound like I'm from Brooklyn, New York.  No worries.

In the apartment gallery's kitchen, at the end of regular hours, apropos of nothing, I broach the subject of Chicago art fairs with Lloyd Dobler proprietors Patricia Courson and Jason Jozwiak. Maybe: (a) I remember seeing them (Patricia and Jason) at NEXT in 2010, near Saul Aguirre; and, (b) NEXT was recently cancelled? No beer; a few quick pics inside; I'm out.

Carl Baratta
March 2 - April 28, 2012
Lloyd Dobler Gallery
1545 W. Division, Second Floor
Chicago, IL 60642
http://www.lloyddoblergallery.com

(4) Johalla Projects: Wow-house


10:30 PM, Friday, March 2, 2012: "Wow-house" is a group show. Again, I'm late. Johalla's Anna Cerniglia graciously tolerates my behavior (lying on floor, drawing too near the artwork, etc.) as I work my way around the room with the camera. In the exhibition, Jessica Taylor Caponigro's name is familiar to me. And I remember seeing a sculptural installation which she executed at Eel Space in Pilsen. Actually, several names, e.g., Chad Kouri, are familiar to me. The last show which I saw within this space belonged to Heidi Norton.

Maybe, Johalla reminds me of Julius Caesar? but larger? If Lloyd Dobler or The Suburban often show a similar style of work, they do so in a very much more compact, and quasi-domestic, context. The building complex at 1821 W. Hubbard in its own way affects the viewing experience within the galleries which it houses: the (fragmented? sprawling?) physical parameters of its architecture are such that individual artworks often struggle to connect to one another. It's easy for things to feel "lost" or (nasty little word) "de-contextualized" here.

"Wow-house"
March 2, 2012- March 25, 2012
Johalla Projects
1821 W. Hubbard, Suite 110
Chicago, IL 60622
http://www.johallaprojects.com

(5) Depaul Art Museum: Re: Chicago



4:45 PM, Sunday, March 4, 2012: It's the last hour of the last day of "Re: Chicago" at the Depaul Art Museum. All pretense aside, I'm here for a last look at “Living the Dream” by Davis/Langlois. Built, largely, from abstracted Pop iconography, the D/L installation incorporates both a relatively (rollerly?) painterly, direct application of vivid pigment to the museum walls, and a graphic, monochromatic treatment of geometric figures on traditional supports. Too, a freestanding, three-dimensional "screen" functions as a framing device: itself being filled with asymmetrical, linear elements "interrupting" a clear view. After this piece comes down, it won't be possible to appreciate the variable relationship between its parts by means of the surviving photographic documentation. The museum's attendants are great. And my exit is physically blocked till I've accepted a card advertising the next show: Studio Malick, opening March 29, 2012.

Davis/Langlois in "Re:Chicago"
September 16 – March 4, 2012
DePaul Art Museum
935 W. Fullerton
Chicago, IL 60614
http://museums.depaul.edu

(6) Defibrillator: Force Majeure


5:20 PM, Sunday, March 4, 2012: The amount of time and energy invested in "Force Majeure," the two-part performance hosted by Defibrillator and New Capital, is amazing. I'm dumbfounded that these people haven't received more and better press.

Marek Choloniewski, et al,
Defibrillator Gallery
1136 N. Milwaukee Ave.
Chicago, IL 60642
http://www.dfbrl8r.com

NON GRATA
New Capital Gallery
3114 W. Carroll
Chicago, IL 60612
http://newcapitalprojects.com

(7) threewalls: Alan & Michael Fleming







7:56 PM, Friday, March 9, 2012: Dance moves, aluminum cans, patterns of organization, etc., are all being recycled here. It strikes me as artwork drawn materially and theoretically from whatever was found to be convenient, pre-existing in the environment around SAIC. That's not to say that there's no effort evident; but whether there's any innovation is another matter altogether. Everything looks vaguely familiar. An obvious art historical reference, e.g., Carl Andre, can be a double-edged sword.  It's a calculated presentation which manages also to feel at turns disposable; much of this genre is not intended to be precious. There's some staring and some snickering at me. I've worn the wrong sort of clothing; I've cut my hair; I have two cameras hanging from my neck; I'm looking too closely at the artwork. I'm not a part of the "community," and it's obvious. Marissa Perel is good to wave; she showed at LVL3 with the Flemings in "No Joke." I try to be fair, take the best possible photographs, understand what's happening, and leave.

Alan & Michael Fleming
March 9 - April 21, 2012
threewalls
119 N. Peoria St.
Chicago, IL 60607
http://www.three-walls.org

(8) Pilsen: Chicago Arts District
9:00 PM, Friday, March 9, 2012: I park. I wander along Halsted. Gavin Rehfeldt is good to say hello. I know not for whom this place is meant, but it is not meant for me. And that's OK. I take no pictures; I drink nothing; I leave.

(9) Eel Space: Kristina Paabus & Charles Mahaffee


10:24 PM, Friday, March 9, 2012: I'm late to arrive at Eel Space: the opening is scheduled to end at 10:00 PM, about which time it is when I grab the door's handle. An odd sort of "hummm" is audible in the stairwell leading up to the exhibition (apartment) space. Inside, proprietor Patrick Holbrooke appears to be gritting his teeth and holding his breath as he waits for the crowd to exit his gallery/residence.

Luckily, Kristina (Kristina Paabus, one of the artists who has work on display) is chatty. She's stacked progressively diminishing sheets of builder's insulating foam board to create a peaked form, subsequently covering the whole with gesso. And the story she's telling links Estonia to Azerbaijan to the sculptures which she's made. I reach into Patrick's fridge and grab a "Hamm's" beer.

Charles Mahaffee's installation occupies the room opposite Kristina. Amplifiers which he's placed at either end of the tight space are the source of the "hummm" heard earlier. The walls are papered with repetitive, circular doodles centered on (100?) individual sheets.

Packing-up to go, two guys introduce themselves as visitors from Cuba. They're interested in my camera, and want to learn about the video capabilities of Canon's 5DMKII. I'm not using a 5DMKII, but that does nothing to stop the conversation. Patrick's really not looking happy.  Some blonde-haired woman (named Miriam? or Gillian? and working as a guide for the Cubans?) yells, "Vamanos!" and we all leave.

Kristina Paabus & Charles Mahaffee
Eel Space
1906 S. Throop St., 2F
Chicago, IL 60608
http://eelspace.wordpress.com

(10) Alderman: Brendan Meara & Robert Chase Heishman


5:00 PM, Sunday, March 11, 2012: Whichever of Chicago's art opening lists I've consulted, I've not been made aware that the central event at Alderman is a screening. I'm (mistakenly) in no hurry, and so I don't think twice about talking with Bill Gross and (Congratulations!) Dahlia for 15 minutes outside. Yet again, I'm late. Climbing up the staircase to the venue, I find at the top a film in progress: audience facing me. On the screen a fuse is burning. I give the fuse ten minutes. It's still burning when I exit the space. Visual content is being delivered too slowly, on this day, for me. I'm sorry.

Brendan Meara & Robert Chase Heishman
March 11, 2012
Alderman Exhibitions
1138 W. Randolph St.
Chicago, IL 60607
http://www.aldermanexhibitions.com

(11) ACRE: Joseph Rynkiewicz

5:52 PM, Sunday, March 11, 2012: There seems to be substantial overlap between this crowd and the crowd which was at threewalls on March 9, 2012. At the center of the space there is a dirty fragment of particle board depending from a string.

Joseph Rynkiewicz
March 11 - 12, 2012
ACRE Projects
1913 W 17th St.
Chicago, IL 60608
http://www.acreresidency.org

Editorial: Todd Chilton vis-a-vis Scott Stack

Chicago painters Todd Chilton and Scott Stack seem good to bring together in comparison. Independent of one another, both artists have recently produced abstract works in which successive, regular, linear elements dominate the canvas. Having written that, between Chilton and Stack there is too a telling difference in manipulation of line and color--a difference indicative of opposing strategies for pattern formation and the perception thereof. Coincidentally, in the not-too-distant past, the pair opened shows only two weeks and three miles apart.


Above: Todd Chilton @ Rhona Hoffman, October 28 - December 3, 2011, edge detail


Above: Scott Stack @ Monique Meloche, October 15 – November 12, 2011, edge detail

In a previous article, on October 13, 2011, two days in advance of his exhibition at Monique Meloche Gallery, Scott Stack was recorded as follows: "'I'm not interested in pure green, or pure red, or anything straight out of the tube,' he said, 'That's not color.'"[1]

Whether his (Stack's) words were driven by prescience or exasperation, that formal antithesis which he conjured in speech was seen realized by Todd Chilton at Rhona Hoffman Gallery, on October 28, 2011.


Above: Todd Chilton @ Rhona Hoffman, October 28 - December 3, 2011, edge detail

In Chilton's presentation at Hoffman, more-or-less solid colors in alternation were used to build linear elements within paintings. Band-of-paint to band-of-paint, transitions were seen to be relatively abrupt and high in contrast; internal borders were well-defined, even if painterly. The periodic reversal of value and/or hue within said bands was, in aggregate, sometimes productive of a weak "gestalt effect," according to which geometric figures were able to be recognized.[2]


Above: Todd Chilton @ Rhona Hoffman, October 28 - December 3, 2011

In this regard, Chilton wholly depended upon his viewer's ability to psychologically complete his half-painted patterns: secondary shapes, however simple, e.g., diamond, needed to be known (knowable) in whole aforehand.

Conversely, in his most recent show at Meloche, Stack displayed a commitment to blending not only in his palette but also in the paint having been applied to the canvas. Movement from color-to-color and line-to-line within Stack's new paintings was usually characterized by a compact but gradual gradient progression; it was refined. Where Chilton's (impasto) surfaces were thick and tempestuous, Stack's surfaces were remarkably shallow and placid in spite of hours of brushwork.

It was in his composition that Stack roiled enigmatically, as the organization of his lines appeared stochastic, whether such activity was said to have some original correspondence to objective reality. Here, Stack was open as Rorschach to readings as yet unknown to himself or his audience.[3]

Above: Scott Stack, "Return of the Leopard Woman," 2009, oil on canvas, 89 x 74 inches, original image from Monique Meloche Gallery.

Stack is, roughly, twice Chilton's age; Stack must have held a brush for more than twice as many years as Chilton. And it's tempting to attribute at least some difference in their current work to said temporal disparity: What in youth seems clear, a matter of earnest to be vigorously pursued, frequently becomes a more complicated and ambiguous affair as the years pass. Why Chilton and Stack should have drawn relatively near one another, however briefly, now, is a yet more difficult thing to guess.

Historically, Scott Stack had seemed to be committed to the representation of abstractions--and not to representation or abstraction per se.[4] Painting the imagery reproduced by electronic devices, e.g., night vision equipment or television, Stack had spent years painting scenes already multiple generations distant from reality.[5][6] And it had been fairly easy to nestle him (Stack) in the near precedents set by Chicago Imagists: linking his apartment exteriors to Roger Brown, and his figure work to Ed Paschke.

Above: Scott Stack, "7:30pm Apartment," oil on canvas, 78 x 66 inches, original image from Monique Meloche Gallery.

Above: Scott Stack, "Queen," 2009, oil on canvas, 100 x 66 inches, original image from Monique Meloche Gallery.

Stack was a sort of surrealist with a conceptual bent, a foot in each local camp. But, Stack's more recent work recalls another continent almost one hundred years ago, in which time and place Cubism and Futurism were incubated. Maybe, Stack recalls Fernand Leger particularly.[7]

Above: Scott Stack, "Untitled," 2011, oil on canvas, 68 x 78 inches, original image from Monique Meloche Gallery.

Locally, Todd Chilton has been repeatedly associated with the purely formal issues of his craft.[8] And Chilton does indeed seem to be a painter of paintings: any reference external to the activity of himself, his viewer, and art history, appears limited if at all extant in his work. To the extent that Chilton is involved in a re-imagining of Op and Hard-Edge painting he too, like Stack, relies heavily upon abstractions which already exist somewhere in visual culture.


Above: Todd Chilton @ Rhona Hoffman, October 28 - December 3, 2011, installation view


Above: Todd Chilton @ Rhona Hoffman, October 28 - December 3, 2011, installation view

Not surprisingly, Chilton hails from one of the coastal states, and he's been picked-up and shown on the opposite coast. In spite of what happened in architecture and furniture design after pollination by the Bauhaus in the 1930s (and maybe in needful opposition to it) geometric abstraction in painting did not take root and flower in Chicago as it did in other places.[9] The easily imagined art historical precedents for Chilton and Stack's linear work, collected and exhibited in Chicago, tend to have been trucked-in from New York or some part of Western Europe. For example, Frank Stella and Barnett Newman hail from New York, Bridget Riley from England, and Sean Scully from Ireland.[10]

Maybe, playing upon the reference to the Weimar Republic in the preceding paragraph, Chilton and Stack are equally out of step with the "zeitgeist" in Chicago. Here and now, economic theory (Marx and Engels are only rarely named) underpins much contemporary education, production, and critique within the visual arts; and, not surprisingly, types of social art, poor art and street art constitute no small part of the local scene. Specialization in a particular craft, solitary studio work, and the production of real "commodities," such as the oil paintings on canvas made by Chilton and Stack, are things broadly considered to be passe.[11] For Scott Stack not to be connected to Todd Chilton's youthful cohort of SAIC and UIC graduates is a yet-more difficult thing. Whether Chilton will become more like Stack, or Stack more like Chilton, time will tell...

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Notes:

[1] http://paulgermanos.blogspot.com/2011/10/preview-scott-stack-monique-meloche.html

[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gestalt_psychology

[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermann_Rorschach

[4] http://www.cod.edu/gallery/catalog/short_stack.pdf
Paragraph Two: "between representation and abstraction an approach to painting has developed that one might describe as 'situational,' a conceptually based attitude toward the application of paint,"

Above: Essay by Dominic Molon, past Pamela Alper Associate Curator, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
"Situational Painting: Matthew Girson, Scott Short, Scott Stack"
May 19 - June 23, 2005
Gahlberg Gallery
College of DuPage
Glen Ellyn, Illinois

[5] Ibid.

Paragraph Six: "The skewed view of the world presented to us through electronic mediation is examined in the paintings of Scott Stack,"

Paragraph Six: "Stack’s depiction of scenes comprising shadowy forms often seen through some type of electronic distortion makes the more sinister implications of a life lived through televised, filmed or computer-based mediation (such as the use of media as a form of social control) visually manifest in his paintings,"

[6] http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2006-03-31/entertainment/0603310296_1_peter-miller-gallery-drawings-cover
"His first approach was to give contemporary scenes culled from newspaper photographs the look of having been viewed through night-vision goggles. So the images are horizontally striated..."

Above: Alan G. Artner, Chicago Tribune art critic, March 31, 2006, "Scott Stack at the Monique Meloche Gallery"

***Artner seems to suggest that Stack entered linear abstraction through the relatively straightforward representation of a technological distortion.***

[7] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fernand_Leger
Above: See "The Railway Crossing," 1919, noting stochastic arrangement of well-modeled diagonal lines.

See also: http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/artwork/79600

[8] Todd Chilton appeared in both the 2006 and also 2010 iterations of the contemporary formal exhibition "Ps & Qs," as curated by Shannon Stratton and Jeff Ward.

2010: http://www.hydeparkart.org/exhibitions/ps-qs-1
Review: http://art.newcity.com/2010/03/22/review-ps-qshyde-park-art-center/

2006: http://microrevolt.org/reblog/archives/2006/09/ps-qs.html
Above: Todd Chilton, Nevin Tomlinson, Andrea Myers, Kirsten Flanigan, Mung Lar Lam, Paul Jackson, Carl Suddath, Katy Heinlein
September 8 - November 12, 2006
Glassell School of Art
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

Todd Chilton appeared in both "Beautiful Form" and "New Formalisms 2" as curated by Abraham Ritchie, in 2009 and 2012 respectively.


Above: Todd Chilton with Samantha Bittman in "New Formalisms 2," on January 13, 2012, at 65GRAND, 1369 W. Grand Ave., Chicago, IL 60642

2012: http://65grand.com/newformalisms2_release.php
Review: http://art.newcity.com/2012/01/31/review-new-formalisms-2-65grand/

2009: http://www.65grand.com/beautiful_form_release.php
Review: http://art.newcity.com/2009/01/19/review-beautiful-form65-grand/

[9] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_Mies_van_der_Rohe
Above: See Illinois Institute of Technology, Second Chicago School, International Modernism, and Walter Gropius

[10] http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/artwork/72177
Above: Sean Scully, "Heart of Darkness," 1982, oil on canvas, 96 x 144 inches

Scully was shown (and, if memory serves, afforded a great deal of space) at The Art Institute of Chicago, December 15, 1987 – February 7, 1988

[11] A Feminist critique of Chilton and Stack might additionally emphasize the artists maintenance of an essentially patriarchal narrative; the commercial, as opposed to domestic, context of the artists' exhibitions; the subordination and anonymity of familial support structures enabling each male artist; etc. Multiculturalists might find fault with Chilton and Stack when considering the narrow ethnic demographic which the two artists represent. Chicago Imagists, i.e., Surrealists, their collectors and chroniclers, not Marxists, Feminists, or multiculturalists, find little to love in any form of non-objective geometric abstraction. And, Neo-Conceptualists seem to occupy little intellectual ground apart from Marxism and Feminism.

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Exhibitions:

Todd Chilton
October 28 - December 3, 2011
Rhona Hoffman Gallery
118 North Peoria Street
Chicago, Illinois 60607
http://www.rhoffmangallery.com/

Scott Stack
October 15 – November 12, 2011
Monique Meloche Gallery
2154 W. Division
Chicago, Illinois 60622
http://moniquemeloche.com/

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Related Posts:

http://paulgermanos.blogspot.com/2011/07/editorial-after-minimalism-in-chicago.html
"Editorial: After Minimalism in Chicago the Summer of 2011," July 22, 2011

http://paulgermanos.blogspot.com/2010/09/review-todd-chilton-slow.html
"Review: Todd Chilton @ Slow," September 9, 2010

- Paul Germanos

Editorial: September 9, 2011 Art Lists

Friday, September 9, marks the opening of the Fall 2011 visual art season in Chicago. Multiple on-line guides are available for the purpose of navigating the gala evening. In fact, the level of redundancy is so great that it seems good to consider the meaning thereof.

But, first, the links to said September 9 event listings and maps:

(1) Stephanie Burke, historically available as published and republished (in part or in whole) at (a) Art Talk Chicago, (b)The Gallery Crawl and So Much More, (c) Bad at Sports, and (d) Chicago Art Magazine:

http://www.chicagonow.com/art-talk-chicago/2011/09/september-9th-opening-of-the-gallery-season/

http://badatsports.com/2011/10-picks-for-the-gallery-season-opener/

(2) Abraham Ritchie, found editing (a) ArtSlant Chicago and (b) Chicago Art Blog, while simultaneously contributing to (c) Flavorpill Chicago, (d) Bad at Sports and (e) Art21 Blog, while advising (f) Sixty Inches From Center:

http://www.artslant.com/chi/events/list

http://flavorpill.com/chicago/events/genres/art

(3) Chicago Art Magazine, founded by Kathryn Born, formerly of Bad at Sports:

http://chicagoartmagazine.com/2011/09/chicago-art-map-season-opening-schedule/

(4) Newcity Art, edited by Jason Foumberg:

http://art.newcity.com/2011/09/06/comprehensive-listing-of-gallery-shows-for-the-fall-opener/

(5) Chicago Gallery News, edited by Virginia Berg:

http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/openings.asp

http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/listing.asp?g=7165

(6) The Visualist, (featuring, among others, ArtSlant Chicago's Steve Ruiz, himself a proprietor of another "listing" site: chicagoartreview.com) which seems to have risen from the ashes of former Chicagoan Karly Wildenhaus' onthemake.org:

http://thevisualist.org/

(7) Chicago Art Net, maintained by Jno Cook of Columbia College Chicago:

http://chicagoart.net/calendar.php

(8) Sixty Inches From Center, directed by Columbia College Chicago grads Nicolette Michelle Caldwell and Tempestt Hazel in company with Andrew Roddewig of Clarion New Media:

http://sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/archive/?p=9950

(9) Art Letter, written by Paul Klein, re-blogged on The Huffington Post:

http://www.artletter.com/2011/09/its-here-the-day-weve.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-klein

(10) Gapers Block A/C, edited by Kelly Reaves:

http://gapersblock.com/ac/2011/09/09/art-around-town-20/

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Direct observation of the phenomena (on-line listing vis-a-vis in-person attendance) has proved that it is not unusual for more people to announce than arrive at an event, e.g., Tom Burtonwood's recent presentation at Hinge Gallery.

Vicarious "experience" of culture, reliant upon the computer screen, has been broadly criticized. The explosion of on-line listing seems to suggest that a yet-more-remote "textual acknowledgement" is now taken as sufficient (or necessary?) participation in the arts.

+ + +

Curiously, Lauren Viera's recent article in the Chicago Tribune did not clarify the relationship between the now defunct onthemake.org and Chicago's other (at least eleven other) visual art calendar, map, and event listing sites. Rather, the quotation by interviewee Jenny Kendler was left to suggest a vacuum (in art reportage) in the wake of onthemake.org's (Karly Wildenhaus') departure: "'Losing (On The Make) is like losing one of these beacons that shows how awesome that community is. (When I heard) I thought, What can Brian and I do to keep it going?'"[1]

Chicago Gallery News has been in existence for 28 years; Newcity's art coverage has run for 22 years; Chicago Art Net has been on-line for 10 years. Viera and Kendler are both competent professionals, and Chicago needs them. But, does Chicago need yet more "listing" sites? Is that really the best place to put time and energy? What are the long-term implications of such comprehensive but superficial engagements as are now regularly made by critics, reporters and the public at large?

Note:

[1] http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-08-31/entertainment/ct-ent-0825-art-opp-20110824_1_art-institute-website-support-artists/2

See also Time Out Chicago Arts + Culture, edited by Lauren Weinberg:

http://timeoutchicago.com/arts-culture

- Paul Germanos

Review: Tom Burtonwood @ Hinge Gallery

"Artist Talk with Tom Burtonwood," photographed between 4:00PM & 6:00PM, August 7, 2011, at Hinge Gallery, 1955 W. Chicago Ave., Chicago, IL 60622.


Above: Tom Burtonwood presents his text "Composition 2," which is available at his website

Assisted by perspective drawing, Tom Burtonwood practices a "sort of" tessellation: graphic modulation of a complex, interlocking, quadrilateral theme on paper, in serial form.



The illusion of three-dimensional space suggested by his linear work is made to vary according to the visual impact of the tints and shades which he applies to said shapes; subtle chromatic variation is his stock in trade.



Josef Albers' use of color within a relatively compact framework of handcrafted geometric abstraction seems good to remember.[1]  Burtonwood is, like Albers was, a European.[2]  Considering color, Pae White's use of a nearly identical palette within "Reckless Rainbow" seems good to acknowledge as well.[3]  Burtonwood's show at Hinge Gallery, like White's installation atop the AIC's Bluhm Family Terrace, is available in Chicago, IL, in 2011.



With regard to White: Burtonwood's editions, choice of gouache and paper media, and inclusion of QR codes, in addition to his practice of color theory, link him yet more closely to Pop.


Above: Burtonwood's QR code incorporation

Known best in Chicago for his work (in partnership with Holly Holmes) at the nexus of economy and modern warfare, one is made to wonder where the pieces at Hinge "stand" in relation to Burtonwood's past explorations of, for example, camouflage: both its formal variations and also its psychological function.[4]



The artwork (at Hinge Gallery) is genuinely pleasant to behold; that's worth remark, given the local tide of Brut and Povera. But is Burtonwood seriously, or ironically, revisiting what are now pejoratively called "Modern" concerns?



Is it possible that Burtonwood hints not only at an exoteric formal relationship between QR codes and geometric abstraction--but also at an esoteric conceptual relationship between the production, marketing, and sales which are carried on within the seemingly disparate fields of politics and fine art?

Tom Burtonwood
"Permutations"
On display through September 4, 2011
Hinge Gallery
1955 W. Chicago Ave.
Chicago, IL 60622
http://hingegallery.com
http://tomburtonwood.com

Notes:

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josef_Albers

[2] Tom Burtonwood was born in Manchester, England, in 1974.

[3] http://paulgermanos.blogspot.com/2011/07/editorial-after-minimalism-in-chicago.html

[4] "Urban Camo Santa" by Burtonwood and Holmes: http://www.flickr.com/photos/burtoholmes/2858132902/

- Paul Germanos

Review: Anne Elizabeth Moore @ MCA 12x12

"For her UBS 12x12 presentation, Moore presents 'Garment Work,' a durational collective performance project in which the artist and visitors deconstruct a pair of jeans. Over the course of the month, in twice-weekly performance/workshop/discussions, Moore creates connections between Cambodia's garment manufacturing industry, where the jeans were made, and Michigan Avenue, where the jeans were purchased,"[1]


Above: Moore's Beautiful Clothing Company, Inc. labor roster, providing a visual record of audience participation in garment deconstruction

Across Chicago, fiber-based group works involving performance and installation have been organized by female leads on a regular if not frequent basis.


Above: Denim fabric subject to deconstruction

Within the not-too-distant past, the city's commercial, storefront, and not-for-profit spaces have hosted at least: Sheila Pepe at "he said she said" in April of 2011;[2] Anne Wilson at Rhona Hoffman Gallery in January of 2011 & 2008;[3] and Julia Sherman at Swimming Pool Project Space in January of 2010.[4]


Above: Individual fibers of cloth being separated

Similar to the temporary environments crafted by the aforementioned artists, Anne Elizabeth Moore's program at the Museum of Contemporary Art provides a hub of activity around which spatial and labor concerns are available for parallel consideration.


Above: Fibers sorted according to color/type

Here, as Pepe and Sherman before her, Moore relies heavily upon audience engagement: work, within the context of the piece, is available--in quantity, in skill, and in intent--as it's given at random by museum visitors.


Above: Moore in background; "Beautiful Clothing" workers in foreground

While Moore has carefully built a conceptual framework, and even an organizational structure: "Beautiful Clothing Company, Inc.," the output, or product, of the undertaking is not able to be entirely predetermined.


Above: Moore hanging documentation of the blue jeans' path of travel through the real world economy

Beautiful Clothing's "employees," in distinction to their factory-working counterparts in SE Asia, enjoy the ability to reflect upon the nature of their undertaking, collectively, in the relative comfort of the UBS 12x12 gallery space; the piece depends upon such awareness and exchange.


Above: The pants' price tag in foreground

"Garment Work," being truly social art, succeeds or fails on its own terms according to the changes in human thought and/or action which follow in the wake of its finite being.


Above: Center of gallery space; site of work activity

The larger (meta) questions raised by Moore's piece are found to spring from social art's relationship to the museum particularly and the "direction" of contemporary art generally.


Above: Waist of denim jeans, as seen in background of previous image

Moore's candor and good cause give little reason to be doubted, wherein lies the problem: Do we accept that value in art is synonymous with efficacy in the service of that which we presuppose to be just?


Above: Moore's labor roster for Beautiful Clothing Company, Inc.


Above: MCA "Garment Work" wall label

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Notes:

[1] http://www.mcachicago.org/exhibitions/exh_detail.php?id=283

[2] Sheila Pepe @ he said she said:

Above: "Common Sense" (Chicago)
April 9 - May 14, 2011
"he said she said"
831 South Grove Avenue
Oak Park, IL 60304
http://hesaid-shesaid.us

[3] Anne Wilson @ Rhona Hoffman:

Above: "Blonde"
January 14 — February 18, 2011
Rhona Hoffman Gallery
118 North Peoria Street
Chicago, Illinois 60607
http://www.rhoffmangallery.com

Anne Wilson @ Rhona Hoffman:

Above: "Wind-Up" after "Walking the Warp"
Rhona Hoffman Gallery
January 25 - March 1, 2008
118 North Peoria Street
Chicago, Illinois 60607
http://www.rhoffmangallery.com

[4] Julia Sherman @ Swimming Pool Project Space:

Above: "Room-A-Loom"
January 24 - February 21, 2010
Swimming Pool Project Space
2858 W. Montrose,
Chicago, IL 60618
http://www.swimmingpoolprojectspace.com

+ + +

Full "Garment Work" performance schedule:
- Friday, August 5, 2011:
"First Friday" opening
- Saturday, August 6, 2011:
11:00AM-12:30PM and 1:30PM-3:00PM
- Saturday, August 13,2011:
11:00AM-12:30PM and 1:30PM-3:00PM
- Tuesday, August 16, 2011:
5:30PM-7:30PM
- Saturday, August 20, 2011:
11:00AM-12:30PM and 1:30PM-3:00PM
- Tuesday, August 23, 2011:
5:30PM-7:30PM
- Saturday, August 27, 2011:
11:00AM-12:30PM and 1:30PM-3:00PM

Anne Elizabeth Moore @ MCA
"Garment Work"
Photographed 7:15PM-8:00PM
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
UBS 12 × 12: New Artists/New Work
Museum of Contemporary Art
220 East Chicago Avenue,
Chicago, IL 60611
*Free admission for IL residents on Tuesday*
Tuesday hours: 10:00AM–8:00PM
312.280.2660
http://www.mcachicago.org/exhibitions/exh_detail.php?id=283
http://anneelizabethmoore.com
http://twitter.com/mcachicago

See also Anne Elizabeth Moore interviewed by Amy Cavanaugh, August 8, 2011:
http://chicago.cbslocal.com/top-lists/anne-elizabeth-moore-garment-work/

- Paul Germanos