artletter

artletter tag:www.artletter.com,2010-10-04://2 2012-02-16T22:08:03Z Movable Type 5.02 Innovative Art Exhibits Opening this Weekend tag:www.artletter.com,2012://2.175 2012-02-16T21:03:03Z 2012-02-16T22:08:03Z

Paul Klein http://www.artletter.com Crossing Wires at the Evanston Art Center, opening Sunday. Powerful, new media, intelligent work, with timely commentary on today's social issues abounds. Much of the work is interactive; you get close and it barks, or starts spinning. Innovative and a great Sunday afternoon opportunity for the entire family.

Two exhibits opening tonight are also splendid. I've seen two good shows at the Chicago Artists Coalition recently. Last month Homa Shojaie's show was truly challenging and inspiring, and this evening Dan Giordan's exhibit makes a powerful statement, made from materials (tyvek or paper towels) that literally and figuratively resonate with his content, in a show called Hits Close to Home.

At Dubhe Carreno, Melissa Weber's work resembles a reincarnated Ruth Duckworth, with elegant, formal, quiet, beautiful porcelain sculptures and wall pieces. The subtleties, details and shadows augment the spiritual, pristine forms and surfaces.

Let's get out there folks. The perennial Fall is turning into an early Spring. It's a great time to see some art!

Thank you,

Paul Klein

]]> Young Artists who Know, and Aren't Replicating, History tag:www.artletter.com,2012://2.174 2012-02-02T23:08:45Z 2012-02-04T22:26:42Z

Paul Klein http://www.artletter.com

Antonia Gurkovska is a recent graduate of the School of the Art Institute and makes a worthy entrance, participating in two exhibits opening tonight. In a one-person show at Kavi Gupta, the gallery matches the artist's brave, creative, new look at minimal and historical issues, by letting her totally remake one of the galleries exhibition spaces. I'm impressed.

Gurkovska's art sits comfortably in a definition-pushing exhibit at Zolla/Lieberman Gallery, titled The Question of Their Content, curated by Carly Silverman. The show looks at the fresh perspicacity of artists under 30. Issues for today's younger artists perpetually morph, treading new ground. Those who do so most convincingly are those whose art historical knowledge enables them to comment and create instead of existing in a void. This show does a good and enjoyable job of broadening our expectations and serving up glimpses of inconsistent delights.

This is also evident in Molly Zuckerman-Hartung's paintings and installations at Corbett vs. Dempsey. Brave, aggressive, fragmented, disparate, yet beautiful, Zuckerman-Hartung's playful, confidence reiterates and reinforces what is revealed at multiple venues; young artists who - or a first time, again - have a sense of the history that informs their media, expression and art; and have the talent and energy to comment on it intelligently and engagingly. Given just a bit more time, several of these artists are going to explode to significance in a larger-than-Chicago realm.

The same is true of Brooklyn-based artist Sharee Hovespian, opening Saturday at Monique Meloche, where she expands on the history of photography and the sub-context of photo-grams as she elegantly explores minimalist forms. Her exhibit is accompanied by a large window installation by Kerry James Marshall.

Artists invariably say they make art because they have to. They're compelled. There's something explained in their art about their calling. At Linda Warren, Alex O'Neal 's buoyant, colorful, over all, peoplescapes and Nicole Gordon's sculptures on paintings and intensified, magical interiors from the "Velvet Age," synergistically reveal the artists' inner drive.

At Chapel Projects at The Charnel House, Robin Dluzen presents skeletal, minimized, ghosts of urban history; the remains of the scaffolding that supported Chicago's ubiquitous water towers. And she does so in Chapel Projects - a theater and former funeral home, at the Charnel House (Charnel means "building where bones are stored.") The romantic, nostalgic installation is a distillation of our recent past and a commentary by an engaged and socially aware artist. Another development that I'm seeing more of in recent months - art that forays outside the traditional restraints of gallery spaces, to be more contemporaneously engaged in community.

Some of this can also be seen at Secrist Gallery, in a group show about "Holes," that deals with the subject literally, by including images of holes, and metaphorically, in the portraits of men who could fill the hole of the an artist's fatherless childhood. The show has promise, but I was there too early to get a sense of whether the entire gestalt congeals.

One of my favorite painters is Ted Stanuga whose show is opening at Park Schreck. He, too, is nostalgic and romantic in his consideration and dialog with abstract expressionism; yet he is more direct and purposeful in the creation of his lyrical paintings.

Russell Bowman presents a show of drawings by diverse American Artists from Elizabeth Murray, to Philip Guston to David Smith. It is always a pleasure to be surprised by Bowman's presentations and the joy of seeing relatively recent examples of art-historically relevant work. Obviously some examples are better than others, but there's always a treasure or two that make the jaunt worthwhile.

Lastly, let's welcome Bert Green to Chicago. Green's Gallery has been a significant contribution to the LA art scene for years. and he's upped and left LA for a small but worthy space across Michigan Avenue for Millennium Park. Always a dealer who has been interested in the dialog with artists and their art, it's clear than his inventory and exhibits are going to grow beyond his collectors' present enthusiasm for LA artists to embrace the local scene. Bert Green is a good dealer. He's going to be rewarding to watch.

That's it for now. With no need to shovel, we have so much more time for art. Go find some somewhere you haven't been before.

Warm regards,

Paul Klein

]]> Art Strategies Manifested in Exhibits Opening Tonight tag:www.artletter.com,2012://2.173 2012-01-12T22:55:59Z 2012-01-14T15:03:37Z

Paul Klein http://www.artletter.com Klein Artist Works course, are borne out in exhibits unveiling tonight in Chicago.

In a studio visit with Veronica Bruce, perhaps 3 years ago, I noticed her paintings felt like they were constrained and wanted to burst out. I encouraged her to think about sculpture. I also suggested that she wasn't going to get very far until she quit her day job and reminded her of the Vikings who went to war and upon landing on foreign shores burned their ships. (The message being to have genuine conviction and to make the big commitment.) We've barely communicated since that visit, but I've been watching her art and career. For the next 5-6 weeks she is an artist-in-residence at Three Walls, where the entire room she is working in is a work in progress, ever responding to the subtleties that came with the space, playing with form, angles, light, imperfections, ambiguity and humor. This is fresh stuff, without ready antecedents, and I find it particularly strong and brave. There's a real sense that significant things are going to happen for this young artist. I've felt it before and been right. There's an opening at Three Walls tonight and Veronica, and her art, can be seen then or any time the gallery is open.

Several years ago, when I first saw Wayne White's painted words on thrift shop art prints I thought he'd stumbled upon a fun, flighty gimmick. I advise artists to make art that is distinguishable - and White's art certainly is. Years ago, it felt shallow. But not anymore. As evidenced by his show opening tonight at Packer Schopf, the artist and the work have grown, getting more complicated and proficient as the text he applies plays off the trite supporting content and comments on the art world and life in general. Fun, pithy and unique.

Too much art today feels too loose and void of intent - the stuff my wife, Amy, typically refers to as dorm art, and I was afraid that was what I was going to encounter in New Formalism II at 65Grand. But instead I found a show, curated by Chicago critic Abraham Ritchie, of well-considered, conceptually intriguing, beautifully created and attractively installed paintings dealing with contemporary formalism - meaning it has to do with form and the spatial relationship of one form within a painting to another. I tell artists to make art that works from a certain distance and encourages the viewer to step forward, to better engage with the art, and the works on exhibit here do precisely that by rewarding the viewer for taking that extra step.

Up north a bit, two strong painters are opening at Eyeporium. Joanne Aono obfuscates text within seascapes or patterned abstraction, creating art that exists on two (or more) levels and series of work that evolve like stanzas in a poem. Her work is paired with the impressive, lush, painterly, richly impastoed, not-so-new, formalism of Brenda Barnum's nature-inspired abstractions. Thoughtful and meditative, they play off their components and each other.

Thanks for reading!
Paul Klein

]]> Art Rules tag:www.artletter.com,2012://2.172 2012-01-05T23:30:32Z 2012-01-06T02:55:17Z

Paul Klein http://www.artletter.com Moves Thinks Repeats Pauses at Tony Wight, five artists employ arbitrary constraints. One of the artists photographs, prints, creases, rephotographs, reprints, recreases and does it again. Another documents tossed children's blocks and feeds the images into a randomizer before deciding what colors he should employ. All this is done in an effort to remove the artist from the creative process, or a part of it. And then there's the thought that the 'proof of the pudding is in the eating' and 'what you see is what you get.' Or are we supposed to ask for clues or read the wall text that explains what we are looking at?

John Fraser's new work at Roy Boyd is more beautiful than the last body of work which I thought was as good as it can get. He too uses constraints in geometrically rendering found objects as a reflection that seeks to stop time, but the results are Modern and attractive. (I published a status question on Facebook about Rules that's yielded over 50 insightful responses.)

René Romero Schuler's work at Jennifer Norback is more about content and technique than rules, as she delves into feminist issues, but with a universal language. All of us put on 'costumes' on a daily basis, but women mask their strife with pretty dresses and make up and present a strength that belies their history more than I do. Some of the paintings are seductively glittered that make more literal the surface beauty Schuler pushes beyond.

Also opening tonight is a show of Barbara Cooper's work at Perimeter, which is gorgeous as she realizes a constancy of undulating forms through an ever diverse array of media. She's a gifted crafts-person who delivers sensuous, mature, sexy forms.

At Catherine Edelman, Vicktoria Sorochinski photographs a mother and daughter whose synergy is theatrically fascinating as I can't help but wonder who (what) this only child is going to grow up to be. It's the kind of work I think of as 'Voyeurvision' - as if we are peeping through a keyhole into a private world where we know we don't belong but have massive difficulty pulling ourselves away or forgetting what we saw.

I enjoy seeing galleries grow up and make a larger statement in support of their artists. Ebersmoore has outgrown their live/work space and have moved to a space solely dedicated to art. Congratulations to them. May their accomplishments and success continue.

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In a previous ArtLetter I wrote about the beautiful show of Karen Reimer's work Monique Meloche. The night of the opening there was a fire in the ceiling and the gallery closed for over a month to rebuild But not all is bad news. The gallery has reopened, Reimer's show has been extended to the end of January and there'll be an informal conversation between Reimer and Shannon Stratton on Thursday the 12th. They have earned and deserve our support.

Thanks folks & Happy New Year!
Paul Klein

]]> Art about Us Opening this Weekend tag:www.artletter.com,2011://2.170 2011-12-08T21:45:50Z 2011-12-08T23:53:13Z

Paul Klein http://www.artletter.com Linda Warren has moved to a larger, more handsome space, better for showing art, right around the corner from where she was. The gallery smells great with newly stained surfaces and the oil paintings by Emmett Kerrigan, whose hitting full speed with his new body of work. Somewhat reminiscent of Wayne Thiebaud's glistening surfaces and urban scenes, Kerrigan's work is innovative, distinct and confident. Perhaps the coordination of this show with the gallery's opening is coincidental but Warren's long-term commitment to Kerrigan pays off here as his art and installation show of the new space as well as one can imagine.

In a large, back gallery at Linda Warren is an adventuresome, engaging installation by the dynamic Lora Fosberg whose work is getting larger, bolder, clearer and strong. Good Chicago gallery, good Chicago artists, lasting commitment to one another. Growth and success.

Okay, I know my art, art history and what's going on, so when I encounter a powerful exhibit by an artist I don't know who is nevertheless right in my bailiwick I'm gratified and educated, which is what happened with the new show at Rhona Hoffman. Robert Overby was a Southern California artists who created with lots of my friends there in the early 70's, from which this body of work is drawn. At a time when the West Coast was leading a movement out of the studio and out of traditional galleries, Overby would make latex impressions of entire walls from derelict homes and add color. A mixture of accident (not much) and intent, this is historically significant work that remains vibrant. I was impressed and pleased.

A wonderfully powerful, ostensibly playful exhibit and reflection on recent American history, opens Sunday at the Hyde Park Art Center's memorable exhibit and large-scale instaltion by Bibiana Suárez. Exhasutively thorough Suárez explores the Latinization of the U.S. by drawing parallels and anologies via the familar game called Memory in English and Memoria is Spanish. There are elements so familair that we overlook them - until reminded. And there are revelations of hurtful behavior by us that immigration more difficult new Americans.

I was in Miami when Firecat Projects monthly first Friday exhibition opened with a show of Tony Fitzpatrick's 2011 etchings. In the last few years Fitzpatrick has become a world-class, internationally exhibited artist with collages that were out of reach for many of his friends and neighbors, so he turned to a more democratic, accessible body of work. Nickel History will be a suite of 100 etchings, of which about 40 are done, yet the entire suite has already been acquired by the Art Institute of Chicago. The 3 x 3 inch scale may be loosely inspired by Fitzpatrick's childhood affinity for comic books and reveals his fascination with the other side of Chicago history. In keeping with the accessible democracy of his work, the price of the etchings does not escalate as impressions sell, which is not the norm in the art world, but this is an artist of the people who puts art and conviction ahead of the buck. No wonder the gallery went through a dozen cases of beer before the opening reception was half over.

Thank you,

Paul Klein

]]> 143 Images of Art in Miami tag:www.artletter.com,2011://2.169 2011-12-04T20:32:22Z 2011-12-05T21:16:21Z

Paul Klein http://www.artletter.com It's hard to believe how much art was on view in Miami this past weekend. 22 art fairs, scads of private collections and gallery receptions. A three day trip filled with at least three weeks of content. I took pictures so you could see and I could remember some of what was on view.

The first stop was the granddaddy of the Miami shows; Art Basel Miami Beach with over 250 galleries and as much collagen and taut skin as you'd never want to see. I refer you to Charles Saatchi's scathing article about the obstreperous, hyperbolic prices and dealers who he says completely lack connoisseurship and and have no concept of what constitutes a good work of art. There's good art, but - with limited exceptions - the cooler, richer and holier than thou attitude pervades. [The first testimonial's first sentence in this morning's ABMB missive is from Iwan Wirth, of Hauser & Wirth, Zurich said; We are thrilled with the response and the continued confidence in investing at a museum-quality level. Well, at least he's honest about it.]

I'd heard mixed things about Art Miami before I got there. Maybe that lowered my expectations and rendered a more positive response. Regardless, there were exhibitors here who would not want to be in the aforementioned show. The Art Miami difference I found here was the sense that the dealers cared about the art first and sales second.

The Pulse Fair started off difficultly. What I'd heard was that the city had cut through a power line and wasn't going to fix it quick, which left half the lights off indiscriminately. Fortunately, the show organizers were prepared with auxiliary power. The art - and the attitude - was so good that I didn't sense people were freaking out. A good, solid fun show, which, with Art Miami, was one of my two favorite fairs.

Scope was highly uneven with more good art that I expected. With all these art fairs selecting (competing for) some 1000+ galleries it's guaranteed that some shows aren't going to be as strong as they want. Each fair's identify evolves as the show's art is installed. And context is important too. Raw plywood floors don't improve 6 digit art and it's perennially difficult for galleries to know how to best present themselves.

I found NADA's space(s) challenging, divided into 3 separated meeting spaces on the ground floor of a hotel with severely wrinkled carpeting. At least the art was better than the venue.

Though I know some people found something redeeming in Red Dot, I found the art so bad and the installations so unfortunate that I couldn't take any pictures. And Verge was so poorly promoted and attended that the exhibitors had checked out; either physically or at least emotionally.

Seven galleries from New York commandeered a large warehouse and presented some of the best and most enticing art I found anywhere; especially Monica Cook's remarkable stop motion video of puppets she's created. .

Above and beyond the 22 art fairs and gallery presentations all over the city, were morning receptions at several private collections (museums). I love visiting Marty Margulies' collection. I've done business with him and he is a passionate, artloving gentleman.

The Rubell's are huge collectors, with a ferocious appetite for unusual and provocative art, some of which I like and a lot of which leaves me feeling like I want to wash.

The Cisneros have a beautiful collection and don't allow photography, while the de la Cruz's have a powerful, divergent and in depth collection where the collectors were on hand to lead tours. That kind of enthusiasm is palpable.

We've made it to the end. It's wonderful to view other people's pictures of the same events I attended. One could easily have an entire different set of images. Art is subjective - as is my response. I hope you enjoyed my review, but it's only that; my take on what I saw.

On another note, the power of art in revitalizing a city is beautiful to see. These shows and presentations have transformed Miami into an art mecca, a place where folks from three continents are buying second homes and coming several times a year. The museums are expanding and augmenting their programming. Miami has come alive. Great catalyst.

Thank you for making it this far.

Best regards,

Paul Klein

]]> A Bountiful Weekend of Art tag:www.artletter.com,2011://2.168 2011-11-17T23:43:08Z 2011-11-18T14:50:11Z

Paul Klein http://www.artletter.com

I want to cover the exhibits I saw in order. First, those that open tonight, then those that open Saturday and third, those that opened previously.

Connie Noyes has a large vision; not only a strong exhibit opening tonight, but a symposium tomorrow, all on the subject of pink and it's myriad meanings. Both at Blanc Gallery. Not only that, I'm speaking at the symposium on how artists can get 'in the pink' and find success.

James M Smith's sculptural works at Perimeter are a special, honest statement about our relationship to the land and our ancestors. The work is different, fresh and communicates a palpable integrity. And for those of us who remember Charles Kurre's work before he left Chicago for Phoenix a decade ago, the effect of environment on an artist's work can be seen in the different pallet and shapes; from rectangular and muted to spherical and more vibrant. Or maybe he just matured.

On Saturday, Monique Meloche presents another (overdue) meaningful exhibit of Karen Reimer's highly handworked, embroidered pillow cases. A thoroughly intelligent artist, making slow.methodical work, succeeds on many levels. And in accord with our experiences the pillowcases and/or rubbings are sold in pairs just like pillowcases in 'white sales' everywhere, but here the pairings are up to the collectors, sort of like in marriage. A really good show.

Also at Monique Meloche is a painting or two lingering from her previous exhibit with Scott Stack - a show I inexplicably missed. Sitting in front of one of his brilliant paintings is better than standing because you realize it's revealing itself like an onion peeling, as relationships and discoveries just don't stop.

There's a wonderful new piece at Kavi Gupta's that Tony Tasset was putting the finishing touches on. Mr. Hot Dog Man is a vibrant, large, humorous, profane commentary on Chicago cuisine. We can tell it's a Chicago hot dog because there's no ketchup.

Prairie Avenue Gallery presents the photographic works of Charles Heppner. Sensitive images of flowers writ large and isolated juxtapositions of landscapes prevail. Nice (old) venue for looking at good art.

There's an abundance of truly powerful exhibits that I couldn't or didn't preview. At the MCA, Chicago, The Language of Less (Then and Now) sings with exemplary, important, seminal works from the museum's collection, contrasted, across the hall with contemporary works that may grow on me over time.

At the School of the Art Institute's Sullivan Gallery we see a major installation - meditation - of Wolfgang Laib's made from an endless process of placing small piles of sand, and occasionally bee-pollen directly on the floor. Not only a beautiful, site-specific presentation, there is s pervasive calm that resonates throughout the room and the viewer.

The last show of Albert Oehlin's I saw at Corbett vs.Dempsey was one of the most powerful aesthetic experiences I can remember, never having seen a presentation of an entire body of work of his before. Since then I've seen paintings of his at the Art Institute and listened to an amazingly embarrassingly lecture of this highly regarded painter at the same museum. And now this exhibit looks haphazard, casual and slapdash, making me feel like I've sadly stumbled on the Alphonso Soriano of the artworld. Still a major leaguer, but on his way down.

Angela Bryant is one of a few exciting, female, Chicago curators, though she calls herself an art gallery (Abryant). With a wonderful eye and an adventuresome spirit, her gallery migrates whenever she's ready to present an exhibition. Geometerically Speaking II is in the large lobby of a condo building and opened last night. Good art, good energy and a fun sense of discovery make this a rewarding show.

Two nights ago, 2 other exhibits had their openings. At Richard Gray, a contemplative, somber, beautiful exhibit by Jaume Plensa opened. Plensa is the same artist whose Crown Foundation at Millennium Park resonates with so many youngsters and their families. Just for clarity sake, the brilliant lightness of the fountain is more the anomaly than the pensive work in the gallery.

Next door at Valerie Carberry, Jim Lutes new paintings baffle me. Not that they aren't proficient, they're just a significant jump shift in his oeuvre, which had been known for consistent, abstracted work. And I was surprised by his just-under-6-digit prices. I'm going to pay attention to see how this all plays out.

Thanks for making it to the bottom of the page!
Paul Klein

]]> A Weekend Full of Art tag:www.artletter.com,2011://2.167 2011-11-03T02:33:13Z 2011-11-04T14:45:07Z

Paul Klein http://www.artletter.com With the waning popularity of physical books Brian Dettmer's tour de force pieces excavate the beauty, power and nostalgia of paperback novels. Like an archaeologist, he digs, explores and presents the evidence. This series is made from myriad paperbacks which relate to the phrases he's reproduced within them. The new work, at Packer Schopf, is unique and amazing. Also on view are labor intensive pieces by Chris Bathgate and Kathy Halper.

There's a riot of fabulous color in the alternative media work of Claire Ashley and Sam Jaffe at Mush Room. Ashley's inflatable sculptures define new territory in the expanding vocabulary of sculpture. Paired with Jaffe's innovative knit, woven and constructed yarn wall works each piece makes me want to grin and the whole room makes me giddy. There are no blues here.

Russell Bowman shows wonderful art that we don't often see in other Chicago galleries. In conjunction with the SOFA show at Navy Pier (more later) the gallery has some exquisite pieces by unschooled, un-art-educated, brilliant artists. Thornton Dial's paintings are a cacophony of outside-the-anointed-norm of what constitutes a 'solid' work of art, yet he slays what so often passes for a great painting. Coupled with the innate genius on the quilters of Gee's Bend in rural Alabama we bask in natural talent, insightful compositions and pure creativity. Another joyful exhibit.

Across the street, at Catherine Edelman are the compassionate, personal, almost private photographs by Gary Briechle of people on the rugged coast of Maine. The details are what's important as the blacks and grays convey the power and tenderness of these images.

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Zolla/Lieberman is presenting Jamie Adams' art historically based, complex, very real paintings of Jamie Adams' family. Also on view are new paintings by sculptor Jin Soo Kim who has shown with the gallery for decades. Her images are made by diluting paint to the point where the paint spreads from her powerfully blowing on tiny dollop after dollop, rendering forms we are prone to read as human.

Morpho Gallery is opening a show of new work by Mays Mayhew. Inspired by an intellectual curiosity about the physiology of love and the echo of its disappearance, her work is wistful and fun, as a quite serious aspect pervades it.

2011 Mays Mayhew Off the shelf2.jpg

Around the corner, in Hammond, Sidecar is opening Water, Saturday night, a group show with Tom Burtonwood, Holly Holmes and James Jankowiak. These are 3 artists who are always pressing ahead, pushing their aesthetic and breaking new ground. Sidecar's been doing solid shows for a while now. They are worthy of our respect and the drive.

The SOFA Show is back at Navy Pier this weekend; starting today. It's an attractive mix of craft and art, with a lingering emphasis on glass. A lot of what's on display is virtuous, well made and beautiful - a mix of art and craft. For me, the difference between craft and art is a matter of content, and the ability to perceive, or not, the soul of the artist in the work. I enjoy this show for its beauty and handmade excellence. All things needn't be cerebral. Elegance and quality can be inspiring and fulfilling too.

A portion of the fair is reserved for the Intuit Show of Folk and Outsider Art, though it is billed as two fairs under one roof. There is a comfortable relationship between the aesthetics of the two presentations, though the Intuit Show is much smaller and much more about soul and substance, communicated by untrained artists who created out of pure necessity. They are glorious examples by significant artists here. The presentations by two or three galleries make the whole trip to Navy Pier worthwhile.

Lots of art to see! Let's go,
Paul Klein

]]> Good Weekend for Good Art tag:www.artletter.com,2011://2.166 2011-10-20T19:25:37Z 2011-10-21T14:48:43Z

Paul Klein http://www.artletter.com MDW Fair; arguably the best art fair, or at least the best feeling art fair on the south side of Chicago. Anchored at Geolofts, this is the 2nd incarnation of the fair that debuted last spring, a week before the mess that was ArtChicago.

Think about Occupy Wall Street. Think about OWS demonstrating in front of the 'rather' elite Frick, New Museum and MoMA. Think about the irrelevant, irreverent, insane hyperbolic prices paid for art at auction and the crusty, snooty art fairs. Now think about what art means to you, what you get out of it, what you want it to be and why and how you got involved with art in the first place. Now you understand why I like the MDW Fair.

With the preponderance of exhibitors "alternative" gallery spaces, that make a priority of culture over commerce, the MDW fair sets a high bar about what an ART Fair should be - an art experience where the exhibitors present art they believe in to an audience that wants to be welcomed, inspired, challenged and cajoled. While art at MDW is for sale, it is not first and foremost about money - or prostituting oneself for it.

Instead, this show which opens tonight and continues on Saturday and Sunday afternoons, is about experiencing art, getting exposed and educated, with an emphasis on one-person presentations. I love it. (And I'll be participating with Klein Artist Works, to further expose my artist empowering course. We'll be in the Publication section and when I'm there I'll be interested in speaking with you.)

There's something about the formal, yet casual, focus of Bernard Williams' work, opening tonight at McCormick, that makes me smile and leaves me warm. It's no longer easy to grow the various disciplines that artists pursue, which in Williams' case is sculpture. Yet through the use of unlikely materials, manipulated and joined in unusual ways the ironical results succeed beautifully. I wonder how many pieces of his I can own.

Across the hall at Carrie Secrist, David Lefkowitz is showing new 'green' work, whose raw materials come from the low end of big box stores (like left over cardboard boxes and rejected paint), on which high concepts are rendered, drawing attention to the dichotomy of materials and our society.

Rodney Graham is an iconoclast, a free spirit - a loose cannon, a brilliant artist and idiosyncratic. At Donald Young (2 locations) he melds contemporary technology with nostalgic imagery, casting himself in his art as he ponders the seemingly insignificant events and situations he regularly encounters in his kinder and gentler Vancouver. Musician / photographer /artist; looking at his work is like watching a fountain joyously bubble over.

Go,
Paul Klein

]]> Strong Art in (Mostly) Unusual Venues tag:www.artletter.com,2011://2.165 2011-10-06T21:33:16Z 2011-10-07T12:44:33Z

Paul Klein http://www.artletter.com Ben Jaffe's photographs made from multiple manipulated photographic images read like paintings. Invariably they document Chicago and present us with places we often know but have never looked at as intently as the art does.

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Down the street at Eyeporium, Alyssa Miserendino, Lauren Whitney and Lynn Tsan are in a group show called Spaces: defined. Though each of these artists lives in Chicago they are relatively new to exhibiting here, yet their work compliments and extends the solid work ethic that artists in Chicago manifest.

A beautiful, meaty and important exhibit, titled Future's Past, opens tonight at Blanc Gallery and throughout the Bronzeville community. Dynamic powerhouse curator, Tempestt Hazel tapped into the inspired research of the Black Metropolis Research Consortium who have been documenting Bronzeville's rich history - full of music, culture and business. That wealth of passion is beautifully interpreted at Blanc Gallery by artists Stephen Flemister, Krista Franklin, and Amanda Williams. Outside, throughout the community, historic buildings are lighted, with an explanation of the cultural history that emanated from within. As a passionate believer of the power of art to stimulate a community, this is about as good as it gets.

And there's more exemplary community building art activity on the Southside. Opening Saturday is a show of 4 artists being honored by Diasporal Rhythms, a group of powerful collectors who primarily collect art of the African Diaspora. I know of no other collector group that has a comparable mission (and fulfills it so admirably) - to affect positive change in its community and the lives of the artists and people of their expansive neighborhood. The show is at Room 43 and includes the art of Dalton Brown, Juarez Hawkins, Theodore C. Feaster, and Shyvette Williams.

Dawoud Bey is a gifted artist and it turns out a brilliant curator too. In No Place Like Home, which recently opened at the Hyde Park Art Center, Bey has selected insightful artists (Lisa Lindvay, Jon Lowenstein, Jason Reblando, Jessica Rodrigue, David Schalliol, Leilani Wertens) whose wistful images are powerful individually, and contribute to a larger statement in Bey's thoughtful catalog essay.

Thanks very much,
Paul Klein

]]> Big Art Weekend in Los Angeles tag:www.artletter.com,2011://2.164 2011-10-02T14:31:25Z 2011-10-02T21:53:18Z

Paul Klein http://www.artletter.com Pacific Standard Time - a look at art in L.A. between 1945 and 1980 which appears at some 60 cultural institutions.

This ArtLetter focuses predominantly on the art fairs (and an impressive Theaster Gates exhibit at L.A.'s Museum of Contemporary Art) because I was severely constrained in my ability to take pictures in the museums.

The first fair to open and the first I attended was Pulse. Attractively located on a rooftop near the Staples Center it filled a beautiful high ceilinged tent with great lighting and a too powerful cooling system. The energy was high, sales good, and with 2 exceptions most of the art was safe and felt familiar, though much of it was new to me.

The VIP preview crowd departed en masse for L.A. Art Platform, another Merchandise Mart generated fair in a huge concrete mausoleum with constrained spaces and leg-shortening, uncarpeted, concrete floors. A lot of the art was quite good; much of it historical, with a fair amount of diversity.

It's the people I know who make the art fairs a sought after experience; a chance to reconnect with friends who introduce me to others I'm glad to meet. Art fairs are about business; not culture or art. There are too many of them. And while they are proliferating I hope that's really an indicator they are fading.

Theaster Gates' show at the L.A. Museum of Contemporary of Art is powerful and exemplary - and totally incongruous in the context of the other art in the 40,000 square foot former police station that is the Geffen Contemporary. Well over 90% of the exhibition space is dedicated to a glorious, encyclopedic exhibit, titled Under the Black Sun; California Art 1974-1981, with over 120 artists' work on view. So many of the artists were in attendance that it felt like a long overdue reunion. And off in a corner was Theaster's show. Why now? Why not give the whole building to the one important monster of an exhibit? The answer I heard was that the highly respected curator, Paul Schimmel and the New York imported director Jeffrey Deitch hate each other and that Deitch imposed Theaster's exhibit on Schimmel's space merely to demonstrate his authority. The juxtaposition makes no sense. Regardless, both shows and artistic integrity are compromised. Unfortunate. I wonder if it's significant that few people spoke to Deitch during the artist & collector laden VIP preview.

Thanks very much,

Paul Klein

]]> The Fall Season Opens, Part II tag:www.artletter.com,2011://2.163 2011-09-15T19:51:24Z 2011-09-17T14:26:58Z

Paul Klein http://www.artletter.com DePaul Art Museum is here. The first show, opening Saturday, is titled Re: Chicago and is exceptional; full of treasures, contexts and curiosity. Some 40 Chicago art personalities (for lack of a better term) were asked to nominate an artist who should be known, with emphasis placed on the selection not being from the usual cast of characters.

Besides a beautiful new venue for seeing art in Chicago, the show is fun because of its imperfections. This is curation by committee and it makes for curious juxtapositions. There are artists you might not think warrant inclusion, others that might be too obvious and some where collectors suggest an artist - and a piece - from their own collection.

Seeing the exhibit makes one mindful of the strengths of good curators and the strengths and certainly weaknesses of assigning selection decisions to the others.

Regardless, there's wonderful art here not seen sufficiently in Chicago in a long time, like Macena Barton, Maniere Dawson, Ralph Arnold, Arthur B. Davies, Gertrude Abercrombie and Harry Callahan, along with a number of contemporary favorites. For lots of reasons, I find this a thoroughly wonderful show and definitely hope there's a curated sequel sometime soon.

Rhona Hoffman presents a painting show curated by former Chicagoan, Hudson of Feature. Hudson has long had a prescient eye. I remember walking in to his Chicago gallery in the early80's as a show was being installed and the artist sitting on the floor injecting mercury into basketballs surrounded by Dr. J posters. In the show at Rhona's, the premise is the 80's began a long stretch of 'brainy' art, where the art was predominately about theory and conveying information. This show, and a lot of Feature's agenda, is about visceral art that elicits a body reaction and not solely a mental one, He finds it more ambiguous and inclusive. There's a lot of art and a lot to talk about here.

Donald Young is presenting new work by Bruce Nauman, one of the first artists to succeed by agitating and annoying, pushing the envelope and expanding boundaries. Never one of my favorite artists, I acknowledge that he has contributed to the freight train of art history, but his work invariably leaves me cold or bored. Nevertheless, his dexterity is impressive in a new video where he follows his own prerecorded commands about how many and which fingers to hold up - supposedly "an exercise of coordination as both artist and participant wrestle between body and language.". I just wonder where his head is.

There's another divergent, non-mainstream, solid exhibit at FireCat Projects where Ellen Greene offers an updated take on the tattoos of the 1930's and 40's, painted on long gloves and presented in pairs. There are also several paintings in this earthy, populist exhibit.

In an answer to the question about the relationship between the work artists make and their straight day jobs the exhibit at Architrouve presents 3 painters who work in painting conservation and restoration. I don't suppose any restorers actually make sweeping, gesturalbrush strokes as there's clearly an affinity here for 'tight' work, but the question I'm still left with is whether these artists make this painstaking work because they are restorers or the other way around. Regardless, the relationship intrigues.

Go for it,

Paul Klein

]]> The Opening of Chicago's Fall Art Season tag:www.artletter.com,2011://2.162 2011-09-08T21:48:28Z 2011-09-09T16:09:04Z

Paul Klein http://www.artletter.com It's here. The day we've all been waiting for - the start of Chicago's fall art season, one of the few weekends of the year when the majority of Chicago galleries open in consort and present some of their best art which tends to define the gallery and indicate it's direction. Hold on to your socks; this could be the ArtLetter with the most pictures yet.

I started my previewing at Russell Bowman because I can always count on quality there and because I like the conscientious approach the gallery makes to educating the public about recent developments in Chicago's art history. On view were a fine selection of very early paintings and drawings by Ed Paschke, whose prices have been close to a quarter of a million in NYC, but here they are more tempered. (There's a great show of Chicago Imagists opening at the Madison Art Museum this weekend, which I'll discuss later.)

I find Kelli Connell's photographs, opening tonight at Edelman, beautiful and disarming - a nice tension and confusion - maybe what I used to call a Positive Ambiguity. The photographs are brilliantly manipulated to pose the same model twice in each image, suggesting a dynamic, but uncertain relationship.

Mary Lou Zelazny has been one of Chicago's finest artists for quite some time, as was evident in her survey exhibition at the Hyde Park Art Center last year. The new work on view at Carl Hammer Gallery is damned near a breakthrough - as if she's been freed from constraints by having a survey exhibition sum up her past and enable her to step forward anew. Still using collage and paint, Zelazny's work is more complicated, competent and focused.

John Torreano's art at Albano completes the galleries I visited in River North. I'm not sure what it is about Torreano's work. I do, and have, found it seductive for decades, even though his growth has been incremental at best. To an extent, loose daubs of paint replace or echo some of the encrusted jewels, but that's about it - and I still like them.

Carrie Secrist has married and altered her gallery's agenda to greater emphasize young and emerging artists and she starts of the season with a bang. Andrew Holmquist is a recent graduate of the School of the Art Institute. Some of his paintings are glorious, a few are clunkers. some are humorous and all are brave. Holmquist has joyous talent and trusts his aesthetic impulses, which over time will surely get honed, but for now he's sharing his not very bridled gusto with us. I love the vulnerability.

Walsh Gallery is closing their physical space to be better able to navigate the world and serve its artists. Knowing Julie Walsh and the passionate, thorough exhibits she presents, I doubt this will be an economizing move. Vivan Sundaram's art is so good I didn't recognize it. I thought he was a fashion desginer because the garments he makes are cutting-edge beautiful. Only on closer examination did I realize that an entire man's suite was made out of maxi-pads. The show will have live models showing off his mesmerizing work who, for the run of the show, will be replaced by mannequins.

At Western Exhibitions, the walker, Stan Shellabarger has another profoundly different knockout exhibit. In a long, edtioned, fold out print (book), Shellabarger has trod across printing plates on the floor, inked them, printed an image, walked some more, reinked, reprinted and repeated till done. In another he's walked in a prescribed pattern on paper laid on diamond plate steel. There's definitely a mantra of passionate labor that yields these beautiful results and singularity of focus.

At Tony Wight, Barbara Kasten's crisp, oversized photographs of glass and plexiglas are formal exercises with a high degree of difficulty. I like these formal works and recognize the work involved to get them to this place that they look simply elegant. (I did all my previewing with Angela Watters who wanted to familiarize herself with all the shows opening, before she ventures out as "Gallery Opening Barbie" and tweets comments about the shows from 60%H20.)

It's amazing how many galleries are opening their season with Chicago artists. One who isn't is Thomas Robertello who has a charming show of new paintings by Bret Slater, from Dallas. Having just completed a memoir on Phillip Guston, this work reminds me a little of him. Some of these ostensibly abstract images can be seen as faces, hats, teeth. Solid, fresh, accessible, fun art, this show surpassed my expectations.

Takohl isn't really an art gallery. Instead it's a jewelry gallery in the middle of an district, but it was here that I found tintypes by Gayle Stevens. Hers is an antique process that delivers sensitive contact images of found objects and artifacts, brought to life and recombined to present delicate, personal meaning and affinities. Really good work that warrants time to unravel and discover.

Ed Valentine's paintings at Linda Warren are light, fun and virtuous. Here's a man who can obviously paint as good as he wants, but prefers to mix his talent with his humor to give us a different look at people. There's an 'everyman' quality to his work and the notion that the image we're looking at could be us.

There are two shows opening where I've seen the artists work enough over the years to have a sense of where they've been. But where they are is different and/or more mature. Not long ago Angel Otero was an art school graduate student making paintings with what looked to be Silly String that flirted with painting and sculpture simultaneously. Those melded into abstract, unmounted painting skins that were interesting, but amorphous. The new work. at Kavi Gupta, builds on those, mounts them on canvas and serves as a substrate for more, smaller skins that grow to become a rich, undulated painting.

Lorraine Peltz has been painting chandeliers for a while now. Initially they were intermingled with paintings of other domestic objects, but it's the chandeliers that have won out in her new show at Packer Schopf. Over time, they have become richer and more intriguing. They move around the canvas, get combined with other markmaking and take on a life of their own. Their richness is her territory now.

Ebersmoore is a small gallery with a powerful program. Rob Carter's apocalyptic, two-screen video is an example with large, crisp projections of a jungle encroaching upon a fictive stadium. The quality, pace and soundtrack seduce to the point where we wonder if vines are growing around our ankles.

Okay, I've been saving some of the best for the end. Dan Gunn has a show opening at Monique Meloche and a 12 x 12 show at the MCA. His work riffs on art history while obfuscating it with diverse 'inappropriate' materials, a quirky vision and solid craftsmanship to the point that the works reveals, yet transcends, its materials.

As much as I got around to a lot of shows, there are some that I couldn't get to or weren't available when I did. Jason Lazarus and Cody Hudson are at Andrew Rafacz, Juan Angel Chavez is at the National Museum of Mexican Art and numerous artists are up north at what used to be Fort Sheridan and is now the Openlands Lakeshore Preserve (who should really add the artists' names; Sharon Bladholm, Kate Friedman, Olivia Petrides,Ginny Sykes & Augustina Droze (Chicago Public Art Group) and

Vivian Visser to their website) - this Saturday. These are permanent installations.

KFriedman.nature.jpeg

Also Saturday is a wonderful exhibit of Chicago Imagists at the Madison (WI) Museum of Contemporary Art, They sent me images of the show, which is almost entirely from one non-Chicago collection, which means lots of solid work we haven't seen before.

Lots of art. Let's go!

Thanks,

Paul Klein

PS: I want to share one of my favorite resources with you: The Visualist will keep you on top of what's going on in the visual arts in Chicago.

]]> Art: Preseason tag:www.artletter.com,2011://2.161 2011-09-01T22:22:41Z 2011-09-02T17:27:07Z

Paul Klein http://www.artletter.com

I'm on the board of the Collaboraction theater company and was asked by them to work with Wesley Kimler to select art for their exhibition program in Mush Room, the adjunct space they have. We put out a call for art and got some wonderful submissions from which we are crafting shows. Tonight's opening pairs Alyssa Miserendino and Matt Tuteur, both of whom deal with the decaying artifacts of a society in transition. Miserendino's photographs are of spaces vacated by people who couldn't afford to stay in their home, inspired by her family's need to do precisely that 7 years ago. Some of these properties are occupied by squatters, and the dichotomy between what clearly was and is hurts with its sensitive awareness of disarray.

Matt Tuteur, like Miserendino, is a renegade photographer, who conducts research to find hidden, dying, decaying, disappearing footnotes to Chicago's colorful past. It is not as if you find Al Capone's subterranean lair on Yelp and access it with a police guide. Chicago has a colorful, and not always comfortable, past. There is honesty, angst, and beauty in Tuteur's broad and considered documentation. Both photographers' work is complemented by a poignant 'flower" arrangement by Rick Wroble that is was once beautiful and is now dying like the content of the images around it.

One of the things that I genuinely like about Chicago is that it cares more about what you are doing than what you've done - just look at some of our aldermen. Not that I know anything about what Jenny Lam has done, I'm impressed by what she's doing - creating, finding, following her own path in the Chicago art scene. She's been on my radar since spring. A recent college graduate, she's just just curated a charming show at Fulton Street Collective titled Exquisite Corpse. Expanding on the traditional notion where multiple artists work on a single piece without knowing what the other has done, she's solicited, culled, and matched 40 artists who don't know each other to collaborate on creating art. In most cases the pieces are fun, competent, multi-faceted and engaging.

In another concept for a group show, the Beverly Arts Center is presenting 3 longtime friends, where some of the work relates, and looks at how paths diverge and/or remain intertwined. I'm particularly drawn to the art of Erik DeBat, once a street artist and now drawn to importing that aesthetic into a contemporary fine art vernacular. There's an impressive grit, play on words, and structure that succeeds with fresh beauty when it does.

Lots of art in the weeks and months ahead, and it starts now.

Thank you,
Paul Klein

]]> Groups On Exhibit tag:www.artletter.com,2011://2.160 2011-07-06T22:24:09Z 2011-07-13T23:18:18Z

Paul Klein http://www.artletter.com
I was cautious encountering the Museum of Contemporary Art's Pandora's Box: Joesph Cornell Unlocks the MCA Collection. I'd heard the MCA had borrowed none of the Art Institute's numerous, excellent and insufficiently lit Cornell boxes. And entering the MCA's show I understood why. They didn't need them. All they needed was a given Cornell illustrating a specifc facet of his oeuvre.

The show is almost evidence of a game. Think of the themes we all associated with Cornell. Intermittent objects in rows and columns? Okay let's look in the MCA collection and find a Warhol and Gursky. Birds and feathers? Sure. What else? How about Voyeurism? Okay. Collage? Yup.

This is a delightful summer show; accessible, fun, just provocative enough, informative and playful. In the week or so its been open I've been twice. There's an endless array of discussions going on between the works of art on view. New relationships appear. It isn't to say that all the artists in the show were influenced by Cornell, but that their work resonates. And that it does - to an extent that my appreciation of Cornell was elevated - he's more contemporary than I realized. Any my appreciation of others in the show did also, because I was obligated to consider their effort in a new light.

Also at the MCA, which is already using its space better, is a shown called Motor Cocktail, which presents motorized or non-static art. This is a show of work that is history for some and a fond memory for others. And seeing it in a contemporary environment augments the meaning and establishes new relationships. A nice, small, tasty exhibit.

At the University of Chicago's Smart Museum is hot little show called Go Figure, which augments work from the museum's collection. Beyond the quality of the art are a superb array of video discussions with the artists - also available online. (Don't miss the awesome Claire Zeisler on view after exiting the Go Figure show!)

Also already opened, is Mush Room, a new effort by the Collaboracton theater company that asked Wesley Kimler and me to select work for them on an on-going basis. We see the effort as an extension of our discussions about art; loose and not particularly linear. We'll select art we like or artists we respect or just work we find interesting that might have a relationship with other art in the show. This exhibit is about women, by women and includes Virginia Broersma, Jennifer Lambert, Mary Lou Novak, René Romero Schuler and Victoria Szilagyi.

Finally, an opening. Tonight at Linda Warren, Conrad Freiburg and Jason Peot have shows opening. Freiburg is a thinker who's good with his hands. If it weren't for the wood in his art that keeps him anchored, Freiburg would be in the ether floating with Pascal and Hawking, pondering celestial theories and looking for quirks in the quarks. But instead he makes mindful and soulful art that applies human concepts to inter-spatial relationships - a physical poetry that considers math and stars in the same breath. His isn't easy work, but it is special.

Thanks very much,

Paul Klein

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