Vera Klement is an octogenarian kid, with the knowledge, wisdom and talent of her years and the energy, output and enthusiasm of someone a quarter of her age.  She is a remarkably gifted painter whose work continues to grow - as is apparent in her show opening tonight at Zolla/Lieberman.  Her sectioned paintings are like symphonies of self-contained movements that contribute to a larger whole.  The poignant beauty of her work references literature, history and us.

A while back a friend of mine we'll call Phil, who has a layman's knowledge of art, told me I was in a dream of his.  Phil said he thought the dream was a good idea for a book and a movie because it was about art and fraud.  In his dream he laid down a solid color of paint, and cooked up a pot full of noodles and while still moist dropped them onto the canvas, spray painted over them and then threw away the noodles.  My part in the dream was to write about how wonderful this was and we'd charge big dollars for the paintings and split the profit. . .   You know how sometimes "good" ideas happen in multiple places in the universe at the same time? Scott Reeder's paintings open at Kavi Gupta on Saturday.

Thank you,
Paul Klein

I'm off to see more art now

Thanks very much!
Paul Klein

Opening Saturday at Carrie Secrist, the art of Liliana Porter, who I exhibited over 30 years ago, continues to explore, poke fun at and balance so much of what is popular in contemporary art today. Raised in South America, Porter is an informed outsider.  There's something charming, honest and satisfying about her work.

Russell Bowman consistently finds and exhibits a broad range of contemporary art - not necessarily current - and mixes it with established local artists, as he has in Image / Abstraction / Object, with wonderful pieces by insufficiently seen Betty Woodman, DeWain Valentine, along with Roger Brown and Pete Voulkos.

At Firecat, Nicholas Sistler's virtuoso, postcard-sized paintings and prints are inspired by the Kinsey Institute's images of sex in all its variations.  Couple that with Sistler's fascination with film noire and the multiple interpretations each specific, yet ambiguous, fragment can deliver, one finds a luxurious stage for exploring our, and his, psyche. 

These are wonderful exhibits and a great reason to go look at art.

Thanks very much,

Paul Klein

Neil Goodman's show at Perimeter also shows new growth and a seasoned artist gaining confidence and fully hitting his stride with bold, seductive, considered sculptures and innovative advancements in the medium of bronze. Too often our society makes a priority of the young and the new, yet here are powerful examples of mid-career artists making some of the best work around.

Across the way at Albano, Margaret Wharton's new wall pieces reveal her ever-expanding and evolving imagination and inspired use of common materials like clothes pins, nuts and bolts, tennis rackets and chairs. When working with found objects (a notion we'll expand on in a moment), art must transcend its materials, as is exemplified here. 

Perhaps that notion is true too at Tony Wight, where Matthew Metzger's beautiful paintings are probably not inspired by 19th Century, trompe l'oiel master John Peto, as Metzger recreates and renders the most beautiful truck mud flaps I've ever seen.  Sure, there's a bunch of theory behind this work, which is art historical, relevant and fascinating, yet the paintings as objects themselves are seductive and captivating.   Metzger's work is paired with the photographs of Sreshta Rit Premnath whose reworked photographs are inspired by M.S. Ramaiah who believed that if he ever stopped building he would die. A bust of the builder has been photographed and manipulated in a poetic response. 

Curious how most ArtLetters find a subplot or theme circulating through much of the work I preview.  This week it's art whose materials are recycled, reused or artfully replicate something in another medium - all of which can be found in the expansive show Chicago's 12, insightfully curated by Sergio Gomez at the Zhou Bros' southside art warehouse.  This is a 'green' exhibit focusing on artists who reuse, recycle and reconceptualize materials. It is fun, big, spacious and joyful.

The Hyde Park Art Center's new exhibit, Hairy Blob, opening Sunday, looks to be good, but I got there before 90% of the art was unwrapped, so I'm going to have to go back.

It was good to get back to the Ukrainian Institute Museum of Art where 3 Chicago artists and friends (Michiko Itatani, Claire Wolf Krantz and Susan Sensemann) participate in Mutuality, an uplifting presentation of mutual respect and synergistic art, that highlights the artists divergent experiences, source material, individual integrity and cooperative energy.

In the already-opened category, Rashid Johnson's significant, large-scale paintings at Chicago's Museum of Contemporary Art are both beautiful and meaningful.  As an artist I've previously been hard on for being too casual, I'm comfortable acknowledging that he has now found a powerful stride and ability to communicate a fresh and poignant look at his own history.  From that base he draws in tangential and substantive content, and reveals himself as a force that is to be contended with and watched for years to come. 

I enjoy seeing what architects draw when they don't have to.  Is it nature? Is it abstract?  Is it an extension of their work or is it counterbalancing?  For Stephen Wierzbowski, whose drawings are on view at Framing Mode & Gallery, it's beautiful and historical, predominantly European buildings in a variety of settings. Like sculptors, many architects draw well, and like sculptors those drawings often don't get seen much.  

Thank you

Paul Klein

Closer to home, Alison Ruttan's previous body of work was about the chimpanzees at Gombe, in Africa, who divided into 2 groups and waged a civil war against each other, until one group was eliminated. Extrapolating from the notion that if chimpanzees kill one another, it must also be human nature to aggressively go after one another, she has spent the last 2 years creating a ceramic body of work called Natural Disaster.  Her sculptures are based on internet-found images of Middle Eastern demolished buildings and bombsites.  Strong work at Adds Donna Gallery, opening Sunday afternoon.

To an extent, Marc Dennis' work at Carl Hammer Gallery, is in the same vein, a critique of the pettiness of humans.  Good painting, provocative juxtapositions and a salient commentary.

Nicole Beck is a dynamic sculptor whose distinctive new body of work sings with innovation and charisma and is more poorly installed than the paintings I once saw hanging on the posts of a corral.  A dozen works are crammed into a 15-foot entrance stairway at the Chicago Artists Coalition.  With some pieces 6 feet above your head and numbered with multicolored dots, the cacophony of mistakes ruins the triumphs of these wondrous new pieces.  A travesty; if I were the artist I would have bailed. 

Matthew Cox's new pieces at Packer Schopf are as distinictive and special as Nicole Beck's, and are elegantly allowed the opportunity to breathe.  Don't you wish you'd thought of embroidering medical X-Rays?  Okay, maybe because I have a month-old titanium hip the subject's been on my mind.  This work is beautiful, fresh and flat-out fun. 

Artists must take responsibility for their art and their careers, how and where the art is seen, and under what circumstances.  Creativity and innovation are rewarded. Stupidity is punished.  Mays Mayhew is an artist who is getting it right, commandeering a pop-up space in the Loop and inverting the formula.  Instead of putting the art on the inside facing in, where few of the Loop's thousands see it ,she has put it in the windows and it's seen by all. I commend her for her innovative creativity. 

That's it friends.  More art is on the horizon.  Time to appreciate the weather and get on out.

Thanks very much,

Paul Klein

Let's do these in something resembling chronological order.  One of the most memorable and engaging works of art I've seen in some time was at Believe Inn.  This roughly 10 x 10 x 10 foot installation was a collaboration of several artists and unfortunately I'm unclear as to who deserves the credit.  There are a lot of hand-made wood items that compose a cityscape.  All these items are props for a video projection that is flawlessly executed.  There's not a stray pixel and the 7 minute 'performance' is accompanied by original music.  This is just exciting, accessible, different and super fun.  

Not far away, Firecat Projects has introduced an accomplished, who's never exhibited, Mario Desa, has thrived as a tattoo artist and is now seguing to fine artist.  It's a sweet transition with a lot of beautiful and complex images. The show enables one to consider the foibles, weaknesses, strengths and idiosyncrasies of our goofy artworld and who gets the gold ring and who gets taken for a ride. 

Two thoughtful, and unintentionally related exhibits focus on the photographed figure. At the DePaul Museum is a show of portraits by the Malian portrait photographer Malick Sidibé, who also was prone to not considering himself a fine artist. With a sensitive eye to the cultural explosion happening in Mali in the 60's Sidibé chronicled     normal people at an abnormal moment.

Jason Brammer is one of the stars of my Klein Artist Works program.  He's got massive talent, a disarmingly unique vision, and I can't tell where he'd be without me, but I'm proud to be associated with him.  Brammer lives in Wicker Park and is showing in Bucktown at Firecat Projects.  He's subtly segued from his previous time machines to a reflective, yet futuristic, look at global cartography and the human soul.  Trend following is ridiculous and Brammer steadfastly carves his own successful path.  He is an artist of the people and it is appropriate that his art is in a gallery where the people go.

Part of bringing art to the people is to present it beyond the usual locations.  It is possible to meld local interests with a global perspective as seen in Catherine Forster's works at the Peggy Notebeart Nature Museum where she examines the human instinct to mess with nature; improve it, stamp it, record it, document it and alter it.

There's still strong art to be found where we're accustomed to seeing it - in gallery districts and museums more or less in the city center. Joseph Seigenthaler, at Carl Hammer, is a powerful, focused, sculptor now rendering (political) icons of culture and commenting on his and their world view like Ralph Nader, David Rockefeller, Shel Silverstein and Ron Paul, or maybe their hunting trophies.

Synergies abound in the paired exhibits of Dana DeAno and Camille Iemmolo at Packer Schopf where DeAno's elegies on the 'positive' possibilities of detritus complement Iemmolo's search into the near-tragedies she's endured, like being thrown from a horse a year ago, breaking 7 vertebrae and emerging on the bright side of life with her humor intact. 

Bill Conger's formal paintings at Roy Boyd suggest complex cityscapes with highways, byways, waterways and a lush and crowded panoply of color, but are more akin to color poems and the pleasure of painting.

Okay.  So wherever you are, wherever you're going, go see some art.  It's out there.

Warmly,

Paul Klein 

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

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

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.

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. 

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. 

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

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.

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

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