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Thea Liberty Nichols
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Museum as Gallery, Gallery as Museum
by Thea Liberty Nichols
Posted
6/7/13
Roughly three years ago, New York City gallerist Jeffery Deitch was tapped to serve as director of the Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles (MoCA). It was an interesting selection given Deitch’s prior for-profit, commercial sector experience. What has followed are a series of eyebrow raising exhibitions, such as Dennis Hopper (curated by Julian Schnabel) and James Dean (curated by James Franco). Deitch, while largely lampooned by the press, has also had his supporters, who note that since hi... [more]
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Infinite Corpse: Crowd Sourcing New Media
by Thea Liberty Nichols
Posted
5/17/13
Most of you are probably familiar with the Surrealist game “exquisite corpse,” where a composite drawing is created in sequence by a group of artists adhering to some predetermined set of rules (no peeking, for example, and, pick up where the last artist left off).
Local Chicago comics collective Trubble Club recently began an online project entitled Infinite Corpse. Unlike its Surrealist precedent, it harnesses the energy and inexhaustibility of the internet by being limitless in duration.... [more]
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The Stillness of Destruction
by Thea Liberty Nichols
Lee Bontecou, Alberto Burri, Niki de Saint Phalle, Gérard Deschamps, François Dufrêne, Jean Fautrier, Lucio Fontana, Adolf Frohner, Raymond Hains, Yves Klein, John Latham, Otto Müehl, Gustav Metzger, Manolo Millares, Saburo Murakami, Robert Rauschenberg, Salvatore Scarpitta, Shozo Shimamoto, Kazuo Shiraga, Antoni Tàpies, Chiyu Uemae, Jacques Villeglé, Wolf Vostell, Michio Yoshihara at Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA)
February 16th - June 2nd
Posted
2/21/13
This twenty-six artist-deep group show that just opened at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago is an interesting re-examination of work by renowned artists such as Lucio Fontana, Yves Klein, Robert Rauschenberg and Antoni Tàpies, among others. Re-framed and linked together based on the work’s general responsiveness to war, specifically World War II and the Cold War, all these square pegs are smartly made to fit in round holes despite their typical standing as loners, exceptions, outcasts and icon... [more]
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The 2012 Chicago Cultural Plan Unveiled
by Thea Liberty Nichols
Posted
11/12/12
The 2012 Chicago Cultural Plan was recently released after roughly five months worth of town hall meetings, focus groups, interviews and conversations with artists and experts. The city hasn’t had this type of grandiose cultural road map since the 1986 Cultural Plan drafted after eighteen months of informational meetings conducted by then Mayor Harold Washington’s administration.
The preparation of the Plan was outsourced to the Canadian firm Lord Cultural Resources, who dressed it up with ful... [more]
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Afterimage
by Alicia Chester
Roger Brown, Lilli Carré, David Leggett, Amy Lockhart, Ellen Nielsen, Jim Nutt, Anders Oinonen, JOHN PAROT, Ed Paschke, Christina Ramberg at DePaul Art Museum
September 14th, 2012 - November 18th, 2012
Posted
9/18/12
The Imagists and the Cubs are quintessentially Chicagoan institutions that are similarly maligned in much of the rest of the country while continuing to hold sway locally. Like the Cubs, the Imagists have an intensely regional flavor, and the loyalty conjured of its adherents and descendants appears mysterious to outsiders. Aptly named, Afterimage traces the trajectory and diaspora of the Imagists’ influence upon artists based in or with ties to Chicago.
The opening of Afterimage marks the DePaul... [more]
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New Chicago Comics
by Thea Liberty Nichols
Jeffrey Brown, Lilli Carré, Paul Hornschemeier, Anders Nilsen at Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA)
January 8th, 2011 - January 30th, 2011
Posted
1/24/11
“New Chicago Comics” is a group show featuring the work of Jeffrey Brown, Lilli Carré, Paul Hornschemeier and Anders Nilsen, organized by Curatorial Assistant Michael Green, and on view now at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (MCA) in the space commonly used for “12x12” exhibitions.
Brown, Hornschemeier and Nilsen, along with John Hankiewicz, had all formerly collaborated on The Holy Consumption, a website that featured a new post by one of the artists every Sunday. The addition of Carré is a welcome one... [more]
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Touch and Go
by Thea Liberty Nichols
Ray Yoshida at School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) - Sullivan Galleries
November 13th, 2010 - February 12th, 2011
Posted
12/6/10
Featuring almost fifty-years of Ray Yoshida’s art, “Touch and Go” is an expansive exhibition that shows Yoshida’s artworks and collected objects alongside documentary photography of his home and studio scraps of comic book cut-outs and collages. While chiefly a career retrospective, the show also mixes Yoshida’s art and artifacts together with works he owned, chief amongst them being a succession of exceptional pieces by Roger Brown (Cutting the Rug from 1969 is not to be missed... [more]
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An Apartment Gallery Looking at the Practices and Functions of Apartment Galleries
by Thea Liberty Nichols
Eric Fleischauer, Joseph Grigely, and Jason Lazarus at Noble & Superior Projects
November 12th, 2010 - December 11th, 2010
Posted
11/15/10
This chiefly photographic group show that opened over the weekend at Noble & Superior Projects features work by Eric Fleischauer, Joseph Grigely, Jason Lazarus and an anonymous artist who rather appropriately contributes two ransom note-style collages on cardboard.
Despite the self-reflexive sounding meta-title, the show thoughtfully examines the relationship between artist and audience specifically, and between making and viewing generally, in several complex but accessible ways.
Eric Fle... [more]
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A Shocked Future
by Thea Liberty Nichols
Brandon Alvendia, Conrad Bakker, Edie Fake, The Library of Radiant Optimism (Bonnie Fortune/Brett Bloom), People Powered, Red76 at Green Lantern
October 1st, 2010 - November 13th, 2010
Posted
11/1/10
Future Shock by Alvin Toffler was a bestseller in the 1970s when it was published. It has since been reprinted several times and translated into many different languages. At Green Lantern Gallery, the comical film based on the book is narrated by none other than Orson Wells and screens in an under-a-stairwell cubbyhole in the exhibition. In the first five or so minutes of the film, “future shock” is summarized several times as “too much change in too short a period of time.”
... [more]
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Blanket Paintings
by Thea Liberty Nichols
Bernard Williams at Iceberg Projects
September 18th, 2010 - October 30th, 2010
Posted
10/18/10
In his solo exhibition at Iceberg Projects, Bernard Williams’ “Blanket Paintings” evoke the historical traditions of many cross-cultural examples of blankets, ranging from woven Afghan war rugs and Navajo Chiefs’ blankets, to the Gee’s Bend crazy quilts. Williams eschews the materials and craft of these predecessors, but capitalizes on a similar type of descriptive visual narrative.
Using thrift store blankets made from synthetic polyester and scraps of chintzy, decorative fau... [more]
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Digging into the Mine(d) Museum
by Thea Liberty Nichols
Bernard Williams at McCormick Gallery
September 10th, 2010 - October 16th, 2010
Posted
10/18/10
Native Chicagoan Bernard Williams not only has had two concurrent exhibitions up—“Mine(d) Museum,” at McCormick Gallery and “Blanket Paintings,” in Rogers Park at Iceberg Projects— he is also a featured artist for Chicago Artists Month.
For those familiar with his work, some pieces in “Mine(d) Museum” (which closed over the weekend) hint at his previous large-scale sculptural installations, which feature intricately cut and pieced together sheets of wood, layered one over the o... [more]
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La Lotería
by Thea Liberty Nichols
Raul Aguilar, Saul Aguirre, Natalia Anciso, Jose Andreu, Rene Arceo, Balam Bartolome, Tom Burtonwood, Javier Carmona, Mario Castillo, CHema, Miguel Cortez, Luis Delgado, Luis Delgado-Qualtrough, Humberto Duque, Ala Ebtekar, Felipe Ehrenberg, Scott Espeseth, Jim Finn, Chris Flynn, Eric J. Garcia, Maria Gaspar, MAXIMO GONZALES, Maximo Gonzalez, Ruben Gutierrez, Daniel Guzman, Terence Hannum, Jill Hartley, Charles Hobson, Rodrigo Imaz, David Jones, Damara Kaminecki, Christopher Kerr, Michelle Korte, Andy Kozlowski, Mauricio Limon, Alexis Mackenzie, Gabriella Via Cal y Mayor, Gabriel Mejia, Hugh Merrill, Darren Oberto, JOYCE OWENS, Michael Pajon, Adolfo Patiño, Adolfo Patino, Marilyn Propp, Robert Ransick, Kevin Riordan, Michael Scoggins, Eduardo De Soignie, Fred Stonehouse, Michael Velliquete, Larry Vigon, Eddie Villanueuva, Teresa Villegas at Center for Book & Paper Arts
September 9th, 2010 - December 1st, 2010
Posted
10/4/10
Since the early 19th century, La Lotería, or lottery, has been a popular game of chance in Mexico and Central America. Similar to Bingo, it’s played with a deck of 54 named and numbered cards, each displaying a vivid pictogram. Along with regional variations of the decks, individual Lotería callers often imbue each game with unique phrases for each card that run the gambit from rhyming poetic verse to singular, surrealistic epithets that either illustrate or belie the imagery of the card i... [more]
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Dexter Sinister: An Exquisite Corpse Style Essay
by Thea Liberty Nichols
Dexter Sinister at Gallery 400
September 7th, 2010 - October 23rd, 2010
Posted
9/20/10
Dexter Sinister is the name adopted by David Reinfurt and Stuart Bailey for their joint activities as artists, writers, editors, graphic designers and publishers. Evoking the equal parts collaborative and dissonant practice of Dexter Sinister, Anthony Elms, Assistant Director of Gallery 400 and curator of the show, kindly agreed to blindly co-write the following text with me using a sort of “exquisite corpse” framework I made up: I would write a paragraph (or two, or simply a single s... [more]
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Thea Nichols on the Cremaster Cycle, Joel Kuennen on De Lama Lamina
by Thea Liberty Nichols
Matthew Barney at Music Box Theatre
September 3rd, 2010 - September 9th, 2010
Posted
8/30/10
Thea Liberty Nichols on the Cremaster Cycle
The cremaster is a small muscle that constantly regulates the height of the testicles and their position in relationship to the core of the male body, ensuring that the sperm within are always kept at the optimum temperature to support reproduction. It also lends its name to Matthew Barney’s Cremaster Cycle of five films, playing September 3-9, at the Music Box Theatre.
Although Matthew Barney’s notorious Cremaster Cycle references this little piece of male anatomy, th... [more]
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Celebrating Sullivan
by Thea Liberty Nichols
Louis Henry Sullivan at Chicago Cultural Center
June 26th, 2010 - November 28th, 2010
Posted
8/23/10
When it comes to master architect Louis Sullivan, Chicagoan’s are awash in a sea of riches and even several years after his 150th anniversary year in 2006, we are still celebrating. Several of his notable works, such as the Celtic-Nouveau Sullivan Center facade and the Holy Trinity Orthodox Cathedral have received coverage from ArtSlant, and even the artwork he’s inspired others to create is noteworthy, and is itself the focus of an exhibition presently on view at The Art In... [more]
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No empty walls at LivingRoom Realty (Lauren Viera, Chicago Tribune)
by LivingRoom Gallery (LRG)
Edelweiss Cardenas at LivingRoom Gallery
January 15th, 2010 - February 27th, 2010
Posted
8/2/10
How much attention do you pay to the art hung in your doctor's office?
If your doctor's office is anything like mine, the works are probably purchased in bulk from a single artist, someone unlikely to be exhibited in River North or even in some of the most commercial galleries on Michigan Avenue. It's a safe bet that she or he is repped by some major conglomerate as opposed to a local dealer, and, visually, it's probably pretty vague — uncomplicated, easy on your peripheral vision as you're... [more]
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Stay in your Lane!
by Thea Liberty Nichols
Group Exhibition at Swimming Pool Project Space
July 17th, 2010 - August 15th, 2010
Posted
8/2/10
The Twelve Galleries Project has transformed from last year’s nomadic series of monthly visual art exhibits to the present yearlong “Quaterly Site Series” (QSS). QSS mounts a show every four months for the next three years, shining a spotlight on curators through a somewhat baroque system of the QSS curating the curators themselves.
Shows are still hosted by different galleries throughout the run of the project, with Quaterly Site #3 being held at the indefatigable Swimming Pool Pr... [more]
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Towards a Newer DePaul Art Museum
by Thea Liberty Nichols
Posted
7/26/10
Ground has just recently been broken on the DePaul University Art Museum’s new building, scheduled to open its doors mid-September 2011.
The almost residential appearance of the building’s façade echoes the style and palette of much of the surrounding neighborhood, with special attention paid to details like the historic red brick building material of the kind found in Lincoln Park and the arched entryway that evokes the character neighborhood townhomes.
The utilitarian, a... [more]
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A Moveable Studio
by Thea Liberty Nichols
Group Show at DePaul Art Museum
July 8th, 2010 - November 21st, 2010
Posted
7/26/10
In keeping with the yearlong, citywide Studio Chicago series, DePaul University Art Museum is presently playing host to the Stockyard Institute’s constantly in flux, five month-long Nomadic Studio exhibition.
With an ambitious calendar of events peppered with auxiliary programming including workshops, panel discussions and open studios, July’s iteration of the exhibition focuses on the audio arts. Alongside the participatory sound sculpture Musical Chairs by Faiz Razi, there’s a broadcasting l... [more]
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Lux
by Thea Liberty Nichols
Sebastian Vallejo at Lloyd Dobler Gallery
May 28th, 2010 - June 26th, 2010
Posted
6/14/10
The traditionally staid genre of landscape painting initially seems at odds with the bombastic neon color palette and explosive line work of Sebastian Vallejo’s paintings in “LÜX,” now on view at Lloyd Dobler Gallery. For Vallejo, the mountains, ocean and vegetation that comprise the natural world, with the searing brightness and dramatic weather patterns that govern it, are given a unique treatment, one that consists mainly of highly synthetic media and stylized forms of e... [more]
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Life on Mars
by Thea Liberty Nichols
Posted
6/14/10
The David Bowie art up on the wall, printed by Delicious design and framed by April 7s, is just one half of how this modest, vegan takeout spot got its name. The other half is the out-of-this-world confusion that owner Adam Paul was faced with when explaining his diet to others.
Affectionately referring to his restaurant, which opened its doors this February, as simply Mars, the twelve-year vegan veteran is proud to identify as a Martian now that he is in the good company of fellow c... [more]
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X Marks the Spot
by Thea Liberty Nichols
Dana DeGiulio at Julius Cæsar
May 2nd, 2010 - May 30th, 2010
Posted
5/17/10
Dana DeGiulio’s exhibition "Erect" is her second solo exhibition at Julius Caeser, which recently re-located to the Garfield Park neighborhood and is co-operated by the artist herself, Diego Leclery, Colby Shaft, Hans Peter Sundquist and Molly Zuckerman-Hartung. Comprised of sculpture and digital video, it’s a departure from previous work DeGiulio has shown, such as her 2009 exhibition at Carrie Secrist Gallery that featured chiefly abstract black and white, oil on canvas paintings. "Erect" m... [more]
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Oaxaca Now
by Thea Liberty Nichols
Group Exhibition at Marwen
April 9th, 2010 - May 17th, 2010
Posted
5/3/10
Snaking around Marwen’s glittering glass and steel second floor gallery hangs a staggering array of visceral black and white woodblock prints on paper created by Asamblea de Artistas Revolucionarios de Oaxaca (Assembly of Revolutionary Artists of Oaxaca).
Best known by their Spanish-language acronym ASARO, the amorphous collective of artists was forged in the crucible of social and political unrest of Oaxaca, the biggest and one of the poorest, cities of the eponymous sta... [more]
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The South Side Community Art Center
by Thea Liberty Nichols
Posted
4/12/10
The building now housing the South Side Community Art Center (SSCAC), located at 3831 S. Michigan Ave., was built in 1892 and originally intended as the private mansion of grain merchant George Seavems. The SSCAC received funding, in part from the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1940, and transformed the residence into a series of galleries, workshops, studios and offices.
The original Georgian Revival style exterior remains intact, and the... [more]
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Recession
by Thea Liberty Nichols
Group Exhibition at South Side Community Art Center
April 2nd, 2010 - May 2nd, 2010
Posted
4/12/10
“Recession,” on view now at the South Side Community Art Center (SSCAC) and running through May 2, 2010, marks the 70th anniversary of the SSCAC itself and the five year anniversary of an annual exhibition co-organized by The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) and SSCAC.
A fitting title for the exhibition, held during the present economic downturn, the show itself features a host of SAIC alumni and student artworks, installations and participatory projects. Chiefly h... [more]
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The Sullivan Center Facade
by Thea Liberty Nichols
Posted
3/29/10
Chicago has new architecture springing up continuously, but a new series of architectural unveilings over three years in the making are happening in the Loop at Louis Sullivan's turn-of-the-century masterpiece, the former Carson, Pirie, Scott & Co. building, seen above.
Newly renamed to honor the architect himself, the Sullivan Center (bounded by State, Madison, Monroe and Wabash in the Loop) has been undergoing a restoration project focused on the cast iron facade which features signature Sulliva... [more]
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Get It Together Again: Assemblage, Collage & Collaboration
by Thea Liberty Nichols
Group Exhibition at Chicago Tourism Center
March 19th, 2010 - April 6th, 2010
Posted
3/29/10
Get It Together Again, a restaging of last July’s preliminary Get it Together held at the Co-Prosperity Sphere in Bridgeport, occupies the deep space of the Chicago Tourism Center, located at 72 E. Randolph, across the street from the Cultural Center. It makes good use of the cavernous size of this barebones gallery, and features twenty-five works made by twenty-seven local, national and international artists, several of whom where in the July show, save Chad Kouri (of the Post Fa... [more]
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Half Acre Beer and Brewery
by Thea Liberty Nichols
Posted
2/2/09
The number of micro-brews in Chicago is growing, with a notable addition being made by Gabriel Magliaro and his Half Acre Beer Company, soon to be opening up shop in the North Center neighborhood any day now.Although Half Acre has been on the Chicago market for a few years now, debuting its company’s offering with their Half Acre Lager, the brewery and tasting room opening up on Lincoln Avenue will be the first facility they’ve owned and operated in the city, having previously outs... [more]
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William Conger Retrospective
by Thea Liberty Nichols
William Conger at Chicago Cultural Center
January 24th, 2009 - March 29th, 2009
Posted
2/2/09
There is a staggering wealth of work in what is William Conger’s first major career retrospective presently on view at the Cultural Center. With over sixty large-scale paintings, and a small suite of preparatory drawings on paper, the exhibition tracks his shifting and evolving styles over the course of his fifty year-long (and running) career.While Conger is recognized as a colossus of abstraction on the Chicago scene, there are referential figurative, architectural and landscape element... [more]
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SAIC Faculty Group Exhibition
by Thea Liberty Nichols
Pamela R. Barrie, Deborah Boardman, Douglas Ewart, Diana Guerrero-Maciá, Carl Ray Miller, Helen B. O'Rourke, Peter Power, Rebecca Shore, Jim Trainor, Constance White at Betty Rymer Gallery (SAIC)
January 23rd, 2009 - February 14th, 2009
Posted
2/2/09
Closing just before Valentine’s day is this well stocked group exhibition featuring faculty* from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC). Having just returned from a semester long sabbatical, they are exhibiting recent work in the gallery at the entrance of The School of the Art Institute’s eastern most building, at the corner of Columbus and Jackson Drives.One of the stand-out groupings of work is by Jim Trainor, a staff member of Film, Video & New Media at SAIC, wh... [more]
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