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Bucking Tradition
by Robyn Farrell Roulo
Group Show at Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA)
November 14th - February 14th, 2010
Posted
11/21/09
“Italics: Italian Art Between Tradition and Revolution 1968-2008” sheds light on nearly a half century of contemporary art not otherwise seen outside of Italy. The brainchild of international curator, writer and critic, Francesco Bonami, and co-presented by the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago and the Palazzo Grassi in Venice, the exhibition gives new insight to the conventional definition of “Italian Art”. Presenting work by more than 100 works from nerly 80 artists, “... [more]
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Illuminating a Recession
by Dan Gunn
Jan Tichy at Richard Gray Gallery
October 9th - January 9th, 2010
Posted
11/16/09
It’s rare that an economic downturn has an 'upside' but without the downturn Jan Tichy’s show “Installations” for Richard Gray Gallery would not have been possible. Mr. Tichy’s video installations are literally embedded in the vacant offices and abandoned conference rooms of an entire floor in the Hancock Building. Stepping off of an elevator into an empty and dimly lit level of corporate offices is already an evocative enough experience on its own and is heightened by what... [more]
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HALFEMPTY
by Erik Wenzel
Kay Rosen at Gallery 400
August 25th - November 21st
Posted
11/9/09
I have grown to love Rosen’s unique deadpan combination of careful text manipulation and minimal aesthetics over the years, but this group of work tends towards disappointment. This exhibition at Gallery 400 collects a video, a display case of works on paper with more works on paper on the walls. It has changed over the course of its run since opening alongside Michael Ruglio-Misurell’s “Project #12” in August.
An interesting moment occurred in the exhibition as Ruglio-Misurell’s... [more]
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Imagining Poland
by Dan Gunn
Allan Sekula at Renaissance Society
September 20th - December 13th
Posted
10/26/09
For his show at the Renaissance Society, Allan Sekula placed little 8 1/2” x 11” printed paper texts around the exterior walls. These texts and his manuscript “Polonia and Other Fables” show Mr. Sekula’s attachment to the written word, which forms a context for his photography. The show, also titled “Polonia and other Fables,” reflects Sekula’s interest in capitalist economic systems and the structuring of societies that emerge from those systems. There are endea... [more]
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Reassessing MiddleCoast Art
by Dan Gunn
Design 99, Cody Critcheloe, Jeremiah Day, and Whoop Dee Doo, the Midwest Radical Cultural Corridor's Compass Group, Scott Hocking, Kerry James Marshall, Greely Myatt, Marjetica Potrč, Julika Rudelius, Artur Silva, Deb Sokolow, Carnal Torpor, Detroit Tree of Heaven Woodshop at Smart Museum of Art, University of Chicago
October 1st - January 17th, 2010
Posted
10/26/09
If “Heartland” at the Smart Museum were only another tired attempt to define “Midwestern-ness,” it would have failed before it began. Exhibitions that fall into this trap of showing “Midwestern-ness,” inevitably end up in condescending generalizations, or in forced comparisons, made to prove that “Midwesterners have culture too” which is equally condescending. Fortunately, “Heartland” is not such an exhibition. “Heartland,” is an exhibition that, for once, take... [more]
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Alienated Production
by Erik Wenzel
Liam Gillick at Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA)
October 10th - January 10th, 2010
Posted
10/19/09
"Three Perspectives and a Short Scenario" is the midcareer survey of New York and London-based artist Liam Gillick. The show takes on the idea of what a mid-career survey is, as its subject. In dealing with institutions Gillick has a propensity for problematizing the relationship between artist and venue. For each stop of the exhibition, he “gifted” half of the space back to the venue. This forced the interactions between artist and curator out into the open. Gillick contributed four ele... [more]
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Coffee and Conversation about Iraq
by Marla Seidell
Jeremy Deller at Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA)
October 10th - January 10th, 2010
Posted
10/19/09
"This is America's war," artist Jeremy Deller tells me at the press preview of his show, It Is What It Is: Conversations About Iraq. Leave it to a Brit to sum things up succinctly and without apology. America got us into the mess that is Iraq, so it's only appropriate that Deller's socially conscious and political, yet unpartisan, exhibition has found it's way to the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (on view through November 15, 2009). The most compelling aspect of the show... [more]
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Erik Wenzel's Confession
by Erik Wenzel
Industry of the Ordinary at Packer Schopf Gallery
October 11th - October 12th
Posted
10/12/09
“My verb was ‘transform.’ You can conjugate that however you like,” said Simon Anderson, as he meticulously destroyed a guitar. “39 Verbs,” a one-night exhibition at Packer Schopf Gallery and part of Chicago Artists Month very much had the feel of a carnival or science fair. It is a little unclear, but the event appears to have been a retrospective of sorts for Industry of the Ordinary, the conceptual art duo Adam Brooks and Mathew Wilson. The statement for the “hap... [more]
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Disappearing Act
by Erik Wenzel
Selina Trepp at Andrew Rafacz Gallery
September 11th - October 24th
Posted
10/5/09
Upon entering the dimly lit gallery, one encounters a tasteful pile of smooth rocks under a spotlight. How poetic, in a bad way. But looking up, we see the fire retardant black foil, focusing the flood light into a spot. That is a good relationship, having a very tasteful, Crate and Barrel-like arrangement of attractive stones offset by crude but useful black foil. Many moments in this installation by Selina Trepp allow the utility of makeshift solutions to deflate an otherwise polished... [more]
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Hey Julian
by Erik Wenzel
Tilman Hoepfl, Carl Suddath at The Suburban
September 20th - October 25th
Posted
10/5/09
It was almost exactly a year ago that Julian Dashper presented “The,” a curatorial project shown at The Suburban. Dashper also delivered one of the most memorable artist talks I’ve had the pleasure to attend, at the University of Chicago. At that time, and until recently, I was unaware that Dashper had long been suffering from a disease that he finally succumbed to in July, 2009. So it was surprising to receive the news that Dashper had passed away via the statement that Tilman... [more]
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