Interest is growing in the street photography of Vivian Maier, and a current exhibit at the Chicago Cultural Center, “Finding Vivian Maier: Chicago Street Photographer,” is a chance to explore it in person, through early April 2011. To summarize from the terrific blog/website Vivian Maier – Her Discovered Work: Maier was a street photographer from the 1950s to 1990s, whose work was discovered by photographer John Maloof at an auction in Chicago where she resided most of her life. (She was a nanny to Phil Donahue, among others!) Her discovered work included over 100,000 mostly medium-format negatives, thousands of prints and countless undeveloped rolls of film. A quick link to the unfolding mystery can be found here.
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I found the Cultural Center exhibit to be good (it includes a mix of Chicago scenes as well as a lot of New York City and global work), but was hoping it would be in the more expansive upstairs gallery. Still, great to see her getting recognition, and terrific to see which prints were selected and to see their flow and juxtaposition. A number of the pieces selected instantly made me smile, wonder, and consider my own photography and curating in a new light – just what you want an artist and an exhibit to do. (And yes, on a different scale, this is what last year’s Cartier-Bresson exhibit did for me at the Art Institute.)
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I also wonder how many viewers might be temporarily confused, at least, by the juxtaposition of this exhibit against work by unrelated photographers in adjoining galleries. Presence of signage is a challenge for distinguishing all the work on this floor, I think. Don’t mean to overly criticize as we know the Cultural Center, and arts in the city in general, is dealing with big budget cutbacks these days. (On the plus side: the exhibit that is currently housed in the upstairs gallery is a knockout: don’t miss Violence, Women and Art. I hope to blog on that separately later.)
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A side note: a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for a documentary on her work has exceeded its goal of $20,000 and now stands at more than $81,000. (And no wonder! 300 lucky early sponsors got this great offer: “You’ll receive one of Vivian Maier’s actual film spools from a roll that has been developed. Comes with authenticity paperwork from the collection.”) Check out the Kickstarter campaign here.
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Check this out: Bauhaus-inspired photo exhibit, on display in Chicago as part of the Filter Photo Festival, through Oct. 29, 2010. Chicago Photography Center, 3301 N. Lincoln Avenue. Phone (773) 549-1631 for more information or check out their website here. Also check out Time Out Chicago’s cool slide show of some of the work.
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Which of the above images is A) from the awesome and provocative exhibit “Black Acid Co-op,” a massive installation shown last summer at Deitch Projects, in the rarified NYC gallery world, and which B) depicts the house fire that plagued the Pilsen residence known as the Whale (home to creative collective Order of the Lamprey)? Take your pick, link on your image of choice to learn the answer, then join the Facebook group to keep up to date and Save The Whale.
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[BRIDGEPORT, Chicago] Terrific art is not limited to the worlds of museums and traditional galleries, thank God, and lucky for us in Chicago, we have a world-class city with visual wonders exploding all over the place, and a broad definition of what constitutes art and inspiration. While Co-Prosperity Sphere in Bridgeport has been around a while (their graffiti show was a fantastic and mad highlight of last year), it really seems to be ramping up its act, and leading the pack in what truly seems to be an organically forming arts district (versus those elsewhere in the city promoted by private business – not that there’s anything wrong with that).
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The current Co-Pro show, TYPEFORCE: The Annual Chicago Show of Emerging Typographic Allstars (extended through March 19, 2010), shows off an amazing array of beautiful and challenging lettering. Mechanically typeset, produced by hand, some barely legible but with merits galore to compensate, including one large piece (in the gallery window) of the likes I’ve not quite seen anywhere. When viewed from just about any angle, it may appear to be an abstract fabric installation or flight of fancy predicting the impending onset of spring breezes. (Let us pray, anyway.) But squint, and know what you’re looking for, and it’s a larger than life depiction of the show’s title/logo (which you can view on the Co-pro web page promoting the event.).
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Shown here and on my Flickr page are just some quick highlights of some of the pieces I enjoyed the most, during a whirlwind visit on the day after the opening on Feb. 26, 2010. (While I love a good happening as much as the next guy and love chatting up the artists and other patrons, I often find it challenging to really enjoy the art and to focus on details, and especially to try to photograph if there is something I wish to promote for you, the gentle reader.) Read more
CHICAGO} Visiting the historic Chicago Cultural Center? Have an interest in outsider art (and/or an open mind in general)? Then don’t miss a visit to the studios and gallery of Project Onward, a unique and fascinating surprise tucked away in the middle of the building’s ground floor. Here’s the description from their website:
“The mission of Project Onward is to support the creative growth of visual artists with mental and developmental disabilities. Project Onward provides studio space, art supplies, and professional guidance to emerging artists in a communal workshop environment. With the program’s support, Read more
Art should be fun. Art should be a 2-way street. Art should be ephemeral. Why not? These were motivations behind an installation in our exhibit, “Change Today. Change Tomorrow.”, featuring the work of Firebelly Design. Why limit the contemplation of change to just the artists on hand? Why not let everyone take a crack at the question, “what would YOU change?” In every show it’s cool to hang back and watch people ponder the art (or not), but in this case, you could watch them ponder and then PRODUCE. A myriad sentiments from silly to serious adorned a 6×20 foot stretch of craft paper by the end of the week. View more scenics of the installation, and closeups of some of the scrawled messages of personal change, at this Flickr photo gallery. (Related: an album looks at the installation of the entire show, and closeups of other work by Firebelly.)
[Chicago] “Change Today. Change Tomorrow.” A simple sentiment with a good heart – that was the theme offered up by Dawn Hancock for a group show at my gallery produced by her crew, the talented team at Firebelly Design in Humboldt Park in Chicago.Known for their award-winning web design and print work, the tight-knit collective of Firebelly’s artists, writers, designers and filmmakers have created work for the gallery as a way to promote change as participatory action. “We all want change because it helps us develop as people,” says Firebelly’s James Matthews. “It’s the everyday things – small changes for ourselves – that create positive change in the world around us.” Ranging from collage and graffiti to digital video and fabric arts, the show’s work will be sold to raise money for school arts programming in Pilsen, where the gallery and the burgeoning Chicago Arts District are located.
Links:
More on the show.
Learn about Firebelly and its commitment to social justice.
Flickr album of an interactive installation asking gallery visitors, “What would YOU change?”
Flickr album of work shown at this exhibition, and some of the installation process.
Too hot (or cold) to leave the house? Can’t afford a plane ticket to the Middle East (or Chicago)? Want to peruse a variety of cool contemporary art? Head over to my collection of photo sets at Flickr.com, where you’ll see some favorite work observed recently at museums and galleries in Cairo and Dubai, art fairs in Tampa and Chicago, and schools including Oxbow, Nettelhorst and Ringling. Enjoy, and let me know if you have similar online galleries I may wish to link to.
Wanted to share this very well done interview about my current show, by Amy Mikel for Chicagoist.com. It gives a good overview of the show, and my efforts to use art to help raise funds for children’s programs and a library in the slums of Kenya.
[Cairo] While in Africa on business with my day job, I decided I need a break, so off to Egypt I went, for some sightseeing and photography and general cultural snooping around. On the agenda: The Townhouse Gallery, a hotbed of contemporary art highly recommended by my insightful friend Alex Aubrey, aka Chicago’s very own The Polyglot.
Alas, the place was deserted when my driver eventually found the place, but the front door was open, so I poked around, only had my pocket camera but sometimes cheap works out just fine. Here you can see my Flickr album of the deserted staircase and halls of this funky, arty place – art in and of itself, albeit seen through the unforgiving light of dusk. Eventually at 6 p.m., the doors opened to one small exhibit by an Egyptian artist, which I hope to showcase here later when I have time to dig through my files and get more specific.
Meanwhile, here’s the link to the Townehouse Gallery if you want to explore – cool space that I’ll be keeping an eye on, online.