By GINNY VAN ALYEA

<img alt="" data-rich-file-id="2415" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/2415/original/50-save-the-date-20170526.jpg" />

The Museum of Contemporary Art opened its doors at 237 East Ontario in October 1967, and a great deal of things have changed both inside and outside of the museum.&nbsp;This weekend on October 21 and 22, 2017&nbsp;the museum will once again be opening its doors to the public to invite everyone in to a major celebration&nbsp;to see and participate in the art that has been at the heart of the MCA&#39;s contemporary programming for five decades. The museum aims to share the role of the contemporary museum in today&#39;s community and to celebrate Chicago itself by highlighting history and fostering new creative connections all weekend long. Visitors can enjoy free admission and join Chicago artists and creatives in a range of mediums and fields to commemorate 50 years, celebrate the present and look to the future.&nbsp;

This weekend&#39;s events also inagurate the MCA&#39;s recent renovation, and visitors are invited to dine in the&nbsp;new restaurant, Marisol. The anniversary weekend also launches the&nbsp;museum&#39;s&nbsp;new&nbsp;community space, the Commons. Of course, there will also be a lot of art on view, particularly notable is&nbsp;a museum-wide exhibition, <a href="https://mcachicago.org/Exhibitions/2017/We-Are-Here">We Are Here</a>, a&nbsp;three-part exhibition drawn from the MCA&rsquo;s significant collection of twentieth-&nbsp;and twenty-first-century art,&nbsp;organized by three of the museum&rsquo;s visual arts curators,&nbsp;that highlights the museum&#39;s permanent collection of art from 1945 to today.&nbsp;

The museum also opens a collaborative exhibition of&nbsp;two of the most important artists in the museum&rsquo;s history, as well as icons of the last 100 years.&nbsp;<a href="https://mcachicago.org/Exhibitions/2017/Heaven-And-Earth-Alexander-Calder-And-Jeff-Koons">Heaven and Earth: Alexander Calder and Jeff Koons</a>&nbsp;finds common ground between these seemingly disparate artists, with Alexander Calder&rsquo;s weightless sculptures nominally representing &ldquo;heaven&rdquo; and Jeff Koons&rsquo;s celebrations of the mundane and concrete as &ldquo;earth.&rdquo; This pairing highlights both artists&rsquo; interest in playing with balance and gravity to make compelling sculptural statements, while reveling in the contrasts between high art aspirations and mundane material choices.

At the end of the day, the birthday celebration is just that &ndash; a party. The events planned promise to be festive and high-energy, and they will take place from morning until late-night. On&nbsp;Saturday evening, October 21, the key program samples the city&#39;s broad range of musical offerings, kicking off with DJ Calixta of CumbiaSazo!, and including showcase sets with theMIND and Kaycee Ortiz as well as a rare live performance by Lupe Fiasco. The evening concludes with Legacy in the Living, an immersive dance party with Kiara Lanier and Dj Duane Powell. that recounts Chicago&#39;s musical history. Visitors are encouraged to come in their best art-inspired dress and to immortalize the occasion with photography by GlitterGuts.&nbsp;

<img alt="" data-caption="Lupe Fiasco Photo: Rob Norris" data-rich-file-id="2416" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/2416/original/img-9366-credit-rob-norris-20-1-.jpg" />

Free reservations for the atrium concert featuring DJ Calixta, theMIND, Kaycee Ortiz, and Lupe Fiasco are available October 18 at noon. Museum galleries and artist projects remain open to all throughout the evening event and the atrium reopens at 9:30 pm for the museum-wide dance party.

A lineup of the anniversary weekend&#39;s events is shown below.*&nbsp;Read the list closely... There are going to be very special birthday cakes served,&nbsp;designed by Emily Nejad of Bon Vivant Cakes, in collaboration with Chicago artists Mari Eastman, Magalie Guerin, Paul Heyer, William J. O&rsquo;Brien, and Amanda Williams.

Here&#39;s to 50 MCA!

&nbsp;

Note: events marked as&nbsp;*Atrium mean that&nbsp;access is by pre-reserved free ticket for these performances. Ticket holders enter Atrium through Plaza steps. Tickets can be reserved starting Wednesday, October 18 at noon. Atrium reopens to the public at 9:30pm for the Dance Party.

MCA Hearts Chicago is co-organized by MCA Chicago and No Small Plans Productions.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

SATURDAY (10 am&ndash;11 pm)

&bull; 10 am&nbsp;Lykanthea&nbsp;(PLAZA) 
&bull;&nbsp;11 am Opening Ceremony, with the&nbsp;Chicago Children&#39;s Choir (PLAZA) 
&bull;&nbsp;Noon&ndash;2 pm&nbsp;Lou Mallozzi with Fred Schmalz,&nbsp;Tracking Shots (PERIMETER OF BUILDING) 
&bull;&nbsp;12:15 pm&nbsp;Liz McCarthy,&nbsp;Whistle Hang Out&nbsp;(ATRIUM and STAIRS) 
&bull;&nbsp;1&ndash;3 pm&nbsp;&nbsp;Family Nook and Story Time with Drag Queens&nbsp;featuring Muffy Fishbasket (TERRACE) 
&bull;&nbsp;2 pm&nbsp;&nbsp;Participatory Music Coalition&nbsp;(ATRIUM) 
&bull;&nbsp;3 pm&nbsp;&nbsp;South Shore Drill Team&nbsp;(PLAZA &mdash;&gt; ATRIUM &mdash;&gt; TERRACE) 
&bull;&nbsp;3:30 pm&nbsp;&nbsp;Cake is served!&nbsp;Artist-designed cakes created by Bon Vivant Cakes (TERRACE) 
&bull;&nbsp;5 pm&nbsp;&nbsp;avery r. young and de deacon board perform&nbsp;protest pretty, followed by&nbsp;Jamila Woods in conversation with avery r. young and Tasha Viets-VanLear&nbsp;(THEATER)&nbsp;

After Hours in the Atrium&nbsp;(ticket required)* 
6 pm&nbsp;&nbsp;DJ caliXta of CumbioSazo! 
7 pm&nbsp;&nbsp;theMIND 
7:20 pm&nbsp;&nbsp;Kaycee Ortiz 
7:50 pm&nbsp;&nbsp;DJ caliXta 
8:20 pm&nbsp;Lupe Fiasco&nbsp;with DJ Double L&nbsp;

9:30 pm&nbsp;Legacy in The Living 
Recount Chicago&#39;s musical history in an immersive dance party with Kiara Lanier and Dj Duane Powell.

SUNDAY (10 am&ndash;5 pm)

&bull;&nbsp;9 am&nbsp;&nbsp;Christa Donner,&nbsp;Guided, reservation required (ATRIUM)&nbsp;RSVP with names of attendees 
&bull;&nbsp;11 am&nbsp;&nbsp;Screening: Nobody&#39;s Here but Me&nbsp;(THEATER) 
&bull;&nbsp;11:30 am&nbsp;&nbsp;Young Chicago Authors Pop-Up&nbsp;(GALLERIES) 
&bull;&nbsp;Noon&nbsp;Michael Rakowitz,&nbsp;Enemy Kitchen&nbsp;(PLAZA) 
&bull;&nbsp;Noon&ndash;4 pm&nbsp;Teen Creative Agency: MCA 100&nbsp;(LAKE VIEW ROOM) 
&bull;&nbsp;12:30 pm&nbsp;&nbsp;Behind &quot;the Stage&quot; Tour with Yolanda Cesta Cursach, Curator of Performance&nbsp;(4TH-FLOOR LOBBY and BACKSTAGE) 
&bull;&nbsp;12:30, 2, and 3:30 pm&nbsp;&nbsp;Brendan Fernandes,&nbsp;Art by Snapchat 
&bull;&nbsp;1 pm&nbsp;&nbsp;Aaron Hughes,&nbsp;Tea Performance&nbsp;(PLAZA) 
&bull;&nbsp;1 pm&nbsp;&nbsp;Screening: Burden&nbsp;(THEATER) 
&bull;&nbsp;1:30 pm&nbsp;&nbsp;Young Chicago Authors Pop-Up&nbsp;(GALLERIES) 
&bull;&nbsp;2:30 pm&nbsp;&nbsp;Behind &quot;the Stage&quot; Tour with Tara Aisha Willis, Associate Curator of Performance&nbsp;(4TH-FLOOR LOBBY and BACKSTAGE) 
&bull;&nbsp;3 pm&nbsp;&nbsp;Screening: Hairy Who &amp; the Chicago Imagists&nbsp;(THEATER) 
&bull;&nbsp;3:30 pm&nbsp;&nbsp;Young Chicago Authors Pop-Up&nbsp;(GALLERIES)

All details may be found on <a href="https://mcachicago.org/Calendar/2017/10/MCA-Hearts-Chicago">mcachicago.org</a>

Top image:&nbsp;MCA Prime Time: Off Rack September 23, 2017 Photo: Nathan Keay, &copy; MCA Chicago

<span style="border-top-left-radius: 2px; border-top-right-radius: 2px; border-bottom-right-radius: 2px; border-bottom-left-radius: 2px; text-indent: 20px; width: auto; padding: 0px 4px 0px 0px; text-align: center; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: bold; font-size: 11px; line-height: 20px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-image: url(data:image/svg+xml;base64,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); background-size: 14px 14px; background-color: rgb(189, 8, 28); position: absolute; opacity: 1; z-index: 8675309; display: none; cursor: pointer; border: none; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-position: 3px 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;">Save<span style="border-top-left-radius: 2px; border-top-right-radius: 2px; border-bottom-right-radius: 2px; border-bottom-left-radius: 2px; text-indent: 20px; width: auto; padding: 0px 4px 0px 0px; text-align: center; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: bold; font-size: 11px; line-height: 20px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-image: url(data:image/svg+xml;base64,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); background-size: 14px 14px; background-color: rgb(189, 8, 28); position: absolute; opacity: 1; z-index: 8675309; display: none; cursor: pointer; border: none; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-position: 3px 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;">Save

The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago celebrates 50 years Oct 21-22, 2017

Happy Birthday MCA! 50th Celebrations Oct 21 and 22

By GINNY VAN ALYEA&nbsp;

If turning 50 means you&#39;re showing your age, then 50 sure looks good if you&#39;re the Museum of Contemporary Art.&nbsp;

Three quarters of the way through its 50th year in 2017, the MCA just unveiled the new building redesign by architects Johnston Marklee as well as opening of the highly anticipated restaurant Marisol, featuring the first US restaurant commission by British artist Chris Ofili.

Below are details from the museum&#39;s press release:&nbsp;

&quot;Today&nbsp;Madeleine Grynsztejn, Pritzker Director of the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, officially opened the dynamic new building redesign by Los Angeles-based architects&nbsp;Sharon Johnston&nbsp;and Mark Lee&nbsp;of&nbsp;Johnston Marklee.&nbsp;Grynsztejn says, &quot;Johnston Marklee understands the strength of our Josef Paul Kleihues-designed building, and they carry a deep respect of history throughout their architectural practice. Their legacy of stellar work-increasingly referenced as a leader in the field-resonates strongly with our interest in making thoughtful interventions to our building, including a new restaurant called Marisol. With this redesign, our distinctive space becomes even more welcoming and flexible for our audiences.&quot;

Johnston Marklee (JML) redesigned select public spaces of the museum to create three major new offerings: Marisol, the ground-floor destination restaurant with an immersive art environment by international artist Chris Ofili; a social engagement space called the Commons on the second floor with an installaion by Pedro y Juana; and a new third floor with classrooms and a flexible meeting space that puts learning at the very center of the museum. These new public spaces are connected by a dramatic new staircase that honors the MCA&#39;s original iconic staircase, and an elegant new vaulted ceiling that recalls the barrel vaults in the fourth-floor galleries. JML&#39;s design of these welcoming and vibrant new spaces reflects the changing needs of a 21st-century contemporary art museum while maintaining the integrity of the Josef Paul Kleihues-designed building opened in 1996. This major $16-million renovation converts 12,000 square feet of interior space and coincides with the MCA&#39;s 50th anniversary.&quot; 
 
<img alt="" data-caption="Photo: Kendall McCaugherty, © Hall+Merrick" data-rich-file-id="2302" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/2302/original/jml-marisol-with-mural.jpg" />

Also today, Grynsztejn&nbsp;revealed&nbsp;Turner Prize-winning British artist&nbsp;Chris Ofili&#39;s first restaurant commission in the United States. For this commission, Ofili designed an immersive art environment for the MCA&#39;s new restaurant Marisol with a&nbsp;site-specific art mural as the centerpiece, carried through to every surface&nbsp;of the restaurant -- from line drawings on the walls and etchings on the glass, to all of the colors, fabrics, and textures in the restaurant. Grynsztejn says, &quot;This is not simply putting work from the collection on our walls. This is a&nbsp;full-scale, all-in, immersive art environment&nbsp;that&nbsp;surrounds you&nbsp;when you enter into the restaurant, for which Chris Ofili has&nbsp;decided on every surface.&quot;

The mural, called&nbsp;The Sorceress&#39; Mirror&nbsp;is exemplary of Ofili&#39;s incorporation of the imagined and the real in his paintings, and his unifying of these into a singular, vibrant, and sensuous visual narrative. Inspired by the vaulted ceiling designed by Johnston Marklee for the restaurant, Ofili has leaping figures arcing across the night sky, with two figures riding a beast in flight as it leaps over a red cave and into the stars. Beneath them, the sorceress in her cave seems to emerge from the water as she hunches over her mirror, observing the figures and canopy above.&nbsp;The sorceress&#39;s cave re-imagines the landscape of Trinidad, where the artist lives and works. Ofili drew from trips he made to Paria Bay on the north of the island, where a rock at the edge of the shore has been carved by the sea to create a natural arch through which the water flows. The transition of the sky from saturated black pigment to lighter washes punctuated by colorful glittering stars refers to the sense of an instant captured on the threshold between night and day.&nbsp;

Marisol features local chef&nbsp;Jason Hammel&nbsp;at the helm and&nbsp;re-imagines the relationship between food, art, and design in an immersive art environment created by&nbsp;Ofili.

Chef&nbsp;Hammel&#39;s menu is inspired by the muse of the new MCA restaurant, spirited French/Venezuelan artist&nbsp;Marisol --&nbsp;a star of the New York art scene in the 1960s with her friend Andy Warhol, whose artwork,&nbsp;Six Women&nbsp;(1968), became the first work in the MCA&#39;s collection of contemporary art.

<img alt="" data-caption="Marisol in Venice during the 1968 Biennale Photo: Jack Mitchell/Getty " data-rich-file-id="2301" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/2301/original/marisol-2.jpg" />Built upon a twenty-year relationship with Midwestern farmers, chef Hammel&#39;s menu incorporates vibrant vegetables and handmade pastas, alongside meticulously sourced meat and seafood. Hammel has created a playfully designed menu that varies with the seasons, filled with imaginative, thoughtful, and contemporary flavors inspired by the artistic surroundings that fuel the mind, body, and soul. The menus reflect not only the seasonal availability of local ingredients, but the creative open environment of the restaurant and the museum. Further, a new area called the Street with the space&#39;s counter service offers coffee, pastries, and inventive small-bites welcoming both passers-by as well as destination travelers. 
&nbsp;

<img alt="" data-caption="Dry aged beef with spring onions and black currant vinaigrette Photo: Carolina Mariana Rodriguez, © MCA Chicago" data-rich-file-id="2300" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/2300/original/cmr-mca-hires-111.jpg" />

The dinner menu showcases imaginative dishes including the&nbsp;Marisol Salad&nbsp;(apple, dill, macadamia nut, pecorino, Marisol&#39;s natural food salad dressing),&nbsp;Crispy Eggplant&nbsp;(roasted grapes, pistou, sweet and sour pork) and&nbsp;Steamed Swordfish&nbsp;(cauliflower, cherry tomato, uni hollandaise).&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
&nbsp; 
Lunch offerings include lighter plates of vegetables and sandwiches, full-bodied entrees, and signature sweets. Standouts on the lunch menu include the&nbsp;Marisol Sandwich&nbsp;(grilled skirt steak, spring onion jam, runny farm egg, avocado),&nbsp;French Omelet&nbsp;(cured salmon and cr&egrave;me fraiche, sourdough toast) and&nbsp;Fried Trout Sandwich&nbsp;(cherry tomatoes, bacon, bibb lettuce, gribiche).&nbsp;

<a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/news/2017/4/takashi-murakami-at-the-mca">The Octopus Eats Its Own Leg</a>, Japanese artist&nbsp;Takashi Murakami&#39;s show at the MCA, closes on September 24. A new show featuring work by Michael Rakowitz opens on September 16.&nbsp;Stop by the museum to see both shows as well as to experience the new restaurant for yourself.&nbsp;

More info on the MCA is <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/institutions/museum-of-contemporary-art-chicago-mca">here</a>.&nbsp;

To read about more Chicago restaurants with an artistic environment, click <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/news/2017/8/eat-more-local-see-more-local-discovering-art-in-chicago-s-restaurants">here</a>.

&nbsp;

Top photo: Kendall McCaugherty, &copy; Hall+Merrick

The MCA's building redesign and a new restaurant, Marisol

Enticing – And Appetizing – Changes Come to the MCA

<html><head></head><body><figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418572/yvxkqlsk6y7crdykrz6b.jpg"></figure>&nbsp;This fall the&nbsp;Chicago Architecture Biennial&nbsp;returns for its second edition with an exhibition at the Chicago Cultural Center and a number of off-site installations and performances. With so much to see and do, CGN asked&nbsp;Gibran Villalobos, Public Programs and Partnerships Coordinator, to highlight the programs he’s excited about.&nbsp;<h3>white wanderer: creating a Climate Change Soundtrack</h3>Luftwerk, the renowned artistic collaboration of Petra Bachmaier and Sean Gallero, will discuss White Wanderer, an immersive public art installation that takes inspiration from the Larsen C ice shelf in Antarctica. Using real life recordings of the sounds and frequencies of melting and moving glaciers, the artists will create a haunting and contemplative soundtrack of climate change. The panel discussion features collaborators Rob Moore, a Senior Water Policy Analyst at NRDC and Doug MacAyeal, Professor in Geophysical Sciences at the University of Chicago. It will be moderated by Neil Stevenson of Ideo.&nbsp;Sep 26, Claudia Cassidy Theater, Chicago Cultural Center<h3>LAMPO Performance: MARK FELL</h3>Mark Fell premieres his new multi-channel project for the Chicago Architecture Biennial and Lampo. The UK composer will position 24 speakers around the hall and manipulate electronic sound in dialogue with the acoustic and architectural space—a conversation of geometries. This interplay forms a framework within which Chicago bassoonist Katherine Young performs Fell’s score.Sep 29, Preston Bradley Hall, Chicago Cultural Center<h3>Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle &amp; Hannah Higgins</h3>In conversation with art historian Hannah Higgins, author of The Grid Book (MIT Press, 2009), the artist Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle discusses his use of the grid and its impact on contemporary practice.Oct 3, Claudia Cassidy Theater, Chicago Cultural Center<h3>VAN ALEN INSTITUTE: VARIETY SHOW</h3>In a medley of music, provocation, and presentations, the Van Alen Institute will reflect on hangouts defined by both personal experiences and physical spaces. How do communities appropriate urban space? How is the experience of hanging out different for different people? The group explores a series of questions in a night of fast-paced performance and conversation.Oct 23, Garfield Park Conservatory<figure class="image"><img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/2234/original/gilla.jpg" alt=""></figure>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Photo: Anjali Pinto; Luftwerk, white wanderer, 2017SaveSaveSaveSave</body></html>

CGN highlights some of the events at the Chicago Architecture Biennial. 

Making New History: Chicago Architecture Biennial

By BRIDGET BROWNLEE AND JAYCEE ROCKHOLD

&nbsp;

Chicago is not lacking in two things these days: food and art. Whether you&rsquo;re grabbing a quick bite to eat or sitting down for a twelve course meal, Chicago is home to a number of restaurants that feature tasty cuisine alongside local art.

ALINEA

You don&rsquo;t have to just look at art, you can eat it, too. In this immersive restaurant that celebrates dining as an artistic experience, enjoy an avant-garde inspired menu, with everything from green apple flavored balloons to lily bulbs, all while admiring new renovations to the space itself, as well as paintings by artist and dealer Thomas Masters.

1723 N. Halsted, alinearestaurant.com

3 ARTS CLUB CAFE AT RH

In a Gold Coast building built in 1914, which was once home to female artists living at the Three Arts Club, the ground floor space has been converted to offer casual dining in an airy artistic setting. The popular cafe is located in the historic courtyard space where artists used to enjoy abundant light by which to paint, sculpt and sketch.

1300 N. Dearborn, 3artsclubcafe.com

THE ALBERT

The Albert, an Albert Einstein themed restaurant, was designed to showcase the intersection between art and science, and it features work by local artists, including murals from cartoonist Jonathan Plotkin, and Art Institute of Chicago Mathematician Dr. Eugenia Cheng&rsquo;s colorful chalkboard musings.

228 E. Ontario, hotelemc2.com/eat-drink

<img alt="" data-caption="GT PRIME, A RIVER NORTH steakhouse, FEATURES PHOTOGRAPHIC MURALS BY JEFF KAUCK. PHOTO: ANTHONY TAHLIER" data-rich-file-id="2246" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/2246/original/gtprime-0916-4365.jpg" />

GT PRIME

GT Prime takes food appreciation to the next level with striking culinary-focused murals. Created by artist Jeff Kauck, these larger than life photographs, along with fur-topped bar stools and taxidermy displays, set GT Prime apart from your typical steakhouse.

707 N. Wells Street, gtprimerestaurant.com

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Photo courtesy of Alinea.&nbsp;

CGN highlights art-oriented, locally based restaurants around the city of Chicago. 

Eat More Local, See More Local: Discovering Art in Chicago's Restaurants

<html><head></head><body><figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418571/kh2w7e0szd2hu9cpdpun.jpg"></figure>&nbsp;By JAYCEE ROCKHOLDEven though the city of Chicago may be on the map, its photography community isn’t— which is exactly what Jennifer Murray, executive director of Filter Photo Festival and Filter Space, is trying to fix. A grad student turned Loyola University professor, Murray has always had her toes dipped in the Chicago photography community.Still currently the only photography festival in the Midwest, Filter Photo Festival (running September 21- 24, 2017) was founded by Sarah Hadley as a small operation in 2009, but now encompasses hundreds of participants, in-depth portfolio reviews, artist talks and interactive events. “Filter actually began about nine years ago as an annual festival,” said Murray. “This upcoming September will be our ninth annual Filter Photo Festival taking place at the Millennium Knickerbocker Hotel, just a short walk away from the Museum of Contemporary Art.” The festival draws both a Chicago centric and national crowd, as well as a few international photographers eager to get their work reviewed.Even though there are multiple facets of the festival, portfolio reviews make up a majority of the festival. Gathering a wide variety of artists and resources for both students and the public is one of the goals that solidifies Filter Photo Festival. It’s a high concentration of well-known artistic individuals in one area made available at a fair price.“The portfolio reviews happen with professionals like gallerists and curators,” said Murray. “We invite them to come from across the country. We usually have around 30 and about 10 of those are Chicago based. We really want people to take advantage of the fact that you have all of these professionals in one specific location as opposed to thinking that you needed to go to San Francisco, New York and different cities around the country in order to have your work looked at.” &nbsp;This year, Matt Austin, founder of Candor Arts, and Teresa Silva from Chicago Artists Coalition are among the Chicago-based reviewers.Murray’s background in teaching urged her to place a heavy emphasis on portfolio reviews (she currently teaches photography at Chicago’s own Loyola University). Proud of the fact that she could practically talk about a piece and workshop it all day long, part of her drive for reviews stems from her experience working in A+D Gallery, a non-photo gallery at Columbia College Chicago. “Teaching photography but running a non-photo gallery really helped me understand the place photography has in the art world,” said Murray. “I think we tend to think of photography as the subset or separate thing and it’s really not.”The public can purchase portfolio reviews in bulk, allowing the individual to spend 20 minutes discussing their work with multiple professionals, and runs on a first come first serve basis. Whoever submits a list of artists they wish to meet with quickly has more of a chance of speaking with the artists on their list.For Murray, the Filter portfolio reviews emphasize that photographers are artists, and should consider themselves so. Ranging from still life to street photography, each photographer has their own artistic value.Besides the public, portfolio reviews also attract plenty of students, who actually have an advantage for portfolio reviews. Not only do they get the chance to have their work reviewed by well-known artists, but they also can participate at a lower cost. Students who are faced with a tight budget can purchase single portfolio reviews versus the require bulk buy for others.&nbsp;“A lot of our local faculty will bring students and classes,” said Murray. “That’s really the goal; to create a festival, to create these four days of programming in Chicago that’s just not for people that can afford this. We really want it to be open to anybody. We want to provide opportunities to students.”Hand-in-hand with portfolio reviews, Filter Photo Festival also organizes artists talks. Topics range from searching for and finding photography opportunities to discussing and showcasing a particular artist’s work. Some talks implement tours or other interactive aspects, such as the Leica Camera walk organized by Chicago’s Tamarkin Camera, in which participants are lent a Leica camera to take photos while walking around the city. This free activity allows people to step out of their own specific area of photography and experience something they wouldn’t have been able to before, especially students who may not be able to afford a Leica camera.“It’s street photography and film based. It doesn’t have to be film, but it certainly could be,” said Murray. “It’s a nice community building opportunity. It’s a way to sample some gear but it’s also a way to be with other folks that want to walk around and take pictures.”Some of the artists speaking at the event this year include photographer Jeffrey Wolin and Catherine Edelman, owner and director of Catherine Edelman gallery in Chicago, both of which will lead a gallery tour of Wolin’s exhibition Pigeon Hill: Then and Now, which includes his photographs taken in a housing project in southern Indiana. Photographers Sara J. Winston and Terry Evans will also lead their own talks as well. Even though the content of each talk will differ, one can expect healthy discussions of what it means to take contemporary photographs, as well as an enlightening method to learn about the artist and their work.In addition to artist talks, Filter Photo also presents numerous opportunities for workshopping photographers. Following a similar formula to that of the portfolio reviews, some, like Filter Photo members and those who sign up when registration opens, get first pick on these workshops. Even though the workshops will give guidance like the reviews, they also take time to pose heavy questions to spur discussion. The workshop Getting Seen, Getting Shown: Professional Practices for the Fine Art Photographer With Sasha Wolf and Jess T. Dugan not only points out skills that a photographer should have to keep their head above water, but also questions when a photographer knows if when their work is ready to be shown, how to connect with others in the art world, and how social media intertwines with this all.“People that take those workshops have the opportunity to develop a peer group with the other people that are there and develop a relationship with that artist,” said Murray. “Most of the time people will bring their own work to the workshop, so they not only hear what the artist has to say about their own practice and how to move forward in this particular area, but also have the opportunity to have the artist look at their own work. [The artist] provides really direct one-on-one feedback.”Overall, the Filter Photo Festival, highlighted by portfolio reviews, artist talks, and workshops, bolsters a photography community. Murray, who hopes the festival continues to attract people from both Chicago and around the world, also intends the festival to stay around the same size as it is now in order to maintain the small, tight-knit community feel. The festival has definitely grown since its conception in 2009, but for now, it fill its own niche in the Midwestern photography community. At the end of the day, for Murray, the main concern isn’t the size of the festival, but the individuals that make it up. From amateur photographers to those who have decades of experience, from still life photographers to student photographers snapping pictures for their own personal project, Filter Festival provides a platform to aid them all.“We know you’re serious and that this isn’t just a passing fad for you,” Murray said. “We know that you’re genuinely interested in being a part of this community and that this is really a career for you. We want to nurture those people.”Photo: Courtesy of Filter Festival&nbsp;&nbsp;</body></html>

CGN interviews Filter Festival director Jennifer Murray.

Putting Chicago on the Map: How Filter Festival Builds Photography Community 

On Tuesday, August 8, 2017 at noon the City of Chicago hosts a restaging of the 1967 Chicago Picasso dedication in Daley Plaza. The event features Commissioner Mark Kelly, artist Edra Soto and designer Paul Durica.

Mayor Rahm Emanual and the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events designated 2017 the &quot;Year of Public Art&quot;&nbsp;with a new 50x50 Neighborhood Arts Project, the creation of a Public Art Youth Corps, a new Public Art Festival, exhibitions, performances, tours and more representing a $1.5 million investment in artist-led community projects.

In honor of the &quot;Year of Public Art&quot;, CGN delved into the history of public art in the city of Chicago. Writer Franck Mercurio explored an array of topics including the controversy surrounding the installation of the Picasso sculpture in Daley Plaza. Below you&#39;ll find links to all the articles in the series.

July 6, 2017:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/news/2017/7/does-man-love-art-a-history-of-public-art-controversy-in-chicago">Does Man Love Art? A History of Public Art Controversy in Chicago</a>

May 18, 2017:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/news/2017/5/no-little-plans-the-battle-for-public-art-in-chicago">No Little Plans: The Battle for Public Art in Chicago</a>

April 25, 2017:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/news/2017/4/public-art-and-the-masses-examining-sculpture-in-grant-park">Public Art and the Masses: Examining Sculpture in Grant Park</a>

March 15, 2017:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/news/2017/3/the-origins-of-public-art-in-chicago-from-the-bronze-lions-to-skylanding">The Origins of Public Art in Chicago: From the Bronze Lions to Skylanding</a>

Image:&nbsp;Chris Walker / Chicago Tribune

Chicago celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Picasso sculpture in Daley Plaza.

Everyone's Picasso: Celebrating 50 Years of a Chicago Icon

There are a few sights that a Chicagoan expects to see on the river&mdash;friends celebrating the weekend on yachts, people hustling to numerous restaurants on the river bank&nbsp;or the occasional architectural boat tour brimming with eager tourists. However, for the next month, city dwellers should keep their eye out for something a&nbsp;bit more uncommon: The Floating Museum.

Co-directed by Faheem Majeed, Jeremiah Hulsebos-Spofford, Andrew Schachman and Avery R. Young, the museum, perched on a barge that literally floats down the Chicago river, is designed to highlight specific areas of the city and, in their own words, &ldquo;create temporary, site-responsive museum spaces to activate sites of cultural potential throughout Chicago&rsquo;s neighborhoods&rdquo;.&nbsp;

Here&rsquo;s when and where you can catch a glimpse of the museum: 
 
August 11-13: Bridgeport/Pilsen (Park 571, 2751 S Eleanor St) 
August 14-27: Riverwalk (River Theater, between LaSalle and Clark) 
August 28: Navy Pier at Polk Bros Park 
 
As the barge travels around the city, there will&nbsp;be events reoccurring each week at all locations.&nbsp;

Song Circle 
Wednesdays, 6-8pm 
In addition to its growing reputation for public art, the city is also known for its music. Come check out some of Chicago&rsquo;s own blues and gospel artists with the group session led by Avery R. Young, fellow vocalist and poet. 
 
Breaking Bread 
Thursdays, 6-8pm 
Anyone who has stepped foot in the Midwest knows that the region has some great grub. Thursdays at every barge location, step on over to the river to talk about site-specific topics while enjoying some of the dishes Chicago has to offer. 
 
Friday Night Live! 
Fridays, 6-9pm 
What&rsquo;s a live event without any music? Take the time to check out some of the city&rsquo;s local venues while enjoying a live show. 
 
Sticks + Tape 
Saturdays, 6-8pm 
Even though those who attend the Floating Museum can certainly observe the art already made, they can help make it too! Join in on a temporary, large-scale sculpture making activity, materials provided.

For a full list of&nbsp;activities,&nbsp;participating artists and organizations,&nbsp;visit <a href="https://www.floatingmuseum.org/river-assembly">floatingmuseum.org/river-assembly</a>

Image: Courtesy of the Floating Museum

The Floating Museum takes to the Chicago River with a mobile gallery.

Following the Floating Museum: Where and When to Expect It

The Museum of Contemporary Photography (MoCP) is a unique institution that we are fortunate to have in Chicago. Devoted to supporting contemporary photographers and to housing a wealth of images that represent prime examples of the medium, the museum&#39;s vast archives of photographs are comprised of more than 14,000 works by 1,465 artists. MoCP began collecting these works in 1979.&nbsp;

As the leading photography museum in the Midwest, the MoCP has established a reputation for broadening the visual arts by introducing new national and international talent to the public.&nbsp;The MoCP is committed to broadening the visual arts by constantly searching for new national and international talent to exhibit.

The museum&#39;s latest exhibition, re:collection, which opened July 13 and runs through October 1,&nbsp;is a celebration of MoCP&rsquo;s vast archive&nbsp;and an exploration of how we perceive images. &nbsp;&nbsp;

Photography as a medium is distinctive in its relationship to the practice of sequencing. With its origins in cinematic frames and a typically flat, reproducible form, photography lends itself to a storyboard approach. Photo books and exhibitions often depend on, and capitalize on, the fact that photographs that work well as stand-alone images can be enhanced and enriched by the presence of other images in their vicinity.&nbsp;

<img alt="" data-caption="Images: Top Left: Angela Strassheim; Lower Left: An-My Lê; Top Right: Guillaume Simoneau; Lower Right: Alison Ruttan" data-rich-file-id="2196" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/2196/original/recollection-strassheim-ruttan-le-simoneau-web.jpg" />

A stream of images runs through the galleries, spanning the history of photography and offering a diverse array of approaches. Each photograph speaks to its neighboring photograph in terms of content, form or another, more subtle, connecting factor waiting to be discovered. At certain junctures, tributaries are formed that group related ideas and address some of the most pressing social issues of our time. Each line of images starts with a camera-less construction, a nod to the beginnings of the medium when images were made without the camera apparatus as we know it today, and a gesture meant to underscore the unreliability of photographic representation.

<a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/calendar/re-collection">re:collection</a>&nbsp;is&nbsp;on view through October 1, 2017 at MoCP.

Top images:&nbsp;Left: Guillaume&nbsp;Simoneau;&nbsp;Top Right: Christian Patterson; Bottom&nbsp;Right: Rachel Papo &nbsp;

MoCP's latest exhibition celebrates the museum's vast archives.

re:collection at MoCP

In recognition of Chicago&rsquo;s &ldquo;Year of Public Art,&rdquo;&nbsp;Chicago Gallery News&nbsp;is featuring a series of articles chronicling milestones of public art in Chicago. The fourth in the series examines the history of controversial public art installations.

By FRANCK MERCURIO

Controversy is never far from public art, especially in Chicago. Throughout the years, the city has seen its share of debates and scandals over art installations, ranging from cost overruns and incompetence to charges of public indecency and immorality to misplaced or destroyed artwork.

Even works that are much beloved today often began with rocky public relationships. When the city&#39;s famous &ldquo;Chicago Picasso&rdquo; (officially untitled) was unveiled in Daley Plaza fifty years ago this summer, it was&nbsp;not&nbsp;universally embraced. Indeed, most people puzzled over it.&nbsp;

<img alt="" data-caption="&lt;i&gt;The “Chicago Picasso” was fabricated in Gary, Indiana at the American Bridge Division of U.S. Steel.&lt;/i&gt; Photo: Untitled sculpture (“The Picasso”), Chicago Illinois, 1967. Pablo Picasso, sculptor. Fazlur R. Khan Collection, Ryerson and Burnham Archives, The Art Institute of Chicago. Digital File #199207_151211-007. " data-rich-file-id="2184" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/2184/original/199207-151211-007.jpg" />

&ldquo;Was it a joke? Was it for real? Why that? Everyone had an opinion,&rdquo; wrote&nbsp;Chicago Tribune&nbsp;reporter Sheila Wolfe the day after the unveiling ceremony in August 1967.&nbsp;

Writing in the same edition, the Tribune&rsquo;s art editor, Edward Barry, reported on the crowd&rsquo;s decidedly mixed reactions. &ldquo;With applause, startled exclamations, and incredulous smiles,&rdquo; wrote Barry, &ldquo;Chicago received its long awaited gift yesterday from the most celebrated of living artists.&rdquo;

Gwendolyn Brooks seemed to brace Chicagoans for the impending public controversy. In her poem, composed on the occasion of the Picasso&rsquo;s unveiling, she wrote:

Does man love art? Man visits art, but squirms. 
Art hurts. Art urges voyages&mdash; 
And it is easier to stay at home, 
The nice beer ready.

Art&mdash;especially public art&mdash;does indeed urge voyages. Each new work tends to push the boundaries of our collective sensibilities, challenging our shared notions of what art is supposed to be. The rules for evaluating public art go beyond formal and conceptual concerns and take into account other criteria that can make or break an installation. Does the work provide a civic amenity? Does it fit within its urban and architectural contexts? Is it accessible to the general public, both physically and intellectually?

All of these issues were debated with the unveiling of the Chicago Picasso in 1967. But what was then new and provocative gradually became familiar and accepted. Today, the gargantuan modernist sculpture serves as a symbol of Chicago; it&rsquo;s considered a unique civic asset, one that paved the way for subsequent &ldquo;plaza sculptures&rdquo; by other renowned artists, including Calder, Miro, Chagall, Nevelson, and DuBuffet.

Yet despite its current popularity, the Chicago Picasso still presents a conceptual conundrum to many people. What exactly is it supposed to be? A baboon? A dog? A horse? A praying mantis? A woman? For decades, the question has been debated by experts and amateurs alike.&nbsp;

&ldquo;The identity of the sculpture&rsquo;s inspiration [is] an ongoing controversy that to this day has not been definitively resolved,&rdquo; writes Patricia Balton Stratton in her recently published book The Chicago Picasso: A Point of Departure. &ldquo;Part of the reason for the uncertainty,&rdquo; continues Stratton, &ldquo;was that Picasso himself refused to speak about the sculpture&rsquo;s provenance or even to name it, an act of negative creativity that opened up the sculpture&rsquo;s field of meaning and made it truly public.&rdquo;

<img alt="" data-caption="Photo courtesy of Franck Mercurio" data-rich-file-id="2177" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/2177/original/2016-04-29-19-37-48.jpg" />

Despite the intense desire to solve the mystery of the sculpture&rsquo;s identity, the subject matter (if there is any) probably didn&rsquo;t mean much to Picasso himself. Instead, the artist seemed more intent on refining a set of formal concepts that he had pursued and explored throughout his 70-plus-year career.

These explorations can be traced back to Picasso&rsquo;s guitar constructions of 1912&ndash;1914 when he first experimented with planar and linear elements to define space and suggest volume. More radically, the artist used linear elements to compose his&nbsp;Project for a Monument to Guillaume Apollinaire&nbsp;(1928), a collaboration with the sculptor Julio Gonz&aacute;lez. These early works are the ancestors of the Chicago Picasso, which includes many of the same elements, but rendered on a monumental scale.

Picasso also played with the idea of seeing and experiencing the sculpture in different ways depending on the viewer&rsquo;s vantage point.

Looking directly at the work, the viewer is confronted with a gigantic totemic figure, its &ldquo;face&rdquo; reminiscent of an African mask. Picasso collected art from Africa and Oceania throughout his career, and these works often served as inspiration for his own art, most famously in his painting&nbsp;Les Demoiselles d&#39;Avignon&nbsp;(1907).

However, looking at the Chicago Picasso from either side, the viewer&rsquo;s perception changes; a profile of a woman becomes apparent, suggesting the many portraits Picasso made of his wife, Jacqueline, created during the same time period he was working on the Chicago commission.

These shifting perceptions reflect a kind of Cubist sensibility, providing multiple perspectives within one piece. But the Chicago Picasso also represents a lifetime of sculptural explorations, culminating in a single work and making a simple &ldquo;one answer&rdquo; reading of the piece impossible.

But even as debates about the meaning of the Chicago Picasso continue, it&rsquo;s worth noting that it was not the first or last public art controversy in Chicago. One of the earliest to seize the public&rsquo;s attention centered around a bronze sculpture installed on the front steps of the Art Institute in 1916: a rather handsome male nude titled&nbsp;The Sower.

<img alt="" data-caption="Albin Polasek, &lt;i&gt;The Sower&lt;/i&gt;, 1916. &lt;i&gt;The Sower&lt;/i&gt; currently overlooks the Esplanade at the Chicago Botanic Garden. Photo courtesy of Chicago Botanic Garden " data-rich-file-id="2183" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/2183/original/sower-183.jpg" />

The artist, Albin Polasek (1879&ndash;1965), had arrived in Chicago from Rome to head the School of the Art Institute&rsquo;s sculpture department. While studying at the American Academy in Rome, Polasek had modeled&nbsp;The Sower, a classically inspired figure in the tradition of monumental male nudes in Western art. (Think Michelangelo&rsquo;s&nbsp;David, but with an agrarian calling.) The Art Institute placed&nbsp;The Sower&nbsp;on public view outside the museum&rsquo;s main entrance, in part to advertise a large exhibition of American sculpture, but also to celebrate the opening of a new gallery space&mdash;Gunsaulus Hall&mdash;spanning the Illinois Central Railway tracks.

The &ldquo;naked farmer&rdquo; immediately caught the gaze of many Chicagoans, who were not accustomed to seeing full-frontal male nudity on Michigan Avenue. It also caught the attention of the city&rsquo;s first &ldquo;censor of public morals&rdquo; Major M.L.C. Funkhouser. He tried&mdash;in vain&mdash;to have&nbsp;The Sower&nbsp;taken off view in the name of public decency. Letters to Chicago&rsquo;s newspapers were both for and against sculpture. Yet throughout the scandal, the Art Institute stood its ground, and Polasek kept his sense of humor.

&ldquo;He was highly entertained by it all,&rdquo; recounted Polasek&rsquo;s wife, Ruth Sherwood, in her biography of the artist. &ldquo;More over, the discussion brought him fame overnight. People who would never have thought to visit the Art Institute flocked downtown to see the &lsquo;Sower.&rsquo;&rdquo;

Chicago newspapers also had fun with the controversy. When the time came to bring&nbsp;The Sower&nbsp;inside the museum (to accompany an exhibition of Polasek&rsquo;s work), the&nbsp;Chicago Tribune&nbsp;wrote that &ldquo;Nippy December breezes whistling about the Art Institute made it necessary for &lsquo;The Sower&rsquo; to put on his pants or get out of the weather&mdash;so he has gone in.&rdquo;

The Sower&nbsp;is now on permanent display at the Chicago Botanic Garden where he watches over the Esplanade four seasons a year&mdash;in all his natural glory.

<img alt="" data-caption="Albin Polasek, &lt;i&gt;The Sower&lt;/i&gt;, 1916. &lt;i&gt;The Sower&lt;/i&gt; currently overlooks the Esplanade at the Chicago Botanic Garden. Photo courtesy of Chicago Botanic Garden " data-rich-file-id="2180" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/2180/original/esplanade-20sower-201.jpg" />

Polasek&rsquo;s masterwork remained controversial for only a few months. But not all public art controversies erupt immediately after a work is unveiled. In some cases, the scandal happens long after a work has been de-installed or decommissioned.&nbsp;

Case in point: The controversy surrounding&nbsp;Chicago Rising from the Lake&nbsp;(1954) by artist Milton Horn (1906&ndash;1995) happened years after the sculpture was created. Today, this monumental bronze relief adorns the Columbus Drive Bridge along the Chicago River Walk. But the sculpture took a very circuitous route to its present home.

Horn originally created the massive 12-foot-by-14-foot relief for Parking Facility Number 1, the first city-owned and operated public parking garage in Chicago. Opened in 1955, the modernist structure at Wacker Drive and State Street accommodated a growing number of car commuters within a state-of-the-art facility. The sculpture,&nbsp;Chicago Rising from the Lake, took pride of place on the building&rsquo;s gleaming white brick fa&ccedil;ade, where it faced north toward the Chicago River. There, it presided over a daily parade of automobiles, driving in and out of the facility, until the garage was demolished in 1983, making way for the Renaissance Hotel and the Leo Burnett Building.

But after its de-installation, the sculpture disappeared.

<img alt="" data-caption="Milton Horn’s &lt;i&gt;Chicago Rising from the Lake&lt;/i&gt; (1954) as depicted on the façade of Parking Facility Number 1 (1955) designed by the architecture firm Shaw, Metz and Dolio. Photo courtesy of City of Chicago Bureau of Parking and forgottenchicago.com" data-rich-file-id="2181" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/2181/original/parkingfacility1-milton-horn-photo.jpg" />

Several attempts were made to find it. Horn tracked it down in 1987 near the city&rsquo;s Transportation Department office at 31st Street and Sacramento where it was found lying at the bottom of a tarp-covered swimming pool. Sometime later, the sculpture was moved to a metal scrapyard along the banks of the Chicago River. It was rediscovered there in 1994, receiving much press attention in the process.

Chicago Rising&nbsp;soon became a symbol of the city&rsquo;s failures to keep track of and maintain the hundreds of works of public art that had been financed over the years by taxpayers. Horn&rsquo;s sculpture sparked a movement in the 1990s to reform and improve the Chicago Public Art Program, which today oversees more than 500 works of art in 150 locations throughout the city&mdash;including the Chicago Picasso.

<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/reallyboring/4040731323"><img alt="" data-caption="Photo: Eric Allix Rogers, &lt;i&gt;Chicago Rising From The Lake&lt;/i&gt; (Milton Horn, 1954). On the Columbus bridge over the Chicago River. © Eric Allix Rogers" data-rich-file-id="2182" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/2182/original/4040731323-ffd088ab78-b.jpg" /></a>

Happily,&nbsp;Chicago Rising&nbsp;was restored and reinstalled in 1998. The sculpture, rescued from obscurity, is now enjoyed by citizens and tourists alike as they promenade along the River Walk.

What new controversies will arise now and in the future? Perhaps one is the scarcity of commissions given to women artists and artists of color to create major works in highly visible locations. Projects such as the Wabash Arts Corridor are beginning to address and correct this historic bias. But prestigious civic projects seldom are awarded to artists that fall outside the &quot;old white man&quot; category. Hopefully, new commissions&mdash;going to a broader range of artists working today&mdash;will be as exciting, challenging and significant as the great ones that came before.

Top image: Thousands of people jammed Daley Plaza on Tuesday, August 15, 1967 to witness the dedication and unveiling of the &ldquo;Chicago Picasso.&rdquo;&nbsp;Photo: Richard J. Daley Center, Untitled sculpture (&ldquo;The Picasso&rdquo;), Chicago Illinois, 1963-1965. C. F. Murphy Associates, architect. Fazlur R. Khan Collection, Ryerson and Burnham Archives, The Art Institute of Chicago.&nbsp; Digital File #199207_151211-009.

Read more from Franck Mercurio&#39;s Public Art series:

<a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/news/2017/3/the-origins-of-public-art-in-chicago-from-the-bronze-lions-to-skylanding">The Origins of Public Art in Chicago: From the Bronze Lions to Skylanding</a>

<a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/news/2017/4/public-art-and-the-masses-examining-sculpture-in-grant-park">Public Art and the Masses: Examining Sculpture in Grant Park</a>

<a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/news/2017/5/no-little-plans-the-battle-for-public-art-in-chicago">No Little Plans: The Battle for Public Art in Chicago</a>

CGN explores examines controversial public art installations in Chicago.

Does Man Love Art? A History of Public Art Controversy in Chicago

By ALISON REILLY

On June 23, Rashid Johnson&#39;s solo exhibition opened&nbsp;at the Milwaukee Art Museum. Hail We Now Sing Joy initiates&nbsp;a new program for the museum to feature the work of a contemporary artist in the Quadracci Pavilion (designed by&nbsp;architect Santiago Calatrava). The show is&nbsp;an impressive presentation&nbsp;of Johnson&#39;s recent work and an exciting way for director Marcelle Polednik to inaugurate the space with her new vision.

&nbsp;

<img alt="" data-caption="Rashid Johnson leads a tour of his new exhibition at the Milwaukee Art Museum. Pictured on the left is &lt;i&gt;Antoine's Organ&lt;/i&gt;, an enormous black scaffolding cube filled with houseplants, books and fluorescent lights. For Johnson, the grid is significant because he grew up in an academic household (his mother is a professor) and he learned how to draw on lined paper. " data-rich-file-id="2168" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/2168/original/img-4225.jpg" />

&nbsp;

<img alt="" data-caption="Inside &lt;i&gt;Antoine's Organ&lt;/i&gt; is a piano that will be activated by local musicians throughout the course of the exhibition. The installation also features some early video work by Johnson including &lt;i&gt;Black Yoga&lt;/i&gt;." data-rich-file-id="2171" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/2171/original/img-4252.jpg" />

&nbsp;

<img alt="" data-caption="In the next room, Johnson continues to explore his interest in the grid but in this case through a two-dimensional surface. For his series of &lt;i&gt;Escape Collage&lt;/i&gt; paintings, Johnson layers photos from his childhood, stock images of palm trees, and black soap and wax onto ceramic tiles." data-rich-file-id="2170" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/2170/original/img-4240.jpg" />

&nbsp;

<img alt="" data-caption="&quot;I was trying to be coy, but these are self-portraits,&quot; Johnson said. Like the &lt;i&gt;Escape Collage&lt;/i&gt; paintings, the the artist creates the &lt;i&gt;Anxious Audience&lt;/i&gt; work by melting black soap and wax and pouring it directly onto the white ceramic tiles. Johnson then quickly draws on the surface to create a portrait through the removal of material." data-rich-file-id="2174" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/2174/original/img-4244.jpg" />

&nbsp;

<img alt="" data-caption="In the final room of the exhibition, a large wood table is covered with a Persian rug and blocks of shea butter, which Johnson uses often in his work. For him, the material signifies how he was raised in an Afrocentric, non-religious space. But he noted that as he became an adolescent that familial space shifted leaving him to question his own identity. " data-rich-file-id="2176" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/2176/original/img-4247.jpg" />

&nbsp;

<a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/calendar/rashid-johnson-hail-we-now-sing-joy">Hail We Now Sing Joy</a>&nbsp;is open through September 17, 2017 at the <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/institutions/milwaukee-art-museum-mam--2">Milwaukee Art Museum</a>.&nbsp;

Top image: Rashid Johnson,&nbsp;Untitled Escape Collage (detail), 2016, ceramic tile, black soap, wax, vinyl and spray enamel. All images courtesty of Alison Reilly.

Rashid Johnson leads a tour of his new exhibition at the Milwaukee Art Museum.

Rashid Johnson Leads Tour of Solo Exhibition at Milwaukee Art Museum

The year of public art is turning out to be just that - new elements of the year-long celebration continue to be unveiled regularly, adding to the ongoing joy and affection many of us have for our city&#39;s second-to-none public art collection.&nbsp;

Most recently, the&nbsp;Chicago Loop Alliance unveiled&nbsp;newly commissioned public art banner series on State Street in conjunction with the Year of Public Art. The commissioned&nbsp;series of&nbsp;banners&nbsp;pay homage to the Loop&rsquo;s iconic public art, though they are in fact temporary.&nbsp;Eight unique banner designs feature abstracted and distilled interpretations of public artworks that span the decades (including Pablo Picasso&rsquo;s unnamed sculpture in Daley Plaza (1967) and Anish Kapoor&rsquo;s&nbsp;Cloud Gate&nbsp;(2006). Done&nbsp;in an arresting eight-color Modernist palette, and created by&nbsp;designer and artist&nbsp;Bob Faust, the banners&nbsp;will be displayed&nbsp;July 5&ndash;30 on State Street between Lake Street and Congress Parkway.&nbsp;

<img alt="" data-rich-file-id="2165" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/2165/original/image002.png" />

Faust sought a design that allowed each unique sculpture to be recognizable, but also be part of a discreet set, arriving at a simple shape solution. Typography was reduced to its simplest elements, also to be part of the illustrative style and not compete with the illustrations themselves. Matisse&rsquo;s cutouts were among the inspirations for the graphic style.

&ldquo;These banners &ndash; which take familiar works and reduce them to their elements, reinforcing how ingrained public art is in our consciousness -- blur the line between art and design,&rdquo; said&nbsp;Kate Keleman, Creative and Placemaking Manager at the Chicago Loop Alliance.&rdquo; They transform the often-mundane street pole banner into an instrument that changes the experience of the street and creates an immersive design gesture.&rdquo;

&quot;Chicago&#39;s greatest public artworks make powerful memories from the feelings they invoke,&rdquo; said Faust. &ldquo;My goal through these minimalist graphics is to instigate a reaction that reaches back into our memory banks and pull up the original feelings made by the artworks they represent.&rdquo;

To read more&nbsp;about the battle for public art in Chicago click <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/news/2017/5/no-little-plans-the-battle-for-public-art-in-chicago">here</a>.

Street banners for the year of public art in Chicago 

Look Up! Bright Banners Spread Art in the Loop

Who's Ever Heard of a Pink Octopus? Enjoy Art with Your Family This Summer

An exhibition of recent sculptures and paintings by Rashid Johnson opens June 23, 2017&nbsp;at the <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/institutions/milwaukee-art-museum-mam--2">Milwaukee Art Museum</a>. Hail We Now Sing Joy includes a number of large-scale work including Antoine&rsquo;s Organ, Anxious Audience, Falling Man and Escaping Collage. Johnson, who is now based in New York, studied at Columbia College Chicago and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in the early 2000s. He was offered his first solo exhibition at Schneider Gallery in River North after presenting his photography portfolio for a group show, and he had his first major solo museum exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago in 2012.&nbsp;

<img alt="" data-rich-file-id="2025" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/2025/original/-mg-0931-johnr78463-2-.jpg" />

Johnson is now known for his use of glass panes, white ceramic tiles, shea butter, black soap, and wax to create compelling and immersive installations. Antoine&rsquo;s Organ, for instance, the centerpiece of the exhibition, which was shown at Hauser &amp; Wirth in New York in 2016, features a 10 foot tall grid of black scaffolding filled with lush houseplants in handmade pots. Embedded within the leafy greens are analog screens playing his early video work alongside neon tubes and shea butter figurines. Johnson noted, &ldquo;As a kid I remember thinking that if you could actually live in a place with palm trees, if you could get away from the city and the cold, that meant you&rsquo;d definitely made it.&rdquo;

<img alt="" data-rich-file-id="2026" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/2026/original/-mg-1034-johnr78716-2-.jpg" />

Rashid Johnson: Hail We Now All Sing Joy is on view June 23-September 17, 2017.

<span style="border-top-left-radius: 2px; border-top-right-radius: 2px; border-bottom-right-radius: 2px; border-bottom-left-radius: 2px; text-indent: 20px; width: auto; padding: 0px 4px 0px 0px; text-align: center; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: bold; font-size: 11px; line-height: 20px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-image: url(data:image/svg+xml;base64,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); background-size: 14px 14px; background-color: rgb(189, 8, 28); position: absolute; opacity: 1; z-index: 8675309; display: none; cursor: pointer; border: none; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; top: 134px; left: 27px; background-position: 3px 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;">Save<span style="border-top-left-radius: 2px; border-top-right-radius: 2px; border-bottom-right-radius: 2px; border-bottom-left-radius: 2px; text-indent: 20px; width: auto; padding: 0px 4px 0px 0px; text-align: center; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: bold; font-size: 11px; line-height: 20px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-image: url(data:image/svg+xml;base64,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); background-size: 14px 14px; background-color: rgb(189, 8, 28); position: absolute; opacity: 1; z-index: 8675309; display: none; cursor: pointer; border: none; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; top: 134px; left: 27px; background-position: 3px 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;">Save<span style="border-top-left-radius: 2px; border-top-right-radius: 2px; border-bottom-right-radius: 2px; border-bottom-left-radius: 2px; text-indent: 20px; width: auto; padding: 0px 4px 0px 0px; text-align: center; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: bold; font-size: 11px; line-height: 20px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-image: url(data:image/svg+xml;base64,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); background-size: 14px 14px; background-color: rgb(189, 8, 28); position: absolute; opacity: 1; z-index: 8675309; display: none; cursor: pointer; border: none; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; top: 134px; left: 27px; background-position: 3px 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;">Save<span style="border-top-left-radius: 2px; border-top-right-radius: 2px; border-bottom-right-radius: 2px; border-bottom-left-radius: 2px; text-indent: 20px; width: auto; padding: 0px 4px 0px 0px; text-align: center; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: bold; font-size: 11px; line-height: 20px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-image: url(data:image/svg+xml;base64,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); background-size: 14px 14px; background-color: rgb(189, 8, 28); position: absolute; opacity: 1; z-index: 8675309; display: none; cursor: pointer; border: none; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; top: 134px; left: 27px; background-position: 3px 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;">Save

An exhibition of recent sculptures and paintings by Rashid Johnson opens June 23 at the Milwaukee Art Museum.

Among The Palm Trees: Rashid Johnson at the Milwaukee Art Museum

For the next few days the seventh floor of the Merchandise Mart will packed wall to wall with&nbsp;a wealth of fine antiques and art from many of the world&#39;s top dealers. Chicago has a global reputation for showcasing what&#39;s new and contemporary - in art, food, architecture and design, but this weekend&nbsp;antiques are once again new, in many ways. After a few years without a major antiques&nbsp;show to count on its cultural calendar,&nbsp;Chicago once again has an international fair in town. Thursday evening&nbsp;the&nbsp;Chicago Antiques + Art + Design Show&nbsp;opens with a preview party for collectors and enthusiasts, and Friday the show welcomes the&nbsp;public for the weekend. Thursday&#39;s preview benefits the restoration and conservation efforts of&nbsp;the Illinois Executive Mansion Association, with Honorary Chair Governor James R. Thompson.

Running through Sunday&nbsp;the show highlights fine antiques and artworks reflecting a variety of design periods from 100&nbsp;national and international exhibitors. The show is the only one of its kind in the city all year. Last year it was announced that the Chicago Botanic Garden cancelled its annual April fair. Antiques + Modernism Winnetka still takes place on the north shore in November.&nbsp;

Some highlight&#39;s from this year&#39;s show are shown below.&nbsp;

<a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/calendar/chicago-antiques-art-design-show">The Chicago Antiques + Art + Design Show</a> runs May 19-21, 2017

<img alt="" data-caption="A work from Chicago's Richard Norton Gallery" data-rich-file-id="2106" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/2106/original/img-1634.jpg" />

<img alt="" data-caption="Loana Purrazzo of San Francisco, CA" data-rich-file-id="2108" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/2108/original/img-1630.jpg" />

<img alt="" data-caption="A Bird in Hand, Florham Park, NJ" data-rich-file-id="2107" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/2107/original/img-1632.jpg" />

<img alt="" data-caption="Only Authentics, New York and Palm Beach" data-rich-file-id="2104" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/2104/original/img-1629.jpg" />

<img alt="" data-caption="Jeff Bridgman, York County, PA" data-rich-file-id="2103" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/2103/original/img-1628.jpg" />

<img alt="" data-caption="Solomon Suchard, Shaker Heights, OH" data-rich-file-id="2105" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/2105/original/img-1625.jpg" />

Key image at top: Earle Vandekar of Knightsbridge, Maryknoll, NY

&nbsp;

The Chicago Antiques and Art and Design fair at the Merchandise Mart in Chicago May 2017

A New Show of the Old Arrives in Chicago: Chicago Antiques + Art + Design at the Mart

In recognition of Chicago&rsquo;s &ldquo;Year of Public Art,&rdquo;&nbsp;Chicago Gallery News&nbsp;is featuring a series of articles chronicling milestones of public art in Chicago. The third in the series recounts the battles between traditionalists and modernists in the world of public art.

By FRANCK MERCURIO

On&nbsp;summer days, the Art Institute of Chicago&rsquo;s South Garden provides a cool refuge from the heat and noise of Michigan Avenue. Formal in composition, yet modern in conception, the garden is a masterwork of mid-twentieth century landscape architecture. Its designer, Dan Kiley (1912&ndash;2004), planted a simple grid of hawthorns and honey locusts surrounding a large rectangular reflecting pool, activated by rows of water jets. Presiding over this urban oasis are five bronze muses from a bygone era, each representing one of the Great Lakes: Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario.

<img alt="" data-caption="Lorado Taft, &lt;i&gt;Fountain of the Great Lakes&lt;/i&gt; (1913) as it appears today as the focal point of Dan Kiley’s South Garden at the Art Institute of Chicago. Photo: Franck Mercurio" data-rich-file-id="2097" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/2097/original/img-20170507-143811830.jpg" />

Modeled in various stages of dress (and undress), each idealized female figure holds a giant clamshell with water flowing from one shell to the next, mimicking the hydrology of the Great Lakes. This exemplar of American Beaux-Arts sculpture&mdash;titled Fountain of the Great Lakes&mdash;is the work of Lorado Taft (1860&ndash;1936), the Illinois-born sculptor, instructor, writer and lecturer.

Educated at L&rsquo;Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris in the 1880s, Taft first gained national attention at the 1893 World&rsquo;s Columbian Exposition. There, he put his academic training to good use, creating two monumental groups of figures for the fair&rsquo;s Horticulture Building. Later, in 1903, Taft made a name for himself by writing the first comprehensive history of American sculpture. Around this same time, he conceived the idea for&nbsp;Fountain of the Great Lakes, reportedly inspired by a suggestion from Daniel Burnham (1846&ndash;1912), the Chicago architect, urban planner and promoter of &ldquo;no little plans.&rdquo;

<img alt="" data-caption="Lorado Taft, &lt;i&gt;Fountain of the Great Lakes&lt;/i&gt;, 1913. Photographed in its original location in front of the south façade of the Art Institute of Chicago’s Allerton Building. Photo: Charles Cushman, 1941. Courtesy Charles Cushman Collection: Indiana University Archives." data-rich-file-id="2099" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/2099/original/p02198.jpg" />

Burnham included a rendering of Taft&rsquo;s fountain in his influential 1909&nbsp;Plan of Chicago. A product of the City Beautiful movement, Burnham&rsquo;s plan presented a holistic vision of Chicago, unifying urban design, architecture and public sculpture. Within this context, outdoor sculpture was viewed as an important civic amenity.

But Taft&rsquo;s and Burnham&rsquo;s idea to promote Beaux-Arts ideals through public sculpture did not gain much public traction. Times were changing in 1913. Even before Fountain of the Great Lakes&nbsp;was unveiled that September, it was already out of date. The academic conventions of Beaux-Arts classicism&mdash;and artists like Taft who championed it&mdash;were being challenged by a younger generation of modern artists. The 1913 Armory Show (which opened at the Art Institute six months before Taft&rsquo;s fountain was unveiled) turned the American art scene upside-down. A celebration of European and American Modernism, the exhibition rocked New York before arriving&nbsp;in Chicago, where it was largely greeted with derision.

<img alt="" data-caption="Lorado Taft and group at luncheon at Midway Studios before a plaster cast of the &lt;i&gt;Fountain of the Great Lakes&lt;/i&gt;, circa 1915–16. Courtesy of the University of Illinois Archives, ID: 5338, RS: 26/20/16" data-rich-file-id="2096" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/2096/original/0005338.jpg" />

Taft&rsquo;s scorn for some of the Armory Show sculptors&mdash;in particular Matisse, Brancusi, Archipenko, and Gaudier-Brzeska&mdash;was&nbsp;recorded and published in his 1917 book&nbsp;Modern Tendencies in Sculpture. He described their works in colorful language that ranged from &ldquo;foolish caricatures&rdquo; to &ldquo;startling abortions.&rdquo; Taft was no less kind to critics and members of the public who supported and embraced this art of a new age.

But despite Taft&rsquo;s protests, the genie was out of the bottle. In 1916, inspired by the Armory Show, a group of Chicagoans founded the Arts Club of Chicago, expressly as a vehicle for showcasing modern art. Here, many European and American modernists received their first major exhibitions in the United States, including Brancusi and Picasso and a few lesser-known artists, such as Lorado Taft&rsquo;s one-time student John Storrs.

<img alt="" data-caption="Chicago Board of Trade Building, Chicago Illinois, 1928-1930. Holabird &amp; Root. Historic Architecture and Landscape Image Collection, Ryerson and Burnham Archives, The Art Institute of Chicago. Digital File #31598." data-rich-file-id="2102" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/2102/original/l031598b.jpg" />

The son of a Chicago real estate magnate, Storrs (1885&ndash;1956) spent much of his twenties bouncing between the United States and Europe, studying sculpture in Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, Hamburg and Paris. In 1913, he began studying under Auguste Rodin, and soon fell in with the modernists of the Paris art scene, making social and professional connections with the likes of Jacques Lipchitz, May Ray and Marcel Duchamp. Storrs began experimenting with abstraction, venturing from figurative works into non-objective compositions and working largely in a Cubist style.

Storrs exhibited at the Arts Club of Chicago on three separate occasions in the 1920s, and his works were well received by critics. In his 1927 show, Storrs displayed many of his &ldquo;studies in form&rdquo; and &ldquo;architectural forms&rdquo;&mdash;abstract constructions of stone and metal reminiscent of Art Deco skyscrapers. It is very likely that he met the architect John Wellborn Root, Jr. (1887&ndash;1963) of Holabird and Root at this exhibition. (Root&rsquo;s aunt, Harriet Monroe&mdash;the founder and publisher of Poetry magazine&mdash;was an active member of the Arts Club and hosted a reception at the exhibition.) Within a few months, Holabird and Root gave Storrs his first major public commission: a project to create a monumental figure to adorn the new Chicago Board of Trade Building.

The result was&nbsp;Ceres&nbsp;(1930) a 31-foot-tall aluminum statue representing the Roman goddess of grain. Storrs designed the sculpture as an extension of the architecture; the figure&rsquo;s streamlined form and long vertical lines echo the lines of the building. Capping the structure&rsquo;s pyramidal roof,&nbsp;Ceres&nbsp;serves as a kind of exclamation point at the apex of the building.

<img alt="" data-caption=" Chicago Board of Trade Building, &lt;i&gt;Ceres&lt;/i&gt; statue, Chicago Illinois, 1928-1930. Holabird &amp; Root. Historic Architecture and Landscape Image Collection, Ryerson and Burnham Archives, The Art Institute of Chicago. Digital File #80225." data-rich-file-id="2101" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/2101/original/l080225b.jpg" />

The influence of Modernism is apparent in the design of&nbsp;Ceres. Storrs simplified the figure, reducing its forms to essential&nbsp;elements, much in the manner of Brancusi. Yet, despite the sculpture&rsquo;s abstracted formal qualities and industrial materials, its allegorical subject grounds the figure in earlier traditions.&nbsp;Ceres&nbsp;holds sheaths of wheat in one hand and a trader&rsquo;s sample bag in the other, symbolizing the&nbsp;commodities sold within the building. She&nbsp;is&nbsp;the city&rsquo;s Machine Age goddess of wealth.

Ceres&nbsp;is Chicago&rsquo;s first work of public art designed in a modern idiom, and she influenced later artists in a number of ways. Fast forward to 1991 when an artist of a later generation, Roger Brown (1941&ndash;1997), looked to&nbsp;Ceres&nbsp;and classical mythology as inspiration for two murals located a few blocks north of the Board of Trade Building. The controversial Chicago architect Helmut Jahn commissioned Brown to create the two murals for a new office building at 120 N. LaSalle Street.

Brown was associated with the Chicago Imagists, a group of artists set in opposition to art movements in New York, especially Abstract Expressionism. The Imagists&nbsp;found value in figuration, which they interpreted in surreal, cartoonish and quirky ways, often using humor and satire to inject social commentary into their work.

The interior mural, titled&nbsp;Arts and Sciences of the Modern World: LaSalle Corridor with Holding Pattern&nbsp;(1991) depicts a stylized version of the Chicago Board of Trade Building topped by an outline of&nbsp;Ceres. On either side, skyscrapers rise up along LaSalle Street, while two passenger jets fly high above the scene. A light shines down on the Board of Trade&mdash;through Brown&rsquo;s signature arcs of clouds&mdash;projecting a kind of sacred glow onto the building and on&nbsp;Ceres&nbsp;herself.

<img alt="" data-caption="Roger Brown (1941-1997). &lt;i&gt;Arts and Sciences of the Modern World: LaSalle Corridor with Holding Pattern&lt;/i&gt;, 1991, Italian glass mosaic, 9' x 6'. Interior mural in lobby of 120 N. LaSalle Street, Chicago. Photo: William Bengtson. Courtesy of the Roger Brown Study Collection Archive, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago." data-rich-file-id="2100" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/2100/original/3-120-n-lasalle-inside.jpg" />

The massive exterior mural (22 feet tall by 57 feet long) above the entrance to 120 N. LaSalle is well known by many Chicagoans. It depicts two male, winged figures flying above a body of water. Titled&nbsp;Arts and Sciences of the Ancient World: The Flight of Daedalus and Icarus&nbsp;(1991) [Pictured, top of page], the mural takes its inspiration from classical mythology, specifically the story of Daedalus, the architect and inventor, and his son Icarus. The scene depicts them fleeing imprisonment using fabricated wings.

The exact meaning of the mural has been much debated. On one level, it can be read as a cautionary tale about &ldquo;flying too close to the sun&rdquo;; a warning to business leaders on LaSalle (and politicians in City Hall across the street) to reign in unbridled greed and ambition.

But a more subtle reading interprets the two figures as a portrait of Brown and his partner, the architect George Veronda. Curiously, both Daedalus and Icarus are represented in an identical manner&mdash;in fact, they look like brothers instead of father and son. In many of his works, Brown used a coded visual language&mdash;easily read by those in the know&mdash;but perhaps invisible to those outside the world of gay male culture. In this reading, the work represents a radical&mdash;even subversive&mdash;take on public art.

Each generation of artists brings its own mix of radicalism and traditionalism to public art. In a sense, Brown was following the precedents of earlier artists&mdash;such as Storrs&mdash;who developed new forms and concepts for the public to consider within the somewhat conservative, institutional framework that often finances public art commissions. What will the next generation of artists present to the city of Chicago? &nbsp; &nbsp;

Top image:&nbsp;Roger Brown (1941-1997).&nbsp;Arts and Sciences of the Ancient World: The Flight of Daedalus and Icarus,&nbsp;1991, Italian glass mosaic and stone, 22&rsquo; x 57&rsquo;. Mural over the entry of 120 N. LaSalle Street, Chicago. Photo: William Bengtson. Courtesy of the Roger Brown Study Collection Archive, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Read more from Franck Mercurio&#39;s Public Art series:

<a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/news/2017/4/public-art-and-the-masses-examining-sculpture-in-grant-park">Public Art and the Masses: Examining Sculpture in Grant Park</a>

<a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/news/2017/3/the-origins-of-public-art-in-chicago-from-the-bronze-lions-to-skylanding">The Origins of Public Art in Chicago: From the Bronze Lions to Skylanding</a>

&nbsp;

<span style="border-top-left-radius: 2px; border-top-right-radius: 2px; border-bottom-right-radius: 2px; border-bottom-left-radius: 2px; text-indent: 20px; width: auto; padding: 0px 4px 0px 0px; text-align: center; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: bold; font-size: 11px; line-height: 20px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-image: url(data:image/svg+xml;base64,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); background-size: 14px 14px; background-color: rgb(189, 8, 28); position: absolute; opacity: 1; z-index: 8675309; display: none; cursor: pointer; border: none; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-position: 3px 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;">Save<span style="border-top-left-radius: 2px; border-top-right-radius: 2px; border-bottom-right-radius: 2px; border-bottom-left-radius: 2px; text-indent: 20px; width: auto; padding: 0px 4px 0px 0px; text-align: center; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: bold; font-size: 11px; line-height: 20px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-image: url(data:image/svg+xml;base64,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); background-size: 14px 14px; background-color: rgb(189, 8, 28); position: absolute; opacity: 1; z-index: 8675309; display: none; cursor: pointer; border: none; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-position: 3px 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;">Save

Franck Mercurio recounts the battles between traditionalists and modernists in the world of Chicago public art.

No Little Plans: The Battle for Public Art in Chicago

This summer the <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/institutions/art-institute-of-chicago">Art Institute of Chicago</a> presents a major exhibition of work by the French Post-Impressionist artist Paul Gauguin, highlighting his career not only as an accomplished painter but also as a sculptor, ceramicist, printmaker and decorator. Gauguin: Artist as Alchemist, organized by the Art Institute, Mus&eacute;e D&rsquo;Orsay and R&eacute;union des mus&eacute;es nationaux&ndash;Grand Palais (Rmn-GP) features more than 240 multimedia works, including the largest public presentation of the artist&rsquo;s ceramic work to date.

<img alt="" data-caption="Paul Gauguin. &lt;i&gt;Merahi metua no Tehamana (Tehamana Has Many Parents or The Ancestors of Tehamana),&lt;/i&gt; 1893. The Art Institute of Chicago, gift of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Deering McCormick." data-rich-file-id="2027" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/2027/original/g59325-press.jpg" />

Gauguin, best known for his paintings of Tahitian women, was an itinerant; he was born in Paris, but he moved to Peru at a young age only to flee the country with his family after political tides shifted. Throughout his life he lived in Copenhagen, Brittany, Martinique, and the French Polynesian islands, including Tahiti and Hiva-Oa. His paintings, which feature bold colors, stark contrasts and exaggerated proportions, will be presented alongside experiments in clay, stained glass and wood. A selection of ethnographic objects will also be on display. In partnering with the Mus&eacute;e D&rsquo;Orsay and the Rmn-GP, the Art Institute builds on their strong collection of Gauguin, which includes over 200 works on paper.

<img alt="" data-caption="Paul Gauguin. &lt;i&gt;The Singer,&lt;/i&gt; 1880. Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen, MIN 3230." data-rich-file-id="2028" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/2028/original/gauguin2.jpg" />

Gaugin: Artist as Alchemist opens June 25 and will be on display through September 10, 2017. For more information visit <a href="http://artic.edu">artic.edu</a>.

Top image: Paul Gauguin,&nbsp;Mahana no atua (Day of the God), 1894. Helen Birch Bartlett Memorial Collection.

"Gauguin: Artist as Alchemist" at the Art Institute of Chicago features more than 240 multimedia works, including the largest public presentation of the artist’s ceramic work to date.

Artist as Alchemist: Major Exhibition Examines Scope of Gauguin's Practice

While the new year officially begins in January, for many in Chicago, things do not truly get started until the weather turns warm. At CGN we are thrilled to greet this season of activity that beckons us outside to wander and soak up what&rsquo;s fresh and new.&nbsp;

This is the season to be outdoors, where we may appreciate Chicago&rsquo;s unparalleled collection of public art while strolling city streets. Jaume Plensa&rsquo;s Crown Fountain in Millennium Park has just refreshed its screens in time for summer time splashing, and the Picasso, the one that started it all, turns 50 in August. Grant Park&rsquo;s Agora is all the more poignant with the April passing of artist <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/news/2017/4/polish-sculptor-and-agora-artist-magdalena-abakanowicz-has-died-at-86">Magdalena Abakanowicz</a>. Other area highlights and history are detailed in CGN writer Franck Mercurio&rsquo;s <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/news/2017/4/public-art-and-the-masses-examining-sculpture-in-grant-park">online series about public art</a>.

In our fall 2016 issue, I urged readers to be present to experience art and to step back from the digital overload. The art collectors we interviewed for this issue also emphasized that same message and shared their own stories of discovering art in many places throughout the years.&nbsp;

<img alt="" data-rich-file-id="2053" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/2053/original/cgn-cover-summer2017.jpg" />

In area museums and arts institutions, major shows open in time for tourist season. The Art Institute&rsquo;s summer blockbuster showcases more than 240 works by Paul Gauguin, while Japanese megastar <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/news/2017/5/takashi-murakami-at-the-mca">Takashi Murakami&rsquo;s exhibition at the MCA</a> sheds light on the role that pop culture can play in art, as well as explore how an artist can offer a lens through which to view current events.&nbsp;

The current political landscape inspires artist <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/news/2017/4/a-protest-banner-lending-library">Aram Han Sifuentes</a>, who is currently an artist-in-residence at the Chicago Cultural Center. The public is invited to sew protest banners for free with the artist until May 18.&nbsp;

These warmer months are reasons to road trip throughout the Midwest. In Milwaukee, large-scale works by Rashid Johnson are on view. Architecture fans can celebrate <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/news/2017/5/architectural-adventures">Frank Lloyd Wright&rsquo;s 150th birthday</a> in Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin.&nbsp;

There is much to see out in the art world right now. Go, enjoy and experience.&nbsp;

&ndash;Ginny Van Alyea, Publisher,&nbsp;Chicago Gallery News

Below, you will find links to features, interviews and seasonal highlights included in CGN&#39;s&nbsp;summer issue:

<ul>
	<li><a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/news/2017/5/takashi-murakami-at-the-mca">Takashi Murakami at the MCA</a></li>
	<li><a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/news/2017/4/season-previews-summer-2017">Season Previews</a></li>
	<li><a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/news/2017/4/exploring-west-town-with-sibylle-friche">Exploring West Town&nbsp;with Sibylle Friche</a></li>
	<li><a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/news/2017/4/in-search-of-the-eclectic">In Search of the Eclectic: Sally Schwartz and Reid Brody</a></li>
	<li><a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/news/2017/4/a-protest-banner-lending-library">A Protest Banner Lending Library: Aram Han Sifuentes Creates a Space for Dissent</a></li>
	<li><a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/news/2017/4/the-personal-art-of-collecting">The Personal Art of Collecting: A Chicago Imagists Collection Spans Two Cities</a></li>
	<li><a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/news/2017/5/architectural-adventures">Architectural Adventures: Five Frank Lloyd Wright Designed Building to Explore in Honor of the Architect&#39;s 150th Birthday</a></li>
</ul>

Publisher Ginny Van Alyea shares what's new for the summer season.

Publisher's Letter: Summer's Fresh Take on Art

<h3>FIVE FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT DESIGNED BUILDINGS TO EXPLORE IN HONOR OF THE ARCHITECT'S 150th BIRTHDAY</h3>By ELIZABETH METCALFEMost Chicagoans are familiar with the architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright due to nearby Oak Park, the suburb in which he lived and worked for 20 years. With the highest concentration of Frank Lloyd Wright designed houses in the world, Oak Park is an architectural mecca. However, a wealth of Wright designed architecture awaits just beyond Chicagoland. Summer is the perfect opportunity for a day trip out to one of the many Wright buildings open to the public.&nbsp;Monona Terrace (Madison, WI)&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/2044/original/s-monona-terrace-from-lake.jpg" alt=""></figure>Though proposed by Wright in 1938, government bureaucracy halted the construction of this beautiful civic convention center. Wright made several modifications to the design from 1938 until his death in 1959 and project construction finally began in the 1990s. Wright spent much of his childhood in Madison, and Monona Terrace connects two of the city’s landmarks: Lake Monona and the Wisconsin State Capitol. While the exterior of the building is decidedly Wright, the center’s interiors are designed by Taliesin architect Tony Puttnam.John Nolen Dr., Madison, WI, <a href="http://mononaterrace.com">mononaterrace.com</a>, 608-261-4000&nbsp;Dana-Thomas House (Springfield, IL)<figure class="image"><img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/2017/original/danathomas.jpg" alt=""></figure>Visiting the state’s capital? Why not swing by Frank Lloyd Wright’s impressive Dana-Thomas House? Built from 1902-1904, the Dana-Thomas House boasts 35 rooms and an abundance of art glass windows. Don’t miss the Wright-designed bowling alley in the basement or the Japanese-inspired interior Torii gate, which connects the home to the Lawrence Memorial Library.300 E. Lawrence Ave., Springfield, IL, <a href="http://dana-thomas.org">dana-thomas.org</a>, 217-782-6776&nbsp;&nbsp;Meyer May House (Grand Rapids, MI)&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/2045/original/mmh-ext-porch3-copy.jpg" alt=""></figure>Beautifully restored with funds from Steelcase Inc., the Meyer May House will likely remind Chicagoans of the Robie House, one of Wright’s most famous Prairie Style buildings. Though designed in the same year and similar in style to the Robie House, the Meyer May House is distinctive due to its T-shaped plan, tan brick, and hollyhock partition wall mural by interior architect George Mann Niedecken.450 Madison Avenue SE, Grand Rapids, MI, <a href="http://meyermayhouse.steelcase.com">meyermayhouse.steelcase.com</a>, 616-246-4821&nbsp;Wingspread (Racine, WI)&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/2019/original/wingspread.jpg" alt=""></figure>Wright’s famous S.C. Johnson Wax Headquarters may be nearby and is definitely worth a visit, but don’t leave the Racine area without visiting Wright’s lesser known but equally innovative Wingspread. Wright designed this mansion for Herbert Fisk Johnson Jr., the president of S.C. Johnson, in the late 1930s. From above, the house resembles a pinwheel, with a central core uniting four wings of the house. One wing houses a “Romeo and Juliet” style cantilevered balcony and a unique “crow’s nest” lookout sits atop the house.33 E. 4 Mile Rd, Racine, WI, <a href="http://johnsonfdn.com">johnsonfdn.com</a>, 262-639-3211&nbsp;Unity Temple (Oak Park, IL)&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/2020/original/unity-temple-oak-park-il-9-3224132995-1-.jpg" alt=""></figure>Though many Chicagoans have likely been inside Wright’s iconic Unitarian Universalist church before, the structure is currently undergoing a massive restoration project. Overseen by Harboe Architects, the firm also responsible for restoring the Rookery Building in downtown Chicago, the restoration of Unity Temple is expected to be complete this summer. After being closed for nearly two years, the Unity Temple will surely delight new and old guests alike with its fully restored art glass windows, lighting fixtures, paint finishes, and oak trim.875 Lake St, Oak Park, <a href="http://utrf.org">utrf.org</a>, 708-383-8873Top image: Exterior view of Monoma Terrace in Madison, Wisconsin. Courtesy of Monoma Terrace Community &amp; Convention Center&nbsp;

Five Frank Lloyd Wright designed buildings to explore in honor of the architect's 150th birthday.

Architectural Adventures 

Known for his collaborations with pop icon Kanye West and fashion house Louis Vuitton, and for vibrant anime-inspired characters, Japanese artist Takashi Murakami (b. 1962) has blurred the boundaries throughout his career between high and low culture, ancient and modern, East and West. This summer the MCA presents a major retrospective of his paintings, featuring 50 works that span three decades of his career.&nbsp;

<img alt="" data-caption="Takashi Murakami, Photo: Koichiro Matsui." data-rich-file-id="2042" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/2042/original/tm-matsui-copy.jpg" />

The exhibition shows how Murakami&rsquo;s increasingly complex art is filled with characters and scenarios both cute and menacing, saccharine sweet and critically acidic. His work is rooted in traditions of Japanese painting and folklore with an eye for the contemporary influences of globalization, media culture and the continued threats of nuclear power.&nbsp;

<img alt="" data-caption="Takashi Murakami, Flowers, flowers, flowers, 2010. Collection of the Chang family, Taiwan. © 2010 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All Rights Reserved. Photo: Norihiro Ueno" data-rich-file-id="2043" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/2043/original/tm-kk-flowers-copy.jpg" />

Takashi Murakami: The Octopus Eats Its Own Leg is on view at the <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/institutions/museum-of-contemporary-art-chicago-mca">Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago</a> from June 6&ndash;Septemper 24, 2017. 220 E. Chicago Avenue,&nbsp; mcachicago.org

Top image: Cover image for Summer 2017 issue of Chicago Gallery News. Takashi Murakami,&nbsp;ZuZaZaZaZaZa (detail), 1994. Takahashi Collection. &copy; 1994 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All Rights Reserved. Photo: Norihiro Ueno

Takashi Muraki opens June 6 at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago.

Takashi Murakami at the MCA

In January DOCUMENT, Paris London Hong Kong, Volume Gallery and Western Exhibitions moved from the West Loop to 1709 Chicago Avenue in West Town. CGN asked Sibylle Friche, Gallery Director at <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/galleries/document">DOCUMENT</a>, to share her favorite spots in her new neighborhood.

&nbsp;

<h2>RUXBIN</h2>

<img alt="" data-caption="Courtesy of Ruxbin" data-rich-file-id="2051" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/2051/original/ruxbin-interior-05-1000x0-c-default-copy.jpg" />

&quot;I love Ruxbin on Ashland Avenue. The food is unique and very sophisticated, yet the atmosphere is relaxed, because it&rsquo;s BYOB.&quot;&nbsp;851 N. Ashland, <a href="http://ruxbinchicago.com">ruxbinchicago.com</a>

&nbsp;

<h2>PICKWICK COFFEE</h2>

<img alt="" data-caption="Courtesy of Pickwick Coffee Roasting Company" data-rich-file-id="2049" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/2049/original/pickwick.jpg" />

&quot;I get my espresso fix at Pickwick on Chicago Avenue, half a block from the gallery. They also have a great selection of chai teas. The staff is super friendly.&quot; 1651 W. Chicago, <a href="http://pickwickcoffee.com">pickwickcoffee.com</a>

&nbsp;

<h2>DOVETAIL</h2>

<img alt="" data-caption="Courtesy Dovetail Instagram @dovetailchicago" data-rich-file-id="2048" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/2048/original/dovetail.jpg" />

&quot;Julie Ghatan opened Dovetail on Chicago Avenue in 2008 and has an amazing selection of vintage items, gifts and jewelry. She carefully handpicks everything, and you can&rsquo;t beat her sense of style.&quot; 1452 W. Chicago, <a href="http://dovetailchicago.com">dovetailchicago.com</a>

&nbsp;

<h2>WICKER PARK FARMERS MARKET</h2>

<img alt="" data-caption="Courtesy of Wicker Park Farmers Market" data-rich-file-id="2052" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/2052/original/wickerpark.jpg" />

&quot;Wicker Park is a must-see during the summer for the farmers markets, but I enjoy walking or biking around the neighborhood&rsquo;s residential streets and admiring the unique mix of old and new architecture.&quot; 1425 N. Damen, <a href="http://chicagoparkdistrict.org">chicagoparkdistrict.org</a>

&nbsp;

<h2>CLEOS &amp; HAPPY VILLAGE</h2>

<img alt="" data-caption="Courtesy of Cleos" data-rich-file-id="2050" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/2050/original/lut5e.jpg" />

&quot;Cleos is great for anyone who enjoys watching international soccer championships! I also like Happy Village for its casual patio, and I love that they have ping pong tables.&quot; 1935 W. Chicago, <a href="http://cleospub.com">cleospub.com</a>; 1059 N. Wolcott; 773-486-1512

Top image:&nbsp;Courtesy of Pickwick Coffee Roasting Company

DOCUMENT gallery director Sibylle Friche shares her favorites spots in West Town.

Exploring West Town with Sibylle Friche

In recognition of Chicago&rsquo;s &ldquo;Year of Public Art,&rdquo;&nbsp;Chicago Gallery News&nbsp;is featuring a series of articles chronicling milestones of public art in Chicago. The second in the series examines the connections between three sculptures in Grant Park.&nbsp;

By FRANCK MERCURIO

Public art, by definition, is intended for the public&mdash;you, me, and the rest of the masses&mdash;it&nbsp;is meant to be consumed by all, no matter one&#39;s individual social status, economic means, or political influence. But public art is not only&nbsp;for&nbsp;the masses; it is often&nbsp;about&nbsp;the masses. The south end of Grant Park provides three great sculptural&nbsp;examples: two permanent and one recently de-installed.

<img alt="" data-caption="Magdalena Abakanowicz, &lt;i&gt;Agora&lt;/i&gt;, 2006. Courtesy of the artist and Richard Gray Gallery. Photo: Kenneth Tanaka" data-rich-file-id="1962" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1962/original/agora-1-photo-by-kenneth-tanaka.jpg" />

Agora&nbsp;(2006) by Polish artist <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/news/2017/4/polish-sculptor-and-agora-artist-magdalena-abakanowicz-has-died-at-86">Magdalena Abakanowicz</a>,&nbsp;who recently passed away, gives new meaning to the phrase &ldquo;the faceless crowd.&rdquo; Pedestrians walking along Roosevelt Road toward the Museum Campus can&rsquo;t help but notice&mdash;and often engage with&mdash;this collection of 106 headless human-like forms. Giant in size, each figure walks in a different direction, seemingly intent on reaching its destination, oblivious to the mortals milling below them. In their preoccupation and hurry, these iron (not bronze) figures seem to reflect the anonymous hustle of city life.

Agora means &ldquo;gathering place,&rdquo; and appropriately, Abakanowicz&rsquo;s installation marks the spot where one of Chicago&rsquo;s greatest gathering places once stood: the Illinois Central Depot (1893&ndash;1974). The artist&rsquo;s ghostly figures seem to evoke the unnamed millions who passed through this railway station during its 81-year existence. Many of those passengers included African Americans escaping the Jim Crow South during the Great Migration. According to the&nbsp;Encyclopedia of Chicago, more than 500,000 African Americans migrated to Chicago between 1916 and 1970. The majority traveled by train along the Illinois Central Railroad lines, which linked the southern states to Chicago.

<img alt="" data-caption="Grant Park in 1891 looking north from the Kimball Building before the installation of the Logan Memorial. Courtesy of the Chicago History Museum" data-rich-file-id="1963" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1963/original/grantpark-kimballbldg.jpg" />

The new arrivals must have been impressed by the view of Grant Park and the city skyline that greeted them outside the railway station&rsquo;s great Romanesque Revival archway. Just north of the station, they could see the&nbsp;General John A. Logan Memorial&nbsp;(1897) rising some 30 feet above the park.

Dedicated in 1897, the Logan Memorial stands today as an example of a not-so-typical &ldquo;bronze man on a horse.&rdquo; American artists Augustus Saint-Gaudens (1848&ndash;1907) and Alexander Phimister Proctor (1860&ndash;1950) collaborated on the commission, capturing the dynamism of the General riding his warhorse into battle. The memorial was a true team effort; Proctor, an animalier, modeled the stallion; and two women sculptors, Annette Johnson and Mary Lawrence Tonetti, assisted Saint-Gaudens in modeling the figure of Logan. (Regrettably, Johnson&rsquo;s and Tonetti&rsquo;s contributions have often been omitted from the historical record.)

<img alt="" data-caption="Vintage postcard, Grant Park, c. 1900. Courtesy of the Chicago History Museum" data-rich-file-id="1964" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1964/original/grantpark-1900.jpg" />

Cast in bronze, the Logan sculpture stands atop a giant earthen mound, a dramatic architectural element that anchors the memorial to its site in Grant Park. Designed by Stanford White (of the New York architecture firm McKim, Mead and White), the mound recalls the Anglo-Saxon burial tumuli of Dark Age Britain, but also evokes the monumental earthworks of Cahokia in southern Illinois, Logan&rsquo;s old stomping grounds.

Logan was a complex character. A popular Illinois politician before the Civil War, he helped legislate the state&rsquo;s infamous &ldquo;Black Laws&rdquo; of 1853, which prohibited African Americans from settling in Illinois. But the General seems to have experienced a kind of political&mdash;and moral&mdash;conversion while serving in the Union Army and later as a US House representative and US Senator. According to the John A. Logan Museum, &ldquo;This was a very different Logan. It was a Logan who voted for constitutional amendments to abolish slavery and to grant citizenship and voting rights to African Americans&hellip;Throughout this time, Logan continued to fight for civil rights for America&rsquo;s former slaves and supported women&rsquo;s suffrage.&rdquo;

<img alt="" data-caption="A contemporary view of the &lt;i&gt;General John A. Logan Memorial&lt;/i&gt; (1897). Photo: Franck Mercurio" data-rich-file-id="1967" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1967/original/logan-memorial-2.jpg" />

Logan had transformed himself into a &ldquo;man of the people,&rdquo; and on the occasion of his death, the Illinois state assembly commissioned the memorial in his honor. In July 1897, a staggering 500,000 Chicagoans turned out for the unveiling of the equestrian sculpture&mdash;nearly one-third the city&rsquo;s population at that time. &ldquo;Logan Day&rdquo; was designated an official city holiday and celebrated with a 17,000-person military parade on Michigan Avenue and a naval procession on Lake Michigan. The masses had turned out&nbsp;en masse&nbsp;to honor Logan and dedicate his bronze likeness.

Fast forward to 1968 when the Logan Memorial was again at the center of a mass gathering, this time the political protests outside the Democratic National Convention. Barred from protesting in front of the Conrad Hilton, the site of the convention, hundreds of people staged an impromptu &ldquo;sit-in&rdquo; around the Logan monument. Iconic photographs record crowds of protestors occupying the memorial&rsquo;s great mound&mdash;with General Logan seeming to lead them into battle [see top image]. &nbsp;

<img alt="" data-caption="Tony Tasset, &lt;i&gt;Artists Monument&lt;/i&gt;, 2015. Courtesy of the artist and Kavi Gupta" data-rich-file-id="1965" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1965/original/tasset-monument.jpg" />

For a brief period, one other public work f&ecirc;ted the masses in the south end of Grant Park. In 2016, the city installed Tony Tasset&rsquo;s&nbsp;Artists Monument&nbsp;(2015) adjacent to the Logan Memorial. A literal recording of the masses, this sculptural work documented the names of nearly 400,000 artists&mdash;the famous and the obscure&mdash;on colorful panels wrapped around two reclaimed shipping containers. Tasset listed the names in alphabetical order, treating each artist equally&mdash;a gesture that calls attention to the collective power of artistic creativity. Paradoxically, this &ldquo;monument&rdquo; was a temporary proposition and de-installed after a few months on view. But you can still visit its more somber sister installations, which recall Chicago history and celebrate the power of the people in their own distinctive ways.

Up next: Franck Mercurio recounts the battles between traditionalists and modernists by looking at Lorado Taft&#39;s&nbsp;Fountain of the Great Lakes&nbsp;and John Storrs&#39;&nbsp;Ceres&nbsp;and making&nbsp;connections to contemporary public works by Roger Brown and Richard Hunt.

Top image: Protesters climb the General Logan statue in Grant Park while thousands gather on the ground in August of 1968. The Illinois Central Railway Station&nbsp;can be seen in the background. Courtesy of the Chicago Tribune Historical Archives

Chicago Gallery News explores examines the connections between three sculptures in Grant Park.

Public Art and the Masses: Examining Sculpture in Grant Park

By JACQUELINE LEWIS

Brazilian artist H&eacute;lio Oiticica&rsquo;s first U.S. retrospective is now on display at the Art Institute of Chicago. The survey includes a number of well-known works alongside material that has never been exhibited. Spanning his short but impactful career, To Organize Delirium maps out his early modernist works while recreating a number of large-scale, interactive environments.

Oiticica strongly believed that art was a social and ethical pursuit that must be embedded into daily life, and he often argued that art simply could not function outside of society. The&nbsp;title of the exhibition comes from Oiticica&rsquo;s friend, the Brazilian poet Haroldo de Campos who noted that the artist&rsquo;s philosophy &ldquo;combined extreme diligence for organization with strong need for freedom&rdquo; which culminates in &ldquo;chaos and order coexist[ing] and in this way, he managed to organize delirium.&rdquo;

Oiticica&rsquo;s interactive works require the direct participation of viewers. At first, it feels jarring to play and explore in the galleries at the Art Institute, because the museum and others like it have such strong, performative social codes of respect and reserve. However, these rules must be broken in order fully experience Oiticica&rsquo;s environments.

Early in his career, Oiticica realized the significance of removing art from its canvas and pedestal. He disagreed with the belief that art should be positioned behind the ropes of a museum or hidden from the populous. Instead, he advocated for human interaction with art in order to promote activism and fight corrupt political agendas.

<img alt="" data-caption="Hélio Oiticica, &lt;i&gt;Seja marginal, seja herói (Be an Outlaw, Be a Hero)&lt;/i&gt;, 1967, screenprint on fabric, 41 5/16&quot; x 35 3/8&quot;. © César and Cláudio Oticica. Courtesy of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. " data-rich-file-id="1919" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1919/original/se-20heroi.jpg" />

The exhibition demonstrates Oiticica&#39;s political involvement with the inclusions of&nbsp;Seja Marginal, Seja Her&oacute;i (Be an Outlaw, Be a Hero), made in 1968 for the Festival of Flags. At this time, Brazil&rsquo;s dictatorship became increasingly oppressive and opposing ideas were stifled through torture and imprisonment.&nbsp;However, a resistance was able to form, and Oiticica helped fuel that movement through his work.&nbsp;At the Festival of Flags, the bossa nova musicians Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil held up Oiticica&rsquo;s banner Se Marginal, Se Her&oacute;i.&nbsp;They were subsequently jailed and deported for their actions but their message was clear.&nbsp; They would break the law and become &quot;outlaws&quot; to further their fight against the censorship and the oppression of the Brazilian people.

Oiticica came from a privileged background yet felt a connection to the favelas or shantytowns of Rio and visited them often.&nbsp;His visits inspired his most inventive and participatory art, Parangol&eacute;s.

<img alt="" data-caption="Hélio Oiticica with &lt;i&gt;P8 Parangolé Cape 5, Homage to Mangueira (P8 Parangolé capa 5, Homenagem à Mangueira&lt;/i&gt;, 1965) at the Whitechapel Gallery, London, 1969. César and Claudio Oiticica Collection, Rio de Janeiro. © César and Claudio Oiticica, Rio de Janeiro." data-rich-file-id="1911" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1911/original/parangole.jpg" />

Parangol&eacute;s are objects intended to be carried or worn, often realized in the form of fabric wrappings. They are considered unfinished objects until they are &ldquo;activated&rdquo; on a human body, especially through dance. This embodies the idea of a work that is &ldquo;collaborative, constantly developing, and open to change,&rdquo;[1] which is a guiding philosophy for Oiticica.

At the Art Institute&nbsp;visitors are allowed to become active participants by wearing reproductions of Parangol&eacute;s and dancing in them, if they so choose.&nbsp;Many were&nbsp;skeptical and only wore them for moments, unsure whether or not they could actually touch and wear objects in a museum.

After the Parangol&eacute;s station, visitors can enter the sandboxes of Eden and Tropic&aacute;lia. Both environments are open-ended &ldquo;instruments for reflection&rdquo; meant to &ldquo;proposition for behavior.&rdquo;[2] &nbsp;The installations include places for rest, contemplation, reading, and listening to music. Oiticica called these areas penetrables, a term he used throughout this career.

<img alt="" data-caption="&lt;i&gt;Hélio Oiticica: To Organize Delirium&lt;/i&gt;, installation view of &lt;i&gt;Eden&lt;/i&gt;, 2017. Photo: Jacqueline Lewis" data-rich-file-id="1912" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1912/original/17357449-1634538683242531-1583685241-o.jpg" />

Museum-goers seem to hesitate before entering this space as if security will arrive the second they cross into the sandbox and touch the objects.&nbsp;In this controlled setting, the penetrables become a sort of social experiment, everyone looking to each other to see what they should do because of the now ambiguous social codes.&nbsp;A note of caution to the enthusiastic adventurer: be careful when exploring the penetrables, because there are hidden areas full of water ready to soak your socks.

Tropic&aacute;lia became a decisive work in Oiticica&rsquo;s career and eventually became the name of a movement that transcended the defined contours of music, literature, theater and film. &nbsp;The work&nbsp;rejects&nbsp;the influence of North American and European culture and embraces the local&nbsp;Brazilian lifestyle, while addressing&nbsp;stereotypes of tropical cultures through the inclusion of palm trees and live birds.

<img alt="" data-caption="&lt;i&gt;Hélio Oiticica: To Organize Delirium&lt;/i&gt;. Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago." data-rich-file-id="1917" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1917/original/tropicaliabirdcage.jpg" />

CC Coke Head&rsquo;s Soup also challenges expected museum etiquette. The work appropriates the&nbsp;Rolling Stone&rsquo;s album Goat&rsquo;s Head Soup.&nbsp;Images of the album covered in cocaine flash on the walls of a room with a padded floor, immersing the viewer and moving them into another realm, aided by John Cage-like chance sounds and Rolling Stones song, Sister Morphine.&nbsp;

The unsettling sounds and images of drug use contrast with the lighthearted feel of the floor that just begs to be jumped on. Viewers walk in, look around nervously, and then jump a few times before getting embarrassed. Many seem to hold back their desire to break loose in the room, possibly due to the subject matter but most likely due to its location in a museum. In general, adults do not expect to bounce around in a museum, yet the exhibition demands that kind of spontaneity.

To Organize Delirium asks visitors to rethink&nbsp;the social constraints and etiquette expected in museum settings. Oitcica intended&nbsp;his work to combat social and political issues within&nbsp;communities, instead of&nbsp;hanging behind a rope in a museum.&nbsp;As a participant, letting go of culturally proscribed notions of the museum space will, in turn, help you&nbsp;better understand the work of this important&nbsp;artist. &nbsp;&nbsp;

H&eacute;lio Oiticica: To Organize Delirium is on display at the Art Institute of Chicago through May 6, 2017. Click <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/institutions/art-institute-of-chicago">here</a> for more information.

Top image:&nbsp;H&eacute;lio Oiticica: To Organize Delirium, installation view, 2017.&nbsp;Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago.

[1] Wall text, H&eacute;lio Oiticica: To Organize Delirium, Art Institute of Chicago, February 18-May 6, 2017.&nbsp;

[2] Wall text,&nbsp;H&eacute;lio Oiticica: To Organize Delirium, Art Institute of Chicago, February 18-May 6, 2017.&nbsp;

The Art Institute of Chicago presents a large-scale survey of the Brazilian artist Hélio Oiticica.

Hélio Oiticica Exhibition at the Art Institute Activated by Spontaneity of Visitors

Chicago-based artist Michael Rakowitz, who is represented by Rhona Hoffman Gallery, has had two exciting announcements in the past day. He was selected for the 2018 Fourth Plinth Commission at&nbsp;Trafalgar Square (London), and the first US museum survey of his work is scheduled to open at the MCA Chicago this fall.

The Fourth Plinth is a prestigious&nbsp;public art program in the United Kingdom, and Rakowitz was selected along with British artist Heather Phillipson. Rakowitz will recreate a statue of the Lamassu, a hybrid winged bull with a human head, that stood at the entrance to the Nergal Gate of Nineveh from 700 BC until February 2015 when it was destroyed by ISIS. Rakowitz noted that&nbsp;&quot;Rebuilding the Lamassu in Trafalgar Square means the sculpture can continue performing his duties as guardian of Nineveh&rsquo;s past, present and future, even as a refugee or ghost, hoping to one day return to Iraq.&quot; The work is part of a larger project,&nbsp;The Invisble Enemy Should Not Exist, in which Rakowitz has attempted to recreate over 7,000 looted artifacts from the Iraq Museum during the Iraq War.&nbsp;

<img alt="" data-caption="Michael Rakowitz, &lt;i&gt;May the Arrogant Not Prevail&lt;/i&gt;, 2010. Collection Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, gift of Marshall Field’s by exchange. Image courtesy of the artist and Rhona Hoffman Gallery." data-rich-file-id="1940" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1940/original/rakowitz-arrogant-09.jpg" />

Backstroke of the West&nbsp;is curated by Omar Kholeif, Manilow Senior Curator at the <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/institutions/museum-of-contemporary-art-chicago-mca">MCA Chicago</a> and will be on view September 16, 2017-March 4, 2018. The survey of Rakowitz&#39;s work&nbsp;will feature a new commission along with&nbsp;Enemy Kitchen,&nbsp;Spoils&nbsp;and&nbsp;The Invisible Enemy Should Not Exist.

Read CGN&#39;s review of Michael Rakowitz&#39;s 2016 exhibition <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/news/2016/6/the-flesh-is-yours-the-bones-are-ours">The Flesh Is Yours, The Bones Are Ours</a>, which was on display at <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/galleries/rhona-hoffman-gallery--2">Rhona Hoffman Gallery</a> and the <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/institutions/graham-foundation-for-advanced-studies-in-the-fine-arts">Graham Foundation</a>.

Top image:&nbsp;Michael Rakowitz, Lamassu maquette,&nbsp;2016. Courtesy of the artist and Rhona Hoffman Gallery.

Chicago-based artist Michael Rakowitz was selected for the UK's Fourth Plinth program and the MCA Chicago announced a major survey of his work for fall 2017.

Michael Rakowitz Selected for Public Art Commission in London & MCA Chicago Announces Major Survey of His Work

In recognition of Chicago&rsquo;s &ldquo;Year of Public Art,&rdquo; Chicago Gallery News is featuring a series of articles chronicling milestones of public art in Chicago. The first in the series looks at the unlikely connections between Yoko Ono&#39;s Skylanding and the Art Institute of Chicago&#39;s bronze lions.

By FRANCK MERCURIO

Just south of the Museum of Science and Industry, on Wooded Island in Jackson Park, sits one of Chicago&rsquo;s newest works of public art. Unveiled this past October, Yoko Ono&rsquo;s Skylanding (2016) occupies the site of the Japanese Pavilion and Osaka Garden created for the 1893 World&rsquo;s Columbian Exposition. The pavilion is long gone (destroyed by arsonists in 1946), but a resurrected version of the original garden remains. Here, Ono installed a sculptural composition consisting of 12 large stainless steel &ldquo;petals&rdquo; (each 12 feet tall), which suggest a giant lotus flower emerging from the earth. The work is part memorial, part peace gesture, and part ode to Chicago&mdash;the city that &ldquo;blossomed&rdquo; after the Great Fire, rising up from the marshy shores of Lake Michigan.

<img alt="" data-caption="Members of Thodos Dance Chicago performing at the unveiling ceremony of Yoko Ono's &lt;i&gt;Skylanding&lt;/i&gt; © Diane Hutchinson Reilly / Courtesy of Thodos Dance Chicago" data-rich-file-id="1897" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1897/original/skylanding-8.jpg" />

Like most works of public sculpture in Chicago, the location of Skylanding is no accident. It is situated where Chicago&rsquo;s tradition of great public art first got its start more than 120 years ago. In 1893, Jackson Park hosted the World&#39;s Fair and the &ldquo;White City,&rdquo; a showcase of late 19th-century art, architecture, and urban planning. Fair officials commissioned dozens of American artists to create sculptures that complemented the fairgrounds&#39; Beaux-Arts buildings. Perhaps best remembered is Daniel Chester French&rsquo;s monumental Statue of the Republic (1891&ndash;1893), which dominated the fair&rsquo;s Great Basin. A smaller version&mdash;24 feet tall&mdash;stands in Jackson Park today, a testament to the fair&#39;s artistic ambitions.&nbsp;

<img alt="" data-caption="Edward Clark Potter, &lt;i&gt;Statue of Industry&lt;/i&gt; (foreground) and Daniel Chester French, &lt;i&gt;Statue of the Republic&lt;/i&gt; (background) © The Field Museum, GN85649c" data-rich-file-id="1906" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1906/original/gn85649c.jpg" />

For many Chicagoans, the World&rsquo;s Columbian Exposition provided a vision of how art could be integrated into an urban setting. Outside the major exhibition buildings, fairgoers walked among sculptures of mammals native to North America&mdash;bison, elk, moose, bears, and mountain lions&mdash;sculpted by Edward Kemeys and Alexander Phimister Proctor. Both artists specialized in depicting wildlife, having spent considerable time observing and hunting animals out West, learning first hand their behaviors, movements, and anatomies. It was an amazing spectacle for visitors to see these life-like &ldquo;charismatic beasts&rdquo; flanking bridges, walkways, and building entrances.

<img alt="" data-caption="Edward Kemeys, &lt;i&gt;Bison&lt;/i&gt;, Brooklyn Museum, S03i2190l01" data-rich-file-id="1907" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1907/original/s03i2190l01-sl1-1.jpg" />

It&rsquo;s no surprise, then, that the Art Institute of Chicago commissioned Kemeys to create the famous African lions that guard the museum&rsquo;s Michigan Avenue entrance. Unveiled in May 1894&mdash;six months after the Exposition closed&mdash;the Art Institute lions were modeled after a pair originally displayed outside the fair&rsquo;s Palace of Fine Arts. Kemeys and his wife Laura (a noted sculptor in her own right) created these temporary lions from staff, a mixture of plaster and plant fibers. After being cast in bronze for the Art Institute, the lion figures achieved a kind of immortality. Today, they rival the city&rsquo;s Picasso sculpture in popularity, decked out with wreaths for the Christmas season and professional sports helmets during championship playoffs.&nbsp;

<img alt="" data-caption="World’s Columbian Exposition, sculpture, Chicago, IL, 1891-1893. Edward Kemeys and Laura Kemeys. World’s Columbian Exposition Photographs by C. D. Arnold, 1891-1894, Ryerson and Burnham Archives, The Art Institute of Chicago. Digital File #198902.02_036-112." data-rich-file-id="1908" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1908/original/198902-02-036-112.jpg" />

Up until the 1890s, Chicago&rsquo;s public sculpture consisted mainly of monuments and memorials confined to the city&rsquo;s parks and cemeteries. But the Art Institute lions broke that mold (so to speak) and served as the first real examples of public art displayed in the city center where all passers-by could see. Florence Lathrop Field Page paid for the Art Institute commission in memory of her late first husband Henry Field (one of Marshall Field&rsquo;s brothers), and with this commission, she established the precedent of public art patronage in Chicago by wealthy citizens and family foundations, a tradition that lives on today with such projects as Millennium Park&rsquo;s Crown Fountain.

<img alt="" data-caption="Marquette Building Lobby © 2007 John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation" data-rich-file-id="1905" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1905/original/marquette-building-3-720x563-72-rgb.jpg" />

In 1895, a year after Kemeys&rsquo; bronze lions were unveiled, Owen Aldis, the developer of the Marquette Building (now home to the MacArthur Foundation) took public art in Chicago a step further by incorporating mosaics and sculptural reliefs into his latest commercial building. Aldis commissioned works by Louis Comfort Tiffany, Edward Kemeys, Herman Atkins MacNeil, and Amy Aldis Bradley to adorn the fa&ccedil;ade and lobby of his new Loop office building. Today, you can still see the Marquette Building&rsquo;s opulent mosaics and bronze reliefs, inspired by the artistic examples set by the 1893 World&rsquo;s Fair, the international event that kicked-off the great tradition of public art in Chicago and paved the way for the future installation of Ono&#39;s&nbsp;Skylanding.

Up next: Franck Mercurio explores the connections between three large-scale installations in the southern end of Grant Park including&nbsp;Augustus Saint-Gaudens&#39; General John Logan, Magdalena Abakanowicz&#39;s Agora, and&nbsp;Tony Tasset&#39;s Artists Monument.

Top image:&nbsp;Edward Kemeys,&nbsp;Lions. Bronze with Green patina. Gift of Mrs. Henry Field, 1898.1a-b. The Art Institute of Chicago. The lions are the registered trademarks of the Art Institute of Chicago.

<span style="border-top-left-radius: 2px; border-top-right-radius: 2px; border-bottom-right-radius: 2px; border-bottom-left-radius: 2px; text-indent: 20px; width: auto; padding: 0px 4px 0px 0px; text-align: center; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: bold; font-size: 11px; line-height: 20px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-image: url(data:image/svg+xml;base64,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); background-size: 14px 14px; background-color: rgb(189, 8, 28); position: absolute; opacity: 1; z-index: 8675309; display: none; cursor: pointer; border: none; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; top: 258px; left: 27px; background-position: 3px 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;">Save<span style="border-top-left-radius: 2px; border-top-right-radius: 2px; border-bottom-right-radius: 2px; border-bottom-left-radius: 2px; text-indent: 20px; width: auto; padding: 0px 4px 0px 0px; text-align: center; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: bold; font-size: 11px; line-height: 20px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-image: url(data:image/svg+xml;base64,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); background-size: 14px 14px; background-color: rgb(189, 8, 28); position: absolute; opacity: 1; z-index: 8675309; display: none; cursor: pointer; border: none; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; top: 258px; left: 27px; background-position: 3px 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;">Save

Chicago Gallery News explores the unlikely connections between Yoko Ono's Skylanding and the Art Institute of Chicago's bronze lions.