<html><head></head><body><figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418887/ay3b0wdah4hal35zhpjy.webp"><figcaption>“Kerry and Cheryl I,” 1993. In these larger format Polaroid works in the early ’90s, Bey photographed friends and members of his artistic community, including Kerry James Marshall and Cheryl Lynn Bruce.Credit...Dawoud Bey/Rennie Collection Via NYT</figcaption></figure><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/29/arts/design/dawoud-bey-whitney-museum-review.html?referringSource=articleShare">A Photographer Looks Deep Into America’s Past</a>Before he became a photographer, Dawoud Bey trained as a jazz percussionist, looking to John Coltrane as a role model for melding craft with a commitment to social justice. As a teenager in the 1960s, Bey was finely attuned to the social and political upheavals of the civil rights movement, staging sit-ins and demonstrations with his high school classmates and joining the Black Panther Party, whose newspaper he sold on the weekends. By 1968, the struggle for racial equality was converging with demonstrations against the war in Vietnam and the early stages of women’s liberation, forming a pattern of transformation and upheaval that culminated with the assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.Via NY Times&nbsp;<a href="https://news.artnet.com/art-world/eli-broad-obituary-1963834?utm_content=from_&amp;utm_source=Sailthru&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=US%2010%20a.m.%20newsletter%20for%205%2F3%2F21&amp;utm_term=US%20Daily%20Newsletter%20%5BMORNING%5D">Eli Broad, the Proudly ‘Unreasonable’ Art Collector Who Changed the Cultural Landscape of Los Angeles, Dies at 87</a>Billionaire art collector, philanthropist, and entrepreneur Eli Broad—a towering figure in the cultural scene of the United States, and most of all, in his adopted hometown of Los Angeles—has died at 87. His reign culminated with the founding of the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.thebroad.org/">Broad</a>, a contemporary art museum showcasing the collection he and his wife, Edythe Broad, built together, which opened in 2015.Via Artnet&nbsp;<a href="https://www.chicagotribune.com/columns/ryan-ori/ct-biz-randolph-street-market-second-lost-summer-chicago-ryan-ori-20210430-xvsk4adt2zakjpip2ftanas4qi-story.html">Randolph Street Market is back — but this summer, it’s not on Randolph Street. It’s not even in Chicago.</a>After losing last summer to a pandemic, anyone itching to browse the wares offered by vendors at Chicago’s longstanding Randolph Street Market will have to make a road trip.The reason why boils down to one word synonymous with the Fulton Market district these days: construction.The 18-year-old market is moving to Three Oaks, Michigan, for the next few months while its Chicago home, the Plumbers Hall at 1341 W. Randolph St., becomes a construction zone.Via Chicago Tribune&nbsp;<a href="https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/black-creativity-museum-of-science-and-industry/Content?oid=88316675">Black creatives never stopped creating</a>&nbsp;At this year's "Black Creativity Juried Art Exhibition," [at the <a href="https://www.msichicago.org/explore/whats-here/exhibits/black-creativity-juried-art-exhibition/">Museum of Science and Industry</a>] two works by artist Lexus Giles—titled She's Healed and She is Me—invite visitors into the gallery that houses much of the exhibition's sculptures."I'm a storyteller," Giles says. "Those busts came from a poem [I wrote] called 'Tribulations of a Black Woman,' and there are actually three other pieces along with it that kind of broke down that poem."Via Chicago Reader&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</body></html>

What We're Reading: May 3

<html><head></head><body>&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418887/o6fhj4djxr8d1ub2os2h.jpg"></figure><a href="LoopChicago.com/SundaysOnState">Sundays On State This Summer&nbsp;</a>Chicago Loop Alliance is launching an ambitious open streets project called Sundays on State that would see parts of State Street in the Loop closed to vehicle traffic for up to 12 Sundays this summer. The organization is inviting members of the community to get involved and share their ideas.In an effort to bring people safely back to the Loop, Chicago Loop Alliance will transform State Street from Madison to Lake into an open street on Sundays beginning July 11. For up to 12 Sundays, Chicago Loop Alliance will close this portion of the street to vehicle traffic to give pedestrians a chance to experience arts and culture, active recreation, retail, restaurants and bars against the backdrop of State Street’s iconic architecture. The closures will last from 7 a.m.-11 p.m., and the event itself will take place from 11 a.m.-8 p.m.&nbsp;<a href="https://chicagoarchitecturebiennial.org/current_edition/contributors?mc_cid=9a1836633f&amp;mc_eid=a673b99cd7">The Chicago Architecture Biennial (CAB)&nbsp; announced the initial list of contributors</a>The CAB announced the initial list of 29 contributors bring global design perspectives from cities around the world such as Cape Town, Caracas, Chicago, Copenhagen, Dublin, Paris, Basel, Tokyo, and more.&nbsp; For the 2021 edition, Brown has paired teams of&nbsp;global designers and Chicago community groups&nbsp;together to explore imaginative uses of vacant spaces in the city. Each pairing will respond to critical issues such as health, sustainability, equity, and racial justice.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.spudnikpress.org/event/the-hashbrown-re-hash-virtual-event-cookbook-launch/">Spudnik Press Cooperative is &nbsp;hosting The Hashbrown Rehash: Virtual Event and Cookbook Launch May 7</a>For the first time in “Hashbrown history,” Spudnik Press is moving their popular party into home kitchens with an exciting virtual event and a commemorative cookbook!Please join Spudnik as they continue to celebrate our tradition of enjoying food while raising funds for arts education and accessible printmaking.&nbsp;<a href="https://dnyuz.com/2021/04/29/new-david-hockney-billboards-to-brighten-4-cities-in-may/">New David Hockney Billboards to Brighten 4 Cities in May</a>Two suns will appear in four cities during the month of May — the real sun in the sky, of course, but also the chrysanthemum-like depiction of it in a video by the British artist <a href="https://www.hockney.com/home">David Hockney</a>. The 2½-minute animation will be broadcast on digital billboards in Times Square in New York and prominent locations in London, Tokyo and Seoul.&nbsp;&nbsp;</body></html>

What We're Reading: 4/29

<html><head></head><body><figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418887/o0flruxy8rsfzse3vemm.png"></figure><a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/just-above-my-wall-to-the-right">Just Above My Wall, (To The Right)</a>Opening: Saturday, May 1, noon – 3&nbsp;pmSouth Side Community Art CenterDuring a time when Black artists and their work is in high demand, McKissick chose to highlight Black collectors who are invested in the preservation of Black art, much like the South Side Community Art Center’s mission and legacy. Collector, Tracie Hall, describes her collection as “living with the ancestors.”&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418888/gzybvq9p312e7sbobhpw.jpg"></figure><a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/flower-power">Flower Power</a>Opening: Saturday, May 1, 2 – 4&nbsp;pmVale Craft GalleryVale Craft Gallery welcomes spring with a group exhibition of artwork with the theme of flowers by Chicago area artists.&nbsp; Discover colorful paintings, sculptures, and functional ceramics to lift your mood and brighten your home decor.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418889/qgwn5euwxe53tebjbmvt.jpg"></figure><a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/color-splurge">Color Splurge</a>Opening: Saturday, May 1, 1 – 4&nbsp;pmHofheimer GalleryMauricio Ramirez's&nbsp;artwork is a contribution to the community; frequently a cultural icon that transcends rich intersecting historical and popular culture references that speak to the complex diaspora of the United States. The visibility of culture can lead to not only the growth of confidence, but also care within our communities.Sheri Rush's work responds to the global pandemic by exploring the relationship of personal history, landscape, the digital image and recollection.&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418889/o4st4awl5wq9hdslvrnc.png"></figure><a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/shan-wallace-erin-mitchell-duo-show-won-t-you-celebrate-with-me">Shan Wallace &amp; Erin Mitchell Duo Show: won’t you celebrate with me</a>May 1 – June 27FLXST ContemporaryIn this duo exhibition of two emerging contemporary Black women artists, there is a generative connection to Marx's "poetry about the future" to renowned Black poet Lucille Clifton's poem "wont you celebrate with me” that speaks to a racial and gendered self and the shaping of lives to these experiences.&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418890/fzdpyjvsqurabzawlv4n.jpg"></figure><a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/louis-masai-meat-my-friends">Louis Masai: MEAT my Friends</a>Opening: Saturday, May 1, 11&nbsp;am – 6&nbsp;pmVertical GalleryThis one-of-a-kind exhibit also features a custom-built chicken-coop installation titled ‘What came first?’ complete with webcam-enabled, remote-control chickens — developed by Louis in collaboration with artist and creative engineer RoboJ — letting viewers experience the show and explore the gallery setting in real time from the comforts of home.&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418891/gdxsfjr0crzuxsh9qgmx.jpg"></figure><a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/jeanette-may-s-tech-vanitas">Jeanette May’s: Tech Vanitas</a>Opening: Saturday, May 1, 4 – 5&nbsp;pmARC GalleryJeanette May’s “Tech Vanitas” photographs embrace anxiety over new technology and love for beautifully designed, obsolete machines. Her still lifes suggest 17th Century Dutch vanitas paintings with their air of craft guilds, international trade, and personal wealth. Her carefully disheveled arrangements of familiar devices also allude to product photography and advertising. “Tech Vanitas” examines the present and the past of technology with a sense of wonder and trepidation.&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418892/haxcixmhgsiwnv4sygig.jpg"></figure><a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/cat-crotchet-tethered">Cat Crotchet: Tethered</a>Opening: Saturday, May 1, 2 – 6&nbsp;pmAddington GalleryCat Crotchet is an innovative practitioner of pattern-based abstract painting. Using the medium of wax and pigment (encaustic painting), Cat's visual vocabulary includes stenciled shapes, layered patterns, and burned-in texture accomplished using heated metal much like a branding iron. Cat uses a bold but sophisticated color sense to engage the eye, and creates a sense of complexity through built up textures and layering.&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418893/kduxwsidwssx395m35zi.jpg"></figure><a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/before-during-after-new-works-by-janis-pozzi-johnson">BEFORE DURING AFTER –&nbsp;New works by Janis Pozzi-Johnson</a>Opening: Saturday, May 1, 1 – 4&nbsp;pmMcCormick Gallery&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</body></html>

New Exhibitions Start May 1st

<html><head></head><body><a href="https://www.artnews.com/art-news/market/armory-show-2021-exhibitor-list-1234590820/?fbclid=IwAR3ld2RAZkC4oEVhl3XQuks0Q58uX-FmU_CrhYixtnTxBIl3A_BsVRYU-vs">With Numbers on Par with 2020 Edition, Armory Show Names Galleries for In-Person 2021&nbsp;Fair</a>As large-scale, in-person events begin to resume in the United States, the Armory Show in New York, one of the country’s biggest art fairs, said it plans to gather together 195 exhibitors at its new home, the Javits Center. The fair is due to take place from September 9–12, 2021.Participants from Chicago include: Kavi Gupta, Rhona Hoffman, Mariane Ibrahim, Monique Meloche, Carrie Secrist, DOCUMENT and PATRONVia Artnews&nbsp;<a href="https://rivernorthdesigndistrict.com/designers/">The River North Design District Gallery Walk is Planned for September 2021</a>The River North Design District (RNDD) is proud to announce the 6th Annual River North Design District Fall Gallery Walk on Friday, September 10th, 2021. This year showrooms will feature a variety of fine artists and designer vignettes along with special events throughout River North.Each participating showroom and art gallery will be exhibiting artwork created by artists working today. This year Chicago’s top designers will be selecting their favorite art and creating inspirational vignettes in each of the participating showrooms.The 2021 lineup begins with a VIP kickoff party at Calia Stone Boutique at 5:30pm featuring design vignette and work curated by Yamini Designs and Interiors by Francesca. Headline artist is Linc Thelen also featuring art from philanthropic partner Aspire Art360. The walk concludes with an after party hosted by 210 Design House and PROjECT. interiors with artist Pat Sansone and philanthropic partner Digs with Dignity from 8-10pm. Participating showrooms include TOTO, 210 Design House, ARMAZEM.design, Artists Frame Service, Bulthaup, Daltile, Kohler Signature Store, Studio 41, eggersmann, Orizzonti, Ligne Roset, Oscar Isberian, Calia Stone Boutique, Roca and Chicago Luxury Beds. Information on special events in showrooms to follow.&nbsp;<a href="https://chicagoartistscoalition.org/resources/cac-grants/coney-family-fund?utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=Chicago%20Artists%20Coalition%20Announces%20Additional%20CONEY%20Grant%20for%202021&amp;utm_content=Chicago%20Artists%20Coalition%20Announces%20Additional%20CONEY%20Grant%20for%202021+CID_3be9e3e1243c7869a48d83f0e539fd87&amp;utm_source=campaign%20monitor&amp;utm_term=here">Chicago Artists Coalition Announces Another Coney Family Fund Award</a>Since 2017, CAC and the Coney Family have&nbsp;annually awarded one unrestricted grant of $5,000 to an outstanding visual artist&nbsp;in the city of Chicago who identifies as Black or African-American. Now in its fifth year, the prestigious and highly competitive Coney Family Fund will award two unrestricted grant of $5,000 each providing more direct support to Chicago artists.CAC will celebrate the two awardees for the Coney Family Fund during CAC's virtual benefit, WORK IN PROGRESS on Wednesday, June 9, 2021.&nbsp;&nbsp;Application&nbsp;for the Coney Family Fund Award program&nbsp;opens on&nbsp;April&nbsp;26, 2021&nbsp;and more information about the program can be found <a href="https://news.chicagoartistscoalition.org/t/i-l-mkyyda-dlvzir-r/">here</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://www.artprize.org/for-artists/details#artists-artist-registration">ArtPrize Registation Open</a><a href="https://artprize.us8.list-manage.com/track/click?u=568226b22d477264c2318619f&amp;id=681db95e4e&amp;e=4296d6b5b0">Artist registration</a> opened on Monday, April 19, 2021 for the eleventh iteration of ArtPrize, to take place in Grand Rapids, Michigan from September 16-October 3, 2021. Anyone over 18, working in any medium, from any place on earth is invited to enter their artwork into one of the world’s largest art competitions and to seek cash prizes totaling $250,000.&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418887/rl1dyuwhpi2pvyxehjm7.jpg"></figure><a href="https://www.redfin.com/IL/Chicago/237-E-Delaware-Pl-60611/unit-6B/home/174332419">237 E DELAWARE Pl Unit 6B - Art Filled for Sale @ $835K</a>Warning - this price is probably too good to be true in the era of bidding wars, but check out the interior photos to see works spotted by Dzine, as well as many objects that look like they may have come from SOFAVia Redfin/Sotheby's RE&nbsp;</body></html>

CGN Art World Recap: 4/27/21

<a href="https://www.fox32chicago.com/video/924184?fbclid=IwAR1H0LyxlrWhk4f-IfhyBfQtUITZmJpBjlCL0Pw0lGN9QUeLyrz01KS-74w">Illinois sculpture park in the running to be named No. 1 in the country</a>One of the nation's foremost collections of outdoor art is just 30 miles south of Chicago on the campus of Governors State University, and it's now in the running to be named the top sculptural park in the country.Via FOX 32&nbsp;<a href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/entertainment-and-culture/2021/4/20/22393862/chicago-arts-77-artists-grants-recovery-reopening-program?fbclid=IwAR0IEd7wbdEvjA8D93tOnN3HfW7GodHWfUyjZoZ7agUeX8CkXinwbYa2VI4">Chicago to spend $60 million to boost arts, artists</a>Chicago plans to spend at least $60 million to boost the arts and local artists citywide.The Arts 77 recovery and reopening program will focus on employing creative workers through city services and programs; increase public sector investments in the arts through financing and cultural policy; and expand involvement in the creative and cultural sector across the city’s 77 community areas.Via Chicago Sun Times&nbsp;<a href="https://rejournals.com/urban-infill-means-more-than-e-commerce-and-sometimes-public-art/">There’s more to urban infill than e-commerce—sometimes there’s public art</a>When Amazon announced plans to acquire a 70-acre site on Chicago’s Southwest Side for a future warehouse and distribution facility, the news underscored growing urban infill industrial demand. Creative developers and investors are navigating the complexity to bring urban infill projects to fruition for a diverse range of users. &nbsp;Via RE Journals&nbsp;<a href="https://www.redfin.com/IL/Chicago/2126-N-Lincoln-Park-W-60614/home/12698037?utm_source=myredfin&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=recommendations_update&amp;riftinfo=ZXY9ZW1haWwmbD00NTg1OTA2MiZwPWxpc3RpbmdfdXBkYXRlc19yZWNvbW1lbmRhdGlvbnMmYT1jbGljayZzPXJlY29tbWVuZGF0aW9ucyZ0PWltYWdlJmVtYWlsX2lkPTQ1ODU5MDYyXzE2MTkwMTc0MzJfNiZ1cGRhdGVfdHlwZT05JmxpbHJfc2NvcmU9MC40NDk1Jmxpc3RpbmdfaWQ9MTMxMDg3MTM5JnByb3BlcnR5X2lkPTEyNjk4MDM3JnBvc2l0aW9uX251bWJlcj01">Design-Y Penthouse For Sale at 2126 N Lincoln Park West for $4 mil.</a>Check out the view, and the kitchen...Via @properties&nbsp;

What We're Reading: 4/22

<html><head></head><body><figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418887/dlamf5zahyyqhzauwmg7.jpg"></figure><a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/open-studio-night-2b74cf4b-0712-44b8-a8e5-c92cddacb22c">Open Studio Night</a>Opening: Friday, April 23, 6 – 10&nbsp;pmDragonfly GalleryThis Open Studio Night at Dragonfly Gallery will take place during the 1st Annual Exhibition: Photographic Processes &amp; More. Masks are required and social distancing will be practiced.&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418888/inz2quq3xw9j0tvxvar7.jpg"></figure><a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/ebony-g-patterson">Ebony G. Patterson, Brittney Leeanne Williams, Layo Bright</a>Opening: Saturday, April 24, 11&nbsp;am – 6&nbsp;pmMonique Meloche Gallerymoniquemeloche is pleased to present&nbsp;an exhibition of new large-scale tapestries and hand-cut paper works by&nbsp;Ebony&nbsp;G. Patterson. This is her fifth solo show with the gallery. Emerging from the framework of her immersive post-colonial garden-like installations, Patterson’s recent practice further considers the rich, expansive possibilities&nbsp;of the garden – a space for life and death, a complex entanglement of race, gender, class, and violence.The gallery is excited to introduce&nbsp;Layo&nbsp;Bright&nbsp;(b. 1991, Lagos, Nigeria) who will present a series of new ceramic and pottery plaster sculptures in the gallery’s viewing room.&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418889/q4lpp8xkcfta5pwt1eh9.jpg"></figure><a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/water-the-plants">Water The Plants!</a>Exhibition Begins April 24Vertical GalleryThis special exhibition includes collaborative paintings between: Joseph Renda Jr. and: Collin Van Der Sluijs, Sergio Farfan, Steve Seeley, Jason Brammer, Karl Jahnke, Kate Lewis, Kayla Mahaffey, Wingchow, and Grant William Thye.&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418890/vj9yzqyfzlcwqi7tepwv.png"></figure><a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/manuel-mathieu-negroland-a-landscape-of-desires">Manuel Mathieu Negroland: A Landscape of Desires</a>Exhibition Begins April 24Kavi Gupta GalleryKavi Gupta presents Negroland: A Landscape of Desires, a solo exhibition of new paintings and ceramics by Haitian-born, Montreal-based artist Manuel Mathieu.Mathieu’s practice is guided by intuition and the unknown as much as by intellect and memory. He sees the artist’s studio as crucible—a container in which forces and pressures are exerted to transform materials and ideas. The work is not the end of the process; rather, it creates the circumstances for connections, perspectives, and relationships to come into being.&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418891/vsc2wt0ru5loikuoj5bv.jpg"></figure><a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/the-metamorphosis-of-gabriel-villa-d4c185cc-b899-4aad-bb74-098cdd03394d">The Metamorphosis of Gabriel Villa</a>Exhibition Begins April 26Hyde Park Art Center (HPAC)The Metamorphosis of Gabriel Villa introduces Villa’s new direction from painting into installation and clay sculpture created during his Jackman Goldwasser Residency at Hyde Park Art Center, along with previous paintings. Through an extensive studio and public art practice, Villa seeks to seamlessly translate the language of Mexican traditions and the personal, urban American experience into charged intimate narratives. Villa’s subjects are ever evolving but always concentrate on psychological and social inequity in the multifaceted contemporary world.&nbsp;&nbsp;</body></html>

New Exhibitions Start April 23 - 26

<a href="https://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/ct-ent-architecture-biennale-uic-chicago-20210419-qtwnyix4dfd6dprdumrexq6qou-story.html">UIC architecture team is creating U.S. entry to Venice Biennale, and it’s all about how Chicago invented the way Americans build houses</a>The wooden framing for houses would seem like an unlikely thing to elevate into art. It’s utilitarian and basic, the common sight of American suburbia — pine, lumber, another house going up for another family. Maybe a little hopeful if seen in that light, but otherwise about as exciting as your local Home Depot.Wood framing will be the subject of this year’s American entry into the prestigious Venice Architecture Biennale, the global showcase for architectural thought held every other year in Italy — this summer’s a year delayed by the pandemic. The title of the U.S. Pavilion will be “American Framing,” created and curated by architects and educators Paul Andersen and Paul Preissner as part of a project now being assembled with the help of students at the University of Illinois at Chicago.Via Chicago Tribune&nbsp;<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/museums/how-a-rock-wall-and-pool-of-water-have-thrown-a-wrench-into-the-redesign-of-hirshhorn-sculpture-garden/2021/04/16/010babfa-9ec6-11eb-b7a8-014b14aeb9e4_story.html?fbclid=IwAR3cCkyw98OaTabg_F4lb65L4gp98dLfUFqtdON9X0rCwaZSVQC3PIzLaLE">How a rock wall and pool of water have thrown a wrench into the redesign of Hirshhorn Sculpture Garden</a>The rhetoric around the Smithsonian’s renovation of the Hirshhorn Museum’s sculpture garden is officially heated.There were reports last month, amplified by a group opposed to key elements of the project, that artist and designer Hiroshi Sugimoto had threatened to quit. Sugimoto had told the Art Newspaper that he would resign if the museum did not accept a “key part of the redesign.” But that was in the context of an article in which he stressed his collaborative role with his predecessors on a garden that has evolved over the years.Via Washington Post&nbsp;<a href="https://news.artnet.com/the-art-angle/art-angle-podcast-dawoud-bey-1959107">The Art Angle Podcast: How Photographer Dawoud Bey Makes Black America Visible</a>This month, the murder trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin for the death of George Floyd has brought the racial justice protests of the last summer viscerally back into the public consciousness, reigniting conversations in the news and in households everywhere about the reality of the Black experience in America.This weekend, those same conversations will also have a powerful new point of focus at the Whitney Museum of American Art, where a retrospective of the photographer Dawoud Bey presents his magisterial exploration of the subject, in the form of his penetrating portraits of Black lives from all points on the national compass. Ranging in registers from jubilation to agony, to ingenious self-invention, to blissed-out hope, the show is curated by Elizabeth Sherman and SFMoMA curator Corey Keller.Via Artnet Art AngleKey photo: Dawoud Bey, portrait by: Whitten Sabatini. Courtesy of the artist.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.artnews.com/art-news/market/sothebys-monet-water-lilies-painting-may-2021-1234590123/">Sotheby’s to Sell $40 M. Monet Water Lilies Painting in&nbsp;May</a>In a dramatic close to Sotheby’s modern art evening sale in Hong Kong on Sunday, vice chairman Brooke Lampley unveiled a large-scale <a href="https://www.artnews.com/t/claude-monet/">Claude Monet</a> water lilies painting to the live-streamed auction’s audience. That work, titled Le Bassin aux Nymphéas, is itself now going to be sold by the house. It will hit the block at Sotheby’s New York Impressionist and modern art evening sale on May 12, where it is expected to fetch $40 million.via Artnews&nbsp;

What We're Reading: 4/19

<html><head></head><body><figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418881/hwjol4xx6daoituro29x.jpg"></figure><a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/christy-matson-12-recent-works">Christy Matson: 12 Recent Works</a>Exhibition Begins April 16&nbsp;Volume GalleryIn this new body of work, Matson paints the threads of both warp and weft, building layers of color that intersect in the weaving, interrupted by bubbles of painted paper yarn that burst up from its surface. Her artworks are washed in color where dye permeates fiber, bleeding from thread to thread to blur the grid on which they are organized, with subtle gradations flushing into sudden shades. Matson’s freedom with color highlights her interest in both constraint and precision.&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418882/wmn4ilzpximswr0omcpi.jpg"></figure><a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/michelle-bolinger">Michelle Bolinger</a>Exhibition Begins April 16&nbsp;Paris London Hong KongChicago-based painter Michelle Bolinger creates abstract paintings that investigate modes of seeing and oscillate between the surface and three-dimensionality. Layering and then taking away many thin layers of paint, Bollinger builds a multi-layered surface that is then interrupted with flat areas of color or defined geometric forms to create an optical surface tension.&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418883/lhis1lg5js5jcm7isusu.png"></figure><a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/boundaries">Boundaries</a>Exhibition Begins April 16&nbsp;Woman Made GalleryBoundaries&nbsp;explores modern digital and physical boundary setting as we emerge from global pandemic conditions.&nbsp;While many new physical boundaries have been defined for us, other boundaries were left to be defined. &nbsp;This exhibition considers the magnitude of this particular moment, as well as conceptual dimensions and negotiations of boundaries broadly, and as particularly experienced by womxn and non-binary individuals.&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418883/yo0yvmpoimhhvej8tyrv.jpg"></figure><a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/paul-mpagi-sepuya-bd907de6-3c97-490d-96a2-ac3ebc64e7b4">Paul Mpagi Sepuya</a>Exhibition Begins April 16&nbsp;DOCUMENT&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418884/kbuyhg1wvssen0ir97vm.jpg"></figure><a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/ryan-travis-christian">Ryan Travis Christian</a>Exhibition Begins April 16&nbsp;Western ExhibitionsRyan Travis Christian’s 1990s suburban Chicago upbringing offered up absurd experiences, which he uses as fuel for the surreal personal narratives in his pop-culture-influenced graphite drawings. Impacted by Chicago-style figuration, Christian focuses on the paradoxical relationship between childish cartoons and ominous messages, musing on the technological and material obsolescence of his inspiration. Vintage political cartoons and hand-drawn animation influence Christian’s detailed vignettes—namely from Ub Iwerks, George Condo, and the Hairy Who—Christian comes to terms with his sources’ sordid pasts while embracing their richness and flavor.&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418884/f36q0sfxglje9k6q6zze.png"></figure><a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/milwaukee-s-spring-gallery-night-and-day">Milwaukee's Spring Gallery Night and Day</a>Exhibition Begins April 16 – 17Lily Pad | West&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418885/wujjzu62wavjfdawhlv5.jpg"></figure><a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/american-roulette">American Roulette</a>&nbsp;Opening: Friday, April 16, 6 – 9&nbsp;pmEpiphany Center for the Arts&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418886/me5uc5aiosn2fk4xkpdp.jpg"></figure><a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/damon-locks-then-x-enters">Damon Locks: Then X Enters</a>Opening: Saturday, April 17, noon – 4&nbsp;pmGoldfinch&nbsp;At the onset of the pandemic, away from his studio and most of his materials during lockdown, Damon Locks found himself needing to make work in ways that were outside his normal path. As an electronic sound-maker, one of the most important tools in Locks’s toolbox is his sampler, which is used to create sound pieces out of collected parts. This echoes how he builds visual images. Digital and screen printing are well-trodden parts of his artistic practice, and Locks regularly uses his computer to compile, construct, and reconstruct images, tweaking them until ready for display. But now, struck with the desire to create and without access to the computer as conveyance, he began to rely on the tools at hand. Ink, brush, bamboo pen, paint, scissors, glue, drawing and tracing paper stepped in where digital design programs once stood.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</body></html>

New Exhibitions Start April 16 – 17

<html><head></head><body><figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721417789/qrjqhz8b6vbijhh5hevo.jpg"></figure><a href="https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/daily-southtown/ct-sta-artist-david-csicsko-st-0413-20210412-ijhgkg3wifchpfpkkkiakcwkx4-story.html?fbclid=IwAR33zuIDmHCs_ts035BSDjmIZ-f48Z_zF0L0KeQ_HqT-uZw7xLdcfZQ2ZQg">David Lee Csicsko spent part of pandemic creating free coloring sheets to do while sheltering at home</a>The artwork of David Lee Csicsko brings smiles to people’s faces. His bold, bright creations add cheerfulness to every subject he interprets, no matter how somber the topic.Take the lives of saints. Most people grew up with holy cards and statues that depict saints in their martyrdom and perfect holiness, as exceptional people to revere in a detached, superhuman way.Csicsko takes a different approach. Enthralled with the saints since he was a child, his playful images make them human and approachable, inviting viewers to learn more about them and to embrace their messages.Via Chicago Tribune(Read CGN's 2020 interview with Csicsko <a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/news/2020/7/artist-david-lee-csicsko-lends-graphic-talents-to-benefit-healthcare-heroes">here</a>)&nbsp;<a href="https://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/ct-ent-nft-artist-chicago-20210322-6w2cp5skjrg27ig4vstqfhnb54-story.html?utm_source=&amp;utm_medium=&amp;utm_term=&amp;utm_content=&amp;utm_campaign=VAP&amp;fbclid=IwAR2mus2FHNRWFehlWLN-9xBez4RF7ebwQMXvtB_AF3t73jtozG41xemmEzw">What is NFT art? Chicago artists explain the goldrush, as one collection by Beeple brings in $69 million</a>Sara Ludy could buy her own island.Maybe. Possibly. Assuming everything goes the way it has lately for digital artists selling their work right now in the form of non-fungible tokens, or NFTs. Maybe then. <a href="https://www.saraludy.com/">Ludy has spent</a> a couple of decades creating digital art and virtual-reality pieces and teaching the brave new world of new media at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago; last spring, after years in the city, she left Chicago for her dream state, New Mexico. She’s a significant figure in digital art. She’s not wading into NFTs to get rich quick. And frankly who knows if she even wants an island?Via Chicago Tribune&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/collectors-eye-they-built-a-world-class-collection-of-black-artists-work-who-are-they-acquiring-now-11594828483?mod=hp_featst_pos4">From July 2020: Collector’s Eye: They Built a World-Class Collection of Black Artists’ Work. Who Are They Acquiring Now?</a>With the <a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/news/2021/4/cgn-art-world-recap-april-6">news today</a> that the Art Institute of Chicago has a new chair of the Board of Trustees, Denise Gardner, we pulled up this article we were reading last summer.Ms. Gardner, the vice-chairman of the board at the Art Institute of Chicago, said she recently walked into the room at home where she has long displayed the masters of the collection—and realized every artist was a Black man. She had bought a couple of major works by Black women lately, so she resolved to add these artists to the main room, thereby allowing Black women to share the spotlight.Via WSJ&nbsp;<a href="https://news.artnet.com/art-world/gardner-heist-netflix-documentary-1957735?utm_content=from_&amp;utm_source=Sailthru&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=US%20News%20Morning%204/13/21&amp;utm_term=US%20Daily%20Newsletter%20%5BMORNING%5D">An Explosive Netflix Documentary About the $500 Million Isabella Stewart Gardner Heist Names the Gangsters Who May Have Done It</a>“This was a solvable crime,” Colin Barnicle, director of the <a href="https://news.artnet.com/art-world/gardner-heist-docuseries-netflix-1951491">new Netflix documentary series</a> <a href="https://www.netflix.com/title/81032570">This Is a Robbery: The World’s Biggest Art Heist</a>, told Artnet News.But more than three decades after the most expensive art theft in U.S. history, Boston’s <a href="https://www.gardnermuseum.org/">Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum</a>’s stolen paintings are still missing, with their empty frames hanging on the walls of the Venetian-style palazzo.Via Artnet&nbsp;</body></html>

What We're Reading: 4/13

<html><head></head><body><figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418881/ollhcab8aoubpgrb91wc.jpg"></figure>Gallery Chat: SaraNoa MarkFriday, April 9, 12 – 4&nbsp;pmGoldfinchSaraNoa Mark on-site gallery chat on Friday, April 9th, 12-4pm. Book your appointment now to visit the exhibition; the artist is available to answer questions and&nbsp;give casual walk-throughs.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418882/wlqkagqzavk6tlhtfyvo.jpg"></figure>USUAL OBJECTS Panel DiscussionFriday, April 9, 5 – 6&nbsp;pmCarrie Secrist GalleryIn addition to our virtual booth for EXPO CHGO, the gallery will be hosting a special panel discussion featuring the participating artists in our current exhibition USUAL OBJECTS. The panel discussion will further examine contemporary still life in the current context of the coronavirus pandemic against the&nbsp;historic backdrop of the still life genre.&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418883/vd3otgltzi77wya8yonh.png"></figure>Seeing Double: Mughal Reflections in South Asian ArtSaturday, April 10, 9 – 11&nbsp;amSouth Asia InstituteThis class will provide both historical and current perspectives on South Asia’s imperial past. ‘Reflecting’ on the Mughals is pivotal to the way India and Pakistan envision their nations – and grapple with their (post)colonial history.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418884/mndbdeonlwk7eq4iquyn.jpg"></figure>In Conversation with the ArtistsSaturday, April 10, 3 – 4&nbsp;pmEat Paint StudioPlease join me for our second conversation with Claire Elliott, Vanessa Shinmoto, and Alexandra Stevenson this Saturday, April 10, from 3-4PM CST. We'll talk more about color, process, and maybe dive into philosophical meanderings about the value of art. The virtual talk will take place via Zoom.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418885/wuxmwd4thbkpra9ppdim.png"></figure>Artist Talk: Jill MagidSaturday, April 10, 6 – 7&nbsp;pmThe Renaissance SocietyFeaturing the premiere of a new film and other new works, Jill Magid’s Tender: Balance at the Renaissance Society thinks about the circulation of pennies, against the backdrop of the pandemic, and measures of absence and loss. With dimensions that both intimate and observant of larger systems around us, this exhibition both parallels and builds on a monumental but nearly invisible public artwork that Magid began in New York in fall 2020.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418886/al6reetakjfrp4bn6wki.png"></figure>Music for Self-care and HealingSunday, April 11, 2 – 3&nbsp;pmNorthern Illinois University (NIU) Art MuseumJen Conley, board certified music therapist and licensed professional counselor, will provide an overview of music therapy, share remarkable stories from her practice and provide suggestions on applying the healing powers of music in your own life.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</body></html>

Talks This Weekend: April 9 - 11

<html><head></head><body><figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721417762/gtpz1ygptpytrxgaykmt.jpg"></figure><a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/ellen-lanyon-a-bit-of-magic">Ellen Lanyon: A Bit of Magic</a>Exhibition begins April 8Gray&nbsp;Often discussed in relation to Surrealism and Magic Realism, Chicago painter and printmaker Ellen Lanyon (1926 - 2013) is celebrated for her fantastical and meticulously crafted still-life compositions. A reflection of her own private mythology, Lanyon's juxtapositions of exotic specimens from the natural world with everyday household objects subvert ideas of domesticity and offer mysterious new narratives both playful and sinister.&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721417763/adwb3dzjpc7pubgzosg4.jpg"></figure><a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/lust-love-and-loss-in-renaissance-europe">Lust, Love, and Loss in Renaissance Europe</a>Exhibition begins April 8Smart Museum of Art&nbsp;The objects on view—created for private homes and personal consumption—offer glimpses into the lives of artists and their audiences. Painters, printmakers, and craftsmen, inspired by popular literary sources including Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Boccaccio’s Decameron, and the Bible, interpreted their stories for everyday settings.&nbsp;Taken together, the works of art on display illuminate the many ways that objects lay at the heart of cultural rituals and consuming desires through which relationships were formed, celebrated, and extinguished.&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721417764/navd17gcuv0fn4ap0cnq.jpg"></figure><a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/momentum-moving-joyfully-forward">Momentum: Moving joyfully forward</a>Exhibition begins April 9Springboard Arts&nbsp;The emergence from a turbulent season can be a time of positive change, fueling momentum to keep moving forward. In our new exhibit, “Momentum,” the idea of moving forward with strength and purpose is depicted in the vibrant work of our artists and in the subject matter they address.&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721417765/mevirnifvv7rq9lr8eno.jpg"></figure><a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/space-chapter-one">Space: Chapter One</a>Exhibition begins April 9Oliva Gallery&nbsp;Organized by the Chicago-based Didaar Art Collective, this group show exhibits a selection of juried drawings and printmakings on the perception of space or the ideas(s) of alternative spaces by Iranian visual artists who live in Iran and beyond.&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721417766/rdohx8leokz3ck5iputq.png"></figure><a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/hurvin-anderson-anywhere-but-nowhere">Hurvin Anderson: Anywhere but Nowhere</a>Exhibition begins April 10Arts Club of Chicago&nbsp;In this new series of paintings, Anderson trains his eye on a section of wall from a seemingly insignificant building that is being overtaken by foliage. Working and reworking the composition in multiple sketches, transparencies and paintings, he invites introspection, as well as recognition of the destructive factors at work in such marked locations in the natural environment.&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721417767/bhicnmphhtergi8rb94m.jpg"></figure><a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/jill-magid-tender-balance">Jill Magid | Tender: Balance</a>Exhibition begins April 10The Renaissance Society&nbsp;As the pandemic began last year, the complex relationships between individuals, groups of people, institutions, and deeply-rooted systems quickly came into stark relief. Magid was especially struck by the way public figures weighed the loss of human lives against the supposed costs for the economy. Against this backdrop, she began developing a project that would take multiple forms over time, while centering on the circulation of pennies, as they’re exchanged by hand and within the economy at large.&nbsp; &nbsp; Featuring the premiere of a new film and other new works, Jill Magid's Tender: Balance at the Renaissance Society follows the movement of pennies and some of their afterlives, while thinking about absence, loss, and traces left behind. Reflecting her unique approach as an artist, the exhibition has aspects that are intimate and poetic while also observing broader systems around us—in this case the intertwining of the economy and the lives of individual people.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721417767/mfg9efglkl7piwm8luvd.jpg"></figure><a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/figures-faces">Figures / Faces&nbsp;</a>Exhibition begins April 10Evanston Art Center&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721417768/miensfzwformle2b3myv.jpg"></figure><a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/2021-mfa-candidates-thesis-exhibition">2021 MFA Candidates Thesis Exhibition</a>Exhibition begins April 10Snite Museum of Art&nbsp;This annual exhibition is comprised of the culminating thesis projects created by the students graduating from the three-year masters in fine arts degree program of the University of Notre Dame Department of Art, Art History &amp; Design.&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721417769/eonha6uoifnibxwosdlg.jpg"></figure><a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/is-this-real">Is This Real?</a>Exhibition begins April 10Gallery Studio Oh!&nbsp;A two-person exhibition featuring landscape and figurative paintings and drawings by Ellen Holtzblatt and imaginative, surreal gouache paintings and sculptures by Kathy Weaver. Through her paintings and drawings, Ellen Holtzblatt explores the profound connections between the physical and spiritual world. Kathy Weaveruses her imagination fired by buried memories and a love of technology to comment on the status quo. Both artists are on a journey to find meaningful coincidence that lead to a deeper connection with the universe.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</body></html>

New Exhibitions Start April 8 – 10

<html><head></head><body><figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418876/rchl9kccndskl4drwaza.jpg"></figure><a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/diane-arbus-a-secret-about-a-secret">Diane Arbus: A Secret about a Secret</a>Exhibition begins April 1Alan Koppel Gallery – NorthSeven iconic artworks by one of America's preeminent photographers, along with works by contemporary artists influenced by Arbus.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418876/dlcxcubs9vmpieechwfi.jpg"></figure><a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/joerg-metzner-missing-the-tree-at-greenwood-beach">Joerg Metzner | Missing: The Tree at Greenwood Beach</a>Exhibition begins April 2Perspective Group + Photography Gallery, Ltd.Metzner’s photography is narrative by nature, encompasses environmental portraits, landscape, documentary, editorial and fine art photography. Point him in any direction for a travel assignment and he will happily hit the road.&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418877/fzyg8s10cdppkjswor1f.jpg"></figure><a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/in-from-the-cold">In From The Cold</a>Exhibition begins April 2Carl Hammer GalleryIn From The Cold is a celebration of the self-taught brilliance of “outsider” art and artists, a recognition which the world art establishment was reluctant to make many years ago.&nbsp; Today, the modern art world as a whole recognizes, with high esteem, the achievements of the outsider artist.&nbsp; Their works have become iconic byproducts of and leave significant legacies to the American art experience itself.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418878/ukprijiepngz3jjbxwzp.jpg"></figure><a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/paula-blackwell-out-of-the-blue">Paula Blackwell: Out of the Blue</a>Opening: Saturday, Apr 3, 2021 2 – 6&nbsp;pmAddington GalleryPaula Blackwell is a leading artistic voice in the Pacific Northwest. Her emotionally charged, moody landscapes point as much towards our inner life as they do reference the natural world. Process leads the charge in her work as she manipulates layers of wax and pigment, exploiting the translucency of the materials to create a palpable sense of atmosphere, never becoming a slave to detail and illustration.&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418879/z92ptb67rg2bkys4ywr1.jpg"></figure><a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/now-and-then-paintings-by-joanna-pinsky">Now and Then: Paintings by Joanna Pinsky</a>Exhibition begins April 3&nbsp;Evanston Art CenterPinsky creates installations of the shaped paintings, hanging them so they seem to interact with each other. &nbsp;Nothing is hung parallel or perpendicular to the floor giving the appearance that the objects seem to be floating in space like memories when you fall asleep at night, collapsing time and place into unexpected relationships.&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418879/si0c2abp5qy1d8vrqrel.png"></figure><a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/kour-pour-familiar-spirits">Kour Pour: Familiar Spirits</a>Exhibition begins April 3&nbsp;Kavi Gupta GalleryPour’s debut at the gallery will present a group of paintings he created around the motif of the tiger. As with past bodies of work, such as his acclaimed carpet paintings, this series contains elements that reference both global art history and various interconnected cultural iconographies. Pour uses the word foster to describe his process of activating such visual associations, suggesting that he is nurturing something temporarily in his care.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418880/oct8e17fasvfnjxb1nzx.jpg"></figure><a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/boom-bloom-featuring-nikki-renee-anderson-renee-robbins-artlab-mike-slaski">Boom Bloom: Featuring Nikki Renee Anderson &amp; Renee Robbins | artlab: Mike Slaski</a>Exhibition begins April 3&nbsp;Krasl Art CenterBoom Bloom features sculptures by Nikki Renee Anderson and paintings by Renee Robbins that explode, reconfigure, and blossom. Biomorphic compositions multiply, shift, and drip inside a candy-colored otherworld. Themes of growth connect the works in rhythmic blooms at either the beginning or the end of natural cycles. While drawing from the familiar, invention and a whimsical sense of play characterize the work.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</body></html>

New Exhibitions Start April 1 – 3

<a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/richard-driehaus-stock-market-daredevil-preserved-traditional-architecture-11616673753?mod=searchresults_pos1&amp;page=1">Richard Driehaus, Stock-Market Daredevil, Preserved Traditional Architecture</a>The Wall Street Journal featured an obituary of Chicago's famed philanthropist this past weekend.&nbsp;Via WSJ&nbsp;<a href="https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/louvre-collection-online-artists-guaranteed-income-san-francisco-morning-links-1234588045/">Louvre Puts Entire Collection Online</a>The&nbsp;Louvre&nbsp;has just&nbsp;put its entire collection—all 482,000 pieces—online. “Today, the Louvre is dusting off its treasures, even the least-known,” its president,&nbsp;Jean-Luc Martinez, said&nbsp;<a href="https://click.email.artnews.com/?qs=d88ecd0b3929ee266aa65d62df5db4251ed5f9a7b674aa0109cde586329f2dde70f43764c676d7243f2cc5a850225d46f472b3a5b3b2acb4">in a statement</a>. Only about 30,000 entries were previously accessible to the public.Via Artnews&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/two-non-profit-organisations-team-up-to-offer-usd100-000-grants-to-artists-in-the-san-francisco-bay-area">Two non-profits team up to offer $100,000 grants to artists in the San Francisco Bay Area</a>The Oakland, California-based Kenneth Rainin Foundation has partnered with United States Artists to launch the Rainin Fellowship, which will annually award grants of $100,000 each to four artists in the San Francisco Bay Area. Each artist will be selected on the basis of making an impact on the community.Via the Art Newspaper&nbsp;<a href="https://www.mcachicagostore.org/all-products/browse/keyword/new-era">MCA Marks Opening Day of Baseball with Limited-edition Chicago team caps</a> Go all nine innings and celebrate Opening Day with $9 off the Joshua Vides × MCA White Sox or Cubs hat. These numbered, embroidered, and paint–splattered fitted caps are available exclusively at the MCA Store. The Store is open Tuesdays 10 am–9 pm and Wednesday to Sunday 10 am–6 pm. <a href="https://mcachicago.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=c24ba7c5a91cefd699dc985e1&amp;id=1409aff7d4&amp;e=95b957c616">Shop</a>&nbsp;

What We're Reading: 3/29

<html><head></head><body><figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418876/mwxcfoli8rkbf6ux3caa.jpg"></figure><a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/victoria-adams-distancing-imagination-and-the-faraway">Victoria Adams –&nbsp;Distancing: Imagination and the Faraway</a>Opening: Friday, March 26, 4 – 7&nbsp;pmZolla / Lieberman Gallery&nbsp;VICTORIA ADAMS:&nbsp;Distancing&nbsp;features wide-open panoramic spaces and horizons with clear views of turbulent skies. Adams' interests include the universal human need to speculate on what lies behind a horizon—to be in one place and project the imagination into another, as yet unattainable, state of being that is beyond the horizon and into the “distance." Horizons and Distance are gateways to the “faraway”, both spatial and temporal, and they are a constant feature of western romantic landscape art.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418876/xclu3qgpma50rfbjxy35.png"></figure><a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/richard-lee">Richard Yu-Tang Lee: I Come In Peace</a>Opening: Friday, March 26, 7 – 10&nbsp;pmFirecat Projects&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418877/f3j6x0zdnn6he00oyjea.jpg"></figure><a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/jeane-cohen-in-the-walls-of-my-house-there-were-spirits">Jeane Cohen: In the Walls of My House There Were Spirits</a>Opening: Friday, March 26, 4 – 7&nbsp;pmZolla / Lieberman Gallery&nbsp;In this body of work, Cohen is wringing pathos into the paintings by drawing on experiences of disintegration, fear, a collapsed boundary between interior self and outer world, and feelings of futility. Addressing what can be framed as a personal or cultural threat of spiritual collapse, the paintings’ untethered fields imprint the churning, melting, bending, dislodging, and charred sensations of continuously renegotiating reality.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418878/cmooiemzynqtkuycxvla.png"></figure><a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/very-well-thank-you-the-arts-as-a-means-to-well-being">“Very Well, Thank You”: The Arts as a Means to Well-being</a>March 26 – May 15Northern Illinois University (NIU) Art Museum&nbsp;The exhibition investigates the unique role and way the visual and performing arts assist in maintaining social, psychological and physical health and happiness.Artists were selected from a national call for entry and invited to participate because of their interest in presenting work that attempts to examine how the arts contribute to well-being through visual harmony, balance, color, humor, being in the moment and process.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</body></html>

New Exhibitions Start March 26

<html><head></head><body>&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418876/hcgrn0mrfqkbjpefc2et.jpg"></figure>Chicago Loop Alliance teases 2021 plans for downtown: mural walks, pop-ups, open streets on State&nbsp;<a href="https://u7061146.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=4tNED-2FM8iDZJQyQ53jATUXhkX0UhPogPnfTGmCBMoMg-3DhJZy_BYLPtpUivDHORxxkVXshLCRT3wjV7CgXbLJWP9J5MP9LJ6jv7-2Bb0c97UF1yE1XeiuuTDCWCbvFFcP-2BZ-2Ft6yZw0AYl95zT-2FawsXUF9bauiyJaIwQEPKT5KsxsRa76apy-2FMrOWnmtAYMvp9zzbJ0JD13hiHMKIzOGBcWlIBsz-2F9mXvts5k4ykU-2B1yGIsYqLzeM-2B9jy-2FDJtZwE2J-2FM1a7vxnU810CEtE2dlOe7XHWDmYPv-2BM7ND5XYtjQZSUKrtLCEBxQHZL1Nk0-2FRj-2Fe3jNCKkmGFUhQI67vJACdRxNSLtuebEt2akFo-2BVLcuFh2qdfBp7qTUMlF3YX0NWgsmyTTNPgigv316gOOzvjZiJ1FWp2bA-3D">Chicago Loop Alliance</a> and the <a href="https://u7061146.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=4tNED-2FM8iDZJQyQ53jATUXhkX0UhPogPnfTGmCBMoMiPwphVy7EprdUlhr1z0fI-2BZ-2Fl3eUrT03zmwrqRm15HeQ-3D-3Dh3Qi_BYLPtpUivDHORxxkVXshLCRT3wjV7CgXbLJWP9J5MP9LJ6jv7-2Bb0c97UF1yE1XeiuuTDCWCbvFFcP-2BZ-2Ft6yZw0AYl95zT-2FawsXUF9bauiyJaIwQEPKT5KsxsRa76apy-2FMrOWnmtAYMvp9zzbJ0JD13hiHMKIzOGBcWlIBsz-2F9mXvts5k4ykU-2B1yGIsYqLzeM-2B9jy-2FDJtZwE2J-2FM1a7vxnTPAuhjf7ESA6vIWLlv3X9NVVGSMtCl7Hc9fdS77OCcxU4jpGcwNZX6opJZpxlH5ARCua7WY1l9F3YWq9gY8LcecwlwEKBZjHRtal-2B2WGriNMMNoDEiuyfGzWi0CzyR-2FAMNCLVs9VpvPldz2luRJqsM-3D">Chicago Loop Alliance Foundation</a> hosted their 16th&nbsp;Annual Meeting on March 23.&nbsp;During the virtual meeting attendees got a first look at the organization’s potential 2021 plans and programs, including an ambitious open streets project that would see parts of State Street in the Loop closed to vehicle traffic for up to 12 Sundays this summer.&nbsp;“Last year was incredibly challenging for the Loop community, which relies so heavily on the 370,000 workers and millions of visitors it normally sees,” said Chicago Loop Alliance President and CEO Michael Edwards. “This month, we noticed a 35 percent increase in pedestrian activity on State Street, which has really improved the atmosphere and energy downtown—we’re all starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. As vaccine distribution continues to ramp up, and as the weather warms, we see many opportunities to attract people back to the Loop in 2021."&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418877/ghflls1lsrnxwyzrxks8.jpg"><figcaption>Diane Arbus, Triplets in Their Bedroom, NJ, 1963, gelatin silver print, 15 x 15 inches</figcaption></figure><a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/organizations/alan-koppel-gallery-north">Alan Koppel Gallery opens satellite gallery in Glencoe</a>Alan Koppel Gallery announced this week that they have opened a satellite location: Alan Koppel Gallery – North in Glencoe, IL. Located at 342 Park Avenue in downtown Glencoe, this new auxiliary gallery will bring modern and contemporary masterworks to the collectors and art lovers of Chicago's North Shore. The gallery's main location is still on N. Dearborn St. in Chicago.The inaugural exhibition in the space is "Diane Arbus: A Secret about a Secret" with seven iconic artworks by one of America's preeminent photographers, along with works by contemporary artists influenced by Arbus. The show runs through May 8.&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418877/f9le66lmlctybbky0un5.jpg"><figcaption>Lanna Thai Coffee Table, Teak Wood, 50"W x 38"D x 17"H, $4,200 Now: $1,260</figcaption></figure>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.goldentriangle.biz/just-in/thai-lanna-coffee-table-19t08099a.html">Golden Triangle Moving Sale Ends March 27</a>The Golden Triangle is moving from their Clark Street warehouse to the west side. To clear out a lot of their (often large) furniture and objects, their entire collection is being offered at 70% off, online or in person. All Sales Are Final &nbsp;No Holds, Returns, Refunds or Exchanges. Sale Ends March 27th, 2021&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418878/mezwcoycxqo2fgnplvjl.jpg"></figure>Weinberg/Newton Gallery Names Artist Collective as Inaugural Artists in Residence<a href="http://www.weinbergnewtongallery.com">Weinberg/Newton Gallery </a>named Chicago-based organization A Long Walk Home as inaugural recipients of the Art &amp; Advocacy Residency. Conceived as an expansion of the gallery’s mission to raise awareness for social justice issues in collaboration with artists, the Art &amp; Advocacy Residency offers awarded artists the use of the 2,200 square foot gallery space over the course of 12 weeks, in addition to a stipend. Participating A Long Walk Home artists Scheherazade Tillet, Robert Narciso and Leah Gipson will collaborate to realize The Visibility Project: Black Girlhood Altar, an installation comprised of four community altars to be placed throughout Chicago this May and June as temporary monuments to missing and murdered Black girls.The Visibility Project: Black Girlhood Altar will engage Black girls and young women in Chicago as citizen-artists who will research, assemble and activate the altars, using the project to advocate for change within their communities. Each public altar will serve as a sacred space and gathering site for grief, healing, safety and comfort through multi-disciplinary art practices. The ALWH Collective is interested in finding ways for communities to come together to grieve, celebrate life, and make sustainable changes in their own communities. Over the course of the residency, ALWH and Weinberg/Newton Gallery will present programming that offers the public insight into the creation of The Visibility Project: Black Girlhood Altar.&nbsp;<a href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/platform/amp/2021/3/24/22346728/aldermans-bid-restrict-house-museums-iwithdrawn-should-stay-that-way?utm_campaign=chicago.suntimes&amp;utm_content=entry&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_source=twitter&amp;__twitter_impression=true&amp;fbclid=IwAR2qOgrrj8TB0Obn365Ysn40mO8McwcufwPWZYEfb5kRlUcOPjqyLjhofEc">An alderman’s bid to restrict house museums is withdrawn — and should stay that way</a>There are tons of problems the city’s lawmakers need to address — crime, the stratospheric costs of municipal pensions, historic racial and social inequalities — but passing a law to restrict the creation of neighborhood house museums, of all things, certainly isn’t one of them.Yet that’s the quixotic battle Ald. Sophia King (4th) has chosen to fight recently, that is until the arts and culture community mounted up against her proposed ordinance, forcing her to withdraw the measure Tuesday from the City Council Committee on Zoning, Landmarks and Building Standards.Via Chicago Sun Times&nbsp;</body></html>

CGN Art World Recap: March 25

<html><head></head><body>&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721417672/zzmyrlkh46g7doa9vamw.jpg"></figure><a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/lecture-in-photography-candice-breitz">Lecture in Photography: Candice Breitz</a>Wednesday, March 24, noon – 1&nbsp;pmMuseum of Contemporary Photography (MoCP)Candice Breitz’s recent work reflects on a media- saturated global culture and probes widespread indifference to the plight of those facing real&nbsp;world adversity. Breitz will discuss her work including Labour (2017, ongoing), currently on&nbsp;view in Reproductive, which explores links between capitalism, labor, male dictatorships and the regulation of women’s bodies.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721417673/oga9n4bny5est0nia0co.png"></figure><a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/conversations-from-the-frontlines-transitioning-to-a-regenerative-economy">Conversations from the Frontlines: Transitioning to a Regenerative Economy</a>Thursday, March 25, 5 – 7&nbsp;pmWeinberg/Newton GalleryClimate solutions must address the legacy of pollution and promote racial and economic justice. In Michigan City, Just Transition NWI and the LaPorte County Chapter of the NAACP are fighting dirty, uneconomic coal plants and advancing a vision of a more sustainable economy that promotes the health of the community. This roundtable discussion will feature two leaders in the ongoing efforts including their advocacy, supported by Earthjustice, for the closure and cleanup of five coal ash ponds at the Michigan City Generating Station.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721417674/iuasp8cqriakoppyp2am.jpg"></figure><a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/music-talk-justin-vivian-bond-with-jim-hodges">Music Talk: Justin Vivian Bond with Jim Hodges</a>Saturday, March 27, 4 – 5:30&nbsp;pmMuseum of Contemporary Art Chicago (MCA)&nbsp;Join in as acclaimed singer-songwriter, author, painter, performance artist, and actor Justin Vivian Bond chats, riffs, and improvises with installation artist Jim Hodges in Hodges’s studio in Queens, with Bond’s band in the background.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721417675/dvxtzgtpky8cvzrl40qq.jpg"></figure><a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/miranda-july-in-conversation-with-jennifer-reeder">Miranda July in Conversation with Jennifer Reeder</a>Tuesday, March 30, 6:30 – 7:30&nbsp;pmSchool of the Art Institute of Chicago’s Visiting Artists ProgramMiranda July is a filmmaker, artist, and writer whose work explores human connection, inclusivity, desire, fear, and fantasy. Across media, July's daring, urgent, and idiosyncratic voice finds unexpectedly accessible forms that reflect the poignancy and strangeness of the human plight.July will discuss her practice with filmmaker Jennifer Reeder (MFA 1996). Reeder constructs personal fiction films about relationships, trauma, and coping. Her innovative, award-winning narratives borrow from a range of forms including after-school specials, amateur music videos, and magical realism.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</body></html>

Talks This Week: March 23 - 30

<html><head></head><body><figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418876/pmw3rghlsiutaa4kuntm.png"><figcaption>Drawing by Chris Ware &nbsp;</figcaption></figure><a href="https://www.saic.edu/magazine/spring21/drawing-inspiration-how-chris-ware-sees-chicago">SAIC's New Magazine is Out and Features Alumnus Chris Ware</a>A year ago, Chicago's creative and cultural hubs shut down—but the city and its people persisted.&nbsp;In this issue of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago magazine, SAIC spotlights how Chicago's makers are inspired more than ever by the beauty and resilience of the place they call home.Over the last 30 years, Chicago’s Loop has experienced a renaissance, anchored by glittering theater marquees and bustling restaurants and shops. But that wasn’t always the case. When artist and writer Chris Ware (SAIC 1991–93, HON 2019) first moved to Chicago in the ’90s, he would bike through the empty Loop at night. “It felt post-apocalyptic, abandoned, filthy, segregated, and miserable yet concomitantly weirdly lawless and unaccountably occasionally inspiring,” Ware said. “I recall the predominant colors being brown and gray. Lots of trash.” – Brontë Mansfield (SAIC MA 2017)&nbsp;<a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/beginning-her-career-yayoi-kusama-donated-11-works-her-doctor-now-they-may-sell-14-million-180977271/?utm_source=facebook.com&amp;utm_medium=socialmedia&amp;fbclid=IwAR3zJ5arsy3_NgZ0GRazcnzUG4MQB5q590RknJXiG7OxikKscywJFGsLXlU">Trove of Early Yayoi Kusama Works to Go on Public View for the First Time</a>When the esteemed Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama was a struggling creative in 1960s Manhattan, she needed a doctor but couldn’t afford one. Faced with few options, she visited physician Teruo Hirose (one of only two Japanese-speaking doctors on the island at the time), who often provided inexpensive or pro bono medical care to fellow Japanese immigrants.&nbsp;Hirose agreed to treat her, and in return, she gave him a number of artworks as a token of gratitude. The pair remained friends until Hirose’s death in November 2019 at age 93.This May, reports Angelica Villa for ARTnews, 11 of these gifted artworks are set to hit the auction block. Combined, Bonhams expects the three paintings and eight works on paper to sell for between $8.8 million and $14 million.Via ARTnews&nbsp;<a href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/2021/3/20/22338709/chicago-history-museum-new-ceo-donald-lassere-plans-attendance-teens-diversity-exhibits">New CEO of Chicago History Museum has a plan to build and diversify attendance</a>Chicago’s oldest museum also has one of the lowest profiles, playing second fiddle to the Art Institute, the Museum of Science and Industry, the Field Museum, the Shedd Aquarium and the Adler Planetarium.But that could change, if Donald Lassere, newly hired president and CEO of the Chicago History Museum, has his way.Lassere is returning to his hometown of Chicago with a plan to make the History Museum more interactive and exciting and to build and diversify museum attendance that is now “more than 80%” white in a majority-minority city.Via Chicago Sun Times&nbsp;</body></html>

What We're Reading: 3/22

<html><head></head><body>&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418876/gsch5ue2m3dsahaxykzz.jpg"></figure><a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/photos-at-zoom-discussion-session-walker-evans">Photos at Zoom Discussion Session: Walker Evans</a>Friday, March 19, 12 – 1&nbsp;pmMuseum of Contemporary Photography (MoCP)Presented virtually on Zoom | Register&nbsp;<a href="https://mocp.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=9e4250b7536dc23e9352b28ee&amp;id=24aa1158cc&amp;e=62775191de">here</a>Join the MoCP for a casual drop-in session where we will closely read and discuss one photograph together in the museum's collection.&nbsp;This week we will look at Walker Evans'&nbsp;Kitchen Wall in Bud Field's Home, Hale County, Alabama, 1936.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418877/oulc4wx1pky5bqhccltq.jpg"></figure><a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/open-dialogue-adrienne-maree-brown-on-how-we-talk-with-each-other">Open Dialogue: adrienne maree brown on How We Talk with Each Other</a>Friday, March 19, 1 – 2:15&nbsp;pmMuseum of Contemporary Art Chicago (MCA)The Dialogue Series is a museum-wide commitment to sustained inquiry about museum practice, access, and inclusion. Each annual series includes eminent speakers presenting innovative work happening across disciplines, panel discussions, and opportunities for open dialogue with audiences.<a href="https://mcachicago.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=c24ba7c5a91cefd699dc985e1&amp;id=bcab35ec75&amp;e=7d7a84135f">RSVP</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418877/vmbjeourts4irgddmxni.jpg"></figure><a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/take-care-be-well">Take Care, Be Well</a>Saturday, March 20, 11 am - 8:30 pmSmart Museum of ArtMarking the end of the Smart Museum’s exhibition Take Care, and situated one year after Chicago’s stay-at-home order, this day-long series of live-streamed experiences and recorded content reveals the myriad ways we may turn toward each other for mutual support, sustenance, and compassion.<a href="https://uchicago.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=aba2086a45b4ee8391b89447b&amp;id=40b7a6a57d&amp;e=00938adab1">Learn more and save the date »</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418878/rtk3rehamfwu0fezrt6q.jpg"></figure><a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/artist-talk-claire-elliott-vanessa-shinmoto-and-alexandra-stevenson">Artist Talk: Claire Elliott, Vanessa Shinmoto, and Alexandra Stevenson</a>Saturday, March 20, 3 – 4&nbsp;pmEat Paint StudioEat Paint Studio is pleased to announce our first exhibition of 2021. “Inscapes” features work by three artists, Claire Elliott, Vanessa Shinmoto, and Alexandra Stevenson, whose paintings navigate landscapes from the inside out. Each of the artists represented in this group exhibition find connections to nature as a spiritual and regenerative force while improvising on the duality of their inner and outer experiences.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.eventbrite.com/e/inscapes-a-conversation-with-the-artists-registration-146490925301">Please register here</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;</body></html>

Talks This Weekend: March 19-20

<html><head></head><body><figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418876/v9r0wogqhezj3sg2vcco.jpg"></figure><a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/figure-it-out-eccentric-visions-in-figurative-art">Figure It Out: Eccentric Visions in Figurative Art</a>Opening: Friday, March 19, 6 – 9&nbsp;pmEpiphany Center for the Arts&nbsp;Figure It Out: Eccentric Visions in Figurative Art brings together five artists from the Midwest who make distinctly idiosyncratic figurative work. Each of them presents a unique vision that feels both alien and familiar; one that is grounded in personal emotions but is also infused with popular culture, humor and shared experiences. They offer personal mythologies and introspective processes that are made accessible through a language of cartoon imagery, patterns and bright colors.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418876/hyeyrxyr805cmgdo9yeb.png"></figure><a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/preview-10">Preview 10</a>Opening: Friday, March 19, 3 – 8&nbsp;pmChicago Artists Coalition (CAC)&nbsp;Preview 10 presents various creative viewpoints from recent works that are gestures in new directions for the artists, in preparation for their solo exhibitions in 2021 and 2022. The exhibition is conversational, provisional, and open-ended in allowing the art to define itself and to evoke feelings of persistence and renewal.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418877/ka9qgmqq1ilixb1mt50o.jpg"></figure><a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/jurors-exhibition">Jurors Exhibition</a>Exhibition begins March 19&nbsp;Bridgeport Art Center&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418878/akj5tw2awhqnrcet3psa.jpg"></figure><a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/inspired-inspire-artworks-from-michigan-city-area-schools-art-educators">Inspired / Inspire: Artworks from Michigan City Area Schools’ Art Educators</a>Exhibition begins March 19&nbsp;Lubeznik Center for the Arts&nbsp;Highlighting eleven visual arts educators from Michigan City’s elementary, middle and high schools, Inspired / Inspire celebrates these extraordinary teachers, who, despite a most challenging academic year, continue to inspire and be inspired every day. Not only do they educate their students through a world of possibilities, but they also maintain individual creative studio practices.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418879/hsrcd72ozywdf2nmoj8k.jpg"></figure><a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/1st-annual-exhibition-photographic-processes-more">1st Annual Exhibition: Photographic Processes &amp; More</a>Opening: Saturday, March 20, 6 – 10&nbsp;pmDragonfly Gallery&nbsp;1st Annual Exhibition: Photographic Processes &amp; More will feature work by Aaron Wilder, Alkebuluan Merriweather, Barbara Nati, Camille Silverman, Darren Oberto, Deven Mauri, Erin Patton-McFarren, Francisco Malave, Jim Brady, JoAnn Terry, Julie O’Connor, Nemanja Zdravkovic and Ozzie Stern. The exhibition highlights traditional photographic works such as landscape photography &amp; still-life and also explores work that pushes the boundaries of real versus digital.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</body></html>

New Exhibitions Start March 19-20

<html><head></head><body>A brief summary of what's news and what's happening in our art community, from exhibition notes and auctions, to real estate ogling. We hope you'll enjoy!– CGN Staff&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418870/ik17cqyih0hyyrpd0gqt.png"></figure>Artist Faheem Majeed Joins UIC as Full Time ProfessorWe heard that artist Faheem Majeed will be joining UIC's School of Art &amp; Art History faculty as a full-time tenured track assistant professor. Majeed shared via Facebook, "As an alum, adjunct professor, and former associate director of this program I can't say enough about how much respect and love I have for the faculty, staff and students of the University."&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418871/jazkmqbzns77bfunzkbb.png"></figure><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfy5KlkKtDkhttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbsc3yfUsXfhGfAA5Qg7QlA">Sips with a Specialist at Hindman</a>Last week we came across Hindman's "Sips with a Specialist," a 5 minute YouTube lesson on a specific work of art. You can watch it here and keep an eye out for future episodes – a nice way to wind down your week and learn something! This most recent episode is with the Director and Senior Specialist of Hindman's European Furniture &amp; Decorative Arts, Corbin Horn, as he discusses Larkin Goldsmith Mead's 'Bust of a Man with an Aquiline Nose, Possibly Menander.' Additional episodes are available on the auction house's YouTube channel.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418872/mprxqsy7s7ykrvcpkbrh.jpg"></figure>&nbsp;<a href="https://bit.ly/3kWuBO5">Diasporal Rhythms Hosts Virtual Collecting Panel</a>Next Saturday, March 20, DR will host their next virtual Art Smart, “The Pandemic Effect: What Are Artists Creating? What Are Collectors Purchasing?”RSVP for 3/20 at 1 CT <a href="https://bit.ly/3kWuBO5">here</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418875/luglulcq0hw3lmwsyet5.png"></figure><a href="http://www.oldtownartfair.org">Old Town Art Fair Announces It's Coming Back in June 2021</a>June 12 will be the opening of the 2021 Old Town Art Fair. 2020 is behind us - plan to visit in June (a bit distanced) together again! There will be 250 nationally acclaimed artists, an estimated 30,000 art lovers, a Garden Walk, Live Music, Food Court and Children’s Corner.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</body></html>

CGN Art World Recap: 3/15/21

<html><head></head><body>Following is a summary of &nbsp;current art news from our local art community and around the world, as shared by fellow arts writers and publications. Please click to reach the original source. We will continue to share relevant links each week as the news fills up our reading list. – CGN Staff&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418870/jftt7lrcqc5twjspij6q.jpg"><figcaption>Founder Jonathan Kinkley, left, and co-curator Tim Lapetino stand in the "Nom Nom: 40 Years of Pac-Man Design and History" exhibition at Chicago Gamespace on Feb. 28, 2021. The collection, at 2418 W. Bloomingdale Ave., is only open eight hours a week and on Saturdays and Sundays. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune)</figcaption></figure><a href="https://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/ct-chicago-gamespace-video-game-art-20210310-tewzcgfjjza7rdjcbvscq3r6sy-story.html?fbclid=IwAR22HmuWqqbH6Jy2qjeYeklAZHywO1V54rV-j-TulDmqVGMCRkhIkODX6tc">Is Pac-Man art? Is Pong part of history? If they are, Chicago Gamespace wants to be their museum</a>On weekend nights, off Western Avenue in Logan Square, on a street so thin it appears squeezed alongside the elevated 606 trail, a curious thing happens: The cubed glass installed in the ground-floor windows of the Bloomingdale Arts Building blinks to life, pixelate then chomp, gathering into a weekly tribute to Pac-Man. Jonathan Kinkley (who was at some point part of VGA Gallery, MoCP and the Art Institute), who worked with a designer in San Francisco to coordinate the animation, imagines the windows eventually becoming a playable video game, controlled by anyone who happens to walk past.Via Chicago Tribune&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wbez.org/stories/beeple-jpg-file-sells-for-69-million-setting-crypto-art-record/83cbe617-f2f1-474c-ab8f-457020bf67c7?utm_source=facebook&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_campaign=wbez">Beeple JPG File Sells For $69 Million, Setting Crypto Art Record</a>A JPG file made by a digital artist known as <a href="https://www.instagram.com/beeple_crap/">Beeple</a> sold Thursday for almost $70 million by Christie’s auction house. That price set a new record for the increasingly popular market for digital-only art — and makes Beeple’s piece the third most-expensive work sold by a living artist at auction, according to a statement by Christie’s.The artwork, a digital collage called “Everydays — The First Five Thousand Days,” is <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/03/05/974089381/whats-an-nft-and-why-are-people-paying-millions-to-buy-them">what’s known as an NFT</a>, or nonfungible token. NFTs signal ownership and authenticity of digital works of art by recording the sale through blockchain technology.Via WBEZ&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/monumental-error-in-the-making-11614982634?st=9cquw9td07vkh0j&amp;reflink=article_gmail_share">Monumental Error in the Making</a>In 1891, sculptor Daniel Chester French won the most coveted (and lucrative) assignment of his burgeoning career: a monumental statue to symbolize the nation’s democratic ideal and serve as the centerpiece of the forthcoming World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. With “The Republic” French produced a colossus that, at least for a year, ranked as one of the most conspicuous and admired sculptures in the nation.Though the original is long gone, a smaller but still-formidable replica stands today on a traffic island in Chicago’s Jackson Park, destined to re-emerge from obscurity when the new Obama Presidential Center is built nearby—that is, unless this version vanishes, too.&nbsp;Via the Wall Street Journal&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wbez.org/stories/the-chicago-monuments-project-grapples-with-the-hard-history-of-some-city-statues/d3e0cf05-7b5d-4678-aa89-876c7ffc8822?fbclid=IwAR31UEaVHtU5i7aZT8ckjGG_czbYQ97gKKI4pkY5mmBYXrIgG8GlbsiE86w">The Chicago Monuments Project Grapples With The Hard History Of Some City Statues</a>Last summer, protestors who tried to topple a Christopher Columbus statue in Grant Park clashed with police. Activists reject the label of Columbus as a “discoverer” of America and point to his violent treatment of Indigenous people. Meanwhile, for some Italian Americans, Columbus is a beacon. Mayor Lori Lightfoot had some Columbus statues moved, but now the city begins its own racial reckoning with public art it owns.Via WBEZ&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</body></html>

What We're Reading: 3/11/21

<html><head></head><body><figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418870/oljl20uyxosilg261jsh.jpg"></figure><a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/swim">SWIM</a>Opening: Friday, March 12, 5 – 9&nbsp;pmOliva GalleryThe work of Margie and&nbsp;David&nbsp;Criner.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418870/udfofcvbohmeaxs9ugy2.png"></figure><a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/david-richards-gargoyles-and-escutcheons">David Richards: Gargoyles and Escutcheons</a>March 12 – May 9Epiphany Center for the ArtsIn his solo exhibition Gargoyles and Escutcheons, Chicago artist David Richards offers an installation of uncanny wall sculptures that defy easy categorization and casual acquaintance. Mysterious yet familiar, these works exist in a slippery space between abstraction and representation. Both biological and synthetic, his playful reliefs bring to mind plant forms, faces or machines that have been disassembled or seem to be missing a piece.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418871/d7sdqzidy63q00q0ihnl.jpg"></figure><a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/christina-quarles">Christina Quarles</a>March 13 – August 29Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (MCA)The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago presents a solo exhibition by the celebrated Los Angeles-based artist Christina Quarles. Quarles' colorful figurative paintings are filled with a sensual labyrinth of bending and twisting limbs and faces merging with ambiguous objects and abstract patterns.Quarles is leading a growing movement among contemporary artists who are returning to figuration in order to address issues of identity and representation in society today. Her singular approach to figuration, however, renders dancerly, translucent bodies in fabulist environments.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418872/ujkaacawaquljafmetim.jpg"></figure><a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/oakoak-some-parts-of-parts">OAKOAK: some parts of parts</a>March 13 – April 11Vertical GalleryBorn and based in France, OakOak is a world-renowned street artist who specializes in creative, place-based interventions. Playing upon existing elements of the environment, OakOak wields his wit and humor to enliven public spaces and draw our attention to oft-overlooked details of our urban habitats. Accessible and endearing, his street work draws on comic books, video games, tv shows, and other beloved staples of pop culture.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418873/x5klj85cizcnlof6wl6z.jpg"></figure><a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/jesse-howard-a-village-refuses-to-be-silent">Jesse Howard: A Village Refuses To Be Silent</a>Opening: Saturday, March 13, 2 – 5&nbsp;pmBert Green Fine ArtJesse Howard is a Chicago native who has observed the rhythms and nuances of African American cultural life in Chicago over many decades. His artworks are portraits and figurative typologies meant to document and celebrate the rich variety of individual and collective expressions, showing the good, the bad, the beautiful, and the ugly. At the core of this work is a deeply felt, powerful pronouncement of the human spirit.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</body></html>

New Exhibitions Start March 12 – 13

Following is a summary of &nbsp;current art news from our local art community and around the world, as shared by fellow arts writers and publications. Please click to reach the original source. We will continue to share relevant links each week as the news fills up our reading list. – CGN Staff <a href="https://patch.com/illinois/evanston/4-harley-clarke-renovation-proposals-come-city-council?fbclid=IwAR2ntc0e02lRocxcT2ClbVBlb4oWd1lSZKgy11kIJM2r6JBigN4ild1_3ew">Audrey Niffenegger Plan for Artists Book House Gets a Green Light in Evanston&nbsp;</a>The Evanston City Council authorized lease negotiations with a tenant for the long-vacant landmark Harley Clarke Mansion and Coach house, a city-owned lakefront property that faced potential demolition in 2018.The 1927-built Harley Clarke Mansion and Coach House building has been owned by the city since it was <a href="https://patch.com/illinois/evanston/harley-clarke-demolition-donation-deal-comes-council">purchased</a> from a fraternity in 1960 and has been vacant since the Evanston Arts Center departed in 2015.&nbsp;The top-scoring plan was submitted by the Artists Book House group, founded by author Audrey Niffenegger. The proposal envisions using the Harley Clarke house as an instructional space, gallery, library, bookshop and cafe devoted to the art of books and showcasing local authors and artists. There will be a papermaking studio and heavy machinery for printing, with bookbinding in the home's former master bedroom area. A restored library will be open to the public on a limited basis.Niffenegger, an Evanston native and author of the bestselling "The Time Traveler's Wife," founded the Center for Book and Paper Arts at Columbia College Chicago in 1994. That center, which offered master's degree programs and residencies, closed in 2019. The Artists Book House proposal seeks to offer non-credit community education and internship opportunities.Via Patch&nbsp;<a href="https://www.chicagotribune.com/columns/ryan-ori/ct-biz-invest-south-west-three-proposals-chosen-ryan-ori-20210308-j44hewmcvvhbtcsbv4xsdq4eym-story.html">A blues museum, eco-food hub and apartments are part of $67 million in projects picked to kick off Chicago’s Invest South/West initiative</a>A proposal was just unveiled to renovate a 20,000-square-foot former bank building with commercial uses including a blues museum, bank branch, cafe and business incubator. On adjacent land, the firms propose a multistory apartment building with affordable units, a green roof, public plaza and outdoor art.Via Chicago Tribune&nbsp;<a href="https://www.archpaper.com/2021/03/an-visits-studio-gang-adaptive-reuse/?utm_source=AIA+Chicago+General+List&amp;utm_campaign=403ea0ed9f-ENEWS+may+4+2020_COPY_01&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_term=0_3db2e92e9c-403ea0ed9f-93201369&amp;mc_cid=403ea0ed9f&amp;mc_eid=f9d818a52c">AN visits Studio Gang, whose adaptive reuse projects are reinvigorating the past</a>In a recent interview with AN, Jeanne Gang, founding partner and principal of Chicago-based architecture and urban design office <a href="https://www.archpaper.com/tag/studio-gang/">Studio Gang</a>, described <a href="https://www.archpaper.com/tag/adaptive-reuse/">adaptive reuse</a> design as a delicate process of responding to the creations of the past. When approaching adaptive reuse projects, architects have to ask, “What’s already there? What do we give back in return?” While architects can’t control every result of the design process, they have a responsibility to cultivate the best possible outcome of interactions between created space and the natural environment.Via AN&nbsp;<a href="https://news.artnet.com/art-world/international-womens-day-2021-1949310?utm_content=from_www.artnet.com&amp;utm_source=Sailthru&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=US%2010:23%20a.m.%20newsletter%20for%203/8/21&amp;utm_term=US%20Daily%20Newsletter%20%5BMORNING%5D">26 Art-World Women Celebrate the Women Who Inspire Them</a>It is not always easy being a woman in this world, and being a woman in the art world can be doubly challenging. Gallery rosters and museum collections around the world have been skewed against women for centuries, and many of today’s top institutions still have yet to appoint a female director. Even so, there is a vast community of women in the art world, dedicated to supporting and uplifting each other.Via Artnet&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/louvre-ramps-up-brand-partnerships">Louvre launches flurry of brand partnerships and ‘e-boutique’ in bid to make up Covid deficit</a>After a year when the Musée du Louvre—the world’s most popular art museum—welcomed a fraction of its ten million visitors, it has launched a flurry of brand partnerships and e-commerce initiatives to appeal to customers beyond its masterpiece-laden walls.Via The Art Newspaper&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/07/us/jennifer-mack-watkins-children-of-the-sun.html">Celebrating Black Children in America</a>“The Brownies’ Book: A Monthly Magazine for the Children of the Sun” was a short-lived but influential publication edited by W.E.B. Du Bois a century ago. Widely regarded as a pioneer in children’s literature, it celebrated African-Americans with positive images, stories and poetry at a time when caricature toys were the norm.Over the past century, the magazine, which ran from January 1920 to December 1921, has inspired scores of artists, including Jennifer Mack-Watkins, whose upcoming solo <a href="https://www.brattleboromuseum.org/2020/12/07/jennifer-mack-watkins-children-of-the-sun/">exhibition</a> at the Brattleboro Museum &amp; Art Center in Vermont draws from the publication’s illustrative imagery.Via The New York Times&nbsp;&nbsp;Thumbnail image credit: Appearing via Chicago Tribune: Heartland Alliance and Oak Park Regional Housing plan a $37.5 million redevelopment of the former Laramie Bank building and adjacent land in Austin. The proposal includes a blues museum, bank branch, cafe, business incubator and apartments. Rendering provided by City of Chicago. (Handout / HANDOUT)&nbsp;

What We're Reading: 3/9/21

<html><head></head><body><figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418862/sngfmpfscopcrnkxdgrn.jpg"></figure>&nbsp;Following is a summary of &nbsp;current art news from our local art community, as shared by fellow arts writers and publications. Please click to reach the original source. We will continue to share relevant links each week as the news fills up our reading list. – Ginny Van Alyea, CGN Publisher&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newcity.com/2021/03/03/today-in-the-culture-march-3-2021/?mc_cid=c5f18342cf&amp;mc_eid=780c419ac6">Chicago Artist Roland Ginzel has died (a couple months shy of his 100th birthday).&nbsp;</a>Ginzel graduated from The Art Institute of Chicago and married fellow artist Ellen Lanyon in 1948.Via Newcity&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="http://ec2-204-236-225-241.compute-1.amazonaws.com/curiouscity/womens-statues/">She Should Be Here</a>Statues of historic men can be found throughout Chicago’s parks and plazas. But one Curious Citizen thinks there aren’t enough tributes to women. WBEZ asked listeners to nominate influential women they think should be memorialized in marble.Via WBEZ&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://blockclubchicago.org/2021/03/03/in-bronzeville-a-push-to-preserve-historic-lu-palmer-mansion-and-chicagos-black-media-legacy/?fbclid=IwAR1FWjIHHx08fUO_gBqYvuM9Y-17eCWTtExSrvcXyUtROyDMnPz7mEtN2As">In Bronzeville, A Push To Preserve Historic Lu Palmer Mansion — And Chicago’s Black Media Legacy</a>A Bronzeville-based archive of Black media is preparing to buy a long-vacant home on King Drive once owned by community organizers Lutrelle “Lu” Palmer and Jorja English Palmer.The Obsidian Collection, founded in 2017, digitally archives photographs, video and documents to make Black history publicly accessible.Via BlockClub Chicago&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/museum-of-contemporary-art-mcaccountable-equity/Content?oid=86890631&amp;fbclid=IwAR2CDXUZ7RhPrQbY5yQOiVC3fsMTQFzZDwgMwqM67FFp4M3WWpuz_PQecek#.YD_p2ci2CLg.facebook">‘The Long Dream’ and a labor nightmare&nbsp;</a>Kerry Cardoza writes about The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago’s latest exhibit and what's been taking place behind the scenes between artists, former museum employees and current leadership since summer 2020.&nbsp;Via Chicago Reader&nbsp;&nbsp;Top thumbnail image: Angela Ford, executive director of The Obsidian Collection, poses for a picture Tuesday morning in front of the Lu and Jorja Palmer Mansion, 3654 S. King Drive. Right: An archival photo of an Operation PUSH event in 1972. Reposted from Block Club Chicago's March 3, 2021 post.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</body></html>

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