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

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

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

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

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

Takashi Murakami at the MCA

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

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

Architectural Adventures 

<html><head></head><body><figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418558/mjzpnjc6kjnyghvuvnuj.jpg"><figcaption>Roger Brown,&nbsp;Chicago Hit by the Bomb, 1985, oil on canvas, 48" x 72"</figcaption></figure><h3>&nbsp;</h3><h3>A CHICAGO IMAGISTS COLLECTION SPANS TWO CITIES</h3>&nbsp;By GINNY VAN ALYEAChristopher Slapak and Michael Robertson’s shared passion for contemporary art began decades before they would start to build a collection of work by Chicago Imagists and other related artists. At the University of Chicago in the 1980s, the two met when they were medical students in the same class. When a colleague in the University’s Masters of Fine Arts program recommended that they see a show of famed Chicago Imagist Ed Paschke’s work at the Renaissance Society in 1982, they went as two poor medical students who didn’t know what to expect. What they saw blew them away; looking back now, they say if they’d had any money they would have bought the whole show.After that experience, they became increasingly interested in the Imagists, a group of representational artists who banded together in the 1960s, learning about figures such as Roger Brown and seeing shows at the Hyde Park Art Center. At the time, their lives were dominated by their medical education. A love for art was in the background, but they did not think they would ever collect art. They didn’t know what a gateway that Ren show would ultimately be to weekends packed with gallery visits and two art-filled homes.&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/2021/original/paschke.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>Ed Paschke, Vibrex, oil on canvas, 1982, 42" x 80"&nbsp;</figcaption></figure>&nbsp;When Christopher and Michael finished medical school at UChicago, as well as their internships and residencies in Chicago, they moved to Boston to continue their medical training. Contemporary art was not&nbsp; a focus for the pair during nine years in Boston.&nbsp;They returned to the Midwest when Christopher was recruited to work at Eli Lilly and Company in Indianapolis, and Michael was offered a position at the Indiana University School of Medicine. After a decade in Indiana, around 2005, they made the decision to purchase a condo in downtown Chicago, so they could visit on weekends and enjoy all that the city has to offer. Living in a contemporary high rise was a contrast to their traditional, 100-year old, antiques-filled home in Indianapolis. The time was right, with a new base in Chicago, to begin exploring the contemporary art scene again.Michael and Christopher met Chicago dealers Ann and Roy Boyd early on in their reacquaintance with the art community. The Boyds’ gallery had been in business for over 30 years, and their program’s focus fit well with Christopher and Michael’s taste for vibrant, unique works by living artists, such as William Conger and Brigitte Riesebrodt. The four quickly became good friends, with Ann and Roy introducing them to many artists and showing them a range of works. A focus on unique art that was abstract, rather than representational, defined their early collecting.&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418559/te1c8jwwgv8ojjis9xj3.jpg"><figcaption>Robert Lostutter</figcaption></figure>&nbsp;The couple also enjoyed supporting living Chicago artists. Explains Christopher, “We want to support the artists who are working now, because if they’re deceased you’re just supporting the person that owns the piece, not the artist. We came to appreciate that half of what you’re paying for goes to the artist.” From Michael’s perspective, “It was an ethical thing, we just thought it would be better buying the work of living artists in this area and supporting them – we love Chicago.”&nbsp;What began as a somewhat casual desire to buy art while also supporting local artists quickly became more serious and sophisticated. Michael recalls, “That was the ironic thing. I said, ‘Oh, it will take us years to find anything we like,’ and of course that was not the problem, no, not at all.” Christopher adds, “There was a handful of artists we quickly started collecting: Rebecca Shore, William Conger, Brigitte [Riesebrodt], and John Phillips. Those artists led to an exploration of more up and coming contemporary artists, such as Geoffrey Todd Smith, Dana Degiulio, Molly Zuckerman-Hartung, and Matthew Metzger. Before they knew it, they had started to define and build a collection.&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418560/hcus5wlicp8upje29wep.jpg"><figcaption>Gladys Nilsson</figcaption></figure>&nbsp;When Michael and Christopher moved back to Chicago in 2005, they were eager to return to the galleries and take in all that was happening in the contemporary world. They immersed themselves, often going to as many as 25 galleries in a day. They visited dealers, met artists and attended opening receptions. By looking at so much, the focus of their collection shifted radically.&nbsp;Christopher says, “When an artist had caught our eye, we would explore a little bit more and get to know who they were.” Michael adds that though they did do their research, it was mostly hands on, spending entire weekends in town going from gallery to gallery.&nbsp;When they would travel to other cities gallery hopping was their starting point. Christopher notes, “My business takes me to New York a lot, so we also started going to the&nbsp;Chelsea&nbsp;and Upper East Side galleries to get an understanding of the full breadth, as much as we possibly could.” Michael and Christopher each confess they just like seeing what’s there each time they visit. One difference they’ve noticed when traveling, according to Michael, “In Chelsea they rarely talk to you, but they do in LA and San Francisco. And Chicago.”&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418561/izkbxuryiytjrqfxhcfb.jpg"><figcaption>Jim Nutt</figcaption></figure>&nbsp;They each feel at home in galleries and have done the majority of their exploration and buying through dealers, but according to Christopher, a key collecting moment presented itself at Art Chicago in 2006, the same year the longstanding art fair unexpectedly moved to the Merchandise Mart. “When we went to our first fair, we were overwhelmed.” Michael concurs, “There was so much stuff to see, it was a sensory overload.”&nbsp;Chicago dealer Russell Bowman had a booth at Art Chicago that year, and that was where Christopher and Michael first met him. Bowman was showing BG Summer, a work by Ed Paschke from 1991, which sent the couple right back to that 1980s exhibition at the Renaissance Society. Christopher recalls, “We both remembered how much we really loved him, and when we saw this piece at the fair – it was more money than I thought we would ever pay for a piece of art, but we’d always wanted a Paschke – we bought it.”&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418562/mivu5tm61bqfqm8m9vuz.jpg"><figcaption>Roger Brown, Long Wait, oil on canvas with artist's frame, 1968, 12" x 12"&nbsp;</figcaption></figure>&nbsp;For the next couple of years they were satisfied, as they admired the Paschke on weekends in their Chicago condo. Like a tempting sweet that they couldn’t resist forever, they eventually considered buying other Imagist works. In the mid 2000s, a few paintings by Paschke and Brown were available on the secondary market, but many were still privately held. First, they bought a Roger Brown. Then a work by Karl Wirsum. They continued their research and made inquiries.&nbsp;The pair got to know local dealers Carl Hammer, Jean Albano and Karen Lennox, and they kept in touch with Bowman, who would call if he had something that he thought might interest them. Once they bought a large Roger Brown, and then a couple more Wirsums, they made the decision that they should find space to display the works at their home in Indianapolis, since the house has a third floor.&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418562/igb21ggb2if2sdsne9na.jpg"><figcaption>Karl Wirsum</figcaption></figure>&nbsp;Michael admits that whenever he makes a declaration about collecting, usually the opposite will happen. Around 2008, when the national recession was beginning, and with their buying increasing in frequency and expense, Michael said to Christopher, “You know, we will never really put together a serious Imagist collection at this point,” Despite the headwinds that were ravaging collectors in the rest of the art world, Christopher and Michael were in fact inspired to do just that. Christopher reflects, “No one was buying much of anything at that time.” Michael was skeptical, “It was too late – we agreed that all the best works were already in collections and that we would get a few dribs and drabs.”&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418563/okg5sspenzlbuogawwbe.jpg"><figcaption>Barbara Rossi</figcaption></figure>&nbsp;Christopher figured it was worth attempting anyway, so they reached out to the four Chicago dealers they already knew to let them know that if they had more pieces come up to let them see them. What they began to see struck them as much more remarkable than dribs and drabs. “They started showing us incredible examples coming out of private collections.” Not only was the recession motivating some collectors to sell, but there was also some generational turnover due to collectors who passed things along to heirs who wished to sell what they inherited. To Michael, who wasn’t counting on those scenarios, he figured these prime works would end up in museums. Christopher points to that period as yet another tipping point, “We got a few pieces, and then we got a few really lovely pieces, and then we had to start thinking seriously about actually putting together a Chicago Imagists collection.”Ironically, the Chicago artists collection is in the couple’s Indianapolis home. The collection prompted a remodel of the second and third floors, and the house’s traditional feel provides a striking setting for contemporary works.&nbsp; In Chicago they ended up displaying an array of contemporary abstract works. John Corbett and Jim Dempsey, of Chicago’s Corbett vs. Dempsey gallery, suggested that the way to stitch the two pieces of the collection together was to think about the abstract painters who were contemporaries of the Imagists. Around 2012 they began to actively buy works from the ‘60s and ‘70s by abstract painters who either worked with the Imagists directly or were clearly influenced by them, including Richard Hull, Jordan Davies and Evelyn Statsinger, who preceded them.&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418564/akxfdjiqbuvfoz7foang.jpg"><figcaption>Evelyn Statsinger</figcaption></figure>&nbsp;Prior to having a focus for the two parts of the collection, Christopher and Michael would go to a fair or gallery, see something they liked and just buy it. Now, for the most part, they are very disciplined about what they buy and why. There are pieces in the collection that they still love but which they acknowledge they would not buy now. Christopher points to two distinct works in resin by German-born artist Markus Linnenbrink, “We would not likely buy a piece [by Markus] right now because he’s really outside of our collecting focus.”&nbsp;That discipline has not come at the expense of maintaining relationships with artists living in Chicago. Michael points out that the couple is still buying work by young, up and coming&nbsp; Chicago artists, such as Matthew Metzger and Andrew Holmquist, among others, in an effort to keep up with the contemporary scene, even though much of their focus and resources have gone towards pursuing the Imagists and more historical works. According to Christopher, one artist they have collected in depth is Rebecca Shore. He says they have visited her studio several times and haven’t missed an opening since first buying her work. It was through Shore that the pair was first introduced to Corbett vs. Dempsey, when she moved to the gallery from the now-closed Byron Roche Gallery in River North.&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418565/at7ifjl8dj9vl1zmztwa.jpg"><figcaption>Rebecca Shore, Untitled 01, 15 x 11", Casein on panel, 2014</figcaption></figure>&nbsp;They began collecting with a desire to support living artists, but then they bought their first Paschke after the artist had passed away. They both admit that the rules can change over time, and how you start out is not where you’ll end up. Either way, the contemporary as well as historical relationships all seem to be connected.&nbsp;More than building a collection or just pursuing elusive works, Michael and Christopher enjoy the experiences that the art world offers. As Christopher sees it, “The diversity of contemporary art is just stunning right now, I mean it can be overwhelming for anyone.” Michael confesses, “We love looking at everything. It’s just interesting to us. It’s challenging. It’s intellectually stimulating. There’s tons of stuff that we would have no interest in collecting – some of the really conceptual work I find fascinating, but I would absolutely not want to live with that in my home. We are drawn to things with a lot of visual interest. We’ve got enough purely intellectual activity in our professional lives, we don’t need that in our art collecting lives.”Michael and Christopher seem to represent an old fashioned way of doing things in the art world. At a time when so much is experienced virtually or through a screen, both men are passionate about in-person visits to galleries and about relationships with living artists. Michael admits, “I can’t see how people would not go to galleries because, unless you collect videos, it’s an analogue experience. How can you appreciate a Markus Linnenbrink or a Teo Gonzalez through an image? It just doesn’t work; you have to be there to understand the scale and texture – all of it.”&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418566/rklgq2dobrebc0fe6ucc.jpg"><figcaption>Richard Hull</figcaption></figure>&nbsp;For Christopher, “If you know the artist, maybe you can acquire art from afar. You’ve collected their work before, so you might understand it through an image. I think it’s still best to see it in person.” The couple has bought art sight-unseen via auctions, if something prevents them from travelling to a gallery or auction preview, but ultimately they are adamant that up close is the ideal way. They recommend that anyone trying to get introduced to art should rely heavily on personal visits and not just virtual research. They are hopeful that once people tire of looking at everything on a tiny screen and viewing art only for the selfies, the trend will return to participating in the physical art community.&nbsp;Michael and Christopher seem to be very busy professionally, yet they always find time to go and see art. They will switch roles this summer when they curate a show at Zolla/Lieberman Gallery in River North. <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/galleries/zolla-lieberman-gallery">Chicago and Indianapolis – What’s the Connection?</a> is a&nbsp;group exhibition (July 14–August 16, 2017) featuring the work of faculty members at the Herron School of Art and Design in Indianapolis. This exhibition explores common themes and concerns of contemporary artists working in Chicago and Indianapolis. Herron started out like the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC), where there was a museum collection and then an associated school. Eventually Herron became part of the Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis system, and the art collection became the Indianapolis Museum of Art.&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418566/az7scl43mtkuxoakgla4.jpg"><figcaption>Ray Yoshida</figcaption></figure>&nbsp;Today the school is very studio-oriented, devoted to producing working artists. Michael and Christopher had been attending shows at the school for some time, but they did not know much about the academic program. It was William Lieberman who suggested that the couple curate a summer group show at the gallery, and when the subsequent discussions were taking place, the idea took shape to do a faculty show. Michael and Christopher are candid about the fact that they are not curators, and that they have never done something like this before, but they were up for the adventure, and the idea of putting together a gallery show of work they find compelling was appealing. They are also excited for the opportunities it could present to the artists.Amidst the pressure of assembling a public exhibition for the first time, Christopher and Michael still find themselves doing what they love most – seeing art, visiting studios and talking to artists. The couple continues to&nbsp;hunt for what appeals to them, and their passion for art never dims.&nbsp;&nbsp;</body></html>

Christopher Slapak and Michael Robertson have acquired an impressive collection of Imagist works.

The Personal Art of Collecting

<h3>CURATOR YESOMI UMOLU BRINGS RESEARCH-BASED PROGRAMMING TO LOGAN CENTER</h3>

By ALISON REILLY

The voice of a Ghanaian woman proselytizing reverberates within the walls of a dark room as images of a Roman Catholic church slowly appear on the screen. The video, titled Sunday&rsquo;s Best, was the focus of Larry Achiampong&rsquo;s solo exhibition, OPEN SEASON, which opened last September at the Logan Center Gallery. But the show extended well beyond the walls of the University of Chicago building. Yesomi Umolu, the curator of the exhibition, organized a mini-residency for the Achiampong, who spent three weeks visiting different religious organizations and community groups on the South Side.&nbsp;

&ldquo;He was able to do interviews, live recordings and shoot new footage,&rdquo; Umolu said. The field recordings and videos that the London-based artist gathered in Chicago were not included in the exhibition, but for Umolu, that was not the point. As curator of <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/institutions/logan-center-exhibitions">Logan Center Exhibitions</a>, she hopes to give artists access to the vast resources and rich community that the gallery, the University of Chicago and the greater South Side can offer. &ldquo;There is intellectual capacity here, there are interesting cultural histories, there are a number of great people to talk to, and there are practical resources, especially in this building. We have production facilities, and we have access to different types of spaces for making and thinking creatively.&rdquo;

Umolu recently brought the Canadian born, Paris-based artist Kapwani Kiwanga to the Logan. While preparing for her show, Kiwanga stumbled upon the archives of twentieth-century color theorist Faber Birren in the Special Collections Library at the University of Chicago. Kiwanga, who studies the design of institutional spaces like prisons and hospitals, searched through folders of Birren&rsquo;s color design studies and sketches for clients. Eventually, she was able to create prints for her exhibition that incorporated images from the archive as well color palettes used by Birren and his colleagues. But Umolu noted, &ldquo;there was a lot she gathered that didn&rsquo;t materialize in this exhibition but will be presented elsewhere, including&nbsp;an upcoming publication that we are co-publishing with the Power Plant, Toronto. I&rsquo;m really excited that when we bring artists to the Logan it&rsquo;s not solely about what they can do for us; there is a long-term investment on our part. There might be something that we are able to spark here that will have a life outside of our program.&rdquo;

<img alt="" data-caption="Kapwani Kiwanga: &lt;i&gt;The Sum And Its Parts,&lt;/i&gt; 2017. Installation view at Logan Center Gallery. Courtesy of Logan Center Exhibitions, University of Chicago. Photo by RCH | EKH" data-rich-file-id="2029" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/2029/original/rch-ekh-logan-center-020617-026.jpg" />

Since joining the Logan in August 2015, Umolu has launched an impressive international exhibition series and introduced a program to commission new work. She also takes seriously the mission of the University to educate students and prepare them for life after graduation.&nbsp;

&ldquo;So much of this context is about pedagogy,&rdquo; Umolu said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s about investing in individuals and giving them the tools to go out into the world and apply that in the best way for them. I see that in a similar way to the artists we work with.&rdquo;

This fall, Umolu is working with artist Cinthia Marcelle and filmmaker Tiago Mata Machado to present a trilogy of videos. Hailing from Brazil, Marcelle and Mata Machado are longtime collaborators, and the exhibition will be the first time their works Community (2016), One Way Street (2013), and The Century (2011) have been shown together. &ldquo;The videos are in different ways a meditation on political agency and resistance in public space,&rdquo; Umolu said, &ldquo;with depictions of what look to be confrontations of bodies and objects in those spaces.&rdquo; The exhibition will coincide with the Chicago Architecture Biennial, and Umolu is planning to use the opportunity to host a critical discussion on their collaboration.

In addition to planning exhibitions, Umolu is in the midst of an ambitious research project that explores the histories of Pan-Africanism and in particular the history of a Chicago delegation that attended FESTAC (Second World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture) in Lagos, Nigeria in 1977. &ldquo;Chicago has always been a meeting point for members of the African diaspora especially in relation to progressive political and social movements,&rdquo; she noted. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m really interested in mining that history.&rdquo;

The project, tentatively titled The Ties That Bind: Waves of Pan-Africanism in Contemporary Art and Society, is supported by a curatorial fellowship from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and will take shape through a series of three public forums, organized by Logan Center Exhibitions but with the potential to be hosted at various sites around the South Side. &ldquo;The aim is that the project is steeped in an ethos of collaboration and open exchange,&rdquo; Umolu said. &ldquo;Given that I am new to Chicago, and my colleagues are already well versed in Chicago&rsquo;s art history, there&rsquo;s a lot that I can learn from them and a lot that the Logan can learn as well.&rdquo;

<img alt="" data-caption="Cinthia Marcelle and Tiago Mata Machado, &lt;i&gt;O Século (The Century),&lt;/i&gt; 2011. Courtesy of the artists and Galeria Vermelho, Sao Paulo" data-rich-file-id="2041" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/2041/original/logancenter-2.jpg" />

The first forum, which is scheduled for October 2017, explores the idea of the return. Umolu is interested in asking, &ldquo;What does it mean to return to Africa as a site of artistic engagement, a site of political emancipation and a site of social inquiry? How is that related to Chicago and the history of the black arts movement here?&rdquo; The second and third forums, which will take place in the spring and fall of 2018, will consider the themes of non-alignment and horizons in relationship to the African diaspora.

&ldquo;The Warhol fellowships allows curators to have a certain level of autonomy to explore an idea at the very beginning of its genesis,&rdquo; Umolu said. With this freedom, she was able to first delve into the research and then propose the format of the public forums. &ldquo;Eventually the hope is that this is good groundwork for an exhibition. But what&rsquo;s exciting about the Warhol is that there&rsquo;s not necessarily a defined product that you have to deliver, you just have to follow the course of your research. The public forums will be things in and of themselves. They&rsquo;ll bring a lot of value and conversation to this context.&rdquo;

Yesomi Umolu is Exhibitions Curator at the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts at the University of Chicago, where she is also a lecturer in the humanities division. Prior to joining the Logan, Umolu was Assistant Curator at the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum at MSU and Curatorial Fellow for Visual Arts at the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis.

Top image:&nbsp;Larry Achiampong, Sunday&rsquo;s Best, 2017. Courtesy of the artist

Curator Yesomi Umolu brings research-based programming to the Logan Center.

Expanding Exhibitions at the Logan Center

ARAM HAN SIFUENTES CREATES A SPACE FOR DISSENT&nbsp;By ALISON REILLYI meet Aram Han Sifuentes on the first floor of the Chicago Cultural Center in the Garland Gallery. She is working at one of the tables set up in her public studio—a “workspace, workshop” as she calls it, with her young daughter Nara and her collaborator Verónica Casado Hernandez. On each of the tables is a sewing machine, scissors and assorted fabrics. Hanging above them are large, cloth banners with slogans like “America Was Never Great,” “Climate Change is Real,” and “We Are In This Together.” Across from their workstation, I see hundreds of postcards answering the question posted on the wall: “What does your banner say?”&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/2031/original/ccc-protest-banner-making-10-x2.jpg" alt=""></figure>Aram’s Protest Banner Lending Library offers those feeling taxed by a divided political system a space for creative expression. The project is part of the Chicago Cultural Center’s ongoing artist-in-residence program, which provides a stipend and dedicated studio space for artists who hope to interact directly with the public. Along with walk-ins, Aram, Verónica and their two other collaborators, Ishita Dharap and Tabitha Anne, often host school and community groups. Visitors are invited to imagine what their protest banner would look like and then, if time allows, they can make one of their own.&nbsp;“We have all the materials, and we teach people how to make their own protest banners,” Aram says. “It takes about an hour and a half, so it’s a bit of a time commitment.” Sewing is inherently a slow process. In a digital world where political activism can mean copying and pasting a form letter to a representative, designing and sewing a cloth banner can be a radical exercise.&nbsp;For Aram, the act of sewing is itself a form of resistance. After the 2016 election, she began making banners at home by herself and then started to invite friends over to create their own designs. Soon, she was hosting workshops at the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum and the Smart Museum. This past month she was invited to the Whitney Museum in New York to co-present a banner-making workshop with another Chicago-based artist, Cauleen Smith.&nbsp;“Before any big protest we get a wave of people all wanting very specific slogans so we try to be good about keeping up with it. But there’s too much to keep up with these days!” Aram says. Although the banners have been popular for protests like the January 2017 Women’s March, they can be checked out for other purposes, too. “A high school teacher recently took one out to put in her classroom for a couple weeks.”<figure class="image"><img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/2032/original/ahs-sampler.jpg" alt=""></figure>Politics and sewing have always been intertwined in Aram’s life. Her mother, Younghye Han, was an artist in South Korea and ran her own art center. When Aram’s family immigrated to Modesto, California in 1992, her parents started working at a dry cleaner and Younghye became a seamstress. Like many in the garment industry, Younghye was paid per item, which Aram says, “leads to unregulated working conditions.” Aram learned to sew when she was six years old by helping her mother with small pieces. “For me engaging in the act of sewing is always about that history and social context.”&nbsp;Aram has questioned her own status as an immigrant in her ongoing project, US Citizenship Test Sampler. In 2012, as she beganstudying for the United States Naturalization Test, she decided to hand sew the 100 questions and the answers onto a single piece of fabric. The questions range from “Who makes federal laws? (Congress)” to “During the Cold War, what was the main concern of the United States? (Communism).”&nbsp; The long scroll, which is still in progress, is now on display at the Hull-House, along with a collection of other needlework samplers.&nbsp;After starting the project, Aram decided to start teaching other non-citizens how to create samplers. The idea is based on needlework samplers that were used in colonial America to teach children how to sew. “They would sew the alphabet and numbers and learn educational concepts,” Aram notes. “Adolescent girls from wealthier families would create another decorative, pictorial sampler to show her worth as a woman and as a wife to her potential suitor.” &nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/2033/original/1ccc-protest-banner-making-183.jpg" alt=""></figure>Each participant that Aram has worked with chooses one question and answer from the test and sews it, along with their own decoration, on a square of fabric. The completed samplers are available for purchase for $725 each, the cost of applying for citizenship. The full amount goes directly to the participant to help cover any costs associated with the process.&nbsp;Symbolically, the project speaks to the monetary value associated with immigrant labor. While working on her own sampler, Aram tracked the number of hours she spent working on it and estimated that after selling the piece, she had only made about $2 an hour. But, like the colonial samplers, the project functions on another level. “I teach people how to sew and depending on their needs I tutor English or we study for the citizenship test together.” The longer Aram spends with an individual, the more she is able to help them execute complex ideas for their sampler and better prepare them for their test.US Citizenship Test Sampler also serves as a reminder of the uphill battles that people who want to become citizens have always faced. Even if they have prepared by studying, the cost of taking the test can be prohibitive. There has been a renewed interest in Aram’s project following the 2016 election, and many of the samplers have sold within the last few months. “It’s been really awesome because before the recent election the samplers that sold were more aesthetically beautiful, but now the ones that are selling are about need—either to apply for citizenship or get legal help, because a lot of my participants are undocumented.”After her residency ends at the Cultural Center, Aram will travel to Washington D.C. for the month of June. As a Smithsonian artist research fellow, she will have access to the archives of American art. “I’m going to research recipes, which includes food and drinks, but also syllabi and templates for unrealized projects. I use the word recipe, but it’s really a very broad interpretation.”<figure class="image"><img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/2038/original/ccc-20protest-20banner-20making-205-x4.jpg" alt=""></figure>The recipes will become another piece of Aram’s work. “These banners, some were made by me, but a lot are made by other people who come in here or to workshops and then donate them. In a way this is a collection in and of itself. That [pointing to postcards on the wall] is a collection of many different people and their contributions. Ballots, needles, samplers, I think all of them are pieces from individuals that come together as a collection.”The Protest Banner Lending Library at the Chicago Cultural Center is open Tuesday-Friday, 12-6pm through May 18, 2017. For more information visit <a href="http://aramhan.com">aramhan.com</a>.Top image:&nbsp;Aram Han Sifuentes (Right) and Verónica Casado Hernandez (Left) in the protest banner lending library at the Chicago Cultural Center. Photo: eedahahm

Aram Han Sifuentes creates a space for dissent at the Chicago Cultural Center.

A Protest Banner Lending Library 

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

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

Exploring West Town with Sibylle Friche

<html><head></head><body><figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418556/qs6rujqejucnegftgnhc.jpg"><figcaption>Photos by M Lindsay Photography</figcaption></figure>By GINNY VAN ALYEASally Schwartz says she has always been a hoarder. As a child she was always saving various objects, and she’s continued to hold onto many of those things even today, from an old record case and all of her 45 records, to Winnie-the-Pooh’s Piglet and a resultant collection of pigs. If Sally is drawn to something, she will hunt for many more examples of it. Her passion for seeking just the right vintage needle in a cluttered haystack has led her to become queen of Chicago’s vintage market scene, having founded the Randolph Street Market Festival in 2004.“I used to go antiquing as a kid,” Sally recalls. Whenever her mom and her friends would head into the city from the North Shore, she would tag along so she could check out the antiques stores in Boystown. Recalling the unusual pieces she found there, she says, “They had really cool, funky style. I’ve always loved the stuff – I like looking at it. It makes me happy.”&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/2005/original/sally-schwartz-398.jpg" alt=""></figure>Sally’s taste in art and vintage clothing is much the same as what she looks for in antiques. She explains, “I’ve always loved art, and my taste is just all over the place. I like some of the really formal things, and then I like really wild stuff.” She seems to greatly appreciate so many things, from old vases to antique sconces, just for what they mean to her, rather than considering whether or not they have potential to be a monetary diamond in the rough.&nbsp;She loved vintage clothing so much, even as a kid when no one else was wearing it, she says she didn’t care if she ever wore it – she just loved to have it. That same appreciation and enjoyment is a large part of the fun for her today.&nbsp;Sally has long specialized in festive gatherings, and it was through event planning that she would get her start organizing markets. She began doing very elaborate theme parties while also working as a decorator. Sally explains, “If I was doing a ‘50s party, I would go find the grill of a 1957 Chevy, or I’d find a jukebox. If it was a jazz party I would find all this Art Deco stuff. I’d have these really big budgets to put together these parties, but I had to start buying and keeping the decorations, since they could be hard to find – there was no market in the city of Chicago to source these types of authentic props.”&nbsp;Sally saw an opportunity not just for herself but for others hunting for eclectic pieces, too. In the mid ‘90s she organized three big markets with her then-husband, but then, Sally recalls, “I lost the site, and then my marriage ended, and everything sort of fell apart.” Around 2002 she was recruited to take over the Taste of Randolph, but that was not the type of event she wanted to do. Instead, she pitched the idea of an antique market. At the time, she says, there was nothing happening in the West Loop. “It was pretty much dead,” she recalls. “On Randolph Street it was just HARPO, Ina [Pinkney’s diner], Michael Jordan’s One Sixtyblue, and Jerry Kleiner’s restaurants.”Her first market, in 2004, was outside on the street, and the next one was in Hoops the Gym, a basketball space where Jordan and former Bulls teammate Scottie Pippen practiced before they retired.&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418557/nlfetpvm4vjnpxoebijz.jpg"></figure>&nbsp;Since then Sally has expanded from one-day sales six times a year, to indoor and outdoor markets the last weekend of each month. The Randolph Street Market is internationally known as a go-to source for finding vintage and antique furniture, jewelry, clothing and art. Over 300 vendors take part, and the people who show are an eccentric bunch. The markets have become popular because visitors can find anything from vintage handbags and china to sterling silver candlesticks and high-end rugs. Special themes and on-site events introduced throughout the year make it an unusual experience every time.&nbsp;Sally’s professional life seems to have evolved to perfectly embody who she is personally, while offering her an endless source for finding treasures. While the pace of running the monthly markets is frenetic, she has her own life, away from Randolph Street, in a serene yet glamorous contemporary house in Lakeview, with her husband, Reid Brody.&nbsp;Sally likes to joke that Reid sent away for a mail order bride. The reality is that the couple met in Chicago 14 years ago. Friends had insisted they knew someone who was perfect for her. After getting his name wrong for a while – she thought she was looking for Reid Brophy – Sally finally tracked him down through another friend’s boss. They went on a date, and that was it.&nbsp;The couple got married this past December, after years of living apart in order to raise their own children. Their marriage aligned with their decision to move into a new home together, where they have combined their tastes as well as their belongings and collections. Sally came from a vintage Hyde Park home with art everywhere, while Reid was living in what Sally called a frat house/man cave in Wrigleyville. In their Lakeview house they wanted to display their pieces with more air and a much less cluttered feeling. Reid admits, “The good thing about moving was getting a ton of stuff out.” To Sally, “When we moved in here, we wanted things quiet and spaced. We have a lot of art that we have gotten rid of, and there are pieces that we don’t hang, because putting too much in this space wouldn’t look right.”The home’s open spaces are filled with blonde wood floors, and big windows that let in generous light. Each room is sleek and bright. Even though Sally says they tried not to have too much in the space, there is still something to look at on every wall and around every corner. Many of the pieces and objects have personal stories associated with them: a pair of imposing needlepointed chairs in the dining room were stitched by Sally’s grandmother. A metal sculpture of a woman, created by Sally’s aunt, is installed in the same room up by a large window. Custom built shelves display a range of objects in the living room: Sally’s extensive collection of vintage cigarette lighters is set off by glass and a mirrored background, while Reid’s vintage speakers, receivers and amps are plugged in and arranged opposite the lighters. How to make everything come together, in a single home after more than 14 years of living separately, was the challenge as well as an opportunity for the couple. Sally notes, “Taking our things – like the red couches in our kitchen – and curating how they would work together was fun. I just looked for art and pieces that had accents of red, and then you start to find them – that pillow I found at my market, these works are from the Project Onward program.”&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/2007/original/sally-schwartz-160.jpg" alt=""></figure>So much comes through the markets each month, one wonders how Sally could possibly resist making impulse purchases all the time. “It’s hard, but I’ve become more limited,” she admits. She has undoubtedly found a lot of special pieces at the markets over the years, but she must try to be discerning in what she chooses to take home. The items she has acquired range from simply interesting things to overlooked steals. One hand grooved woven piece from the 1920s was dumped in a shopping bag. Sally bought it for $20, paid to clean&nbsp;and&nbsp;frame the piece, and it now complements the pair of needlepoint chairs by her grandmother in her dining room. A pair of salon style bucket chairs add to the glamour of her modern living room, and remarkably, they feature the original fabric – she only had a pair of pillows made to go with them. Sally restores or fixes some pieces, so she tries to find things with good bones no matter what.&nbsp;Sally and Reid’s new house is big enough to accomodate multiple collections of two different people who each have one foot in the past and one in the present. They both have developed an eye for making history their own. &nbsp;Reid’s collecting history is no less serious than Sally’s and just as eclectic, though he has a very different and personal focus. Sally sums up Reid’s extensive collection, “He doesn’t only collect guitars, he collects microphones, he collects clock radios, he collects little lights that you put next to your bed; in his last house he had this entire wall unit that was filled with clock radios, lights and gadgets, and they were all plugged in.” Reid has also long admired toaster ovens. He says, “The downfall of America can be traced to one of these [toaster ovens]. They’re amazing. It’s just the greatest thing ever.” Sally still can’t seem to believe Reid’s fixation with the common household device, but with more fondness than exasperation, she smiles at him when she says, “Can you believe he’s talking about a toaster oven?”<figure class="image"><img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/2040/original/reidsinstruments.jpg" alt=""></figure>Although Sally and Reid say they have very different taste in just about everything, they each end up looking out for what the other collects. Sally remembers, “Reid was at a guitar show in Dallas when he found a really cool cigarette lighter that looks like a microphone – the best of both our worlds. He’s found me a few lighters at his shows.” Says Reid, “The two really good ones were a Jet, and then an RCA microphone lighter.”When Sally comes across a guitar she immediately sends photos to Reid, but she says he’s so picky because he knows what he wants and he’s collected so much already. Reid has spent his career in the film and music industries, and his interest in guitars and recording equipment springs from his childhood, when he says his family couldn’t really afford anything. As an adult, it led him to chase what he once couldn’t have. Today he says he’s mostly held off acquiring things, since he more or less thinks he’s gotten everything he wanted. His collection spans mid-century digital recording equipment, guitars and vintage Hi-Fi, as well as a lot of vinyl. Reid has spent years in search of these objects, and Sally calls their lower level of the home Reid’s Fun House, where he displays nearly 50 guitars as well as more audio components. There is a custom built retro recording environment for ‘50s, ‘60s and ‘70s sound in a basement room that measures around 12’ x 10’. The equipment in the room also features a digital overlay so that Reid can work with a digital hybrid system. He uses vintage equipment to record an authentically old sound, but he captures it in an up-to-date format.&nbsp;He’s acquired a number of old microphones that each have a place in history. Their sound is distinct and so are the voices that have used them in the past. One example is a U47 mic that was made in post-war Germany and is still closely associated with Frank Sinatra and other ‘50s singers. To Reid, “These things have been used to record history, so they become very collectable. This is all restored, and it’s the original stuff.” Reid admits, “It all can start to own you after awhile, so I think at this point I’ll just enjoy what I have. I don’t feel that precious about anything anymore.” It’s the best way, he says, to appreciate what he already has.&nbsp;Sally and Reid’s children are each into their parents’ collections in their own way. Reid says his kids have a good sense of the sound collection. He dragged them around to flea markets and estate sales when they were young, and that they learned to collect items of their own, like comic books, Yu-Gi-Oh! Cards and other paper things. Today Reid and his son buy and sell vintage guitars together, and someday his son will inherit his collection of guitars, amps and microphones. Reid’s daughter is captivated by Sally’s lighters, so Sally says she’ll never sell them as long as she wants them. Her daughter, about to be a junior in college, has said to her, “You know I’m going to sell everything when you’re dead,” but Sally says she’ll hold onto most things, just in case she has a change of heart.&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/2009/original/sallyflickers-2.jpg" alt=""></figure>&nbsp;Sally’s markets are built on the concept of trading and sharing things between generations. Some people are naturally interested in the search, while others love to look through pieces of history. Many are seeking a unique style in an age of sameness. When she looks to future generations of collectors, Sally says it can be helpful to start something small and fun for a child. Sally had her own collection of pigs, and for her daughter she started picking up various poodles when she was a baby – a collection to complement her French-themed nursery. Sally says, “When they have outgrown that, or they decide, ‘I’m bored with this I want to collect something else,’ they may have developed an eye and be inspired to look at things more deeply,” eventually building a collection on their own. She loves to see kids tagging along at the market. As she points out, almost wistfully, “It helps kids to start looking at stuff, at materials, at the way things were made and how they last, to see that not everything is disposable.”Top image: Sally and Reid’s living room features a pair of salon chairs from the Randolph Street Market, his (architecture) and her (Nancy Drew books) bookshelves, a collection of vintage cigarette lighters, and vintage sound equipment (not shown.) All photos: M Lindsay Photography.&nbsp;</body></html>

CGN interviews collector Sally Schwartz and her husband Reid Brody. 

In Search of the Eclectic 

This summer features an enticing&nbsp;lineup of exhibitions&nbsp;from Jim Dine paintings at Richard Gray Gallery&#39;s new warehouse&nbsp;space to a survey of work by&nbsp;Angela Gonzales at Fermilab Art Gallery.

&nbsp;

<h2>Deana Lawson | <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/galleries/rhona-hoffman-gallery--2">Rhona Hoffman Gallery</a></h2>

<a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/calendar/deana-lawson"><img alt="" data-caption=" Deana Lawson, &lt;i&gt;Ring Bearer&lt;/i&gt;, 2017. Courtesy of Rhona Hoffman Gallery" data-rich-file-id="2000" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/2000/original/lawson-ringbearer-2017.jpg" /></a>

At first glance Deana Lawson&rsquo;s photographs look like snapshots from a family album, but the Brooklyn-based photographer first sketches scenes and then carefully constructs her images. Her exhibition features a new body of work that was first presented at the Whitney Biennial 2017, along with other recent photographs.&nbsp;

Through&nbsp;May 26, Rhona Hoffman Gallery, 118 N. Peoria. <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/calendar/deana-lawson">Read more</a>

&nbsp;

<h2>Roberto Salas | <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/galleries/the-rangefinder-gallery-at-tamarkin-camera">Rangefinder Gallery</a></h2>

<img alt="" data-caption="Roberto Salas, &lt;i&gt;Fidel Castro and “Che” Guevara, Havana, January 1959&lt;/i&gt;" data-rich-file-id="1999" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1999/original/rangefinder-robertosalas.jpg" />

What was it like to be behind the lens documenting Fidel Castro&rsquo;s rise to power? Roberto Salas was part of a small group of Cuban photographers who had access to the communist leader. Cuba: Photographs of an Era&nbsp;presents a selection of his historic work.&nbsp;

&nbsp;May 5-June 30, Rangefinder Gallery at Tamarkin Camera, 300 W. Superior.&nbsp;<a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/calendar/cuba-photographs-of-an-era">Read more</a>

&nbsp;

<h2>Jim Dine | <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/galleries/richard-gray-gallery-w-carroll-ave">Richard Gray Gallery</a></h2>

<a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/calendar/looking-at-the-present-recent-works-by-jim-dine"><img alt="" data-caption="Jim Dine, &lt;i&gt;Oslo, Midsummer with E.&lt;/i&gt;, 2016. Photo: Bertrand Huet. Courtesy Richard Gray Gallery and the artist" data-rich-file-id="2001" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/2001/original/richardgraygallery-jim-20dine-2016.jpg" /></a>

Richard Gray Gallery&nbsp;inaugurates their expansive West Side space with Looking at the Present, an exhibition of large-scale, gestural paintings by Jim Dine. A concurrent exhibition, titled Primary Objects is on display at the gallery&rsquo;s New York location.&nbsp;

April 28-June 10, Richard Gray Gallery, 2044 W. Carroll (new location). <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/calendar/looking-at-the-present-recent-works-by-jim-dine">Read more</a>

&nbsp;

<h2>Klein / Olson | <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/institutions/renaissance-society">Renaissance Society</a></h2>

<a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/calendar/klein-olson"><img alt="" data-caption="B. Ingrid Olson, &lt;i&gt;If taken releasing heat&lt;/i&gt;, 2017. Courtesy the artist and Simone Subal Gallery, New York" data-rich-file-id="2002" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/2002/original/renaissancesociety-b-20ingrid-20olson-2017.jpg" /></a>

Curator Solveig &Oslash;vsteb&oslash; brings together sculpture, collage and photographic works by B. Ingrid Olson (Chicago) and Astrid Klein (Cologne). Though they work independently, the two artists both take an interest in the manipulation of space, the impact of scale and the representation of gender.

Through&nbsp;June 18, Renaissance Society, 5811 S. Ellis. <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/calendar/klein-olson">Read more</a>

&nbsp;

<h2>Candida Alvarez | <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/institutions/chicago-cultural-center--2">Chicago Cultural Center</a></h2>

<a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/calendar/candida-alvarez-here"><img alt="" data-caption="Candida Alvarez, &lt;i&gt;Rainbows on my studio floor&lt;/i&gt;, 2016. Courtesy of the artist" data-rich-file-id="2003" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/2003/original/candidaalvarez.jpg" /></a>

Candida Alvarez&rsquo;s bright canvases will be on display at the Chicago Cultural Center in her first major institutional exhibition. Curated by Terry Meyers, Here&nbsp;showcases over four decades of paintings by the Chicago-based painter.&nbsp;

April 29-August 6, Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington. <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/calendar/candida-alvarez-here">Read more</a>

&nbsp;

<h2>Angela Gonzales | <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/galleries/fermilab-art-gallery">Fermilab Art Gallery</a></h2>

<a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/calendar/a-lasting-mark-artist-angela-gonzales-at-fermilab-1967-1998"><img alt="" data-caption="Angela Gonzales, Cover of 1984 Fermilab Annual Report" data-rich-file-id="2004" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/2004/original/fermilab-angelagonzales.jpg" /></a>

Fermilab Art Gallery honors the legacy of longtime employee and artist Angela Gonzales who designed everything from logos to annual report covers for the renowned particle physics and accelerator laboratory. Gonzales joined Fermilab in 1967 and made a lasting impression on the community with her bold color palette and striking designs.

June 1-September 30, Fermilab Art Gallery, Kirk Rd. &amp; Pine St., Batavia IL. <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/calendar/a-lasting-mark-artist-angela-gonzales-at-fermilab-1967-1998">Read more</a>

For a full schedule of exhibitions and openings, visit <a href="http://chicagogallerynews.com/calendar">chicagogallerynews.com/calendar</a>

Top image: Astrid Klein, Endzeitgef&uuml;hle (detail), 1982, collage from the exhibition Klein / Olson&nbsp;at the Renaissance Society.&nbsp;Image courtesy the artist and Spr&uuml;th Magers, Berlin.&nbsp;

CGN shares exhibition previews for the summer season.

Season Previews: Summer 2017

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

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

Public Art and the Masses: Examining Sculpture in Grant Park

Information excerpted from Richard Gray Gallery&#39;s website:

Polish sculptor&nbsp;Magdalena Abakanowicz (born in&nbsp;1930),&nbsp;an artist&nbsp;with a career spanning more than five decades, died yesterday in Warsaw.&nbsp;

In Chicago she is most known for&nbsp;Agora&nbsp;(2006),&nbsp;106 upright figures, made of iron and&nbsp;each standing&nbsp;nine feet tall,&nbsp;permanently&nbsp;installed in Grant Park.

Abakanowicz told The Chicago Tribune in 2005,&nbsp;&ldquo;Every sculpture can be turned into decoration. But if you have 100, you are confronted by them and must think and imagine and question yourself. This is what I want.&rdquo;

<img alt="" data-caption="Installation view from &lt;i&gt;Mutations&lt;/i&gt;, 2016 exhibition at Richard Gray Gallery in Chicago" data-rich-file-id="1980" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1980/original/6290d8c2867137214b9264402887cb3d.jpeg" />

Her first North American retrospective was organized at the <a href="https://mcachicago.org/Exhibitions/1982/Magdalena-Abakanowicz">Museum of Contemporary Art</a> in Chicago in 1982. She has works in the museum&#39;s permanent collection.&nbsp;

Throughout her long and prolific career she has developed a distinctive sculptural language that is specific to her recollections of life in Communist-ruled Eastern Europe while remaining open to universal readings of human struggle. Her installations often portray crowds of headless or faceless bodies as somber testimonies to ongoing personal, societal, and international violence. Mutations brings together sculptures from the past thirty-five years in an installation that emphasizes the sculpture&rsquo;s materials and symbolic impact. 
 
Magdalena Abakanowicz was born in Falenty, Poland in 1930 and studied painting at the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts. She was a foundational voice in the development of avant-garde sculpture beginning in the 1960s, particularly challenging the use of fiber as a sculptural material. By the 1970s, she had established herself as a presence in the global art community.

<img alt="" data-caption="Installation view from &lt;i&gt;Mutations&lt;/i&gt;, 2016 exhibition at Richard Gray Gallery in Chicago, showing works in burlap and resin, and bronze" data-rich-file-id="1978" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1978/original/1d49b9f21ff414e7464ee65b16316b3a.jpeg" />

She is regarded as one of the most influential sculptors of the Post War period. Her powerful portrayal of the figure explores the human condition, the relationship between man and nature, and social and political histories pertaining to her experience in Soviet-occupied Poland. 
 
Her earliest mature works&mdash;monumental, soft textile sculptures called Abakans that she completed when she was in her early thirties&mdash;won the artist international recognition in an era when very few Polish citizens were permitted to travel abroad. Since that time, Abakanowicz has become best known for her unique treatment of the human figure, often headless and modeled in found burlap or cast in bronze, representing our capacity to follow a leader or movement blindly, without thought. At the same time, she creates each form by hand, emphasizing the individuality that remains, even in the crowd.

<img alt="" data-caption="Magdalena Abakanowicz, &lt;i&gt;The Group of Five with Arms&lt;/i&gt;, 2014, bronze, 60&quot; x 84&quot; x 36&quot;." data-rich-file-id="1981" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1981/original/31483cb1847512407efc1e213351d459.jpg" />

Abakanowicz studied at the Academy of Fine Arts, Warsaw from 1950 &ndash; 1954. Her work can be found in public collections internationally including the Art Institute of Chicago; the Australian National Gallery of Art, Canberra; the Center for Contemporary Art, Warsaw; Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; the Israel Museum, Jerusalem; the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, Missouri; the Ludwig Museum, Cologne; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Mus&eacute;e d&#39;Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; the National Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul, South Korea; the Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas; the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; the Storm King Art Center, Mountainville, New York; the Sezon Museum of Art, Tokyo and many others.

Additional reading: <a href="http://www.richardgraygallery.com/artists/magdalena-abakanowicz">richardgraygallery.com</a> and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/21/arts/design/magdalena-abakanowicz-sculptor-of-brooding-forms-dies-at-86.html?_r=0">nytimes.com</a>

Top image: Magdalena Abakanowicz,&nbsp;Agora, 2006.&nbsp;Courtesy the artist and Richard Gray Gallery.

Magdalena Abakanowicz, a Polish sculptor with a career that spans more than 50 years, died on Thursday.

Polish Sculptor and Agora Artist Magdalena Abakanowicz Has Died at 86

The Terra Foundation for American Art&nbsp;in partnership with the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation&nbsp;officially announced&nbsp;Art Design Chicago, a yearlong&nbsp;initiative&nbsp;to explore Chicago&#39;s role in the history of art and design.&nbsp;Art Design Chicago&nbsp;provides over $6 million in funding to&nbsp;support exhibitions and public programming at more than 40 cultural organizations.&nbsp;Partners range from large institutions like&nbsp;the <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/institutions/art-institute-of-chicago">Art Institute of Chicago</a> and the Archives of American Art at the Smithsonian Institution to community focused art organizations like the <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/institutions/hyde-park-art-center-hpac">Hyde Park Art Center</a> and the <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/institutions/south-side-community-art-center">South Side Community Art Center</a>.

A number of exhibitions have been announced including Arte Dise&ntilde;o Xic&aacute;go: Mexican Inspiration from the World&rsquo;s Columbian Exposition to the Civil Rights Era at the <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/institutions/national-museum-of-mexican-art--2">National Museum of Mexican Art</a>; Picture Fictions: Kenneth Johnson and Contemporary Photography at the <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/institutions/museum-of-contemporary-art-chicago-mca">Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago</a>;&nbsp;A Home for Surrealism at the <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/galleries/the-arts-club-of-chicago">Arts Club of Chicago</a>; South Side Stories: Rethinking Chicago Art, 1960-1975 at the <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/institutions/smart-museum-of-art">Smart Museum of Art</a> and the <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/institutions/dusable-museum">DuSable Museum of African American History</a>; and Chicago Disability Arts and Design: At the Center of the Disability Rights Movement 1974-2000 at <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/institutions/gallery-400">Gallery 400</a>.

Other notable forthcoming programs include Show the World: 150 Years of Chicago Art and Design, a four-part documentary produced by WTTW-TV (PBS) and Into the City: A History of Chicago Art published by University of Chicago Press.

Elizabeth Glassman, president and CEO of the Terra Foundation noted, &ldquo;We are delighted to be working with so many brilliant organizations to bring Art Design Chicago to life, and to share with new and existing audiences the dynamic artistic history of Chicago. This city has long had a pioneering spirit, championing the avant-garde, and shaping modern art and design. Chicago continues to be uniquely positioned to translate artistic vision into the consumer goods that we live with everyday. We could not think of a better moment to launch this initiative, when reconnecting with who and what comprises the American story is so essential and immediate.&rdquo;

For more information visit <a href="http://www.artdesignchicago.org">www.artdesignchicago.org</a>

<img alt="" data-caption="Ephemera, “Hollywood Bond Cavalcade,” Soldier Field, Chicago, September 16, 1943, courtesy University of Chicago Press" data-rich-file-id="1948" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1948/original/08-into-the-city.jpg" />

Art Design Chicago: Partners To Date&nbsp;

<ul>
	<li>Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution</li>
	<li>The Art Institute of Chicago</li>
	<li>The Arts Club of Chicago</li>
	<li>Asian/Pacific/American Institute at New York University</li>
	<li>Black Metropolis Research Consortium</li>
	<li>Caxton Club</li>
	<li>Chicago Art Deco Society</li>
	<li>Chicago Cultural Alliance</li>
	<li>Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events</li>
	<li>Chicago Design Museum</li>
	<li>Chicago History Museum</li>
	<li>Chicago Humanities Festival</li>
	<li>Chicago Parks Foundation&nbsp;</li>
	<li>Chicago Public Library</li>
	<li>Chicago Public Schools</li>
	<li>DePaul Art Museum</li>
	<li>DePaul University</li>
	<li>Duke University Press&nbsp;</li>
	<li>DuSable Museum of African American History</li>
	<li>Edgar Miller Legacy</li>
	<li>Ed Paschke Art Center&nbsp;</li>
	<li>Elmhurst College</li>
	<li>EXPO Chicago</li>
	<li>Gallery 400</li>
	<li>Glessner House Museum&nbsp;</li>
	<li>Hyde Park Art Center</li>
	<li>Illinois Executive Mansion Association</li>
	<li>Illinois Humanities</li>
	<li>Illinois Women Artists Project</li>
	<li>Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art</li>
	<li>Jane Addams Hull-House Museum&nbsp;</li>
	<li>Koehnline Museum of Art</li>
	<li>Mary &amp; Leigh Block Museum of Art, Northwestern University</li>
	<li>Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago</li>
	<li>Museum of Contemporary Photography, Columbia College Chicago</li>
	<li>Museum of Modern Art, New York</li>
	<li>National Museum of Mexican Art</li>
	<li>National Public Housing Museum</li>
	<li>Navy Pier</li>
	<li>Newberry Library</li>
	<li>Northwestern University Press</li>
	<li>Rebuild Foundation</li>
	<li>The Renaissance Society at University of Chicago</li>
	<li>The Richard H. Driehaus Museum</li>
	<li>Smart Museum of Art</li>
	<li>South Side Community Art Center</li>
	<li>Spertus Institute for Jewish Learning and Leadership</li>
	<li>Tang Museum at Skidmore College</li>
	<li>UChicago Arts Public Art Program&nbsp;</li>
	<li>Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art</li>
	<li>&nbsp;University of Chicago Graham School of Continuing Liberal and Professional Studies</li>
	<li>University of Chicago Press</li>
	<li>University of Illinois at Chicago</li>
	<li>University of Illinois Press</li>
	<li>Vamonde</li>
	<li>Video Game Art Gallery</li>
	<li>WTTW</li>
</ul>

Top image: Kenneth Josephson, Chicago, 1972, gelatin silver print, 4 3/4 x 7 in. (12.1 x 17.8 cm), Collection Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Gift of the Foster Charitable Trust in memory of Reuben A. Foster, 1983.37 &copy; 1972 Kenneth Josephson. Photo: Nathan Keay &copy; MCA Chicago

The Terra Foundation announced a major 2018 initiative to explore the history of art and design in Chicago.

Terra Foundation Announces Yearlong Initiative to Explore Impact of Chicago's Art and Design Legacy

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

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

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

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

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

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

CGN interviews Ross Jordan, the curator of "The Presidential Library Project: Black Presidential Imaginary" at the Hyde Park Art Center.

Exploring the Black Presidential Imaginary: An Interview with Ross Jordan

In recognition of Chicago&rsquo;s &ldquo;Year of Public Art,&rdquo; Chicago Gallery News is featuring a series of articles chronicling milestones of public art in Chicago. The first in the series looks at the unlikely connections between Yoko Ono&#39;s Skylanding and the Art Institute of Chicago&#39;s bronze lions.

By FRANCK MERCURIO

Just south of the Museum of Science and Industry, on Wooded Island in Jackson Park, sits one of Chicago&rsquo;s newest works of public art. Unveiled this past October, Yoko Ono&rsquo;s Skylanding (2016) occupies the site of the Japanese Pavilion and Osaka Garden created for the 1893 World&rsquo;s Columbian Exposition. The pavilion is long gone (destroyed by arsonists in 1946), but a resurrected version of the original garden remains. Here, Ono installed a sculptural composition consisting of 12 large stainless steel &ldquo;petals&rdquo; (each 12 feet tall), which suggest a giant lotus flower emerging from the earth. The work is part memorial, part peace gesture, and part ode to Chicago&mdash;the city that &ldquo;blossomed&rdquo; after the Great Fire, rising up from the marshy shores of Lake Michigan.

<img alt="" data-caption="Members of Thodos Dance Chicago performing at the unveiling ceremony of Yoko Ono's &lt;i&gt;Skylanding&lt;/i&gt; © Diane Hutchinson Reilly / Courtesy of Thodos Dance Chicago" data-rich-file-id="1897" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1897/original/skylanding-8.jpg" />

Like most works of public sculpture in Chicago, the location of Skylanding is no accident. It is situated where Chicago&rsquo;s tradition of great public art first got its start more than 120 years ago. In 1893, Jackson Park hosted the World&#39;s Fair and the &ldquo;White City,&rdquo; a showcase of late 19th-century art, architecture, and urban planning. Fair officials commissioned dozens of American artists to create sculptures that complemented the fairgrounds&#39; Beaux-Arts buildings. Perhaps best remembered is Daniel Chester French&rsquo;s monumental Statue of the Republic (1891&ndash;1893), which dominated the fair&rsquo;s Great Basin. A smaller version&mdash;24 feet tall&mdash;stands in Jackson Park today, a testament to the fair&#39;s artistic ambitions.&nbsp;

<img alt="" data-caption="Edward Clark Potter, &lt;i&gt;Statue of Industry&lt;/i&gt; (foreground) and Daniel Chester French, &lt;i&gt;Statue of the Republic&lt;/i&gt; (background) © The Field Museum, GN85649c" data-rich-file-id="1906" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1906/original/gn85649c.jpg" />

For many Chicagoans, the World&rsquo;s Columbian Exposition provided a vision of how art could be integrated into an urban setting. Outside the major exhibition buildings, fairgoers walked among sculptures of mammals native to North America&mdash;bison, elk, moose, bears, and mountain lions&mdash;sculpted by Edward Kemeys and Alexander Phimister Proctor. Both artists specialized in depicting wildlife, having spent considerable time observing and hunting animals out West, learning first hand their behaviors, movements, and anatomies. It was an amazing spectacle for visitors to see these life-like &ldquo;charismatic beasts&rdquo; flanking bridges, walkways, and building entrances.

<img alt="" data-caption="Edward Kemeys, &lt;i&gt;Bison&lt;/i&gt;, Brooklyn Museum, S03i2190l01" data-rich-file-id="1907" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1907/original/s03i2190l01-sl1-1.jpg" />

It&rsquo;s no surprise, then, that the Art Institute of Chicago commissioned Kemeys to create the famous African lions that guard the museum&rsquo;s Michigan Avenue entrance. Unveiled in May 1894&mdash;six months after the Exposition closed&mdash;the Art Institute lions were modeled after a pair originally displayed outside the fair&rsquo;s Palace of Fine Arts. Kemeys and his wife Laura (a noted sculptor in her own right) created these temporary lions from staff, a mixture of plaster and plant fibers. After being cast in bronze for the Art Institute, the lion figures achieved a kind of immortality. Today, they rival the city&rsquo;s Picasso sculpture in popularity, decked out with wreaths for the Christmas season and professional sports helmets during championship playoffs.&nbsp;

<img alt="" data-caption="World’s Columbian Exposition, sculpture, Chicago, IL, 1891-1893. Edward Kemeys and Laura Kemeys. World’s Columbian Exposition Photographs by C. D. Arnold, 1891-1894, Ryerson and Burnham Archives, The Art Institute of Chicago. Digital File #198902.02_036-112." data-rich-file-id="1908" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1908/original/198902-02-036-112.jpg" />

Up until the 1890s, Chicago&rsquo;s public sculpture consisted mainly of monuments and memorials confined to the city&rsquo;s parks and cemeteries. But the Art Institute lions broke that mold (so to speak) and served as the first real examples of public art displayed in the city center where all passers-by could see. Florence Lathrop Field Page paid for the Art Institute commission in memory of her late first husband Henry Field (one of Marshall Field&rsquo;s brothers), and with this commission, she established the precedent of public art patronage in Chicago by wealthy citizens and family foundations, a tradition that lives on today with such projects as Millennium Park&rsquo;s Crown Fountain.

<img alt="" data-caption="Marquette Building Lobby © 2007 John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation" data-rich-file-id="1905" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1905/original/marquette-building-3-720x563-72-rgb.jpg" />

In 1895, a year after Kemeys&rsquo; bronze lions were unveiled, Owen Aldis, the developer of the Marquette Building (now home to the MacArthur Foundation) took public art in Chicago a step further by incorporating mosaics and sculptural reliefs into his latest commercial building. Aldis commissioned works by Louis Comfort Tiffany, Edward Kemeys, Herman Atkins MacNeil, and Amy Aldis Bradley to adorn the fa&ccedil;ade and lobby of his new Loop office building. Today, you can still see the Marquette Building&rsquo;s opulent mosaics and bronze reliefs, inspired by the artistic examples set by the 1893 World&rsquo;s Fair, the international event that kicked-off the great tradition of public art in Chicago and paved the way for the future installation of Ono&#39;s&nbsp;Skylanding.

Up next: Franck Mercurio explores the connections between three large-scale installations in the southern end of Grant Park including&nbsp;Augustus Saint-Gaudens&#39; General John Logan, Magdalena Abakanowicz&#39;s Agora, and&nbsp;Tony Tasset&#39;s Artists Monument.

Top image:&nbsp;Edward Kemeys,&nbsp;Lions. Bronze with Green patina. Gift of Mrs. Henry Field, 1898.1a-b. The Art Institute of Chicago. The lions are the registered trademarks of the Art Institute of Chicago.

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Chicago Gallery News explores the unlikely connections between Yoko Ono's Skylanding and the Art Institute of Chicago's bronze lions.

The Origins of Public Art in Chicago: From the Bronze Lions to Skylanding

In this two-part series, CGN intern Jacqueline Lewis shares her insights into the new&nbsp;<a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/news/2017/3/a-new-survey-highlights-merce-cunningham-s-collaborative-career">Merce Cunningham: Common Time</a>&nbsp;exhibition and accompanying performances at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. Lewis has been a dancer for most of her life; she took&nbsp;her first dance lesson at two years old,&nbsp;and she began training with the&nbsp;Lou Conte Dance Studio at the age of sixteen. The second part in the series focuses on&nbsp;Centre Chor&eacute;graphique National&ndash;Ballet de Lorraine&#39;s recent performance&nbsp;of works from Cunningham&#39;s repertoire.&nbsp;

By JACQUELINE LEWIS

The stage of the Edlis Neeson Theater at the <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/institutions/museum-of-contemporary-art-chicago-mca">Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (MCA)</a>&nbsp;was dark when the performance&nbsp;Works by Merce Cunningham and Others began with Untitled Partner #3.&nbsp;The only light&nbsp;radiated from movable LED lights and video projections of dancers dressed in&nbsp;white. Four male dancers entered the stage&nbsp;and began to interact with the&nbsp;highlights and shadows provided by this unconventional stage lighting. At times, the dancers manipulated the projectors and lights, adding a dimension of uncertainty&nbsp;to the performance.

The choreography demonstrated the dancers&#39; strength and trust in their&nbsp;partners.&nbsp;They ran back and forth, throwing themselves towards the ground and rolling away, while at the same time&nbsp;supporting each other in an&nbsp;effort to create and hold difficult shapes.

<img alt="" data-caption="CCN-Ballet de Lorraine, &lt;i&gt;Untitled Partner #3&lt;/i&gt;. Photo: M.Rousseau." data-rich-file-id="1883" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1883/original/parnter-3-fly-resize.jpg" />

Untitled Partner #3 was created by CCN-Ballet Lorraine&rsquo;s artistic director Petter Jacobson and the coordinator of research, Thomas Caley.&nbsp;Caley danced with Merce Cunningham Dance Company from 1993-2000, and the iconic choreographer&#39;s influence is apparent in Caley&#39;s&nbsp;mixed media approach to performance, his choice of&nbsp;electronic musical&nbsp;and the athletic choreography.

The next piece, Fabrications,&nbsp;showcased Ballet de Lorraine&rsquo;s large cast of dancers. The company&nbsp;is based in Nancy, France and has developed an impressive reputation due to their&nbsp;large contemporary repertoire as well as works that span&nbsp;modern history.&nbsp;This, along with their director&rsquo;s experience, makes them an ideal company to demonstrate the works of Merce Cunningham Dance Company (MCDC).

<img alt="" data-caption="Performance view, CCN-Ballet de Lorraine, &lt;i&gt;Works by Merce Cunningham &amp; Others&lt;/i&gt;, MCA Chicago. Photo: Nathan Keay." data-rich-file-id="1885" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1885/original/fabrications-2-resize.jpg" />

Merce Cunningham created Fabrications&nbsp;for MCDC in 1987 at the Northrop Auditorium in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The work&nbsp;consists of 64 different movement phrases, which correspond to the 64 hexagrams found in I Ching, the Chinese book of chance.&nbsp;These phrases are mixed-up and combined to create a work that exemplifies Cunningham&rsquo;s strong interest in chance and randomness. The flowing costumes are colorful, yet simple enough to focus attention on the movement.&nbsp;Fabrications highlights the strong, classical abilities necessary for Cunningham choreography, which the Ballet Lorraine dancers most definitely possess.

<img alt="" data-caption="CCN-Ballet de Lorraine, &lt;i&gt;Fabrications&lt;/i&gt;. Photo: Bernard Prudhomme." data-rich-file-id="1884" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1884/original/fabrications-resize.jpg" />

After Fabrications, the performance broke for an intermission, which gave the audience a chance to prepare for the enveloping experience of Sounddance.&nbsp;Cunningham described this work as &ldquo;vigorous, fast, complex,&rdquo; and as &ldquo;a space observed under a microscope.&rdquo;&nbsp;He does not exaggerate.&nbsp;The full experience captures your attention and draws&nbsp;you in until you are on the edge of your seat.

<img alt="" data-caption="CCN-Ballet de Lorraine, SOUNDDANCE. Photo: Laurent Philippe." data-rich-file-id="1893" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1893/original/key-image.jpg" />

Sounddance was created after Cunningham spent nine weeks with the Paris Opera Ballet, and the influence is evident in multiple aspects of the piece.&nbsp;From the costuming to the partnering and the balletic movements, Cunningham takes the classical qualities of ballet and gives them his own&nbsp;modern twist.&nbsp;Even the luscious, golden backdrop is reminiscent of the billowing curtains that frame the stages of classical ballet.&nbsp;In this case, Cunningham turns&nbsp;the curtains into part of the movement.&nbsp;Dancers enter&nbsp;and exit through openings that seem&nbsp;invisible until they burst through them.&nbsp;The&nbsp;stage design becomes a&nbsp;living part of the performance, a characteristic very common in Cunningham choreography.

<img alt="" data-caption="CCN-Ballet de Lorraine, &lt;i&gt;SOUNDDANCE&lt;/i&gt;. Photo: Laurent Philippe." data-rich-file-id="1888" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1888/original/sounddance-partnering-resize.jpg" />

The most difficult part of the performance was trying to take it all in at once for the fullest experience possible.&nbsp;As a dancer, I tend to focus on one dancer or a single movement and watch every detail as it comes to life. While this is often enjoyable, for this performance I made sure to observe the entire production in order to comprehend the fullness of the work.&nbsp;This created an entirely different experience that integrated the rich gold color,&nbsp;the choreographed formations, the connections amongst dancers and their synchronicity.&nbsp;I was moved into a trancelike state that elevated the performance beyond what I expected.

<img alt="" data-caption="CCN-Ballet de Lorraine, &lt;i&gt;SOUNDDANCE&lt;/i&gt;. Photo: Laurent Philippe." data-rich-file-id="1887" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1887/original/sounddance-curtain-resize.jpg" />

CCN-Ballet Lorraine brought Merce Cunningham&rsquo;s choreography to life at the MCA&rsquo;s stage.&nbsp;The performance was co-presented by the Dance Center of Columbia College Chigago and complemented the exhibition Common Time that is on view through April 30 at the MCA.&nbsp;Information about the exhibition and programming&nbsp;can be found <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/institutions/museum-of-contemporary-art-chicago-mca">here</a>.

To read the first article in this two-part series visit: <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/news/2017/3/a-new-survey-highlights-merce-cunningham-s-collaborative-career">New Survey Highlights Merce Cunningham&#39;s Collaborative Career</a>.

Top image: Performance view, CCN-Ballet de Lorraine,&nbsp;Works by Merce Cunningham &amp; Others, MCA Chicago. Photo: Nathan Keay.

French dance company Ballet de Lorraine recently performed work by Merce Cunningham in conjunction with the MCA's exhibition Common Time.

Ballet de Lorraine Performs Captivating Works by Merce Cunningham

By ALISON REILLY

<a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/art-services/expo-chicago">EXPO Chicago</a> announced details for their new partnership with Palais de Tokyo, the <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/institutions/dusable-museum">DuSable Museum of African American History</a>, and the Institut Fran&ccedil;ais. With the support of the Cultural Services of the French Embassy in the United States, these four organizations have come together to present a group&nbsp;exhibition at the DuSable Museum&#39;s Roundhouse, which will coincide with EXPO Art Week (September 13-17, 2017) and the <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/news/2017/3/chicago-architecture-biennial-announces-2017-participants">opening of the second Chicago Architecture Biennial</a> (September 16, 2017-January 8, 2018).

Chicago architecture firm Burnham and Root designed the Roundhouse as equestrian stables for the 1893 World&rsquo;s Columbian Exposition. Despite the prestige of the space, it has been vacant for more than 50 years. The DuSable Museum acquired the building in 2005 and has spent time raising funds to reconstruct and restore it to its original state.

<img alt="" data-caption="Tony Karman, president and director of EXPO Chicago, speaks at a press conference on March 7, 2017 at the DuSable Museum's Roundhouse." data-rich-file-id="1889" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1889/original/tonykarman-hlm.jpg" />

The expansive 17,000-sq. ft. building with a vaulted ceiling, decorative windows, natural sunlight, and impressive acoustics will now serve as an ambitious exhibition space for 12 artists selected by curator Katell Jaffr&egrave;s of Palais de Tokyo and guest designer Andrew Schachman, who was nominated by the Graham Foundation. Jaffr&egrave;s, who spoke at the press conference on Tuesday, is still in the process of selecting artists but envisions five structures within the space, which will serve &ldquo;as works of art able to welcome other works of art.&rdquo; The participating artists, who will be&nbsp;representative both of the Chicago art scene and the Francophone world, will install site-specific works of art in the building.

A number of representatives from&nbsp;particpating institutions attended the&nbsp;announcement including Tony Karman, president of EXPO; Jean de Loisy, president of Palais de Tokyo; Perri L. Irmer, president of the DuSable Museum; Fabrice Rozie, cultural attach&eacute; of the French Embassy, along with Mark Kelly, Commissioner for the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events in Chicago.

Kelly expressed his enthusiasm for the partnership noting that the confluence of the Roundhouse exhibition, EXPO Chicago, the Chicago Architecture Biennial and the city&rsquo;s Year of Public Art would provide an opportunity for &quot;all of Chicago&quot; to engage in the celebration of art, architecture and design. The <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/news/2017/1/the-city-of-chicago-designates-2017-the-year-of-public-art">2017 Public Art initiative</a> promises&nbsp;art installations in all of the Chicago&#39;s 50 wards, a move to assuage criticism that the city&#39;s funds are diverted largely to downtown areas to increase tourism.

<img alt="" data-caption="An interior view of the Roundhouse, which will be used to exhibit the work of 12 artists with ties to Chicago and France." data-rich-file-id="1890" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1890/original/interior-hlm.jpg" />

The partnership is also significant because it marks the beginning of Palais de Tokyo&rsquo;s Hors les Murs initiative, which presents off-site exhibitions around the world. Rozie emphasized that &ldquo;the choice of Chicago is not random,&rdquo; and that the French Embassy, along with Palais de Tokyo, is invested in engaging with cultural and educational partners across the South Side of Chicago.

Hors les Murs at the Roundhouse will be open to the public September 12-October 29, 2017.&nbsp;

The sixth edition of EXPO Chicago will now include an installation at the DuSable Museum's newly renovated Roundhouse. 

EXPO Chicago & Palais de Tokyo Announce New Partnership with DuSable Museum

The Chicago Architecture Biennial announced participants for its second edition, Make New History,&nbsp;scheduled to open September 16, 2017. The biennial, led by artistic directors Sharon Johnston and Mark Lee&nbsp;of Johnston Marklee,&nbsp;will feature the work of more than 100 architects, artists, designers&nbsp;and firms from around the world.

Local participants include <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/news/2016/8/ania-jaworska-relocating-the-canon">Ania Jaworska</a> (featured in the fall 2016&nbsp;issue of&nbsp;Chicago Gallery News and represented by <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/galleries/volume-gallery">Volume Gallery</a>),&nbsp;Daniel Everett,&nbsp;David Schalliol,&nbsp;Design With Company,&nbsp;I&ntilde;igo Manglano-Ovalle,&nbsp;Marshall Brown (recently exhibited at the <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/galleries/the-arts-club-of-chicago">Arts Club of Chicago</a> and <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/galleries/western-exhibitions">Western Exhibitions</a>),&nbsp;Norman Kelley (represented by <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/galleries/volume-gallery">Volume Gallery</a>),&nbsp;Paul Andersen and Paul Preissner,&nbsp;Robert Somol,&nbsp;Tigerman McCurry Architects and&nbsp;UrbanLab (designed Shane Campbell Gallery&#39;s South Loop space).&nbsp;

The full list of 2017 participants includes:

51N4E (Brussels, Belgium; Tirana, Albania)&nbsp; 
6A Architects (London, UK)&nbsp; 
&Aacute;balos+Sentkiewicz (Madrid, Spain;&nbsp; 
Cambridge, USA; Shanghai, China)&nbsp; 
Adamo-Faiden (Buenos Aires, Argentina)&nbsp; 
AGENdA agencia de arquitectura (Medellin,&nbsp;Colombia)&nbsp; 
Aires Mateus (Lisbon, Portugal)&nbsp; 
Ana Prvački and SO-IL (Los Angeles, USA;&nbsp;New York, USA)&nbsp; 
Andrew Kovacs (Los Angeles, USA)&nbsp; 
Angela Deuber Architect (Chur,&nbsp;Switzerland)&nbsp; 
Ania Jaworska (Chicago, USA)&nbsp; 
Aranda\Lasch and Terrol Dew Johnson&nbsp;(New York, USA; Tucson, USA)&nbsp; 
Archi-Union (Shanghai, China)&nbsp; 
Architecten de Vylder Vinck Taillieu (Ghent,&nbsp;Belgium)&nbsp; 
Arno Brandlhuber and Christopher Roth&nbsp;(Berlin, Germany)&nbsp; 
Atelier Manferdini (Venice, USA)&nbsp; 
AWP office for territorial reconfiguration&nbsp;(Paris, France; London, UK)&nbsp; 
Bak Gordon Arquitectos (Lisbon, Portugal)&nbsp; 
Barbas Lopes (Lisbon, Portugal)&nbsp; 
Barkow Leibinger (Berlin, Germany)&nbsp; 
baukuh (Milan, Italy)&nbsp; 
Besler &amp; Sons LLC (Los Angeles, USA)&nbsp; 
BLESS (Berlin, Germany)&nbsp; 
BUREAU SPECTACULAR (Los Angeles, USA)&nbsp; 
Caruso St John (London, UK)&nbsp; 
Charlap Hyman &amp; Herrero (Los Angeles,&nbsp;USA; New York, USA)&nbsp; 
Charles Waldheim (Cambridge, USA)&nbsp; 
Christ &amp; Gantenbein (Basel, Switzerland)&nbsp; 
Daniel Everett (Chicago, USA; Salt Lake&nbsp;City, USA)&nbsp; 
David Schalliol (Chicago, USA)&nbsp; 
Dellekamp Arquitectos (Mexico City,&nbsp;Mexico)&nbsp; 
Design With Company (Chicago, USA)&nbsp; 
Diego Arraigada Arquitectos (Rosario,&nbsp;Argentina)&nbsp; 
DOGMA (Brussels, Belgium)&nbsp; 
DRDH (London, UK)&nbsp; 
ENSAMBLE STUDIO (Madrid, Spain;&nbsp;Boston, USA)&nbsp; 
&Eacute;ric Lapierre Architecture (Paris, France)&nbsp; 
Estudio Barozzi Veiga (Barcelona, Spain)&nbsp; 
fala atelier (Porto, Portugal)&nbsp; 
Filip Dujardin (Ghent, Belgium)&nbsp; 
Fiona Connor and Erin Besler (Los Angeles,&nbsp;USA; Auckland, New Zealand)&nbsp; 
First Office (Los Angeles, USA)&nbsp; 
formlessfinder (New York, USA)&nbsp; 
Frida Escobedo (Mexico City, Mexico)&nbsp; 
Gerard and Kelly (Los Angeles, USA; New&nbsp;York, USA)&nbsp; 
Go Hasegawa (Tokyo, Japan)&nbsp; 
HHF Architects (Basel, Switzerland)&nbsp; 
I&ntilde;igo Manglano-Ovalle (Chicago, USA)&nbsp; 
J. MAYER H. und Partner, Architekten and&nbsp;Philip Ursprung (Berlin, Germany)&nbsp; 
James Welling (New York, USA)&nbsp; 
Jes&uacute;s Vassallo (Houston, USA)&nbsp; 
Jorge Otero-Pailos (New York, USA)&nbsp; 
June14 Meyer-Grohbr&uuml;gge &amp; Chermayeff&nbsp;(New York, USA; Berlin, Germany)&nbsp; 
Karamuk * Kuo Architects (New York, USA;&nbsp;Zurich, Switzerland)&nbsp; 
Keith Krumwiede (New York, USA)&nbsp; 
K&eacute;r&eacute; Architecture (Berlin, Germany)&nbsp; 
Kuehn Malvezzi (Berlin, Germany)&nbsp; 
Luisa Lambri (Milan, Italy)&nbsp; 
L&uuml;tjens Padmanabhan Architekten (Zurich,&nbsp;Switzerland)&nbsp; 
Made In (Geneva, Switzerland; Zurich,&nbsp;Switzerland)&nbsp; 
MAIO (Barcelona, Spain)&nbsp; 
Marianne Mueller (Zurich, Switzerland)&nbsp; 
Marshall Brown (Chicago, USA)&nbsp; 
MG&amp;Co. (Houston, USA)&nbsp; 
MONADNOCK (Rotterdam, The&nbsp;Netherlands)&nbsp; 
MOS (New York, USA)&nbsp; 
Norman Kelley (Chicago, USA; New York,&nbsp;USA)&nbsp; 
Nuno brand&aring;o costa arquitectos Ida (Porto,&nbsp;Portugal)&nbsp; 
OFFICE Kersten Geers David Van Severen&nbsp;(Brussels, Belgium)&nbsp; 
PASCAL FLAMMER (Zurich, Switzerland)&nbsp; 
Patrick Braouezec (Paris, France)&nbsp; 
Paul Andersen and Paul Preissner (Chicago,&nbsp;USA; Denver, USA)&nbsp; 
Pezo Von Ellrichshausen (Concepci&oacute;n,&nbsp;Chile)&nbsp; 
Philipp Schaerer (Zurich, Switzerland)&nbsp; 
PRODUCTORA (Mexico City, Mexico)&nbsp; 
REAL Foundation (London, UK)&nbsp; 
Robert Somol (Chicago, USA)&nbsp; 
SADAR+VUGA (Ljubljana, Slovenia)&nbsp; 
Sam Jacob Studio (London, UK)&nbsp; 
SAMI-arquitectos (Setubal, Portugal)&nbsp; 
SANAA (Tokyo, Japan)&nbsp; 
Sauter von Moos (Basel, Switzerland)&nbsp; 
Sergison Bates (London, UK; Zurich,&nbsp;Switzerland)&nbsp; 
Serie Architects (London, UK; Zurich,&nbsp;Switzerland)&nbsp; 
SHINGO MASUDA+KATSUHISA OTSUBO&nbsp;Architects (Tokyo, Japan)&nbsp; 
Stan Allen Architect (New York, USA)&nbsp; 
Studio Anne Holtrop (Muharraq, Bahrain;&nbsp;Amsterdam, The Netherlands)&nbsp; 
Studiomumbai (Mumbai, India)&nbsp; 
Sylvia Lavin (Los Angeles, USA)&nbsp; 
T+E+A+M (Ann Arbor, USA)&nbsp; 
Tatiana Bilbao Estudio (Mexico City,&nbsp;Mexico)&nbsp; 
Tham &amp; Videg&aring;rd Arkitekter (Stockholm,&nbsp;Sweden)&nbsp; 
The Empire (Verona, Italy)&nbsp; 
The Living (New York, USA)&nbsp; 
The Los Angeles Design Group (Los&nbsp;Angeles, USA)&nbsp; 
Thomas Baecker Bettina Kraus (Berlin,&nbsp;Germany)&nbsp; 
Tigerman McCurry Architects (Chicago,&nbsp;USA)&nbsp; 
Toshiko Mori Architect (New York, USA)&nbsp; 
UrbanLab (Chicago, USA; Los Angeles,&nbsp;USA)&nbsp; 
Urbanus (Shenzhen, China; Beijing, China)&nbsp; 
Veronika Kellndorfer (Berlin, Germany)&nbsp; 
WELCOMEPROJECTS (Los Angeles, USA)&nbsp; 
Work Architecture Company (New York,&nbsp;USA)&nbsp; 
Zago Architecture (Los Angeles, USA)&nbsp; 
ZAO/standardarchitecture (Shanghai,&nbsp;China)

For CGN&#39;s past coverage of the biennial visit:&nbsp;

<ul>
	<li><a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/news/2017/1/second-chicago-architecture-biennial-to-coincide-with-sixth-expo-chicago">Second Chicago Architecture Biennial to Coincide with Sixth EXPO Chicago</a></li>
	<li><a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/news/2015/9/the-inaugural-chicago-architecture-biennial">The Inaugural Chicago Architecture Biennial</a></li>
</ul>

Top image:&nbsp;Johnston Marklee and Gramazio Kohler, Chicago Rooms Center,&nbsp;&copy; Chicago Architecture Biennial /&nbsp;Tom Harris, 2015

The Chicago Architecture Biennial announced participants for its 2017 edition.

Chicago Architecture Biennial Announces 2017 Participants

In this two-part series, CGN intern Jacqueline Lewis shares her insights into the new&nbsp;Merce Cunningham: Common Time&nbsp;exhibition and accompanying performances at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. Lewis has been a dancer for most of her life; she took&nbsp;her first dance lesson at two years old,&nbsp;and she began training with the&nbsp;Lou Conte Dance Studio at the age of sixteen. The <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/news/2017/3/ballet-de-lorraine-performs-captivating-works-by-merce-cunningham">second part in the series</a>, which focuses on the Centre Chor&eacute;graphique National-Ballet de Lorraine&#39;s recent MCA Stage&nbsp;performance, will be published Friday, March 10, 2017.

By JACQUELINE LEWIS

On view now through April 30&nbsp;at the <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/institutions/museum-of-contemporary-art-chicago-mca">Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (MCA)</a>&nbsp;and the Walker Art Center&nbsp;in Minneapolis are&nbsp;two simultaneous presentations of <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/calendar/merce-cunningham-common-time">Merce Cunningham: Common Time</a>.&nbsp;They are the largest surveys to date of Merce Cunningham and his multiple artistic collaborations.

Cunningham, who was a&nbsp;prolific choreographer, determined that &ldquo;music and dance and art could be separate entities independent and interdependent, sharing a common time.&rdquo;&nbsp;The MCA successfully demonstrates this idea in the exhibition, which displays these three aspects in a cohesive yet distinct manner.

In order to create these multidimensional works, Cunningham collaborated with artists spanning diverse artistic fields of expertise.&nbsp;Even though he was primarily a choreographer and dancer, Cunningham&nbsp;believed that all facets of performance were equally important.&nbsp;He did not prioritize dance over the set design or the music&nbsp;since&nbsp;they all worked together to create a cohesive work of art.&nbsp;In fact, Cunningham believed that dance did not have to be deliberately connected to music so he would often ask composers for music without showing them the choreography.

<img alt="" data-caption="Charles Atlas, &lt;i&gt;MC9&lt;/i&gt;, 2012. Installation view, Charles Atlas and Collaborators, BMW Tate Live, The Tanks, Tate Modern, 2013. Edition of 3, aside from 2 artist’s proofs. © Charles Atlas and Tate. Photo: Gabrielle Fonseca Johnson for Tate Photography." data-rich-file-id="1877" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1877/original/video-room.jpg" />

One of the first galleries in the exhibition at the MCA immerses the viewer in performance videos that continuously change on screens to a musical score that does not match any of the dances.&nbsp;The installation allows the viewer to experience the disjointed connection that Cunningham strived for in his music and dance compositions.

The videos are projected in a long, dark gallery solely dedicated to excerpts of choreography.&nbsp;The screens hang at different levels and angles,&nbsp;which envelopes the viewer&nbsp;in Cunningham&rsquo;s world of dance and allows&nbsp;them to experience the intricacies of his style from the inside. The movements are strong, sharp and full of classical technique with a new twist.

Cunningham famously used the element of chance in his choreography, and often consulted the Chinese book of chance, I Ching, when creating movement patterns for his dancers.&nbsp;Later in his career, Cunningham choreographed with the help of computer programs, which gave him the opportunity to test human physical limits.&nbsp;He would create a seemingly impossible movement with the software and then see how closely his dancers could mimic that technique.&nbsp;Cunningham dancers can attest to the physical and mental demands of these techniques due to their almost inhuman nature.

<img alt="" data-caption="Merce Cunningham at Black Mountain College, 1948. Photo: Hazel Larsen Archer, courtesy of the Estate of Hazel Larsen Archer and the Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center." data-rich-file-id="1876" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1876/original/hazel-larsen-archer-cunningham-bmc-.jpg" />

Common Time also includes a room dedicated to Cunningham&rsquo;s notebooks, company fliers, costumes and photographs, most notably one that depicts him and Martha Graham.&nbsp;This room, along with a timeline on one of the walls, allows viewers to gain an appreciation of the man behind the synergistic works that light up the exhibition space.

Cunningham was born in Centralia, Washington in 1919, and studied dance in the small town throughout his youth.&nbsp;He applied to Seattle&rsquo;s Cornish School (now Cornish College for the Arts) as a drama major but changed it to dance after taking a life-changing course with former Martha Graham Dance Company member, Bonnie Bird.&nbsp;Around this time, he met composer and visiting lecturer John Cage, who would become immensely influential to Cunningham&rsquo;s artistic philosophy.&nbsp;

After college, Cunningham danced with the famed Martha Graham Dance Company until the summer of 1945 when he left to pursue his own work.&nbsp;He created The Merce Cunningham Dance Company (MCDC) in 1953 while at Black Mountain College.&nbsp;His company ran from then until 2011 after which it performed a legacy tour, which had been planned by Cunningham before his own death.&nbsp;This tour celebrated almost sixty years of work.

<img alt="" data-caption="Installation view, &lt;i&gt;Merce Cunningham: Common Time&lt;/i&gt;, MCA Chicago. Feb 11 – Apr 30, 2017. Photo: Nathan Keay, © MCA Chicago." data-rich-file-id="1875" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1875/original/decor.jpg" />

Along with archival materials, the exhibition&nbsp;also features a set design&nbsp;installation consisting of movable chairs, bicycle frames, ropes, sails and can tins created by Robert Rauschenberg for Cunningham&rsquo;s performance, Summerspace (1958/77).&nbsp;&nbsp;The inclusion of the chair acknowledges Marcel Duchamp and his Bicycle Wheel readymade, thus connecting Cunningham&rsquo;s work directly to the visual arts.&nbsp;

In another gallery, Jasper Johns&rsquo; set design for Walkaround Time&nbsp;(1968/85)&nbsp;is on display.&nbsp;By 1968, Jasper Johns became the artistic director of the MCDC and considered himself a curator of ideas.&nbsp;He reached out to Marcel Duchamp and inquired about using some form of The Large Glass for stage d&eacute;cor.&nbsp; Also known as&nbsp;The Bride Stripped Bare By Her Bachelors, Even,&nbsp;the work&nbsp;is a glass sculpture fused with other materials such as wires and lead foil. The Large Glass is transparent, allowing the viewer to look through it, and Duchamp, who must have found the piece to hold a great deal of importance, worked on it&nbsp;for about eight years.&nbsp;Jasper Johns was permitted to recreate The Large Glass in a way that allowed dancers to move around sections of the work while others hung above the stage.&nbsp;The transparent quality of the pieces heightened audience perception and gave the illusion of the dancers living within the d&eacute;cor itself.

<img alt="" data-caption="Jasper Johns, Set for &lt;i&gt;Walkaround Time&lt;/i&gt;, 1968. Walker Art Center, T. B. Walker Acquisition Fund, 2000. © Jasper Johns/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY." data-rich-file-id="1878" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1878/original/johns-2000-404-1-14.jpg" />

Finally, in what will most likely be a visitor favorite, the exhibition presents a gallery&nbsp;dedicated to Andy Warhol&rsquo;s Silver Clouds, which were used as stage d&eacute;cor for Rainforest (1968). Adapted for the dance, the helium filled balloons floated around the dancers while some remained on the ground to be kicked.&nbsp;The set design became a living organism that could respond and mutate based on chance encounters with dancers.&nbsp;Now, museumgoers have the opportunity to interact with the &ldquo;clouds,&rdquo; too.

The cross-disciplinary programming of the MCA and the Walker provide an ideal platform to explore Cunningham&rsquo;s own multi-dimensional, collaborative approach.&nbsp; Common Time is an immersive experience incorporating audio, painting, video, sculpture, technology and fashion.&nbsp; Accompanying the exhibition are a number of performances including Music for Merce&nbsp;and Ballet de Lorraine: Works by Merce Cunningham and Others.&nbsp; More information on these events and the exhibition&nbsp;can be found <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/institutions/museum-of-contemporary-art-chicago-mca">here.</a>

Top image:&nbsp;Installation view,&nbsp;Merce Cunningham: Common Time, MCA Chicago. Feb 11 &ndash; Apr 30, 2017. Photo: Nathan Keay, &copy; MCA Chicago.

The MCA's new exhibition 'Merce Cunningham: Common Time' surveys the collaborative performances of the prolific American choreographer.

A New Survey Highlights Merce Cunningham's Collaborative Career

By JULIANNA TANCREDI, Restoration Division

At <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/art-services/restoration-division">Restoration Division</a>, a fine art conservation studio in Chicago, murals are given a new lease on life regularly. Murals are unique in their physical and stylistic connection to a location, and this creates issues as older buildings with murals are renovated, demolished, or repurposed. The process can potentially be devastating for an artwork that is on a wall or ceiling, but it can also be seen as an opportunity to save, restore, and transfer a mural to a new environment. Older murals inherently have their own trail of thoughts and histories, and incorporating them into new spaces can create nuanced and complex interiors. The juxtaposition of the modern and antique is a trend that has gained recognition and popularity year over year, and fine art conservators are on the front line of this movement.

<img alt="" data-caption="Randolph Tower Mural, before removal and conservation" data-rich-file-id="1814" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1814/original/randolph-tower-mural-before-removal-and-conservation.jpg" />

A striking revitalization project undertaken by Restoration Division was the restoration of badly damaged murals located in what is now the Chicago Randolph Tower. The Gothic Revival skyscraper was built in 1929 for the Steuben Club, which promoted German-American heritage. The club included a ballroom decorated with neoclassical murals by Gustave Brand (1862-1944), a German-American artist, which celebrated the history and accomplishments of the German people. The building subsequently went through a period of extreme neglect and disrepair in the mid-20th century and eventually resurrected from 2011 to 2013.

<img alt="" data-caption="Restored Randolph Tower murals in their new location" data-rich-file-id="1851" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1851/original/restored-randloph-tower-murals-in-their-new-location.jpg" />

The ballroom with Brand&rsquo;s ceiling murals particularly suffered, as the space was divided into offices and bathrooms installed above. The murals were damaged to the point of tatters by time, water, and contractors&rsquo; carelessness. Rather than declare the paintings a loss, Restoration Division was asked by Paul Alessandro of Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture and Kenneth Barnes of Lexington Homes to transform them into framed, individual artworks. After months of conservation and restoration, the framed murals were installed in the newly redesigned Randolph Tower interiors. The historic murals and the contemporary interiors now successfully interweave with each other to create a new, vibrant architectural vocabulary.

Another mural Restoration Division recently breathed new life into is the first ever mural project by William de Leftwich Dodge (1867-1935), an American painter of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In 1893, Dodge was commissioned to paint the enormous dome of the Administration Building at the World&rsquo;s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. The artist first made a large study in oil on canvas for the full scale mural, which was painted directly onto the structure&rsquo;s plaster ceiling. As with much of the White City, the Administration Building and its mural were demolished once the fair closed. Despite the destruction of his work, Dodge emerged as one of the most prominent muralists of the era as a result of the commission, &nbsp;

<img alt="" data-caption="Restoration Division conservator Olga Knopf removing William de Leftwich Dodge mural" data-rich-file-id="1852" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1852/original/restoration-division-conservator-olga-knopf-removing-william-de-leftwich-dodge-mural.jpg" />

Although the full scale mural is lost, the study survived and later placed on the ceiling of an 1893 suburban Chicago home. The home owners, Allan and Judy Koessel, are deeply knowledgeable and sensitive to art and history. They decided to have Restoration Division remove the mural from the ceiling, where it was barely visible, and restore it to its former glory.

Rather than reinstall the mural on the ceiling after restoration, the Koessels have decided to display the artwork vertically, in a custom-built frame. Like the Administration Building mural, the Koessels&rsquo; study is a depiction of The Glorification of the Arts and Sciences. A procession of figures representing Architecture, Agriculture, Art, and Science flamboyantly and colorfully parades the roundel. Through the re-imagination of its display, viewers can now see the mural&rsquo;s fascinating details and connect with the time of the Columbian Exposition. The Koessels&rsquo; plan to exhibit the framed mural in different locations, so audiences can view and learn about an important piece of Chicago history. The couple ultimately hopes to find a permanent location for the painting, where it can radiate its colorful style and masterful composition for many generations to come.

Significant murals are artworks worthy in their own right and they can offer more than just a glimpse into things past. They are intricate paintings that can argue and coexist with new environments, creating new visual vocabularies in contemporary interiors. Art can go out of style, but qualities of a good artwork are eternal. Restoration Division is pleased to have the duty of reintroducing murals into contemporary life.

Top image:&nbsp;William de Leftwich Dodge mural, before and after restoration&nbsp;

Find more information about Restoration Division <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/art-services/restoration-division">here</a>.

A restoration case study from Restoration Division in Chicago.

Restoration Case Study: Mural Revival

<a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/galleries/kavi-gupta">Kavi Gupta</a> announced&nbsp;that Chicago-based&nbsp;gallery artist McArthur Binion will be featured in the 57th Venice Biennale, which opens in May.&nbsp;

Viva Arte Viva&nbsp;will be curated by Christine Macel.&nbsp;The 57th International Art Exhibition is open to the public May 13&ndash;November 26, 2017, at the&nbsp;Giardini and the&nbsp;Arsenale in Venice, Italy.&nbsp;

120 artists are part of this year&#39;s exhibition, down from 136 last year, and the curator has said that her emphasis will be on the artists and how they see and interpret society today, rather than a unifying themes. Binion is the only Chicago-based artist on this year&#39;s list.&nbsp;

Visit the exhibition&#39;s <a href="http://www.labiennale.org/en/art/news/06-02.html?back=true">website</a> for more information.

Top image:&nbsp;McArthur Binion,&nbsp;DNA: Seasons: XI,&nbsp;2016, Oil paint stick, paper on board, 72&rdquo; x 96&rdquo;. Courtesy of the artist and Kavi Gupta

McArthur Binion Included in 57th Venice Biennale 

<html><head></head><body><figure class="image image-style-side"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418555/epwvl9ui1hakxcisyvsl.jpg"></figure>Hebru Brantley is one of Chicago's rising stars. Brantley’s pop-infused contemporary art is inspired by Japanese anime and the bold aesthetics of street art pioneers Jean-Michel Basquiat, KAWS and Keith Haring. His latest show, Hebru Brantley: Eat Crap King, explores the relationship between the two major contemporary art archetypes of Basquiat and Andy Warhol.&nbsp;His second solo show at Vertical Gallery opens February 4, showcasing a style of work he has not shown in some time. Brantley shared a few thoughts with&nbsp;CGN&nbsp;on his&nbsp;new show.CGN:&nbsp;Tell us a little about&nbsp;Hebru Brantley:&nbsp;Eat Crap King,&nbsp;your second solo show at Vertical Gallery.Hebru Brantley:&nbsp;Eat Crap King&nbsp;explores the relationship between two major contemporary art archetypes Jean Michel Basquiat and Andy Warhol. Placing these&nbsp;two artistic celebrities in the same two-dimensional frame fosters inquiries of power, race and the true nature of the celebrity relationship. The work considers the chasm between the two in their artistic careers. Warhol becomes a representative of the traditional institutionalized art world status, while Basquiat remained more rebellious and navigated the art world through non-conforming means previous to his death. Additionally,&nbsp;Eat Crap King&nbsp;exposes similarities between Brantley and Basquiat’s identities and modes of operation throughout the art world. Brantley’s non-traditional relationship between street art and the art world mirrors his muse.Eat Crap King&nbsp;subversively probes the art world’s lineage by using familiar, iconic Pop-Art imagery and contemporary art archetypes. The series inspects hierarchy and status, while also reflecting on my own&nbsp;identity and the merging of the traditional and non-conforming&nbsp;within my career.CGN: Give us&nbsp;some insight into the key image from the show, featuring a young, bare chested, African American man (Basquiat) in boxing gloves, next to a white haired, older man in a turtleneck (Warhol), also wearing boxing gloves. &nbsp;&nbsp;HB: It comes from the campaign that they did for their collaborative show back in the 80s, again with Basquiat representing the young, hungry, unestablished – and&nbsp;more primitive notion – of the art world, and Warhol representing the established traditionally accepted art world. The two worlds are always at odds, depending on who you're talking to.&nbsp;CGN:&nbsp;Your career has been moving at a breakneck pace the past 5 years or so. What does this show mean to you?&nbsp;HB: It's a chance to continue to show work as part of an&nbsp;exhibit and to&nbsp;get it out to the public. This show in particular is me switching gears a bit and going back to an older style that I haven't exhibited in quite some time.&nbsp;CGN: Where do you usually view Chicago in relation to your work? Do you try to share a certain personal story about your city with viewers?&nbsp;HB: I am from Chicago so there is naturally a bit of my personal life in it. It's where the work is created and where I'm from.&nbsp;CGN: In addition to your art work, you also have built the Hebru Brand - what are the latest developments on that front?We're working on different projects, expanding the merchandising arm and working more in the digital space. Just trying to grow it organically.&nbsp;&nbsp;Hebru Brantley: Eat Crap King is on view at&nbsp;<a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/calendar/hebru-brantley-eat-crap-king">Vertical Gallery</a>,&nbsp;1016 N. Western Ave.,&nbsp;from February 4-25, 2017.An opening reception with the artist takes place Saturday, February 4, 6-10pm.</body></html>

Hebru Brantley's second solo show at Vertical Gallery is on view February 4-25, 2017.

Rising Star Hebru Brantley is Back in the Gallery

Our first edition of the new Chicago Gallery News 2017 Arts Guide is here!&nbsp;

Pick up a copy of our 160-page book in area galleries, museums, the Chicago Cultural Center, area hotels and more locations.

You may also <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/subscribe">subscribe</a> and receive our summer and fall magazines as well.&nbsp;

We offer new and expanded listings, vibrant images, detailed exhibition information, seasonal <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/calendar?tag=opening-receptions">openings</a>, 2017 art news, and much more. &nbsp;

You may also browse our digital edition <a href="http://issuu.com/chigallerynews/docs/cgn2017annualforissuu?e=3171751/43814696">here</a>.

Tell us what you think, let us know if you&#39;d like to obtain copies, and we look foward to connecting with you and sharing the art world in new ways this year.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Thank you especially to artist Carlos Rol&oacute;n/Dzine for his vibrant&nbsp;cover artwork:&nbsp;Flooded with Ecstasy,&nbsp;Resin and Acrylic on wood panel,&nbsp;Courtesy of the artist, Salon 94, New York, and David Castillo Gallery, Miami&nbsp;