Tag Archives: Arts & Culture
"Scorched Earth" (2006), The Artist pictured in Foreground
So, I am totally late on this one… which is inexcusable really, because I was at the Opening of the exhibition. Least I could have done is pub it. But, alas….
Mark Bradford‘s Exhibition currently on view at Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Art is a Retrospective that really gives a sense of the artist’s use of layers to establish history and depth in his work. A number of the pieces displayed (like “Strawberry”, [pictured below]) feature small square wrapping papers (the sort used in beauty parlors to augment rollers) as a medium. One particular work utilizes sun faded wheatpaste movie posters. A good measure of his materials are, in fact, well known residents of his neighborhood, and his work whispers of larger community-based issues. Some of his work even echos Topographical maps.
In part due to his works’ scale, and in part due to his use of texture, his work needs to be seen in person, rather than in print or on a screen.
On the Collaborative tip, during this past year, the Artist was Skyping and Zipping back and forth between his homebase of Los Angeles and our fair city working with youth from both Lindblom Math and Science Academy in West Englewood and the YOUMedia Program at the Harold Washington Library culminating in a well received Pop-Up Gallery exhibition of the Students’ work. The exhibition (a part of the MCA-backed Mark Bradford Project) dealt with issues of community and mapping, while using a variety of mediums. Many of the students agreed that they learned as much about life as they did about artistic practice from Bradford, who beautifully validated the burgeoning voices of the self-proclaimed “Art Kids”.
Mark Bradford’s work will be on display at the MCA from May 28-September 18, 2011
Museum of Contemporary Art
220 East Chicago Avenue, Chicago
Leave a comment | tags: art, Arts & Culture, Englewood, Harold Washington Library, Los Angeles, Mark Bradford, Museum of Contemporary Art, YOUmedia | posted in Art, Arts & Culture, Education, Visual Arts
What do you get when you mix a maverick artist with strong community ties and an Urban Planner? For one thing, Theaster Gates. For another, the Dorchester Projects, pictured above. Theaster has been purchasing properties in the Woodlawn/Grand Crossing neighborhood for a few years now, and has quietly acquired the stock of the former Dr. Wax record store as well as the now defunct Prairie Avenue Bookstore (both businesses were revered in their respective collector communities). He created a home for glass lantern slides that depict the canon of Western Fine Art. Using reclaimed materials, he is turning his properties into cultural community hubs, featuring curators and programming that reflects the collections and the community.
In the spirit of full disclosure, I’ll be curating the record collection in May and June of 2011, culminating in a series of talks on Chicago Music History (details to follow) and a couple of good, old-fashioned dance parties starring local-born music.
Read the New York Times article about what’s poppin on the South Side with the Dorchester Projects.
Leave a comment | tags: art, Arts & Culture, Chicago Arts, community building, Dorchester Projects, grand crossing, lack versus fat, New York Times, Theaster Gates, Urban planner, urban planning, urbanism, Visual Art, woodlawn | posted in Art, Arts & Culture, Chicago Cultural History, Education, Events, High Culture, Jive Culture, Live Music, Local Chicago Music, Magazines, Music, Performance, Printed Matters, Visual Arts
The University of Chicago’s Center for the Studies of Race, Politics, and Culture, DOVA (Department of Visual Arts) Temporary Gallery, Black Panther Party Illinois History Project, and Diasporal Rhythms for an exhibit of works by Emory Douglas, internationally known artist and former Black Panther Party Minister of Culture. Location: DOVA Temporary (5228 S. Harper). Exhibit runs December 2, 2009-January 2, 2010.
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some more about Mr. Douglas and his work after the jump
1 comment | tags: art, Arts & Culture, Black History, Black Panthers, chicago events, DOVA Temporary, Emory Douglas, Graphic Arts | posted in Art, Arts & Culture, Printed Matters, Uncategorized
This week the Sun-Times published an article talking about Pedro Bell, the man behind the iconic cover art, liner notes, and other print ephemera for Funkadelic from 1973 till about 1986. Pedro, a Chicago native who went by Sir Lleb, has hit hard times. Today he’s facing dire straits in Hyde Park, though his work was recently featured in a retrospective of acceptional album art at the Museum of Contemporary Art.
Here’s an excerpt from the article:
“Thick dust covers the gold lame shirt and silver leather coat in Pedro Bell’s closet.
The clothes are remnants from a brighter time when Bell, a rainbow Afro wig on his head and platform shoes on his feet, strutted through Chicago as a charter member of the ’70s funk revolution whose sound is heavily sampled in rap songs today.
“It was psychedelic from a black perspective,” Bell said.
And despite the commercial success of Clinton’s music, Bell said he didn’t profit from it.
He’s broke.” for more from Kara Spak’s article, click here
Last year, not only was his work featured in a retrospective entitled “Sympathy for the Devil”, but he embarked on a collaborative T-Shirt design project with Supreme, a skateboarding lifestyle store based in New York. They captured a video interview with the man that you can catch here. Despite this, he’s barely skirted eviction. Every reissue that features his cover art is only a reminder of a former life, not a means of survival (which he needs). Tragic, yet it’s one of the oldest story in the Music Industry.
Mr. Bell’s story is well worth digging into… For his 1994 interview with Jake Austen’s Roctober Magazine, click here
Leave a comment | tags: Album cover, art, Arts & Culture, Chicago Arts, Chicago Sun-Times, Funkadelic, jake austen, kara spak, Pedro Bell, Sir Lleb | posted in Art, Arts & Culture, Chicago Cultural History, Music, Printed Matters
Image by swanksalot via Flickr
Lady Terror says she’s a menace on a mission. Terrorizing for a cause. Be it staging a soapbox rant in front of Rothschild’s Liquors (clamouring for more grocery stores) or engaging in impromptu yoga at a Harold’s Chicken Shack (calling for inner city yoga centers for the sake of public health), her performance art and poetry is meant to highlight issues in her community, and to start dialogues about them. She calls them “guerrilla art spectacles”. And, she believes poverty is a form of terrorism. She wants to “slay terror by dropping knowledge bombs to all”.
“I’m writing to give voice to the communities they have forgotten. I am mad. I want to know why you are so calm. We got work to do.”
Check the video clip below. Jive on…
Leave a comment | tags: activism, Arts & Culture, Chicago, harold's chicken, Lady Terror, Performance Art, Rothschild's Liquors | posted in Art, Arts & Culture, Commentary, Jive Culture, Staged Affairs, the Goodness, Theater
Woodson Regional is a gem of the South Side. I’ve always believed that. One of my favorite locations of the Chicago Public Library, bar none. The library, located at 95th and Halsted, boasts the Vivian Harsh Research Collection (all manner of Black Ephemera) and a really strong overall collection. 1 of only two regional libraries in the city (the others, save Harold Washington downtown are all “branches”), Woodson is stocked with literature and art from a good number of local sociologists, artists, and writers. Case in point, the temporary exhibit celebrating the Art (and activism) of sculptor Marion Perkins.
Born in 1908, he moved to Chicago as a small child. He worked as a dishwasher, freight handler, and postal clerk in his lifetime, and though in his artistic career he was lauded with awards (among them the Guggenheim Fellowship) he was never able to devote full time to his art. Perkins was not only an artist, he was an activist for social change, fighting for both Ethiopian freedom and civil rights in his own backyard.
Visit Woodson for Woodson’s sake, but don’t forget to carve out time to see the temporary exhibit: “To See Reality in a New Light: the Art and Activism of Marion Perkins”, at Woodson until December 31, 2009.
1 comment | tags: Arts & Culture, Black Art, Carter G Woodson Regional Library, Chicago Arts, Chicago Public Library, Chicago Renaissance, Events, Marion Perkins, Sculpture, Visual Art | posted in Art, Arts & Culture, Chicago Cultural History, Events, High Culture, Visual Arts
In the news: a whole new vision of performance, development, art, and change! Originally published in CHICAGO WEEKLY…. 
By: Veronica Gonzales
Envision this: a creative haven for artists both local and global to come together and encourage the economic growth of a community. A neighborhood place where artists, intellectuals, community activists, students, and visitors can work collaboratively towards creative expression and community building. Marguerite Horberg, drawing on over 20 years of experience with the acclaimed performing arts center HotHouse, hopes to make this lofty vision a reality with Porto Luz, an arts and culture center scheduled to open on Chicago’s South Side within the next year. Through this venture, Horberg plans to show the world a model for responsible economic stimulation of a creative community.
As Horberg writes it, her resume reads like an invitation for a challenge: “Catalyst, Artist, Unrepetent [sic] Socialist and Innovator.” Go ahead, try me, I dare you, she seems to say. Since her start as a Chicago-based entrepreneur in the late ‘70s, Horberg has been responsible for the creation of two now-defunct artisan clothing boutiques, Studio V and the Salon of Modalisque, as well as HotHouse, an internationally recognized nightclub and cultural center. After nearly 20 years at HotHouse, Horberg departed from the venue in 2006, a move that fueled her fire to found Porto Luz. With this, her latest enterprise, she pushes forward by laying down a serious plan ahead of time, hoping to disprove previous notions that her talents with HotHouse lay only as proprietor of artistic vision and mission.
click here for the rest of the porto luz story
4 comments | tags: Arts & Culture, bronzeville, Chicago, HotHouse, Marguerite Horberg, Music, Partisan Arts International, Performing Arts, Porto Luz, Veronica Gonzales | posted in Arts & Culture, High Culture, Jive Culture, Musical Performance, Staged Affairs
Tonight, Join my buddy Chris Hales (aka Tapedek) at the Chicago Art Department for an Art Opening (also featuring my guy Sean Alvarez on the Wheels of Steel).
Chris’s first solo show as a member of The Chicago Art Department showed an artist who knew what he wanted to do, yet was slightly unsure of his abilities. Though the show was pulled off with mild success, the thing that was missing was the attitude that personifies Chris Hales not only as an artist, but as a person.
This time around that mistake won’t be made again! “Mookie” has planned his revenge and has enlisted the help of others to pull off his second solo show at CAD. This one with little to no compromise. Come with no expectations and leave happy!
Mookie’s Revenge
@ the Chicago Art Department
1837 S Halsted
Chicago, IL
(6-10pm)
Happening on Monday at Links Hall (for the SAUCY in you) is Poonie’s Cabaret:
The quarterly Cabaret features artists working in many different creative realms – dance, music, contact improvisation, performance art, voguing, drag, burlesque, cheerleading, etc. Proceeds go to the Duncan Erley memorial Coming Out of the Closet Fund for artists whose work explores healing, gay activism, and spiritual and sexual transformation.
Monday, June 15, 8:00 pm
$5 suggested donation
tickets available at door or over the phone
| Location: |
Links Hall
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| Street: |
3435 N. Sheffield
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| City/Town: |
Chicago, IL
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Leave a comment | tags: Arts & Culture, Cabaret, Chicago, Chicago Art Department, Events, Mookie's Revenge, Poonie's Cabaret, Sean Alvarez, Tapedek, Visual Art | posted in Art, Arts & Culture, Events, Musical Performance, Performance, Staged Affairs, Theater, Visual Arts
Happy hour takes on a new meaning with First Fridays at the MCA. Cash bar featuring specialty drinks and free Wolfgang Puck appetizers. Enjoy live music from local DJs, the world’s only iMac G5 digital dating bar, creation stations, and more. Each month features an up-and-coming Chicago artist in a preview of the latest UBS 12 x 12: New Artists/New Work exhibition.
First Fridays tickets, which include museum admission, live entertainment, and complimentary Wolfgang Puck hors d’oeuvres, are $15 ($7 for MCA members). Advance tickets are available for $10 ($7 MCA members). Order your tickets online, or call the MCA box office at 312.397.4010. Doors are open from 6 to 10 pm with a cash bar until 9:30 pm. Guests must be 21 or older to enter.
220 East Chicago Avenue, Chicago, IL 60611 | 312.280.2660
for the after-set:
80′S BABIES PRESENT FRIDAY NIGHT LIVE W/SPECIAL GUEST DJ THE TWILITE TONE
LIVE PERFORMANCE BY PETER HADAR
@ THE FUNKY BUDDHA LOUNGE TONITE
9PM-2AM (at 728 W. GRAND IN CHICAGO)
Artsy-ass electro-soulster (in the BEST way) Peter Hadar ends his epic invasion of Chicago with a BANG! And bless my man Twilite Tone. Good time to be had, but I bet they’re both tired…
and don’t forget:
Art Chicago 2009 is ongoing (till May 4th) at the Merchandise Mart
Art Chicago® 2009, the annual international fair of contemporary and modern art, brings together the world’s leading emerging and established galleries. Art Chicago offers curators, collectors, artists and art enthusiasts a comprehensive survey of current and historic work, from cutting-edge to modern masters in a wide variety of media including: painting, photography, drawings, prints, sculpture, video and special installations. There’s also a panel discussion series called Art Chicago Speaks, featuring curators and artists alike.
General Ticket Information
Tickets may be purchased onsite and and will be available online.
Adults: $20 daily or $25 multi-day pass
Seniors, Students or Groups: $15 multi-day pass
Children 12 and under are free
Projection For Chicago, 2008 / Merchandise Mart
© 2008Jenny Holzer, member Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY.
Text (pictured): “The Joy of Writing” from View with a Grain of Sand, copyright © 1993 by Wisława Szymborska
Photo: John Faier
2 comments | tags: art, Art Chicago 2009, Arts & Culture, Chicago, Events, Funky Buddah Lounge, Museum of Contemporary Art, Peter Hadar, The Twilite Tone | posted in Art, Arts & Culture, Events, High Culture, Live Music, Music, Visual Arts
Art from Immig-Art, anonymously contributed immigration experiences as a group art project. Immig-Art was founded by my friend, Kabuika Kamunga, a Congolese filmmaker and journalist based in Chicago.
Leave a comment | tags: Africa, Arts & Culture, Congolese, Immig-Art, Immigrants, Kabuika Kamunga | posted in Art, Arts & Culture, High Culture, Jive Culture, the Goodness
And now, a word from Chicago’s own Lady Terror
Image by swanksalot via Flickr
“I’m writing to give voice to the communities they have forgotten. I am mad. I want to know why you are so calm. We got work to do.”
Check the video clip below. Jive on…
Leave a comment | tags: activism, Arts & Culture, Chicago, harold's chicken, Lady Terror, Performance Art, Rothschild's Liquors | posted in Art, Arts & Culture, Commentary, Jive Culture, Staged Affairs, the Goodness, Theater