neotericart

Recently I returned to the Musée d’Orsay. The first thing I did was to take the five floors up to the Post-Impressionist collection to Douanier Rousseau’s painting War. Last year I regretted not having taken a picture of it to use in the classes I teach at the Lab School because Continue reading »

…”arguably the least love-struck woman in all Western painting.” – Michael Fried

In his book Pictures and Tears, James Elkins explores the act of crying in front of painting—an act that if one is to believe him (and I do) strikes most academics to be as shameful as farting during an inopportune moment at the opera. Before writing, Elkins wrote to colleagues, Continue reading »

Sometime in the late ’80s, Tony Fitzpatrick opened an exhibition space in Villa Park. A year or two later, he moved it to the then desolate South Loop and eventually to the other end of the block on 13th Street and Wabash. Continue reading »

Over the last few years, while teaching at the University of Missouri, I’ve often played a few select minutes from the middle of Steven Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind for my students. I find that the film, though unrelated to art making directly, has a number of specific benefits to offer Continue reading »

This is me in the room where we read, where the kids do their homework, and where we put up the Christmas tree. This is the room where I phoned my dad a year or so before he died: we were both catheterized, me following an operation for postpartum incontinence and him because Continue reading »

Forward

A number of years ago I contacted perhaps two-dozen self-identified kitsch-painters, sending them the open letter you find below. At that time I was merely interested in asking them what they thought they were doing as painters. Having lived through a number of years Continue reading »

A few weeks ago, Chicago Art Magazine ran an article asking the question, “Are apartment galleries illegal?” The article summarized the troubles The Green Lantern apartment gallery ran into, and documented the issues the City of Chicago has with mixing businesses with residences Continue reading »

Back in 1984, as part of the issue that coincided with the Navy Pier art fair, Chicago Magazine published 4 photographs of 159 Chicago artists. The photo essay, "Artists by Number." was a roll call of important artists in Chicago at that time. Do you recognize any of the names or faces? Continue reading »

“Think about this: we go to the doctor’s office and an hour or so later we’re still reading two-year-old magazines. Despite the wasted time and the fact that it’s going to cost you, you still patiently wait and at the appropriate time remove your clothes, lean back, and completely Continue reading »

I remember Gail as a slight and frail figure with very long dark curls and a shy, enigmatic expression that made her seem as though she was trying to peer beyond the substance of things. This certainly was true of her art: I witnessed her drawings as she built them up slowly, Continue reading »