The Art Institute of Chicago is currently showing Picasso and Chicago, running until May 12. The show celebrates the special 100-year relationship between Picasso and Chicago by bringing together over 250 examples of the artist’s paintings, sculpture, prints, drawings, and ceramics from private collections in the city, as well as from the museum’s collection.

It’s a great story. A century ago, in 1913, the Art Institute of Chicago became the first art museum in the country to present the work of Picasso and the museum and the city kept on collecting his work. Also, in 1965, the City commissioned Picasso to create a sculpture for what was then the Chicago Civic Center later changed to The Richard J. Daley Center.

Again, it’s a great story. The problem is that this great story and Picasso’s relationship to Chicago is not really reflective in the actual pieces in the show. Don’t get me wrong—present are some masterworks, The Old Guitarist (late 1903–early 1904), Mother and Child (1921) and the maquette for the 1965 sculpture but if you are an avid visitor to the Art Institute you already are very familiar with these pieces. What you get are a lot of drawings and prints … a lot! There’s nothing wrong with drawings and prints but that’s where I feel the show lacks the “wow” factor. There just isn’t enough major work here to really make this show a must-see.

Not all is lost … there’s a silver lining. Since some of Picasso’s paintings had to move from their home in the Modern Wing to the special exhibition, the Art Institute worked out a deal with the Philadelphia Museum for two of their masterpieces by Picasso to fill the empty walls, the emblematic Self-Portrait (1906) and the monumental Three Musicians (1921). Ironically, Three Musicians is the showcase piece here … the “wow” factor for me but it’s not part of the exhibition.

Overall it was good to see a crowd at the Art Institute and Picasso will do that.

What was the contribution of The New Art Examiner to art criticism in the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s? What was its significance in the broader spectrum of art writing or art criticism? And why was it, as Jane Allen wrote, “light years ahead of other art publications?”

Two years ago The Essential New Art Examiner was published by NIU press, an anthology of NAE articles beginning in Summer 1974 until May 1996. In February 2012 Northern Illinois University hosted a symposium on The New Art Examiner along with an exhibition organized by Barbara Jaffee, associate professor the Art History Division addressing the NAE’s contributions to art criticism.

What surfaced during the exhibition and subsequent symposium at NIU was the significance of The NAE as a beacon of independent thought and dialogue for Chicago and beyond. The event was well attended while congenial exchanges took place between artists, writers, old critics and young students. What was not addressed was the controversy, rejection, opposition and the hard road traveled while publishing, the determining factors of political correctness that have shaped and grow more pernicious as American cultural and therefore, political life empties out.

The seeds of The New Art Examiner were planted on Blackstone Avenue in the Hyde Park apartment where Jane Addams Allen and a group of figurative artists put together the first issue on a mimeograph machine. Chicago New Art Association was a local chapter of the New Art Association, a splinter group formed by the late Edward Fry, an art Historian and at that time recently deposed curator of the Guggenheim Museum for refusing to dismantle an exhibition of Hans Haacke which had embarrassed the trustees. The New Art Association which later devolved into the Women’s Caucus and the Black Caucus for Art.

How interesting to note in the February 1972 page one describes a resolution up for adoption at the recent College Art Association Convention; the resolution for the reaffirmation of the CAA policy of recognizing the MFA as a terminal degree. “Institutions are inducing students to register for programs in order to extend the department, yet, when selecting faculty, they respect art degrees less and less and instead search desperately in the Ph.D. market.”

After a year the Chicago New Art Association gained its 501c3 non-profit status as the New Art Association and began submitting grant applications to the Illinois Art Council as the art writing and coverage was published and written by pioneer unpaid staff, including Jane Allen, Derek Guthrie, Robyn Mann, Devonna Pieszak, Betty McCasland, Bill Coons, Bonnie McCleod, John Himmelfarb, Carole Stodder and Annalee Hultgren.

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The first issue came out in October with the cover drawing taken from the U.S. Marines landing at Iowa Jima, “Without Fear or Favor.” This was a signal of defiance, as Jane Addams Allen drew upon her family tradition, well acquainted with Chicago in order to establish a professional career, it was necessary to be self- published thereby avoiding the under-the-table power enforcement that is the norm of the city. Edward Fry’s excellent prose fitted the situation in Chicago as a statement of purpose.

Its purpose, printed in every issue next to the editorial was,

…to examine the definition and transmission of culture in our society; the decision-making processes within museums and schools and the agencies of patronage which determine the manner in which culture shall be transmitted; the value systems which presently influence the making of art as well as its study in exhibitions and books; and, in particular, the interaction of these factors with the visual art milieu.

In Chicago this was not an easy task. The struggle to gather museum support, recognition by the local press and difficulties in changing attitudes within the confines of the art marketing system were difficult hurdles. And the NAE committed a cardinal sin in Chicago by exposing corruption and conflicts of interest within major cultural institutions in or near to the Art Institute and the Museum of Contemporary and recognizing links of practice and influence which together defined Chicago Art and in so doing stamped out all that was different.

In the 60’s and early 70’s, the Sun Times and the Chicago Tribune included arts coverage in the Arts & Fun sections. Relegating visual art copy to the Arts & Fun section of the Tribune sent a message to its readers that Art was spelled with a small a. And in the city of Big Shoulders, once Hog Butcher to the world, football and sports held center stage.

This void was filled by The New Art Examiner; unique in offering a platform for artists and writers to exchange opinion and develop a critical framework to discuss and examine ideas. And the NAE was open to everyone who took the responsibility of writing words about Art. The NAE was the first of its kind, an Art publication devoted to Midwest artists with articles, reviews and letters written by subscribers, artists and writers. In the midst of the Art publication explosion made possible by the development of the National Endowment for the Arts during the 70’s, the NAE gave artists and writers an opportunity to publish to a national and eventually an international audience.

Founding editor, Jane Addams Allen, the great-grand niece of Jane Addams who founded Hull House in Chicago and publisher Derek Guthrie spearheaded the growth and development of the NAE. Allen believed like Jane Addams who was a friend of John Dewey, that creativity was for everyone. Jane graduated from the University of Chicago influenced by Joshua Taylor, the Art Historian, took an MFA from SAIC, attended the Ecole de la Chamiere in Paris, and began studying for her PHD at the University of Chicago.

Before moving to the United States Guthrie enjoyed recognition in the UK with three sell-out exhibitions in Portal Gallery in London and also a one person show in Arnolfini gallery in Bristol with informal representation through Marlborough Gallery. Guthrie moved to the U.S. in 1969 after completing a Commonwealth Scholarship to India. In Chicago he taught painting at Northwestern University in Chicago and Evanston. Allen and Guthrie met while teaching art courses at Chicago State University in the deep Southside of Chicago.

Derek Guthrie who worked tirelessly as publisher for over 20 years was the idea person, he worked to expand the NAE beyond the borders of Chicago into the Midwest and later both coasts of the U.S. as well as the UK.

Each issue of the Examiner contained at least five feature articles on topics of major interest, approximately 40 reviews of exhibitions, (the price range of Art in galleries was listed at the bottom of each review), much to the chagrin of many galleries, coverage of metropolitan and regional areas in the Midwest and East Coast and informative and amusing Art world newsbriefs.

On the back page of early issues artist Larry Kowalski designed Arthur Truebrush, a parody of Superman who pledged to uphold the cause of aesthetic integrity. His adventures included meeting and confronting greedy landlords and fighting for the rights of the artist and effecting the dreams of Art Students.

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How was the Examiner able to survive for so many years on such a tight budget? First of all, Allen & Guthrie made it a standing policy that everyone on staff was to be paid the same rate. Yearly budgets were prepared with an eye to development, expansion and balance. Several of the staff, Michael Bonesteel, Ann Morgan and myself shared the same apartment at different times with Jane and Derek which also cut down on costs and provided an opportunity to grow as writers and artists as we sat down for meals and engaged in extended discussion.

The NAE was also a key factor, State Arts Councils funded a portion of the NAE, the budget was sectioned out to be approximately 1/3 income from advertising, 1/3 from subscription and 1/3 from grants all allowing a free flow and not limiting the funding source for the NAE to one or two areas. One important fact in the NAE’s early survival was the renewal rate was consistently high.

To gain financial independence and to expand profile, the NAE sponsored the annual Art awards initially held in the spacious, members room of the Art Institute and which was later telecast on channel 13. Richard Hunt, Chicago sculptor, created a bronze sculpture “Emmy” with a semi-circular base so the icon could be pointed in different directions indicating the brevity of fame. This event provided great enthusiasm and camaraderie within the Chicago artworld as artists competed and helped expand audience. The event was given a destructive review by Alan Artner, who replaced Allen and Guthrie as Art critics for the Chicago Tribune. Artner referred to Allen and Guthrie as “Ten Penny Messiahs” and the “Ossie and Harriet of the art world.”

Public lectures from artworld luminaries as Susan Sontag, Hilton Kramer and Robert Hughes, the annual Art world pool tournament where artists played to win $100 at Benzinger’s pool hall on Chicago’s Northside where collectors, critics, gallery owners met on the green baize provided education, funds and exposure for the NAE. The annual Valentine’s benefit held in Washington, D.C. which highlighted a silent auction of artist made valentines, along with food and music became a much loved and dynamic social event which helped D.C. and supported increasing costs of expansion and the change from newsprint into a magazine format. Artists and writers began the slow, steady climb to independent international publishing, a phenomena that shook the very foundations of the New York Art establishment and lasted almost three decades. The timing was perfect.

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Jane Allen did the lion’s share for at least five years of editing, she wrote major articles and revised submitted pieces for many years until the newspaper grew to 6 or 8 pages and beyond when the NAE could afford to hire, actually it was more like volunteer work, for the Herculean task. Ann Morgan, an Art Historian traveled from the University of Illinois in Urbana to help with editing and writing. Allen never cut or revised reviews without meeting with the writers’ approval, Jane’s style was to meet with writers and rewrite copy until a crisp, clear and poetic expression was found.

In keeping with the NAE’s mission, museum accountability was researched and written by Tom Mullaney in the Harding Museum Scandal and Files on Parade by Nicols Fox Coleman in D.C., with great expertise unraveled the political realities around the National Endowment for the Arts. Fraser Baron took up the thread which kept readers informed about the workings of government in Federal funding, NEA and the NEH, accountability and tax shelters for artists and collectors.

In the early days of the NAE Jane and Derek drove to the provinces in Illinois and Indiana; Peoria, Rockford, Bloomington, Columbus, DeKalb to see what was going on in areas outside of Chicago. If there was interest and committed editors willing to cover their territory, each office would write its own grants in consultation with Jane and later with editors Alice Thorsen, Allison Gamble and Michael Bonesteel. Art writing soon became a reality in regional communities.

While Minimalism was in style during the 60’s, Figuration and New Abstraction, Neo-Geo, Pattern Painting along with Installation and Performance Art took the lead in the 70’s and 80’s. The NAE responded to these art forms through letters, reviews, in-depth articles and Speakeasy, a column devoted to artworld luminaries and not so recognized where they could share their views. I am now quite sure Speakeasys would be of great historical interest!

In an editorial published in 1985 Chicago editor Alice Thorson, now Art critic for the Kansas City Star, succinctly sums up what the editors and writers, who from start to finish tried to do,

We continue to work for the day when an intellectual disagreement or a difference in opinion is not followed by the inevitable political repercussions which have stunted this city’s [Chicago] artistic and intellectual growth for the past decade and more.

Repercussions for voicing disagreement did abound for many years. The editorial position of the NAE was informed discussion and even uninformed discussion was essential for a cultured society. The Museum of Contemporary Art was not an outlet for the NAE in its bookstore, a few Chicago galleries refused to support the NAE by not advertising, and Allen and Guthrie were often excluded from Chicago artworld events. In Washington, D.C. this did not happen as Jane Allen was honored by Carter Brown of the National Gallery of Art and nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in Art criticism. Washington, D.C. knew how to dance better than Chicago.

It was a policy that all letters to the editor were published. The philosophy of the NAE as Howard Risatti, art historian and NAE editor from Richmond, Virginia put it in the March 1994- 20 year Anniversary issue was:

Go quickly to the heart of the story, tell it as truthfully as possible without worrying about whose toes you’re stepping on, be accurate and clear in your writing, avoiding above all, art-world jargon!

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How was each issue planned? Lunches, coffees, drinks, meetings in the office and outside the office provided space for discussion and strategy. The first official NAE office was on Huron, the second was at 230 E. Ohio, located in an architectural landmark building, exactly opposite of the Museum of Contemporary Art and next to Harry & Cindy Weese’s architectural firm which later helped in sustaining the new office on Hubbard Street. So convenient for the NAE fans who worked at the MCA to steal away and give Derek a heads’s up on the latest museum gossip and exhibition schedules.

Jane would be glued to her desk sitting in the editor’s chair, a large brown, worn, interestingly shaped leather chair with wheels. Derek would be out scouting for the latest Art world scandal, stories and gossip around the corner at the Greek restaurant where ouzo was served to the patrons who waited outside in freezing weather. Or lengthy meetings were held at the Cambridge House, the staff and owners allowed NAE staff to hold lengthy meetings with one cup of coffee. Refills of course.

The NAE without question kept advertising and editorial separate. Selling advertising was not easy, it could be difficult, especially trying to collect payment from a few dealers but it was a small price to pay to be in that environment amongst such intelligent, principled, creative people. I had to make at least 25 phone calls a day. When the NAE was 24 pages, the ratio was 5 pages of advertising to 24 pages of copy. The rates were very low. Jane Skytta was the first designer, she had an excellent eye for composition and she liked to work the night shift before publication.

When I sold advertising some Chicago galleries would ask me to review a show or say something like, “tell the editor to send a reviewer here.” Fortunately I had to say, “I am not involved in the decision making process of what shows are to be reviewed and it has nothing to do with whether you place an ad or not.” When I went to New York in the late 70’s to early 80’s, and made cold calls, I would be laughed out of some galleries as they knew the NAE didn’t succumb to commercial pressures.

The ad and design office was adjacent to the editorial office. Separate but equal, salaries were based on the same wage scale, we had health insurance, benefits like sick pay and holidays and Jane and Derek worked steadily to build an increase each year with the cost of living. As the budget increased, so did the salaries. Once in awhile we left without paychecks. We always paid our bills, especially the printer. There was no debt in the years 1973-1986. From 86 to 2002 when the Examiner printed its last issue, there was essentially a debt over 6 figures.

After about 8 years of publishing in Chicago, it became apparent that the NAE had saturated the art market and it was time to expand, instead of moving to New York, Guthrie and Allen planned to open an office in Washington, D.C. to get a ringside seat on the National Endowment which was prophetic as the culture wars broke out and in so doing reshaped patronage and the very nature of American Contemporary Art. Incidentally the NAE provided extensive coverage not available in The Essential New Art Examiner as NIU press insisted that all content be Chicago based.

In the October 1980 edition Jane Allen wrote,

“The New Art Examiner’s mission for the eighties will be to cover the development of this national/regional scene in all its aspects, good and bad, to build a critical network capable of giving it definition; and to report on the policies and activities of the government patronage agencies which have played a major role in fostering emerging regional scenes. We hope that you, our readers, will keep on giving us feedback, both favorable and unfavorable in the form of letters and suggestions for stories.”

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The Chicago artworld has changed dramatically from 1970 to what it is now. Many of these changes cannot be addressed in this article. There was first a growing consensus that Chicago artists had something valuable to say as did the entire MW even without New York’s stamp of approval. Writers from New York and the West Coast came to Chicago, Suzy Gablik, Leon Golub, Judd Tully, Carol Squiers to name a few, and then to D.C. when an office opened at 2718 Ontario Rd. NW in the not yet gentrified Adams Morgan area of D.C. The NAE grew because of a number of dedicated intelligent, creative individuals who believed they could make a difference in how Art was perceived inside and outside the provinces and they succeeded.

The last issue of The New Art Examiner, a visual arts publication originally based in Chicago was printed in June 2002, 29 years standing. Many speculations and stories abound as to its demise. Rumor has it that an influx of a large six figure sum of money from board member Lou Manilow who figures as a primary patron of Chicago Art & Culture had something to do with it. The change in format and content led to the NAE diverging from its initial philosophy and mission and readership soon declined. The magazine I found on the newsstand in New York looked like Art Forum in its slickness with cover pages designed for shock value and insider jargon, it cost was a whopping $8 in the U.S and $11 in Canada. A far cry from the modest, initial .50 cost of the first few issues.

For the first 10 years the NAE ran essentially on its own steam, and once Guthrie had a dream to sell shares in the NAE in an effort to be worker-owned. Once the founders were removed to the patronising title of honorary editor and publisher; they were not allowed to contribute article the NAE took on another purpose.

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Jane Addams Allen died in 2002 after several operations, remissions and eventual death from cancer. After Jane Allen’s death in 2002 Janet Koplos wrote a eulogy to Jane in Art in America which described her life and writing career beautifully, the article however, neglected to reveal how much resistance Allen had experienced. Allen’s great intelligence was recognized but the courage she possessed was not shared in the Obituary.

This essay is based on memory of many years association with the NAE and is a tribute that needs filling out and researched with scholarship by Art Historians. It is and will be an untold story that Chicago does not want to her. It will also answer the important question asked by James Elkins, “Whatever Happened to Art Criticism”.

My experience with the NAE began while I was a student at Northwestern University, taking an evening painting class with Derek Guthrie. After critiquing our paintings he would talk about the plans for the beginning issue of the NAE. And when Guthrie shared the dream and the plans his students missed the lively writing that the Chicago Tribune published when Guthrie and Allen were in place, I raised my hand and did whatever needed to be done; labeling subscriptions, scouting for outlets in the Chicagoland area, answering phones, cleaning, moving into a new office, organizing papers, hauling the bulk mail across the street to the Post Office where Walter the friendly postal employee would ever so slowly, fill out the necessary forms and after we sorted all the subs by zip code, the NAE was on its way.

After graduating from SIU I returned to Chicago and wandered into Phyllis Kind Gallery on Ontario Street where the Imagists were having an exhibition. Later while working for the NAE I learned about this tradition of funky, imagist art that was a mark of Chicago Art; a kind of style that enjoyed a monopoly on what was considered “Chicago style” painting.

Today 40 years after the first issue of the NAE, Art criticism is in a state of crisis, can it be revived, re-examined and renewed? The Examiner moved through the trenches of artworld politics with the dedication of literally thousands of committed, talented individuals and provided a forum for dialogue. There will never be enough time to thank everyone involved while seeds are being planted for a New Art Examiner now. I hear that Cornwall, England, Guthrie’s place of residence, a beautiful region and historical home to artists will support green shoots of a revised NAE.

In conclusion, I would like to commend Kathryn Born who approached NIU Press to publish the anthology, The Essential New Art Examiner, which reminds that history is not obsolete.

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About Annie Markovich

My parents were first generation Americans from Lithuania and Croatia. My mother spoke Lithuanian, Polish, Croatian and English, raised five children, owned a beauty shop and in my eyes, was an artist. My father whose parents were from Croatia, was also an artist and photographer. To support his family he worked shift-work as an electrician for U.S. Steel South Works. I grew up on the far southeast side of Chicago, So. Chicago was mentioned in the NYT as one of the closest knit immigrant communities in the country. Today the neighborhood no longer exists as a tightly knit community following the closing of the U.S. Steel Mills, abandoned businesses and the concomitant environmental pollution that poisoned the area.

After working in Washington D.C. for the NAE, in 1986 I moved to New York. Six years ago I moved back to Chicago to take care of my mother before she died.

Right now I teach English to immigrants, paint when I can, draw from the figure and write.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Small Arms
Russ White
Closing reception:
Saturday, April 6th, 7 to 10pm
Artist talk: April 6th, 6:30 to 7pm, open to the public
Werkspace
2556 W. Chicago
Chicago, IL

Chicago, IL — It seems at times we are a population utterly terrified of itself. And sometimes rightfully so. The drawings here investigate our fear from different perspectives through several bodies of work: a series of bright, unsettling shooting range targets; a day in the life of a classic American criminal; and a darkly funny take on the anxiety and anonymity of crowds. White’s work uses simple constructions to investigate complicated themes. Criminals, victims, cartoons, and crowds all play a role here in questioning our societal rage and our flawed correlation between violence and justice.

Directly inspired by Trayvon Martin’s death, the targets are a response to the reactionaries and the lunatics among us. While most shooting range targets feature fearsome enemies pointing guns and holding hostages, White’s targets are quite the opposite: terror-struck victims cowering for their lives. The work reminds us of both recent tragedies and everyday violence and questions our comfort with wrath.

In a similar but more comedic vein, the Background Check series asks what the “Thug” from the classic police target does with his time when he’s not shooting at cops. The thick-chested, high-waisted, tracksuit-wearing street tough from the ‘60s is humanized, and, with him, our idea of criminality becomes more nuanced. Drawn in a comic book style on hand-dyed paper, the thugs are a funny reminder not to lose sight of a villain’s humanity.

A native of Mississippi and the Carolinas, White has been living and showing in Chicago since 2004. Based in Humboldt Park with his wife and dog, he also works as a high-end cabinet maker in the Dock 6 Collective.

The artist:
russ-white.com
773.706.7432
russpwhite@yahoo.com

The gallery:
werkspacechicago.com
2556 W. Chicago Ave
werkspacechicago@ gmail.com

Alex Danchev was educated at University College, Oxford; Trinity Hall, Cambridge; and King’s College London. He is the author of several highly acclaimed biographies, including Georges Braque: A Life and the most recently published Cézanne: A Life. Other published books are a collection of essays, On Art and War and Terror and 100 Artists’ Manifestos. He writes regularly for The Times Literary Supplement and Times Higher Education. He has held fellowships at the Wilson Center in Washington, D.C.; St. Antony’s College, Oxford and King’s College London. He is a Professor of International Relations at the University of Nottingham. He lives in Nottingham, England.

Neoteric Art: What was one of the most interesting facts you learned about Paul Cézanne while doing research for the book?

Alex Danchev: That he was a great reader, and re-reader, reading and re-reading certain authors and certain books all his life – Baudelaire, Flaubert, Stendhal, and also Virgil, Horace, Lucretius. He translated Virgil in his spare time.

Buy the book here.

Chicago January Openings – January 11, 2013
On the scene: On a cool and breezy evening two of Chicago’s stalwart artists, Vera Klement and William Conger, shared an exciting and exuberant opening at Zolla/Lieberman. Both of these artists have been making exceptional work for many years … not to be missed. Zg Gallery was hopping with Molly Briggs. Her paintings are so beautiful in their fluidity. Holly Roberts at Catherine Edelman is just plain fun. Roberts’s work, a blending of photography and painting, is a must see.

Spotted: Doug Frohman, Rebecca Moy in one of her wonderful hats, Cheryl Postrozny, Bruce Thorn, Paul LaMantia, Judith Geichman, and Phyllis Bramson all hanging out at Zolla/Lieberman. Tom Van Eynde was holding court on Superior St. outside Zg Gallery.

When I was a kid – perhaps 10 or 11 years old – my stepfather gave me a sighting scope as a gift. It was meant for hunting season but I found its greatest purpose was as a means to draw distant lights close. At first it was celestial lights: the moon, stars. Eventually I aimed the scope at closer, earthly lights.

Perhaps because I grew up in a small town I always had a sense of yearning for what was beyond. I think I’ve retained that desire as an adult, as a teacher, and as an artist. For some reason my experience with that telescope catalyzed my innate need to look out. I keep doing it.

Wolcott Hill, at whose base I spent the first 18 years of my life, was a site for much lightgazing. Accompanied by my cousin Chris or just on my own, I often trained my lens at harvest moons, at the Pleiades, at Mars. But just as often, standing there in the darkness above my hometown, I would look out horizontally – traversing the black landscape – across the valleys and lower hills. Being several hundred meters above the surrounding area, Wolcott Hill afforded a long view toward that distant horizon. There, southward to the Southern Tier of New York state, my eye often found a singular, strangely evocative light. I pointed that way often. I returned to it again and again for many years.

I sight in. I find it. A white barn looms out of the deep night. The scene trembles as I focus, my heartbeats and shallow breaths transferring to the scope through the touch of my hand. A strange blue glow tinges the grass below the barn light. Beyond that pool of light there’s only murk. I glimpse the gravel driveway. A pole on the outskirts catches slight illumination. No home visible nearby. It is that ghost-white barn that is the focus of my vision, its broad door showing age. It is all miles away, lifetimes away. It is as enigmatic and stimulating as the moon to me, mysterious and strange. Where is it? Who lives there? What is their story? What is happening there?

In looking I looked beyond the banal to another, stranger, unknowable banality. To the keeper of that barn the scene I spied was, perhaps, nothing of note at all. The person who put up the barn, placed the light, and replaced the bulb when it burnt out may never have considered that it was all a grand mystery, much less a guiding light for some preteen 20 miles away. It was the very action of perception – of my reach toward the light – that transformed the everyday tableau into a sign indicating something more.

That telescopic apprehending reach is emblematic for me. The narrative implicit in my view – the story I told myself about what I saw – was so important to me. It was a reverie to dream of that light. It was so then; I dreamt as I looked. Seeing meant dreaming.

And still today, I dream as I look. It’s still an important act to me. To stand at the edge of some place and look out over an abyss of unknowns to discern a lone shoreline… I’ve always done that. We have – all of us – always done it. It’s part of what we are as humans to reach out on an eye line to find some anchor on that horizon edge.

Yearning through sight is key to the history of art. Beyond all of our ideas, beyond all of our conceits and fancy turns of phrase, beyond any affectation we may attempt to construct is the fact of the image as a seen event. Our natural desire is to understand, to focus beyond sight, to reach out past the banalities of presentation to sense the incidence of meaning embodied in the manifestation of what lies before us. Our action of looking is embodiment of desirous dreaming. We don’t merely identify, we feel. Our perceptions of artworks are not reducible to an exercise in trivia, at least they shouldn’t be; we seek an illuminating, stimulating dream.

I look for art experiences that work like that sighting scope I had as a 10 year old. My hopeful reach toward some strange indication of an order beyond me was essential back then, and it’s even more necessary now. It is so easy for us to pretend we’ve got it all worked out, to live in a safe zone of milquetoast creativity, to rely on ideas and theories that others tore their guts out to establish. Ultimately, it will be our own impassioned gaze that matters.

True seeing means succumbing to dreams, and dreaming will always lead us beyond ourselves. This is, of course, part of what Paul Valéry meant when he said the now-classic phrase, “to see is to forget the name of the thing one sees.”¹ To focus on the naming or rest on finding the facts of something is antithetical to dream-seeing, antithetical to insightful meaning-making. We, as artists, grope toward unity that lies beyond arithmetical definitiveness.

So it is that the light of my distant white barn was more, much more, to me than merely the light of a white barn. Our true seeing of art – our true reception of deep experiences – will ALWAYS transcend easy definitions, simple rules, or reductive explanations. We are complex; we “contain multitudes.”² We perceive a vague light from afar and then dream its implications into our understanding.

That’s almost a definition of art, isn’t it?

Author’s note: Included here are two paintings of that white barn. Each is 12 inches in diameter, gouache on paper, 2012. Both are titled “When I was 10 I had a telescope.”

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Footnotes
¹ See Lawrence Weschler’s “Seeing is Forgetting the Name of the Thing One Sees”
http://www.amazon.com/Seeing-Forgetting-Name-Thing-Sees/dp/0520256093/ref=la_B000AP9KLK_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1356375148&sr=1-1
² See Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself” section 51.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Song_of_Myself

Doug Stapleton
Optimistic Reconstructions
September 20 – December 30, 2012
Chicago Cultural Center
78 E. Washington St.
Chicago, IL 60602

When the word “collage” comes to mind it often summons up memories of exercises performed in art class, those exploding mash-ups of cut and pasted images culled from fashion magazines and product catalogs. Often the slick, generic power of contemporary print media easily commands and overwhelms any personal or expressive intentions the artist may have entertained. It can be very difficult to tame it into a personally articulate medium. How to nullify the generic harshness of commercial texture and imbibe it with personal intention?

The collages in Doug Stapleton’s exhibit Optimistic Reconstructions showing from September 29 – December 30 at the Chicago Cultural Center offers work that shows his playful and specific use of the collage medium. He skillfully selects images that are juxtaposed and fitted together as though interwoven, creating a personal and ironical homage to the art of antiquity. He uses the tools of paradox and humor with a gentler edge than his German Dadaist predecessors Hannah Hoch and Raoul Hausmann, but clearly acknowledges the spirit of their innovation and wit. In their day -the nineteen teens through the twenties – commercial print media was new and exciting, ripe for experimentation and sharp social commentary. Today it has aged considerably, a consciousness that Stapleton makes deliberate use of.

Max Ernst chose the engraved reproductions from popular 19th century gothic novels to construct his famous collage series Woman with a Hundred Heads. Stapleton favors the specific look and texture of old black and and white or sepia toned reproductions centering on the theme of Greek and renaissance sculpture. The powdery printed texture of these older book and magazine reproductions exudes a sense of nostalgia and intimacy avoiding the glossy harshness of contemporary magazine copy. Like his Surrealist forbearers Stapleton enjoys juxtapositions from ancient Greek, Egyptian, and Mesopotamian time periods, using emblematic sculptures to humorously caricaturize specific people. Stony faces are enlivened by pasted over eyes, mouths, hands, and arms with piqued or sly, and campy expressions. Fey Yum Yum, A Long Undressing, and Gladys loves Her Grapes combine female and male into a hermaphroditic mix, while Whoa is Me expressionistically mocks a Gothic Madonna who stares at us with languorous eyes and wears the bare-toothed grin of a petrified mummy. Like Ernst, Stapleton enjoys spoofing art that is held in reverence and creating conundrums of time and space that undercut propriety and pretentiousness.

Stapleton’s collage technique proves the most masterful when he elaborately intertwines parts of active athletic forms from statues within a tangle of writing snakes, particularly in the Laocoon-like Zero to the Bone and the mysterious snake covered back in Acretus. There is a similar energy explicit in Optimistic Reconstruction, an erotically charged palimpsest of muscular male torsos that evinces a distinct reverence for the expressive and erotic freedom of ancient Greek sculpture.

In these more complex works the cutout parts are fitted together with the precision of puzzle pieces locking into each other. This illusion of seamlessness brings out the Pygmalion-like contradiction of stone coming alive, giving the work its Surrealist edge. A number of works, like The New Collar and The Herpetologist use parts of old master paintings and drawings to hilarious effect. In Persephone Stapleton indulges a sense of pure lyricism, placing powdery windblown drapes among rapturous enfolding bodies. The delicate and erotic mood is unique in its unmitigated sense of joy and lightness, masterfully fused into an enigmatically seamless surface.

True to the tradition of fantasy-based art that has existed in Chicago since the 1950’s, Stapleton presents individually invented and Surrealistically witty vignettes. His collages express both a lighter and darker ironic spirit that keeps its sense of mystery alive with nostalgia for the erotic and expressive freedom of the body as it existed in ancient times.

www.cityofchicago.org

A Long Undressing, 2012, 10 x 7

Acretus, 2012, 8.5 x 5.5

Whoa is Me, 2012, 15 x 12

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Diane Thodos is an artist and art critic who resides in the Chicago area and was a student of art critic Donald Kuspit at the School of Visual Arts in New York City from 1987 to 1992. She also studied with printmaker Stanley William Hayter and abstractionist Sam Gilliam. She received a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant in 2002 and has exhibited most recently at the Kouros Gallery in New York City and the National Hellenic Museum in Chicago and is also represented by the Alex Rivault Gallery in Paris, The Traeger/Pinto Gallery in Mexico City, and the Thomas Masters Gallery in Chicago. Throughout her art and writing career she has held a special interest in Expressionism and its history.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Who Murdered Me?
Craig Abell-Champion
Public Works Gallery
1539 N Damen Ave
Chicago, IL 60622
November 16, 2012 – January 25, 2013
Opening: Friday, November 16th, 2012 – 7:00-10:00pm

Chicago, IL — Craig Abell-Champion has lived many lives – as a surfer, farmer, sailor; as a professional snowboarder, navy recruit and singer for a heavy metal band; and as a commercial director, photographer and fine artist. For over 20 years, Abell-Champion has layered pasts, presents and alternate realities to create conceptual photography rendered hauntingly beautiful by camera shifts, light leaks, double exposures and serendipity. This two-decade survey highlights his panoramic work, bringing to life industrial piping and horse races, ghosts whose voices reach from beyond the grave to emblazon urban landscapes, and graveyards of buses laid bare across the earth while men tumble into the sea. Who Murdered Me? is a record of Abell-Champion’s flight through a dark other-world; the work a series of shed skins marking, with a mix of colossal prints and intimate pieces, his passage from one life to the next.

www.thispublicworks.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Ojero: A Character of Culture
Sam Kirk
The Elephant Room
Chicago, IL
November 2, 2012 – January 5, 2013

Chicago, IL — “Ojero: A Character of Culture” is a solo exhibition by artist, Sam Kirk. The exhibition runs November 2nd through January 5th with an opening reception on Friday, November 2nd from 6:30pm to 9:00pm. The reception is free and open to the public and will take place at Elephant Room, Inc. located at 704 S Wabash Ave. in the South Loop neighborhood of Chicago

“Ojero: A Character of Culture” is not just an exhibition but also a celebration of the merging of multiple Latino traditions. The skeletons of Dia de Los Muertos combined with the superstition of Mal de Ojo, or the evil eye, create a character Sam calls an Ojero.

The Ojero is Sam’s interpretation of the process in which Mal de Ojo is given and received. Combining the traditional Halloween practices she participated in as a child and the Latino traditions that she was surrounded by, Sam created this version of a calaca. Ojeros make their way out into the world to hypnotize, bewitch and bewilder as many innocent people as they can. It’s a game complete with costumes, dancing and debauchery.

This exhibition, different from Kirk’s other Ojero exhibits, requests the participation of visitors. “Ojero: A Character of Culture” mixes in the symbols and signs of Lotería cards and includes a custom altar which visitors will contribute to in true Dia de Los Muertos fashion. The artist asks that you don’t just celebrate culture but that you provoke it by becoming a part of the show. Makeup, costumes and making mischief is highly encouraged.

As the weather gets colder and the day of the dead comes and goes, spirits are believed to be more present and aware than ever. “Ojero: A Character of Culture” is the perfect way to join in on this tradition.

About the Artist

Provocation is a common theme for Sam Kirk, a multidisciplinary and multicultural artist. It is at the center of not only her work but also her personal journey. Unintended at times and wielded at others, Sam uses art to provoke people to feel, see or understand things differently.

Throughout her academic career Sam learned about divine proportion, scale and visual aesthetics. However, when it came to creating her artwork she learned by doing, experimenting and practicing. She sought out help from other local artists in the community and learned how to create by giving her brain what it needed, hands on instruction.

After graduating with a BFA in interior architecture and marketing she got a job in advertising. At the same time she worked her way into an artist community through gallery connections and studio interactions. Using moments of mentorship as a guide, she discovered how to extend materials, play with texture and perfect her creative process as an artist.

“The way I experience painting a canvas is in my mind. I put myself into the piece. My emotions spread out on the canvas to re-experience the memories and culture that existed in neighborhoods that have since been gentrified, to re-experience people that I have met at one time or another.”

The process of placing herself into a piece started when Sam was a young girl. She painted what she knew, what she saw and that was the South side of Chicago. Her environment was full of the physical manifestations of her own multicultural upbringing. Mexican, Puerto Rican and European heritage gave her an identity she loved and celebrated. Experiencing these cultures in the people and places surrounding her let her brain and imagination sink further into them.

www.elephantroomgallery.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

New Drawings
Damien James & Russ White
Brainforest Gallery
Chicago, IL
October 5 – 31

Chicago, IL — Opening this Friday, October 5th: a show of new drawings by two Chicago artists, Damien James and Russ White. Due to Chicago Artists’ Month, multiple receptions have been scheduled for the 5th, 6th, and 12th.

Known previously for his wooden assemblages, Russ White will present an entirely new body of work. a dark and occasionally funny look at the increasing aggression in American culture. From bright, unsettling shooting range targets inspired by the Trayvon Martin and Aurora, CO, shootings to riot police shields emblazoned with flippant chatroom jargon, White’s work uses simple constructions to investigate complicated themes. Cops, criminals, victims, and crowds all play a role here in questioning our societal rage and our flawed correlation between violence and justice.

www.russ-white.com

Sharing the gallery, Damien James will show a series of drawings inspired by Jonathan Lethem’s short story, “The Collector”. Simultaneously adapting and interpreting individual phrases and themes of Lethem’s text, James’s work draws out the charm and morbidity that tints each line. Pairing totemic items from the story—birds, stamps, pennies—with multiple drawings of the same face, James develops a stylized portrait gallery with wide emotional breadth, from wickedness to happiness to utter dejection. Also on display are some quite literal story illustrations of the space between lines of text. Says the artist: “I’ve always felt that type exists on a page due to its buoyancy in the ocean of white. With these pieces, I wanted the page to feel oceanic while allowing the words to float.”

www.flickr.com/photos/damienjames

Brainforest Gallery
1932 S. Halsted, Unit 406
Receptions: 10/5 & 10/12, 6 – 10pm – 10/6, 12 – 7pm
Otherwise by appointment: 312.492.6600

Images:
Top:
Russ White
Blue Target
Ink on hand-dyed paper
15 x 20”

Bottom:
Damien James
New Grim Purpose
Marker on paper
11 x 20”