All about prison, a collage of cats and babies, and a good 80s-inspired paint slinging
Author Archives: Bert Stabler
Posted inArts & Culture
Poetry: Literal, Visual and Otherwise
The visual koans and one-liners in this witty group show offer mean-spirited fun to those who walked out of Creative Writing 101 in disgust–or later wished they had. Questions of intentionality cross your mind when you enter curator Jason Pickleman’s ode to poetry in the ever ironic confines of Monique Meloche: for this show especially, […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Huong Ngo
Too much of current “relational” art talks about play, then presents an orgy of alternative-art-star idolatry. But textile and technology artist Huong Ngo is returning warmth to participatory minispectacles. In her scrappy, subtle immersive experience–“Savage Parallelograms,” opening Saturday at Duchess–the aim is to create geometric-camouflage tableaux as viewers are offered backdrops, props, conjoined costumes, and […]
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Made in China
Patty Chang went to the “real” town of Shangri-La for her installation subverting Western fantasies about the exotic East.
Posted inArts & Culture
The Mystical Other
Marie “Big Mama” Roseman’s quilts are undeniably visionary, but sometimes you’d think “outsiders” were the only artists with vision around here.
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What Girls Want
Well, for starters, fewer boundaries, candy-coated romance, and lots of gender ambiguity.
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Go Ahead, Laugh
Three shows at the Cultural Center feature artists who aren’t afraid to have a little fun with their subjects.
Posted inArts & Culture
Snow Job
Arty partier Yutaka Sone delivers a winter meditation fit for the mall.
Posted inArts & Culture
Carlos Cortez
Poet and artist Carlos Cortez was best known for his stark wood-block and linoleum prints, influenced by Jose Guadalupe Posada, so-called printmaker to the Mexican people, and expressionist German artist KŠthe Kollwitz. A Chicagoan of Mexican and German descent, Cortez was a lifelong member of the Industrial Workers of the World. His text-driven, pedagogical art, […]
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Scales of the Pangolin
A sense of romance is conspicuously absent from the slick, sloppy, or analytical work that seems to make up most of the art shown in Chicago today. For those with a secret longing for subtlety and warmth, however, this evening of visual art and performance by fantastical, visionary queer artists is not to be missed. […]
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The Other Thing Going on in Bridgeport
Tidy, picturesquely gritty Bridgeport resembles the Wicker Park of 20 years ago: rich in architectural history, it has a large, stable working-class population and good access to public transit. Home to the White Sox, the Chicago Police Department, and the Daley regime, it’s also become the latest destination of local “independent” culture with the advent […]