There is power to be found in pushing back, there is community to be made in forming resistance. In A Rebel’s Fantasy at FLXST Contemporary, curator Michael Rangel brings together seven artists from Chicago and beyond to remind us of the pure joy found in relishing rebellion, in pushing against the regulations, expectations, and constraints […]
Tag: painting
Posted inArts & Culture
What Cézanne saw
“Cézanne, he’s the greatest of us all.”—Claude Monet to Georges Clemenceau in conversation, cited in translation in The Paintings of Paul Cézanne: A Catalogue Raisonné (trans. John Rewald, Abrams, 1996). There are some entities and influences on our work that we take for granted, as though they were always there and it’s impossible to conceive […]
Posted inArts & Culture
No Robert Mitchum, but stay for the squirrels
Heather McAdams needs no introduction for longtime Reader readers, but I’ll try anyway. McAdams contributed cartoons and illustrations to the Reader for over 20 years, self-published and distributed an annual country music-themed calendar (filled with her original artwork and writing about country and rockabilly musicians) for approximately 30 years, ran the store Record Roundup in […]
Posted inArts & Culture
A shooting star of a talent, gone too soon
The 1960 oil painting Garden of Music—the magisterial centerpiece of a knockout survey of the art of Bob Thompson— shows Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane, and a half dozen other jazz luminaries coexisting in a pastoral landscape. Some figures are silhouettes, while others are rendered with distinct features. How the painter balanced so many disparate elements […]
Posted inBest of Chicago
Best local conservationist rocking it out on YouTube
Julian Baumgartner may be the sole owner of Chicago’s oldest conservation studio, but that doesn’t keep him from being simultaneously the master of old masters and social media. He’s a man with a fan base in the millions—many of whom claim they know or care nothing about art but are faithful viewers of his videos. […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Celebrate everyday Black heroes with 28 Days of Greatness
Artist Brandon Breaux’s Instagram project highlights his peers, mentors, collectors, friends, and more throughout Black History Month.
Posted inArts & Culture
Amy Sillman breaks down art barriers
In her book Faux Pas, the painter makes a rarified field approachable with humor and profundity.
Posted inMusic
Johari Noelle addresses 2020’s overlapping crises with a socially distanced new video
Johari Noelle addresses 2020’s overlapping crises with a socially distanced new video, Serengeti drops a non-Kenny Dennis acoustic album, and more.
Posted inArts & Culture
From the Bubbly Creek festival to sculptures made from straws
A roundup of art events happening this weekend
Posted inArts & Culture
Chicago’s black artists are coming home
Despite the black exodus from Chicago, black artists are thriving and tell a story with a common thread: the city provides comfort and inspiration.
Posted inBlogs
Sarra Jahedi wants to welcome you into her family
The artist’s one-day show will take place in a house in Villa Park.
Posted inBlogs
Duk Ju L. Kim’s paintings speak for themselves
The artist wants her viewers simply to react to her work, and that’s as it should be.
Posted inBlogs
Shambolic rocker Mac Blackout publishes the art book Madman’s Eye
My friend Mac Blackout has found a way to turn his chaotic and provocative personality into chaotic and provocative art, and he celebrates his first book Friday at Galerie F.
Posted inBlogs
Wood-panel work works wonders at Gallery19
“Woodn’t Be the First Time” presents three separate painters all using the same kind of canvas.
Posted inBlogs
George Klauba’s new exhibit recalls love in the time of revolution
A series of paintings look back on a brief affair in Cold War-era Cuba.