Art

Art can make you greedy.  That reminder came while walking through Faith Ringgold:  American People, an outstanding exhibition now in its closing weeks at the Museum of Contemporary Art.  Dynamic, bold and unflinching; much of it is an unabashed declaration of personal and collective racial truth.  An artist of many dimensions, Ringgold’s creative voice can …

Faith Ringgold Retrospective at MCA: The Convergence of Good Trouble and Great Art Read More »

A newly opened two-part exhibit at the Elmhurst Art Museum looks into how profoundly one art form can impact and influence another.  A Love Supreme:  Norman Teague, chronicles how John Coltrane’s 1964 jazz masterpiece has and continues to inspire pioneering Chicago designer and educator, Norman Teague.  A Love Supreme:  McCormick House Reimagined expands the dialogue …

Elmhurst Art Museum’s Jazz Drenched Exhibition Splendidly Unveils How Arts Converge Read More »

Art’s ability to jolt the imagination and defy assumptions makes it almost as captivating as nature in its splendor and variety.  A new exhibit at the Art Institute highlights how true that statement is. Radical Clay:  Contemporary Women Artists from Japan charts new territory in how much ceramics, as an artistic medium, has evolved.  Remove …

The Celestial Beauty of Radical Clay Read More »

If you’re functioning fully in a society that depends on the speed, convenience and pervasiveness of digitized communication, it’s likely you’ve made peace with some of its costs.  Engaging with social media subjects us to unsolicited market-based scrutiny.  Shopping for anything online, no matter how mundane, turns consumers into bundles of exploitable data. We shrug …

Reckoning with the Impact of Technology through Art Read More »

Affirmation was photographer’s Kwame Braithwaite’s north star.  Considered one of the defining lights of the Black is Beautiful movement of the 1960s, Braithwaite used his camera as a tool of uplift to celebrate self and to embrace African-American culture.  In a career that began when he was just eighteen years of age and spanned seven …

The Beautiful World of Kwame Brathwaite Read More »

Since hanging out its welcome sign in Lincoln Park five years ago, Wrightwood 659 has been energizing the city’s art scene with unimaginable reliability and vigor.  Even though referring to itself as space for the “presentation … of architecture and socially engaged art” is completely accurate, the statement doesn’t capture the scope and range of …

Exhibits Shine from the Brilliance of Three Suns Read More »

Dreams stand alone in their mystery and fascination. What do they mean?  How can they be both sensationally beautiful and completely bizarre?  We even wonder why we dream at all.  In the 300,000 years “modern” humans have inhabited the earth, no one’s answered any of these questions.  In the hands of artists however, dreams become …

Salvador Dali’s Stunning Unbound Art Read More »

A long stretch of silence opens The Island.  Two men stand facing the audience; providing a good look of their outer selves.   Young, vital, Black. Their faces appear resolute. Quietly determined.   Eventually, still in silence, they move more deeply into character. Hands cross at the wrist as if they’re handcuffed.  Their feet move as if …

The Island Examines the High Cost of Freedom Read More »

Consider the two new exhibitions featured in Lincoln Park’s Wrightwood 659 like a fine dining experience.  Something that’s best appreciated unrushed and with a receptive mind.  That approach will leave you with a new appreciation for art’s ability to transcend language. Impressively ambitious, The First Homosexuals looks at the elusive essence of sexuality from the …

The First Homosexuals & Celestial Stage Energize Chicago’s Arts Landscape Read More »

It’s hard to tell how long Nick Cave has been turning things people throw away into spectacular works of art. He says he started when he was kid growing up in tiny Fulton, Missouri where his family actively encouraged him to explore the contours of his imagination.  Now, several decades later, Cave still uses the …

Nick Cave and His Pioneering Take on Art Read More »