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 …
We have specific notions about what a thinker is. Because of the intellectual gifts we associate with those engaged with pursuits of the mind, we often envision philosophers and theoreticians. Rarely do we think of artists. A trio of new exhibits now being shown at Wrightwood 659 help to broaden our notion of who leads …
Three New Shows Compound the Pleasure at Wrightwood 659 Read More »
The world is full of superheroes. People who either save lives or make lives more bearable and better by following their calling. Artists stand in the front of that line. They save lives by showing the importance of all life and by re-balancing the scales to show how value is a subjective measure. They can …
Artistic Truth Sayer, Robert Colescott at the Cultural Center Read More »
Being beautiful is not the goal of conceptual art. Its purpose is to make a point and engage your mind as well as your eye. Few artist do this as successfully as Barbara Kruger. Because her current Thinking of You. I Mean Me. I Mean You exhibition at the Art Institute showcases the exceptionalism of her work …
A tad gaudy and slightly fantastical as they sit along suburban thoroughfares, their themes can run the gamut from the aquatic to the Jurassic. A part of the American fabric since the 1920s, miniature golf courses have been around almost a century and can still rightfully claim millions of fans for two reasons. Visiting them …
Miniature Golf Flexes its Superpowers at Elmhurst Art Museum Read More »
Romanticism to Ruin: Two Lost Works of Sullivan and Wright, a new exhibit at Lincoln Park’s Wrightwood 659 gallery, makes the obscure sensational. By looking at the rise and premature fall of two buildings, each designed by architectural deity, Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright, we gain a newfound appreciation for design genius and see …
Gallery Looks Back at Paradise Before it Was Bulldozed Read More »
Billie Tsien considers architecture a verb; something you experience and stimulates a response. She, along with her husband, Tod Williams, won the commission to design Barack Obama’s presidential center. When it comes to presidential libraries, architecture can also tell you something about the person it’s commemorating. Personal attributes can be projected into the lines, contours …
Architecture as Art and Legacy: The Obama Presidential Center Read More »
A woman who launched a million whys, Vivian Maier is the kind of person we all wish we could be but would dread becoming. Like a great painter whose genius isn’t recognized until after they’ve gone, her talent wasn’t discovered until after she had died obscurely and in poverty at the age of 83, without …
Certainly former President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle are people who are “admired and idealized for their courage and outstanding achievements”. Combined with their many other noteworthy attributes, the mantle of hero fits both husband and wife comfortably. Well understanding the significance of their historic achievements, the couple takes every opportunity to advance the …
Still Time to Catch Portrait Fever at the Art Institute Read More »
Confusing cartoons and comics should probably be expected. The first are supposed to be funny. But even though humor is synonymous with the word “comic”, the comics don’t have laughter as part of their mandate. In popular culture, they’re simply “a series of illustrations in sequence” with no requirement to be either funny or political. …