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. …
Since its opening in 2018, the Lincoln Park art gallery Wrightwood 659 has consistently presented exhibitions that expand the city’s exposure to exceptional art. Although many of the artists the gallery features possess international renown, all have not been widely familiar to local arts enthusiasts. As a result, Wrightwood exhibitions often take on the demeanor …
Riches Abound in Yannis Tsarouchis Retrospective: Dancing in Real Life Read More »
Two solo shows at the Hyde Park Art Center (HPAC) showcase the vision of a pair of artists who pay tribute to community in very different ways. By honoring the impact and importance of a cultural institution, Faheem Majeed brings renewed attention to a tradition that’s proven relentless in its fostering of growth and greatness …
How much do artist’s paint their feelings as well as what they see? It’s a question we rarely ask ourselves when we go to an exhibition celebrating someone’s artistic talent and accomplishments. Thinking about how that question might be answered could help us appreciate both the artist and art even more. Claude Monet was one …
You don’t ordinarily think of an art event as bracing but that’s the first impression you get when you walk into Immersive van Gogh; a new breed of art display now in residence on Germania Place in Old Town. An entertainment hybrid presented by Lighthouse Immersive, Inc., the van Gogh show is the first of …
“People are selfish.” Malangatana Ngwenya used that phrase repeatedly in a film, Homeland, about his life and work a few years before he died in 2011. Commonly known simply as Malangatana, he rose to prominence and received international notoriety in the 60s and 70s for the force and power of his paintings that refused to …
Malangatana’s Artistic Messages Startling and Wonderful Read More »