Chicago Gallery Hop – July 9, 2010

(you can find the venue name by… I don’t know, clicking around or clicking through…)

Went out, snapped pictures and marked my tracks on Foursquare. It’s weird when art becomes your job. And it’s been quite a year. But tonight, I couldn’t help but get a little misty-eyed, realizing these folks fall in the realm of co-workers who’ve become friends, and the art.. the art is the joy.

Update: thank you guys for all the kind comments.

Let me fill in a little. Intuit – what a great couple shows. Peter Anton was a delight, but Charles Steffen -   that was really beautiful stuff. For me with Outsider Art, it just has to stand up as art, and I just loved the look and tone of Steffen’s work on brown paper.

And Black Walnut/Robert Wayner – talked to Robert for a long time – one of those talks with gallerists, like many I’ve had over the year that make me glad to be a part of the scene. As we agreed, one thing that could be said about Chicago gallerists – you know they’re sincere about their passion for art, because no one is in it for the money here. It’s a loss leader in terms of industries, and every gallerist is a character. Everyone has their own style and unique “take” on things.

Anyway, back to Intuit – Cleo Wilson – let us all take a moment to say “Yea Cleo”. Cleo is the reason I like the genre. I was doing research for Chicago Public Radio and was totally burned out – loved the art, hated the talk and infrastructure about “folk art”. And then came Cleo – a person for whom the goal is for outsider artist to not be “outside” the cannon at all, to have any artist be allowed a place at the table. And when/if that happens, then (per Cleo) then people who advocate and have venues like Intuit won’t be needed anymore – their work will be done.

So that’s how Cleo got me to like outsider art again.

And Addington Gallery – yes, Jesus, Robin’s work, holy crap. The effect I tried to snap photographs of, but couldn’t, is the new series that uses aluminum – it’s un-capturable – it’s a chemical process he discovered on the remains on a paint can, a paint effect that recedes to an absolutely granular level. So whether it’s a field or ocean waves – it gets smaller and smaller as it goes into the horizon and your eyes really can’t keep up with it – it’s smaller than any paintbrush stroke or any tool could create to look like infinity – a visual vanishing point.

For those of you who know me, my “thing” is about the medium matching the concept in the most efficient way possible. Why is this a textile, why is it not a painting or a poem? So this is the right medium for the effect he’s going for – finally. I could have hugged the guy.

And yes, that sea painting at Packer’s is really something in real life, it caught me across the room and then kept me standing there when I got close up.

And the elephants, Robert said the artist felt the were a metaphor for early days of their marriage.

Dan, what’s the deal with the painting of the girl with blue hair? That’s a hell of a piece, too.

Those are some blanks, filled in.