A Procrastinator's Guide to the Art Galleries
By Justin Sondak in Arts & Entertainment on Sep 1, 2005 8:59PM
Labor Day is traditionally the symbolic end of summer in Chicago, but for the local art scene it marks a major transition. Chicagoist missed a rash of summer exhibition closings last weekend but, as much as we procrastinate, don’t plan to make the same mistake this weekend.
Schneider Gallery’s Portrait closes Saturday. The exhibit brings together seven photographers who capture their subjects unconventionally but in deeply affecting and sometimes freaky ways. Down the block, Saslow Gallery features local favorite Cat Chow’s dazzling wearable art, Nancy Josephson’s wacky and brilliant odes to voodoo and pop culture, and Christine Sefolosha’s otherworldly animal portraits.
At Bodybuilder and Sportsman in the West Loop, Jonathan Gillette messes with your mind. The photographer and video artist’s redefinition of real and contrived scenes has won him high praise from the Reader and Adbusters, among others. Across the street, Giola Gallery shows off the winners of the Illinois Best of Photography (iBOP) contest. Schopf Gallery on Lake Street’s Native, American; Now exhibits only two days more. The show explores the tension of Native American culture in the national melting pot.
The Intuit Gallery, our favorite outsider art venue outside Baltimore, presents an eye-catching series of prisoners’ drawings on handkerchiefs. That last sentence will only surprise you if you are completely unfamiliar with outsider art. The Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum brings together Cheech Marin and Target Stores, a team we never thought possible, to present Chicano Visions: American Painters on the Verge. It’s a playful, insightful presentation of the next generation of Mexican and Mexican-American talent.
Carrie Mae Weems’ Louisiana Project closes Friday at the DePaul University Art Museum. We have mixed feelings about celebrating New Orleans and Mardi Gras at a time like this, but this exhibit seems to treats the region with a great deal of nuance. The city has been shaped by history many times before, and perhaps Ms. Weems’ work will help us understand how it will continue to evolve.
Schneider Gallery Chicago, 230 W. Superior St
312-988-4033
Portrait closes Saturday
Saslow Gallery, 300 W. Superior St, Chicago
312-943-0530
Cat Chow, Nancy Josephson and Christine Sefolosha closes Saturday
Bodybuilder and Sportsman, 119 N. Peoria St, Chicago
312-492-7261
Summer Show closes Friday
Giola Gallery, 118 N. Peoria St, Chicago
312-850-4487
iBOP closes Friday
Schopf Gallery, 942 W. Lake St, Chicago
312-432-1630
Native, American; Now closes Friday
Intuit, 756 N Milwaukee Ave, Chicago
312-243-9088
Art From the Inside closes Saturday
Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum, 1852 W 19th Street, Chicago
312-738-1503
Chicano Visions closes Sunday
DePaul University Art Museum, 2350 N Kenmore Ave, Chicago
773-325-7506
The Louisiana Project closes Friday