Bag-ojevich

By Lauri Apple in Arts & Entertainment on Jan 18, 2009 8:00PM

On Friday night, we visited 360See Gallery in Bucktown and were struck by the work of Seattle-based artist Chris Crites, whose rendering of G-Rod you see here. Crites hand-paints his works on paper bags, using acrylics. The effect produces images that are silkscreen-like in their precision, but if you look closely, you'll see that each work is the result of hours of intense, careful brush-stroking.

In addition to Blago, Crites has also painted Tony Rezko and former Governor George Ryan -- a "Pay-to-Play" trifecta. "These paintings will hopefully serve as a reminder that in this time of transition between administrations and the collective enthusiasm of some over the election, politics are still politics. Which is to say, politics can easily be crooked, corrupt and are a big money game," Crites writes. "Liars lie and buyers buy. What exactly is told and sold is up to the rest of us to find out and act upon." His works -- including several paintings adapted from mug shots of unlucky Cook County arrestees -- are on display at 360See until Emmanuel Lewis' birthday (that would be March 9, duh).