Invasion of the Monsterboxes

Building on the awesome series of Monsterboxes TEWZ and IKILL put out on the streets of Chicago a few years ago, 30 artists were invited to create their own Monsterboxes out of reclaimed newspaper boxes.

Featuring work by the likes of Czr Prz, Joey D, Brooks Golden, Christopher Carini, Pooper, Pizza Dog, iKill, Beezilla, Heks, Das, Rhom, Decades, Eric Stenberg, Erock, Ian Bennett, Kitty & Congo, Step, Wyte, Skeam, 18andCounting, Cel, Daze, Dez, Marz, Jaz, and more.


A monsterbox by TEWZ I saw in front of Quimby's in 2007.

Opening reception Friday, October 30, 2009
6 to 11pm ~ Costumes encouraged

Monsterbox
54B Gallery
2128 S Halsted St (across from the Skylark)
Chicago, IL

Sighn hits New York

Coming off of his participation in the Artists Who Use Text To Say Nice Things show in the LES earlier this week, Chicago's Sighn has a solo show opening this Friday at Brooklyn's Possible Projects. Titled, When All Is Said & Done, he'll have a new night sky version of his ongoing series of mini wood sculptures of the phrase "IT'S OK". Sighn will also feature a series of headstones titled, We're All Gonna Die, highlighting his trademark combination of empathy and wit.

October 30 - November 16, 2009
Opening Reception Friday October 30th from 6-9 pm

Possible Projects
68 Jay St
Brooklyn, NY 11201

It's not Candy Corn...

It's Candy Kern! Handmade by Chicago's (by way of Philly) Steff Bomb, they're the perfect calorie-free Halloween treat. Available at her Etsy page here.

Loose Cannons

Tonight's the closing reception for Loose Cannons. I wasn't able to make it to the opening but the pictures I've seen of the show look great. Info from their site...

Robot House presents: Loose Cannons. The collaborative show features a full-room graffiti art installation from local artists, James Ford, Dave Valente, Jason Nonnenmann, Ken Klopack and Brandon Hanson. This marks their 2nd collaboration in the past few years.

Loose Cannons is a full room installation depicting a seaside wharf in full swing. The town is replete with buccaneers and bar wenches, all causing chaos and blowing off steam. The three-dimensional installation has some live action aspects to it as well, with some moving pieces.



Closing Reception: Saturday, October 24, 2009
7 to 11pm
$5 donation for charity is apprecitated
Loose Cannons: James Ford, Dave Valente, Jason Nonnenmann, Ken Klopack and Brandon Hanson
Connect
1330 N Milwaukee (Lower Level event space)
Chicago, IL

Thought Processor

OhNo!Doom Gallery presents this final art show at their current space before they move to new digs.

Thought Processor: Chicago Edition
Opening Saturday, October 24, 2009
6 to 10 pm
OhNo!Doom Gallery
2955 W Lyndale
Chicago, IL

Jose G Sketches Your Weekend

Jose Garibaldi draws comics and illustrations professionally, paints free murals for youth centers, and rescues puppies from floating icebergs. And yet he also finds the time to keep you up to date each weekend on upcoming DJ, club, and other events. He posts them weekly at www.josegaribaldi.com, where you can also catch his paintings and design work.

And here are his hand-drawn recommendations for this weekend...

Click here for a sharper view.

Drunk Killer Cop protest

uggghhh, originally uploaded by GentlemanJoshua.

You're invited to protest...
Detective Joe Frugoli
FOP Hall
1412 W. Washington Blvd.
Chicago, Illinois

"Chicago police officers are planning a benefit this weekend at their union headquarters for Joseph Frugoli, who is accused of crashing into a car while driving drunk on the Dan Ryan in April, killing two people.

An invitation to the event is posted on the Web site of the Fraternal Order of Police, and appears next to the numbers '10-1', radio code for officer in need of assistance.

Police said Frugoli’s blood-alcohol content was more than three times the legal limit when his Lexus SUV struck a car that had pulled over on the Dan Ryan Expressway north of 18th Street. The car exploded into flames and killed Andrew Cazares, 23, and Fausto Manzera, 21. Frugoli is also accused of leaving the scene."

Watching the video footage of the resulting car explosion that morning was one of the most horrible things I've ever seen. Just realizing that you're watching the last moments of someone's life. If the force of Frugoli's crash didn't kill them, then the resulting fireball did.

The fact that Frugoli had monetarily settled earlier that week with the victim of another drunk car crash he had caused on that same expressway AND that he had also caused injury to some other officers through another car accident that was his fault as well is infuriating. He was given more chances than regular people and he ended up killing two young men.

His family protested at Area 1 Police Headquarters last night. The contact phone number for the fundraiser was linked back to that building. The protest tonight is going to be at the FOP Hall, where the fundraiser is being held.

Links to recent news stories...
WFLD FOX News
WGN-TV
WBEZ Chicago Public Radio


Friday, October 23, 2009
5 to 9pm
FOP Hall
1412 W Washington Blvd
Chicago, IL

Zombie: A Mindless Affair

Night Cemetery
Deborah Boardman
gouache on paper
2007

Artist Edra Soto curated a show titled, Zombie: A Mindless Affair, which is opening tonight at Pilsen's Antena Gallery. Info below from Antena's site.

Celebrations that invite us to observe a historical occurrence are still strongly practiced in contemporary culture. Halloween, as celebrated is America, profoundly depicts the strongest features from gothic and horror literature, film, TV, and graphic arts. Among the repertoire of traditional characters, the zombie distinguishes itself for possessing the biology and behavior of a normal human being, yet lacks consciousness. This exhibition uses the vernacular of the mythological zombie as a starting point to engage in ideas of death, mindlessness and symbolisms for the occult and inexplicable. The term zombie also intends to address issues referring to the mindless self in a social spectrum: leading and following; acts of automatism and fanatic behaviors.

ARTISTS: C Through Outfit (Erik Brown, Catie Olsen, Carl Warnik and Dawn Reed), Deborah Boardman, Nate Lee, Jason Mena, Mindy Rose Schwartz, Amanda Browder, Derek Chan, Christopher Simkins, Chris Smith, Ann Toebbe, Harold Mendez, Paul Nudd, Noah Berlatsky, Vladimir Kharitonsky, Dana Peters, Gretel Garcia, Susannah Kite Strang, Rachel Hewitt, Corinne Halbert, Bert Stabler, Beatriz Monteavaro, Miguel Cortez, Edra Soto, Candace Briceno, Death by Design Co. (Teena McClelland and Michelle Maynard), The Wiener Girls (Sydney Croskery and Katey Rafanello), Betsy Odum, Jen Thomas and Bobby Lively, Jacob C. Hammes, Andrea Jablonski, Jeff Libersher, and Aide Martinez.

Irene Perez will also be showing work on the Project Wall Space.

From 6:30-7:00pm on opening night:
Join author Scott Kenemore, artist Mindy Rose Schuartz and collaborators Teena McClelland and Michelle Maynard from Death by Design Co. in conversation. They will talk about the darkness that enlightens their work. Screening of the film made by Death by Design Co. immediately after the conversation. Moderated by Edra Soto

Opening Friday, October 23, 2009 from 6pm-10pm
The show will be open by appointment through November 21, 2009

ANTENA
1765 S. Laflin St. (1/4 block north of 18th St)
Chicago IL 60608
www.antenapilsen.com
antenapilsen (at) gmail.com
(773) 257-3534

Factorious

Chicago's FACT will have a show of his work titled, Know the Facts, opening tonight at Novem. Featuring paintings, drawings, and the release of his brand spankin' new zine. Novem will also have a limited edition t-shirt they've designed in collaboration with him. There's an interview with FACT on their site here.

FACT: Know the Facts
Opening reception Friday, October 23, 2009
6 to 10 pm
Novem
1104 N Ashland Ave (1 and 1/2 blks south of Division).
Chicago, IL

The Yield

Chicago's Harold Arts is a residency program that brings together artists to a farm near Chesterhill, Ohio. They spend a week or two together to work on their artwork and music and collaborate with each other on new projects. They then present their work in a series of events this week called Harvest 2009, that culminates tomorrow night with The Yield, a show at Heaven Gallery in Wicker Park.

The Yield
Friday, October 23, 2009
7pm
Heaven Gallery
1550 N Milwaukee Ave
2nd floor
Chicago, IL

Full info and list of participating artists here. This show will run through Sunday, October 25, 2009.

I Write on Stuff

Friday night is the Chicago premiere of "I Write on Stuff", a documentary on Chicago graffiti artists. Directed by Mark Rosengren and featuring: ARK • BEAM • CHOSEN • DENZ • ERIE • EWOK • FLEE • KANE • KEP • MOST • NEE • NERD • NIKE • PENGO • PILOT • PROVE • RAVEN • SKEW • SLANG • T ELLY • TEMPER • TRIXTER • TROCK • WARP, and more.





























I Write on Stuff
w/DJ Rude One
*Free admission*
Friday, October 23, 2009
7 to 11pm
The Silver Room
1442 N Milwaukee Ave
Chicago, IL

Needles & Pens

S.F. shop Needles & Pens has a show up right now titled If, Then Maybe, featuring several fun artists who used to show at Foundation Gallery here in Chicago. I like the framed pieces within frames by Austin artist Matthew Rodriguez (pictured above) as well as the Street Cred painting below...

...which is a riff on this sculpture by Barry McGee/TWIST...

...seen here at the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh.

Check out pictures of the show on Fecal Face.

If, Then Maybe
Tim Kerr, Russ Pope, Matthew Rodriguez,& Michael Sieben
Needles & Pens
3253 16th St
San Francisco, CA

Beer Run

As part of this weekend's 18th St Pilsen Open Studios, a new space called Beer Run will be opening today.

Info from Beer Run...
The Beer Run is both a collective studio space and gallery that houses tattoo artists Jimmy Virus, Dahveed, and Paul Nemchausky of Native Rituals Tattoo, Nuco of Studio One, designer and visual artist Jova, and mixed media artist Ruben Aguirre Jr. The gallery space will officially open this weekend with its innaugural in combination with Pilsen Open studios. Located in the heart of Pilsen, the mission of this gallery is to spotlight emerging and established artists that come from tattooing, graffiti, and street art backgrounds.

Saturday and Sunday, October 17 and 18, 2009
Noon to 8pm
Beer Run Gallery
1104 W. 18th St
Chicago, IL

Medium Rare

Pia Howell, Shapes, Symbols, Signs, 2009

From Golden Age's site...
Golden Age is proud to host a selection of new work from Medium Rare, an innovative publisher based in New York City. Medium Rare was founded in 2008 by Milano Chow. Medium Rare works with young artists to publish their works in affordable formats.

Featuring:
Anna Peaker, Brock Potucek, Elina Minn, Jaakko Pallasvuo, Emily Ryan, Eric Marth, Jason Rosenberg, Jessica Williams, Lucas Soi, Megan Plunkett, Michi Turner, Pia Howell*, and Tara Sinn.

Here's a preview of the show...




Opening reception Saturday, October 17, 2009
7 to 10 pm
Golden Age
1744 W 18th St (1/2 block west of the CTA 18th St Pink Line station)
Chicago, IL

This selection will be available through November 17, 2009

Bucktown Bilateralness

Photographers Jim Newberry and Denise Keim will hold joint photo exhibitions at both of their studios in Bucktown tonight, Saturday, from 5 to 9pm. I'm not familliar with Denise's work but I do like this portrait that she's showing tonight...


I've enjoyed seeing Jim's music photography in the Chicago Reader over the years and his studio always has something fun to see so I highly recommend checking out these shows.

Saturday, October 17, 2009
5pm to 9pm
Denise Keim, 2219 W Belden, Chicago, IL
and Jim Newberry, 2068 N Leavitt, Chicago, IL

Martin Ontiveros & Jeremy Tinder

Portland artist Martin Ontiveros has a show titled, Fake It 'Til You Make It, opening tonight at Rotofugi Gallery. He's got some great preview pictures on his Flickr stream here.

Chicago artist, Jeremy Tinder also has a show opening there tonight called, The Devourer of Men. I really enjoyed Jeremy's epic show at Rotofugi early last year. He presented 200 4"x6" paintings that time, which had everyone (myself included) scouring the walls trying to decide which ones to get. For this show, Jeremy will be presenting much larger work in a narrative series. It should be good as always.

Martin Ontiveros & Jeremy Tinder
Opening reception Friday, October 16, 2009
7 to 10pm
Music by DJ Sean Doe
Rotofugi Gallery
1955 W Chicago Ave

Both shows run through November 8, 2009
Chicago, IL

Kilroy's Delight

Flora Dora, 2008

I saw some really interesting work by CJ Pyle at the Midwestern BLAB! show held at Columbia College earlier this year . He uses ballpoint pen, pencil, and colored pencils to create drawings of faces made up of rope-like designs. He's a self-taught artist who's been working in this style for many years. CJ has a solo show titled Kilroy's Delight, opening tonight at Carl Hammer Gallery in River North.

My Coals Are Cold, 2007

CJ Pyle: Kilroy's Delight
Opening reception Friday, October 16, 2009
5:30 to 8pm
Carl Hammer Gallery
740 N Wells
Chicago, IL

The exhibition runs through November 28, 2009

Barbara Crane: Private Views-Public Spaces

In addition to the huge retrospective she's got up at the Chicago Cultural Center right now, Barbara Crane also has a show opening tomorrow, Friday at Stephen Daiter Gallery. Titled, Private Views - Public Spaces, this show features Polaroids she shot at close quarters within crowds of people in the early 1980's. She captures many intimate moments and gestures. And even though they're at close range, many of the subjects remain anonymous due to how her camera mostly captures people's torsos. It's a really interesting way to photograph people. There'll also be images from many of her other photo series.


The opening reception is Friday, October 16th, 2009
Barbara Crane: Private Views - Public Spaces
Stephen Daiter Gallery
311 W Superior
Suite 404
Chicago, IL

18th St Pilsen Open Studios

It's time once again for the annual 18th St Pilsen Open Studios walk. Artists throughout Pilsen open up their studios and galleries from noon to 8 pm on Saturday and Sunday, October 17th and 18th. There'll be over 60 artists showing in more than 30 spaces in the area between Carpenter St. and Leavitt St. and between 17th St and Cermak Rd. There will be free buses available to take you to the different spaces. There'll also be a preview show opening the night before on Friday the 16th. at Prospectus Gallery.





The National Museum of Mexican Art also has their annual Day of the Dead show running through December 13, 2009. The Mondragon family, that the museum brings out from Mexico each year to create sugar skulls, are also now offering sugar coffins with little skeletons inside. They're really great. Admission to the museum is free.

18th St Pilsen Open Studios
Saturday & Sunday, October 17 & 18, 2009
Noon to 8pm
From Carpenter St. to Leavitt St. and from 17th St to Cermak Rd
Chicago, IL

Day of the Dead show at the
National Museum of Mexican Art
1852 W 19th St
Chicago, IL
Free admission and open 10am to 5pm every day, closed on Mondays.

Industry of the Ordinary

Chicago art collective, Industry of the Ordinary, will host a special event tonight. Info from their site...

Industry of the Ordinary have organized "39 Verbs", a one night event on Sunday October 11th from 5-8pm at Packer Schopf Gallery, 942 W. Lake Street in Chicago, that enlists the participation of 39 Chicago-based cultural workers.

Examine. Disperse. Impregnate. Cook. These are a few of the "39 Verbs" featured in the latest happening produced by Industry of the Ordinary, a collaborative initiative of Chicago artists Adam Brooks and Mathew Wilson, that challenges the pejorative notions of the ordinary. Over five years of practice, Industry of the Ordinary has generated projects described by a single line of text on its website, www.industryoftheordinary.com. To date, 39 verbs have been used. Don't miss this one-night event in which 39 artists, critics, curators and other cultural workers have been invited to reinterpret these verbs. Artists include: Candida Alvarez, Dawoud Bey, Susan Giles, Jason Lazarus, Adelheid Mers, Tony Tasset, and Dan S. Wang.

39 Verbs
Sunday, October 11, 2009
5 - 8pm
Packer Schopf Gallery
942 W Lake St
Chicago, IL

Stolen

Tonight's the opening for Stolen in Humboldt Park. Info from Garage Spaces...

"Stolen" is part pawn shop/part human-scale curio cabinet with a secret within. The converted 2 car garage space will be stocked with works and documentation of ideas appropriated or borrowed indefinitely. The collection of prosecutable works will be provided by artists:and work by: Bridget Bancroft, Gabrielle Carasquillo, Roberto Cardenas, Pearl Dick, Alex Inglizian, Brooks Johnson, Jasemine K, Patrick MacCarthy, Maria Perkovic, Luis Sanchez, Jeremy Scidmore, Bert Stabler, and Tommy Stephenson, Robert Vasquez,and many more unwilling to jeopardize their anonymity.

Viewers navigate real captive spaces that look into our collective paranoia about possession of objects and artistic ideas. The installation aims to challenge the very legality of trademark through a paradoxical lens tempting the viewer to take a side they might not have otherwise. The pawn shop desk will be staffed by volunteers eager to help viewers pawn or purchase items and if they are lucky lead them into the"vault".

This show is curated by Mike Bancroft.

The hours are:
Friday, October 9, 2009 5:00pm - 10:00pm
Saturday, October 10, 2009 12:00pm - 5:00pm
Saturday, October 17, 2009 12:00pm - 5:00pm and
Friday, October 30, 2009 5:00pm - 10:00pm

Stolen
Garage Spaces
1337 N Maplewood Ave. (Back Yard)
Chicago, IL

Maria Gaspar at the MCA

Multi-disciplinary artist Maria Gaspar is opening her 12 x 12 show at the Museum of Contemporary Art tonight at their First Fridays event. Info from the MCA's site...

Maria Gaspar's performance, Oblation for a Parade, is inspired by how the artist feels her Mexican heritage has become commodified. She, along with other circus-like performers and musicians, lead a funerary procession throughout the museum during the October First Fridays, collecting people to join them along the way. During the collaborative march, the artist parades a brown, sculptural shell, reminiscent of a burial mound. This shell, which the artist feels represents the draining of authentic culture from society, particularly from persons who are brown, remains in the gallery for the month. Other remnants of the parade, including flowers and confetti, are left in the gallery and naturally decompose to brown, exposing and challenging the ability of symbols to signify a culture.

Info on admission for tonight's First Friday event is listed here.

Maria will also give a talk on her work next Tuesday, October 13, 2009 at 6pm. There will also be an after-party (ending at 8pm) for the talk in the museum's cafe, where music and images selected by Maria will be presented.

Maria Gaspar: Oblation for a Parade
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
220 E Chicago Ave
Chicago, IL

Barbara Crane @the Chicago Cultural Center

Barbara Crane's 60-year photography retrospective opens tonight with a reception at the Chicago Cultural Center. Covering a wide range of her work with over 200 prints, this should be an eye opener for a lot of people. I've been a fan of her People of the North Portal series for years. In the early 70's she photographed people leaving the entrance of the Museum of Science and Industry, capturing them with all sorts of expressions. The Museum of Contemporary Photography at Columbia College owns over 100 prints from this series.






I also recently just saw her book Barbara Crane: Private Views. It comprises a series of Polaroids she took with a Speed Graphic camera in the early 80's that were all shot in Chicago crowds, mostly from waist level. She ended up with these great images of people interacting with each other in close quarters.

Barbara Crane: Challenging Vision
Opening reception
Thursday, October 1, 2009
6 to 8pm
Chicago Cultural Center
78 E Washington
Chicago, IL
Free Admission

The show will be up through January 10, 2010.

Heartland

Chicago's Smart Museum opens a new show tonight titled, Heartland. Curated in conjunction with the Van Abbemuseum of the Netherlands, this show gave Europeans an introduction to work being created in middle-America by overlooked artists that touched on current events and ideas. Pieces I'm looking forward to checking out include this large-scale conspiracy drawing by Deb Sokolow

and this ziggurat photograph by Scott Hocking.

There'll also be work by Carnal Torpor, Compass Group, Cody Critcheloe, Jeremiah Day, Detroit Tree of Heaven Woodshop, Design 99, Kerry James Marshall, Greely Myatt, Marjetica Potrč, Julika Rudelius, Artur Silva, and Whoop Dee Doo.

Opening reception
Thursday, October 1, 2009
5:30 to 8pm
Heartland
Smart Museum
University of Chicago
5550 S Greenwood Ave
Chicago, IL
Admission is free.

The exhibition will be up through January 17, 2010.

Peabe's hit parade

Expatriate Chicago painter Peabe gives you a tour of his current California haunts through his collection of fitted caps from Leaders 1354.

Check out all 30 of them (1 for each day of September) here.