Movies by Jo Perry & Edie Fake

Movies by Jo Perry & Edie Fake, originally uploaded by fotoflow / Oscar Arriola.

I was talking to Edie Fake yesterday and found out about this screening of Edie's animation going on tonight at Chicago's Roots & Culture Gallery. They'll be shown along with films by Jo Pery.

Movies! by Jo Pery and Edie Fake
Sunday, May 30, 2010
8pm
Roots & Culture
1034 N Milwaukee Ave
Chicago, IL

Thai skate video premiere

Juan Angel Chavez and Uprise's Junebug present, "Samba" a new skate video filmed in Thailand by Bangkok's Preduce.  There'll be two free screenings at Rodan tomorrow night, Sunday, in Wicker Park.

Sunday, May 30, 2010
All ages screening from 7:30 to 9 pm
21+ screening at 9:30 pm
Rodan
1530 N. Milwaukee Ave
Chicago, IL

All Good In The Hood

All Good In The Hood, originally uploaded by MyNameIsDelme.

London artist Delme has this happy shirt design out on Chicago's Formula Werk's clothing label. I really like his cartoony designs. The great thing about these collabos with Formula Werks is that your shirt is printed to order. You can pick the shirt color as well as the color combos for the design.  You can check out more of Delme's designs for Formula Werks here.

Sunday is also the last day to order from their Secret Stash selection featuring work by 5 different artists.  I'm a big fan of this design by The Treehouse Press.

Urban Decay/Urban Renewal

KofC reads at this event, Friday 5/28, originally uploaded by katherine of chicago.

Prolific photographer Katherine Hodges, aka Katherine of Chicago, will be doing a reading at Hyde Park's The Op Shop this Friday night. Not only does she write a blog on hockey and one on Chicago and urban exploration, she also travels the country photographing seemingly every city there is.

For this event Katherine will be reading a new piece about an incident in Detroit. She'll also have some photos as well.

This'll be the first literary event sponsored by CCLaP, the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography.

Urban Decay/Urban Renewal
Featuring Sally Weigel, Ben Tanzer, Mark Brand, Jason Fisk, and Katherine Hodges
Friday, May 28, 2010
8pm
at The Op Shop
1530 E 53rd St
Chicago, IL

Free

Chicago Public Library design contest

2009 contest finalist Anthony Lewellen

Tomorrow Sunday is the last day that you can vote online to pick your favorite poster design in the Chicago Public Library's Not What You Think design competition.  To vote, log on to Flickr and then click, "Add to Favorites" above the designs that you like.  The 2010 People's Choice Award finalists are all posted in this set.

Some of my favorites include

and

Renate Wolff at Devening Projects

German artist Renate Wolff will have a wall installation on display beginning tomorrow Sunday at Devening Projects + Editions.  There will also be a show of drawings by Wollf, as well as Christian Bilger, Michael Bause, Ruprecht Dreher, Frank Eltner, Dirk Lebahn, Seraphina Lenz, Christiane Schlosser, and Julia Zieglerartists, all from Belin.
Renate Wolff:  Skies in Between
Opening reception, Sunday, May 23, 2010
4 to 7 pm

Devening Projects + Editions
3039 W Carroll Ave
Chicago, IL

The exhibition will be available to view on Saturdays from 12 to 6 pm through July 2, 2010.

Jason Middlebrook at Monique Meloche

Jason Middlebrook has a show opening tonight at Monique Meloche in Wicker Park.  Titled, LESS, his show will feature a huge installation composed of found and recyled materials with paintings and drawings added to the mix.

Jason Middlebrook:  LESS
Monique Meloche Gallery
2154 W Division St.
Chicago, IL

Opening reception, Saturday, May 22, 2010
4 to 7 pm
The exhibition will be on view through July 31, 2010

Kerry James Marshall talk

7 am Sunday Morning by Kerry James Marshall

If I didn't have to work today I would be at Kerry James Marshall's talk at the Museum of Contemporary Art this afternoon.  Marshall is a Chicago-based artist who produces beautifully done canvases and drawings commenting on race and exploring African-American culture.  This is also the last week to catch his work in the MCA's current show, Production Site:  The Artist's Studio Inside-Out, which is up through Sunday, May 30th. 

Kerry James Marshall
Saturday, May 22, 2010
3pm
MCA Theater
Museum of Contemporary Art
220 E Chicago Ave
Chicago, IL

$10 general admission, $8 MCA members, $6 students with valid ID

Strange Powers

Vancouver painter, Ryan Heshka has a show opening tonight at Rotofugi Gallery.

Strange Powers (a BLAB! show)
New Works by Ryan Heshka
Curated by Monte Beauchamp of BLAB!
Rotofugi Gallery
1955 W Chicago Ave
Chicago, IL

Opening Reception
Friday, May 21, 2010, 7-10PM
Music by DJ Genghis Won
Ryan will be in attendance
 
The exhibition will be on view from May 21-June 13, 2010

We Are Family

Chicago art and design collective, The Post Family, has a show opening tonight featuring the work of nine artists.  Info from their site...

In conjunction with Chicago Design Week 2010, the Post Family welcomes nine voices from the far reaches of Chicago’s graphic design community to the Family Room Gallery for a look at surprising, evocative and oftentimes challenging work that consistently redefines the boundaries of the field.
Participants include:
Also
Margot Harrington
Shawn Hazen
Letterform
Plural
Scott Reinhard
Sonnenzimmer
Issac Tobin
David Weik
The evening will also host a special, debut live performance from Family friend He Is Us.


This event is sponsored in part by AIGA Chicago, Intelligentsia Coffee, Goose Island Brewery and Colorphonic.

We Are Family:  Emerging Talent in Chicago
The Post Family
1821 W Hubbard
Suite 202
Chicago, IL

Free opening reception, Friday, May 22, 2010
7 to 11:30 pm

Give a hoot for Pooper

Pooper performing at Ottoman Empire, Chicago
Photograph by Oscar Arriola

Chicago artist and performer Elisa Harkins, aka Pooper, was in a serious accident on April 4th of this year. A van struck her as she was bicycling from downtown. She is currently recovering in Oklahoma from her injuries and from surgery.  But with hospital and living expenses surpassing $100,000, she is need of monetary help.  Wicker Park lounge Rodan will hold a benefit for her tonight to help in alleviating her bills.  Donations will be accepted at the door and a portion of the proceeds from sales will also be donated.

You may be familiar with her street artwork from over the years featuring Yetis, Eskimo hunters, and other characters...

....or from her performances and videos...

I wish Elisa a speedy recovery!

Elisa "Pooper" Harkins benefit at
Rodan
1530 N Milwaukee Ave
Chicago, IL

Wednesday, May 12, 2010
10 pm to 1:30 am

You're My Favorite Hater

Chicago's Black Market Caviar is hosting an event Thursday night featuring the unveiling of new t-shirt designs by local label, Ends/Wealth Corp.  There'll also be an art show at the space in conjunction with the event.

Haters from Ends/Wealth Corp. on Vimeo.

You're My Favorite Hater
Ends/Wealth Corp at
Black Market Caviar
1945 W Chicago Ave
Chicago, IL

Thursday, May 13, 2010
6:30 to 10 pm

Midnight Sun

I'm really digging Chicago artist, Travis Lampe's painting titled, "Midnight Sun".  Named after a Twilight Zone episode where the Earth goes off its orbit and begins heading towards the sun, this work is his submission for Los Angeles-based Gallery 1988's "Another Dimension" Twilight Zone-themed art show, which opens next week.

Another Dimension

Gallery 1988

7020 Melrose Ave

Los Angeles, CA

Opening reception Thursday, May 20, 2010

7 to 10 pm

On view through June 4, 2010

The Devil's Barnyard

Chicago artists Slim Limb, Wee Little Laddie, and Beelzebubba, aka Chris Kerr, Jim Zimpel, and Kevin Cassidy present The Devil's Barnyard this Saturday.  Info from their site...

Please come to the Devil's Barnyard this Saturday, May 8th. We will "walk the line" between country and western, homage and derivation, sexism and sexuality, recreation and self-abuse, God and people, people and animals, swing and boogie, spring and summer, volume and noise, nostalgia and authenticity, art and whatever the other stuff is.

Take the cow by the horns. PBR. Love. Cornhole.

An ex-urban Rite of Spring Celebration

Images and objects provided by Slim Limb, weelittleladdy, and Beelzebubba



Music by DJ Odd Job - dancing is encouraged


Complimentary gallon of Blue Fluid windshield wash to the first 100 guests!

Chris Kerr, Jim Zimpel, and Kevin Cassidy
The Devil's Barnyard
at Happy C. Exhibition Space
1254 N Noble
Chicago, IL

Opening Saturday, May 8, 2010
8pm

The Sketchbook Project

Hyde Park's Home Gallery will be hosting a show of artist's sketchbooks organized by Art House Co-Op of Brooklyn, NY.  The Sketchbook Project is a vast collection of sketchbooks completed by various artists from around the world.  In addition to a selection of the Art House Co-Op's collection, Home Gallery will feature drawings, sketchbooks, and artist's books from Anders Nilsen (Big Questions, Dogs and Water), Michael Brehm, Amanda Vähämäki & Michelangelo Setola (Souvlaki Circus), and Doug Shaeffer.

The Sketchbook Project
Home Gallery
1407 E 54th Place
Chicago, IL

Opening reception Saturday, May 8, 2010
6 to 9 pm

Alphabetization

Opening tonight at Noble & Superior Projects.  Info from their site...

ALPHABETIZATION: Featuring the work of Brandon Alvendia, Scott Carter, Eric Fleischauer, Brookhart Jonquil and Daniel Lavitt

Guest Curator: Ania Szremski

These five artists explore methods of transforming language—through speech, academic texts and historical narrativevs—into experiences.

Daniel Lavitt’s GRAPEVINE is both a metaphor for informal transmission and dissemination of communication as well as a tangible interactive telecommunications network.

Brandon Alvendia’s REMAINDERS is a site of dissemination for books pulled from the public domain, printed inexpensively then bound by hand, emphasizing the contemporary condition of swift and economical propagation of information.


ON MATTER, ON MEMORIES is Scott Carter’s installation exploring the way shifting patterns of words affect memory of an event: a fan blows strips of text narrating the explosion of the Challenger spacecraft which mix with fragments of Bergson’s “Matter and Memory” and accrue indiscriminately throughout the gallery.

Brookhart Jonquil’s Untitled (Essay Without Words no. 1) creates a delicate, physical relationship with printed matter, one where the texts are reduced to identically deformed pieces of paper communicating only their fragile, carefully crafted, aesthetic existence.

Eric Fleischauer’s Assigned + Recommended is a large-scale digital animation of academic texts. Blurry, photocopied pages with underlining and marginalia are rendered even more illegible as they pulsate across the wall at a pace too swift to read, forming an overwhelming swarm of knowledge.


Noble & Superior Projects
1418 W. Superior St
Chicago, IL

Opening reception Friday, May 7, 2010
6 to 10 pm
On view through June 4, 2010

Two Black Holes Are Better Than None

Carmen Price and Erin Zona will have new work on view beginning tonight at Roots & Culture.

Carmen Price and Erin Zona
Roots & Culture
1034 N Milwaukee Ave
Chicago, IL

Opening reception Friday, May 7, 2010
6 to 10 pm
On view through June 12, 2010

Michael Kenna at Catherine Edelman

British photographer Michael Kenna will have a show of new work shot around the world.  His medium format black and white photography is highly recognizable for its dreamlike quality, as it also accurately captures real places.  I've enjoyed his work ever since I first saw his images of British nuclear power plants photographed at dark.

Michael Kenna:  Venice/China/Japan/Egypt
at Catherine Edelman Gallery
300 W Superior
Chicago, IL

Opening reception, Friday, May 7, 2010
5 to 7 pm
On view through July 10, 2010

Immersioni/Immersions

Ben Russell, Black and White Trypps #2

Image courtesy of Ben Russell

Wicker Park's Johalla Projects is presenting this show co-curated by Susana Horvatovicova and Anna Cerniglia.  Info from their site...


Immersioni/Immersions, an exhibition curated by Anna Cerniglia and Susanna Horvatovičova, is the third installment of an international collaboration between an American and an Italian curator.  While working together in Italy, these two women developed a three-part series of presentations that revolved around the concept of total captivation and the invasion of the imagination into real space.  Showcasing films and site specific installations, their previous exhibitions,Progetto Immersioni: Flusso di Coscienza/Project Immersions:Flux of Consciousness, were held this past winter at La Porta Blu Gallery in Rome.  Immersioni/Immersions marks the first occurrence of their partnership on US soil and the last unveiling in their venture.

Featuring work by:

Elise Blue

Ben Russell

Rakele Tombini

Chiara Tommasi

Immersioni/Immersions
Johalla Projects
1561 N Milwaukee Ave
2nd floor
Chicago, IL

Opening reception Friday, May 7, 2010
7 to 11 pm

On view through May 22, 2010

Seen & Unseen

Chicago photographer Marc Hauser, well known for his portrait projects over the years, will have a show of his work opening Friday night at Eyeporium Gallery.


Marc Hauser: Seen & Unseen
Eyeporium Gallery
1431 N Milwaukee Ave
Chicago, IL

Opening reception Friday, May 7, 2010
6 to 9 pm

Zebadiah

Chicago artist Zebadiah Arrington will have his second solo show at Pilsen's Gallery 54b.  Last year's exhibition featured a great installation of photography and other objects.  I'm looking forward to see what he'll have up tomorrow night.

Zebadiah Arrington

at Gallery 54b

2128 S Halsted St (just north of Cermak Rd)

Chicago, IL

Opening reception Friday, May 7, 2010

6 to 11 pm

Graphically Speaking

Northwestern University's Center for the Writing Arts will be hosting an event featuring four talented artists discussing graphic novels.  The speakers will be Jeffrey Brown, Anders Nilsen, Ivan Brunetti, and Chris Ware, whose career I've been following for many years.  All four artists have received much acclaim for their work.

Chris Ware is also fresh off the heels of the recent rejection of his clever cover for Fortune Magazine's Fortune 500 issue...

Ray Pride of New City will moderate the discussion.  There'll also be a Q&A and book signings afterwards.

Partnership of the Picture and the Word
featuring Jeffrey Brown, Ivan Brunetti, Anders Nilsen, and Chris Ware
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
6 to 7:30 pm
Northwestern University
Block Museum of Art
40 Arts Circle Drive
Evanston, IL

The event is free and open to the public.

More art for tonight

There's three more shows opening toinght that are all in the same area...

First off is You Sleep Too Much at Revolution Tattoo.  Featuring paintings and drawings by Ron Copeland, Matthew Ryan Sharp, Parskid, and Charlie Owens. 

Next is Gods and Monsters at OhNo!Doom with work by Matt Cipov, Jordan Metcalf, and Keith Noordzy. 

And third there's Light: Snacks with an installation by David Ingenthron at 65Grand.

You Sleep Too Much at Revolution Tattoo
Opening reception is Saturday, May 1, 2010
8pm to midnight
2221 N Western Ave
Chicago, IL

Gods and Monsters at OhNo!Doom
Opening reception is Saturday, May 1, 2010
6 to 10 pm
1800 N Milwaukee Ave
Chicago, IL

Light: Snacks at 65Grand
Opening reception, Saturday, May 1st 7 to 10 pm
1378 W Grand Ave (entrance around the corner)
3rd floor
Chicago, IL

Trubble Club at Quimby's

Chicago's Trubble Club will be celebrating Free Comic Book Day at Quimby's tonight beginning at 7 pm.  Quimby's will also have free comic books the entire day today.  Info from their site...

Like the underground comix artists in 1960’s Berkeley, Trubble Club brings together Chicago’s most talented young comics artists to draw some of the weirdest comics out there today. The group meets every Sunday at a rotating location and draws jam-comics together. One artist draws the first panel of a jam comic, and then passes it to another artist in the group to draw the second panel, who then passes it on to a third artist. This process is continued until the group has a finished comic. Trubble club then self-publishes the finished comics in minicomics.

Saturday, May 1st is Free Comic Book Day, when comic book stores around the country hand out free promotional comics to customers. Trubble Club will contribute a free comic, which apes PSA comics from the 70’s and 80’s, and will spend the evening drawing at Quimby’s, and prophesizing the future of audience members in comic-book form. Trubble Club contributors at the event will include Aaron Renier, Jeremy Tinder, Grant Reynolds, Russel Gottwaldt, Bernie McGovern, Lucy Knisley, Joe Tallarico, Nate Beaty, and many more. Refreshments for the event will be provided by Metropolitan Brewing, an Andersonville-based brewery whose German-inspired lagers are crafted with toasty malts, spicy hops and a ferocious DIY ethic.
 
Free Comic Book Day
Trubble Club
Saturday, May 1, 2010
7pm
Quimby's Books
1854 W North Ave
Chicago, IL

Mr. Cartoon

L.A. tattoo artist, Mr. Cartoon, will be at SixPoints tonight from 7 to 11 pm.  SixPoints is the temporary pop-up shop that Nike has opened in collaboration with St. Alfred's in Wicker Park.  The shop will offer five customizable t-shirt designs by Mr. Cartoon during the month of May.

Mr. Cartoon
Saturday, May 1, 2010
7 to 11 pm
SixPoints
1529 N Milwaukee Ave
Chicago, IL