Party fliers

There's an excellent collection of late 70's/early 80's NYC hip-hop party fliers posted at Toledo Hip-Hop's site.  I remember being in awe of all the typographical possibilites when viewing the array of Letraset rub-on letters at the art store when I was a kid in pre-word processing times.  Then you'd try them and they'd be a pain in the ass to lay out straight on the page.  I like the hand made aspect of these though...

Polymetric

Murphy Hill Gallery in Homan Square has a show opening tonight and Saturday. Titled Polymetric, this show will feature work by Angel "Rome" Pagan, Rahmaan Statik, Terance "Dred AT8" Byas, Jose L. "Maser" Ramos, and Max Sansing.

There'll be a VIP opening tonight and another one tomorrow Saturday.  There's also a series of artist talks scheduled for the run of the show. 

Polymetric
at Murphy Hill Gallery
3333 W Arthington Ave in Homan Square
3rd floor
Chicago, IL

VIP reception: Friday, February 18, 2011
6 to 10 pm
General reception is Saturday, February 19, 2011
5 to 11 pm

Frank Kozik at Rotofugi

Frank Kozik, of concert poster designs and Kid Robot Labbit bunny fame, will have a show open tomorrow night Friday at Rotofugi.  There'll be paintings, custom figures, and large format prints. He'll be signing from 7 to 8 pm only so get there early!

Frank Kozik: Stoner Fort
at Rotofugi Gallery
2780 N Lincoln Ave
Chicago, IL

Opening reception: Friday, February 18, 2011
Signing from 7 to 8 pm, reception ends at 10 pm
On view through March 20, 2011

Strange Attractions

Bridgeport's Eastern Expansion will have a companion show to the Typeforce 2 show opening nearby at the Co-Prosperity Sphere.  This window installation will be based on the type of handpainted letters seen on paper signs in local grocery stores.

Jordan Martins: Strange Attractions

at Eastern Expansion

244 W 31st St

Chicago, IL

Opening reception Friday, February 18, 2011

6 to 9 pm

TYPEFORCE 2

TYPEFORCE 2: The Annual Showcase of Emerging Typographic Allstars is coming up this Friday at the Co-Prosperity Sphere in Bridgeport.  Last year's inaugural TYPEFORCE featured a lot of amazing letter-based work.  I was really impressed by the diverse artwork presented then. 

Two of my favorite artists, Matthew Hoffman and Nick Adam, were in last year's show and made the cut for this year as well.

TYPEFORCE 2: The Annual Showcase of Emerging Typographic Allstars
at the Co-Prosperity Sphere
3219 S Morgan St
Chicago, IL

Opening reception: Friday, February 18, 2011
6pm
On view through March 7, 2011

White Mystery Loves You

Photo by Rob Karlic

Everyone's favorite Chicago rock duo, White Mystery, is kicking off their White Mystery Shreds SXSW II tour by playing a free Valentine's Day show at the Empty Bottle.  In honor of this, the most chocolatey of days, White Mystery is also offering free printable Valentine's Day cards on their site.

White Mystery
w/Dark Fog
and The Pleats
at the Empty Bottle
1035 N Western Ave
Chicago, IL

Monday, February 14, 2011
Doors open at 8:30 pm
Show starts at 9:30 pm
*Free*
21+

I ♥ Chicago

Lincoln Square gallery and fair trade store, Maya Essence, is hosting an art show this Saturday titled, I ♥ Chicago Artists.  Featuring paintings and photography by CZR PRZ, RoAnne de la Cruz, Alex Puryear, Alison Downs, Johnny Corona, Kym Thomas, Christopher Tomorrow, Melinda Jane Myers, me, and many more.

And since this show happened to be scheduled near my birthday, Roanne, the curator of the show, graciously invited me to celebrate my birthday during the opening.  So I invite you to come and check out some great art and have some cake as well.  It'll be German Chocolate!

I ♥ Chicago Artists
at Maya Essence: Fair Trade Goods & Gallery
4357 N Lincoln Ave
Chicago, IL

Opening reception: Saturday, February 12, 2011
8:00 pm to midnight

The closing party will be held on Friday, March 4th where donations will be accepted for the Rebecca Babcock Fund in recognition of Colon Cancer Awareness Month.  Rebecca is a good friend of mine.

Stolen Photograph

L.A. gallery, THIS: Los Angeles, has released a plea for the return of a photograph stolen after an opening at their space a few days ago.  Regardless of there being any chance that posting it here would boost its chances of being found, I wanted to post it because it's a great portrait nonetheless.

Lent from the personal collection of actor Jason Lee, the missing photograph is an 8" x 10" Polaroid picture of actor and artist Dennis Hopper, who passed away last year.  Being that it was shot on a large format camera with Polaroid film, this photograph was the only copy in existence.  Jason is offering a reward of $25,000 for the return of the photograph.

Besides being an actor in many original and influential films like Easy Rider, Rebel Without a Cause, Blue Velvet, and Apocalypse Now, Dennis was also an accomplished painter and photographer.

One of my favorite photographs by him, Double Standard, was also used to title a retrospective show of his work last year at the LA Museum of Contemporary Art.

Ray Yoshida

Today Friday, and tomorrow Saturday are the last days for the Touch & Go: Ray Yoshida and his Spheres of Influence art show.  I wrote about it here when it opened last November.  It's seriously one of the most interesting art shows I've seen in the past year.  I'd seen some of Ray's work previously but this show blows it all away with rarely seen work that is held by his estate.

There's amazing collage work done with cutout shapes from newspaper comics, paintings from all periods of his life, and lots of work by former colleagues and students produced during a 50-year period.  Viewing his work side-by-side with work by Chicago Imagists and other artists, you really see how influential his working style was.  Some of the themes and motifs, like working with comics, carried through to the artwork of many of his students.

I also enjoyed the section with photographs depicting some of the collections in his home, which heavily influenced the collecting habits of artists like Roger Brown.

I highly recommend catching this show before it ends this Saturday.

Touch & Go: Ray Yoshida and his Spheres of Influence

School of the Art Institute Sullivan Galleries

33 S. State St

7th floor

Chicago, IL

Final two days: Friday and Saturday, February 11 & 12, 2011

Free and open from 11am to 6pm

Long Gone

NY artist, Maren Miller, has a show opening this Saturday night at The Hills Esthetic Center.

Maren Miller: Long Gone
The Hills Esthetic Center
128 N Campbell
2nd flr, Unit G
Chicago, IL

Opening reception: Saturday, February 12, 2011
8 to 11 pm
On view through February 26, 2011

By the Time You Arrive All the Beer Will Be Gone

Ryan Duggan, one of my favorite printmakers in the city, has a show of new work opening tomorrow night Friday at Johalla Projects.  His prints are uncluttered and feature a unique and subtle sense of humor.  I can't get enough of them.  Friday night's show will also feature recent sculptures and other work by Ryan.

Ryan Duggan
at Johalla Projects
1561 N Milwaukee Av (2nd flr.)
Chicago, IL

Opening reception: Friday, February 11, 2011
7 to 11 pm

Every Thing That Rises Must Converge

Ukrainian Village's Rainbo Club will have a photography show opening this Friday night.  Featuring photographs of New Orleans by Andrea Bauer, Evan Jenkins, Maral Hashemi, and Marzena Abrahamik.

Every That Rises Must Converge
at Raino Club
1150 N Damen Ave
Chicago, IL

This bar is 21+

Opening reception: Friday, February 11, 2011
6 to 10 pm
On view through February 26, 2011

Year of the Rabbit (and Cat!)

This week marked the beginning of the year 4709 in some Asian cultures.  The Chinese Zodiac has this year marked as the Year of the Rabbit but in Vietnam this year deviates from the Chinese cycle and they celebrate it as the Year of the Cat.  Which explains some of the differences you'll see at the two major new year's parades in Chicago this weekend.

Saturday, February 5th will be the Vietnamese New Year's parade in Uptown at 1pm, in the heart of the city's Vietnamese community.  1 pm will also be the kickoff of the Chinese New Year's parade in Chinatown this Sunday, February 6th.

Both parades will feature lion and dragon dances, as well as floats, marching bands and more.  Both neighborhoods also offer a lot of great food options and are easily accessible by the CTA's Red Line with Saturday's parade near the Argyle station and Sunday's parade by the Cermak station.

Out o' the Woodwork

Wicker Park's OhNo!Doom Gallery has a new group show opening this Saturday.  Titled, Out o' the Woodwork, it's billed as "not a show about wood" so who knows what it's about, but all their shows rock and there's proven names listed like Shawn Smith, CZR PRZ, Revise CMW, Emmy Star Brown, Veggiesomething, and more who do illustrative, graffiti, plush, toy, and pattern-based work so I'm sure it'll be a fun show.

Out o' the Woodwork
at OhNo!Doom
1800 N Milwaukee Ave
Chicago, IL

Opening reception: Saturday, February 5, 2011
6 to 10 pm
On view through February 26, 2011

MONO - John Riepenhoff and friends

John Riepenhoff, of Milwaukee's Green Gallery, has a show opening this Saturday at Peregrineprogram featuring work by John and friends.  Here's a description from their site...

 "It's a wall, a lamp, and a painting.
 When trying something new like inventing a fresh recipe, I find it nice to use a few simple proven
 ingredients. I and a group of talented artists copied a painting everyone seemed to love. It was 
 murmured that this is the feel-good painting of 2011, so soon. Our version is much larger than the
 original. It's designed to take your thoughts places without having to leave the comfort of Edmund's
 gallery or even pretend you're anywhere else. Similar to the work of Georges Seurat and Phil
 Spector, this piece dials in the harmonies of many channels of our experience to extract specifics
 of why we appreciate without losing sight of the big picture."
 -- John Riepenhoff

John Riepenhoff and friends: MONO
at Peregrineprogram
500 W Cermak Rd #727
Chicago, IL

Opening reception: Saturday, February 5, 2011
3 to 6 pm
On view through February 26, 2011

Celebrate Groundhog Day with the Chicago Zine Fest

groundhog, originally uploaded by leslie perrine.

Help the Chicago Zine Fest reach their funding goal by coming out to their Groundhog Day party tomorrow Wednesday this coming Friday.  They'll have a raffle and bake sale along with everyone's favorite groundhog movie, Groundhog Day.

Chicago Zine Fest fundraiser
2847 N Kedzie St
Chicago, IL

February 2, 2011
Due to the Blizzard of Oz we had last night, this event has been postponed to this coming Friday, February 4, 2011
7pm to 10 pm