PARTIAL GROUP PHOTO

ALT SPACES TAKING A HIT

The past year has been hard on the alternative art spaces in Chicago.
It's a difficult endeavor. Most spaces fail because they become more about the party and not
enough about the art. Personality clashes. Lack of fcous. Power struggles. FickIeness. I know the nature of these spaces is always a bit ephemeral, but
we've lost some great ones recently.

COMA- Held their final show this spring

Deadtech - long running space closed its doors this summer

POLVO: I can't believe this one....

People Projects; the space we all wanted to succeed

Medicine Park -just opened and already have to move!
(hopefully they'll find a new home)

Here's an excerpt from their blog...

"I have had the pleasure of experiencing so many small moments of grace at MP, as agonizing or pleasureful as it may have been. And maybe MP’s brief life in this neighborhood is a perfect metaphor for life.. that the direction of everything meaningful and larger than ourselves can be lonely, transitive, and cruel at the most inopportune moments.
I am sad that art will not live here, but we will find a new home for it that will embrace it fully."

There are some great new spots opening up recently
in Uki Village and Wicker Park. We'll see if they can float
the hefty rent in those neighborhoods, but it's good to see
some new blood, especially when some of our beloved spots
have left us.

Yikes! This just in The Burkhart Underground is closing its weekly coffeehouse after 12 years! This is a bad year for Chicago

Wow! Just when I thought things were bad...South Union Arts is closing!@#$

Critic's Choice Review

Of our current show "Summer Meat II: Bodywork" as seen in the Critic's Choice section of the Chicago Reader.

As the title suggests, this show focuses on the human form—and, often, its dismemberment. In T and A, Lily Mayfield positions photos of women's chests atop photos of their butts, creating desexualized pomo fetish Borgs. In an untitled collage series, Wayne Bertola takes 19th-century engravings of fashionable ladies and affixes not-quite-identifiable organic forms to their heads, creating sinister helmets. For Botanical Entrails: Spontaneous Joyful Departure, Jacob C. Hammes crafted realistic innards out of expandable foam and then scattered them around, creating the impression that someone has quietly exploded in a corner of the gallery. Maybe the most telling effort, though, is Erin Cramer's The Russet Apple. Made out of sculptural paper, the piece depicts a crucified baby. Its stomach opens to reveal an apple/heart, which in turn opens to reveal a series of childlike drawings of sheep, pretty houses, and skulls. The same interplay between innocence and defilement animates many of the works on display, connecting them to horror film and pornography—and, inevitably, to the image of Christ on the cross.
Secular age or no, this show is a reminder that the Passion still has a remarkably strong influence on how we think about the body. (Noah Bertlasky)