Can't Wait To See This Movie!

Two Chicago Events This Weekend

It's been a great Autumn so far: Hanging out with my main man Arch, watching football, mourning the Red Sox and still hating the Yankees. I've also been making new work!

I have two events coming up this weekend, come by if you're able:



1."The Harold Arts Residency Exhibition" will be opening this Friday at Heaven Gallery (1550 N Milwaukee Ave - 7pm to 11pm)

I spent a week this past July at The Harold Arts Residency in Ohio and created the piece, "Out Of This World." I will be exhibiting both the poster as well as the video.


2."West Carroll Open Studios," this coming Sunday (3200 W. Carroll Ave - 12pm to 7pm)

As a part of Chicago Artist's Month, I will be opening my studio to the public along with the other artists who have studios at 3200 W. Carroll Ave. It should be a fun day to see a ton of work in progress, artists will include me, Andrew Ayer, Jared Dreyer, Annie Heckman, Arielle Marq, Anton Mackey, Harold Mendez, Mike Olson, Jennifer Scott and many many more.

I'm in studio 8 on the 2nd floor.

R.I.P. Sweet Captain Lou

Growing up in the 1980's, the World Wrestling Federation was a big part of my life. Sleeping over at my friend Tommy's house to watch Wrestlemania 1, going to the County Center in White Plains to watch matches, buying every wrestling doll that there was, etc etc.

Captain Lou Albano had a special place in my heart: not only was he a central character in the 1980's wrestling scene and a hilarious personality, but he also lived in Mount Kisco NY (as did I). I remember seeing him a number of times at the Mt. Kisco movie theater and being awed by his presence. Here he is in Cyndi Lauper's video, "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun!" . . . classic Captain Lou (as Cyndi's dad).



Rest In Peace Captain.

Buy Great Photographs And Support A Great Cause!

During my senior year at Marlboro College, I used to volunteer a few nights a week at The Insight Photography Project. Insight was started by my former photography teacher, John Willis. John and I have remained friends over the years and each year I donate a print to the Insight Benefit Auction:

http://www.auction.insight-photography.org/

This year's auction is especially impressive!
If anyone out there wants to buy me an early holiday present, I'll take this print by Danny Lyon:

Vagina Panther and Golden City Riot

I'm a lucky dude to know so many people who make really great music. I first met John and June a few years back through our mutual friend Brian. Brian and John are old friends from Ohio and have been playing together for years. Anyhow, over some beers they started telling us about their new band called "Vagina Panther." Seriously, have you ever heard of a better band name???

John and I met up again at Brian's wedding in Arkansas and picked up right where we left off. He gave me a copy of their new album (amazing!) and invited me to direct a video for them. After watching how incredible the video above is, color me too intimidated.

The second band that I have had playing lately in my house is my friend Eric's band, Golden City Riot. Eric is one of my best friends (going back to first grade) and on my recent trip to Seattle, we spent many an inebriated moment working on a band icon for a set of stickers that he is producing.


Golden City Riot plays out a lot in Seattle, catch them if you know what's good for you. If these two bands ever played a joint gig, I think my head might explode from the pleasure of it all!!!!!!

False Proof at Kirkland Arts Center

Well, Autumn is upon us and it's been off to a hectic start. Two weeks ago I was out in Seattle for the opening of the exhibition "False Proof" at the Kirkland Arts Center. The show was curated by Cable Griffith and was one of the best shows I have seen in awhile. My favorite piece in the show by far was Eugene Parnell's life-sized taxidermed Big Foot. Eugene's Big Foot is the first thing that you see when you walk in the gallery. He is standing on a pile of leaves, digging through a hiker's backpack and eating a powdered donut (observe the white powder on his lips).


The entire show is amazing and I recommend checking it out before it comes down in early October.

Here is a writeup from The Stranger:

Not knowing has two sides: Not knowing is the greatest, not knowing is the worst. In the slight but refreshing group show False Proof at Kirkland Arts Center, not knowing—remaining in a state of possibility, running a continual loop of faith and disbelief—is mostly just great. Nola Avienne paints tiny alchemical symbols drawn from medieval sources using her own blood. She's committed to the mysteries. They stand for themselves, which is why you can't understand them. Eugene Parnell's life(?)-size, big-eyed Taxidermied Bigfoot gobbling the powdered doughnut of a hiker whose clothes and backpack lie at the creature's feet in the gallery is labeled as made of the following materials: "taxidermied bigfoot." Drew Christie's elaborate "historic" display of "evidence" about the Elliott Bay Sea Beast—a toothy Loch Ness Monster—collected and compiled by one Albrecht "Aesop" Ribbentrop is sometimes too cute but mostly irrepressibly endearing in its refusal to try to be convincing. You can hear the sound of the beast (it roars and gargles at the same time), see drawings and photographs of it, even look at instruments made in its honor by sailors just moments before they were eaten by it. Hanging in the middle of the room is the beast's skeleton: a happily false thing made out of barely disguised wood, glue, and newspaper. "I shall be vindicated," Ribbentrop's writings declare. Done.

A trophy twirling around on its head, defying gravity, would be more intriguing were it not happening in video—a medium in which disbelief is a given. That work is by Zack Bent. Jana Brevick's devices for problem solving are not served well here; you need to know that Brevick creates jewelry to fully understand these devices as talismans rather than too-sweet mini-sculptures. (My favorite, because it so clearly doubles as a necklace, is her Optimizer, a choker with a black box machine for a pendant. What's going on in there, who knows?)

In a video and diagram based on the Brady Bunch episode "Out of This World," in which Greg fools Peter and Bobby with a fake UFO (until the authorities are called and Greg is exposed), Chicago artist Jonathan Gitelson debunks the realness of the fake UFO by attempting to restage the hoax himself according to Bobby's on-show instructions. Fail. Gitelson's illustrated how-to diagram leaves intact the secret of how to. It hardly matters whether there is life on other planets when there is the magic of TV, which is not diminished in the slightest by not being magic at all.

Samantha Scherer's photorealistic velvety black watercolor and gouache paintings are on thick paper that curls up at the edges like it's entrapping its only subjects, little white faces peering out from the bottom of the paper's black universe as if they were almost entirely cropped out, à la "reality" video stills or photographs. (Blair Witch style.) Scherer's employing the clichés of horror-vérité but making them work again, much like in an older series where she appropriated the parade of corpses on Law & Order and made them feel individual again in her tiny drawings. Something in her handcrafted and yet utterly mediated approach demonstrates a recognizable struggle: Familiarity and unfamiliarity can be indistinguishable. Which is the worst.
-Jen Graves

Hilarious

A Lot Of Good Art Going On . . .

The other day Archie and I headed to the West Loop to check out some of the new shows. I'd been out of town on opening weekend and was really excited when I read the there was a Mel Bochner show at Rhona Hoffman Gallery. I've only recently become more familiar with Mel's work and he has become one of my all time favorites (right up there with Tom Friedman). The show looked great and it was nice to catch up with Kat and Charlotte and Rhona.


Next it was off to Kavi Gupta Gallery to see the new show by Clare Rojas who is another one of my all time favorite artists. If I had the money, I would of bought everything in the show!


This Wednesday I'm flying to NY to see two openings tha I am really excited about: Brian Ulrich's show on Thursday night at Julie Saul Gallery and Will Lamson's new exhibition at Pierogi on Friday night in Brooklyn.

All of these shows come highly recommended, go check them out!