Art at Pick Me Up Cafe!

My work is up at Pick Me Up Cafe! It's located in Lakeview/Wriglyville at 3408 N. Clark St and it's up til May 3rd, so check it out if you're in the neighborhood (p.s. all work is for sale except the large teal piece).




Sneak Peek


Hung my work at Strawdog Theater today! The art reception will be March 2nd from 6-7pm, come on out! The work will be up through the duration of their next play, The Petrified Forest. The theater is located at 3829 North Broadway in Chicago.

P.S. This is my first solo show (!)

Light Years: Conceptual Art and the Photograph, 1964–1977

Yesterday I went to the Art Institute for a cocktail in the member lounge (I know, sometimes I'm fancy) and then I checked out the current special exhibit, Light Years: Conceptual Art and the Photograph, 1964–1977. I've never been a huge fan of conceptual art, but I enjoyed much in this exhibit. Ed Ruscha's Every Building on the Sunset Strip, an accordion style book that when laid out is 27 feet long was one of my favorites. The photos don't feature many people or moving vehicles in this dense urban area, making it seem like a ghost town, while at the same time depicting the urban/suburban sprawl in California around the 1960's. The exhibit also featured the hybrid of photography with sculpture, film, installation, and canvas. The work in this exhibit challenges traditional notions of photography and takes the images to the next level. I also enjoyed the photos that had typed out documentation of what experiment or observation was being done; this presentation implicated that these were more than just for artistic purposes, but also scientific or sociological studies. Well curated and a very large and complete exhibit, this is definitely something to check out before it closes on March 11th.

Print Crush

I have a serious crush on the work of Two Arms, Inc. A print power couple working and living in Brooklyn; Karen and Michael are fellow Floridians that I have kept in touch with over the years and I truly admire their work and love to keep up with what they're working on. Below are some of my more recent favorites prints.

Make sure to check out their website and peruse the blog, galleries, and shop.



Consumerism!




ZINE! BUY ME!

So I am still without a computer at home a month after the break-in (luckily I can fart around the internet at work). I have been meaning to post my zine for sale on Etsy but that’s a bit much to work on whilst at the ol’ job. BUT- if you are interested in purchasing my sketchbook zine titled “Day Job” I am gonna see how that goes then try to distribute at shops around Chicago and list on my Etsy. $2 +$1.50 shipping (in the US of A) = $3.50 for this handsome hunk of toner ink.

If you are interested in purchasing email heartless.arts@gmail.com

XOXOX

Night Owl



Next Tuesday! Come on out, have a drink or two, and check out work from local artists. I'll be there with my art zine and some smaller pieces on display. Come say hi and buy me a redbull, I'm old and this goes past my bedtime (10pm-1:30am).

Whew

Sooo.....it's been a very interesting week. Last Friday our apartment was broken into and me and my roomie's laptops were stolen. Needless to say I am pretty bummed, but also very happy that no one was hurt in this incident. Every digital photo I've ever taken and all my music is gone. I have some photo backups on flickr and a good amount of my music still on cd's, but those who know me know how much all this means to me and how it's rough to have it all stolen.

My friend Chris and his band Tension Generation played a show that same night and had a donation jar out for me to help me get a new computer. I am so lucky to have such awesome friends! Many thanks to them.

Anyways. We got the Point of View show hung yesterday and it looks great! It was nice to take a step back when it was all done and breathe a sigh of relief. This was my first time curating and I was a bit nervous. I cannot wait for the opening reception on Saturday and hope you can come check it out!

Countdown

It's been a busy time since I last posted, but I almost have everything together for the show (we hang next week). The zine layout is all done and I am copying it this week. I've run into a road block thinking of titles for it so I'm sure I'll figure that out right before I head to the copy place. It's been stressful working full time and working on a bunch of other projects but it's also pretty satisfying. I haven't had much trouble sleeping for a few weeks now!

Alright, that's all. Hope my Chicago readers can make it to the opening!

I am good at making a mess.


Working out some pricing.


Art Swap

I AM Logan Square hosted it's April gallery opening and art swap this past Thursday! It was a great time! I've been volunteering with them and am going to be curating and in the next show in May. It's so great to see the neighborhood arts community thriving and the art swap raised money for the Milwaukee Ave Arts Fest this summer.

Check out all the photos from the opening here, Brooke Herbert and I did the photographs (she's the professional though!).

Great crowd and great food.

Brooke and I got each others artwork in the swap. Check out her work here.

Brooke and I both took photos for the event, I wish that was my camera but it's not!

Lots of updates!

So!

First off, I will be showing some work at Creative Co-Working in Evanston. I had a chance to check out the space the other day and it's great! Excited to be showing along some very talented artists at this co-working space. The grand opening is soon, here is the information:

Saturday, April 2 · 3:00pm - 10:00pm

Creative Coworking
922 Davis Street
Evanston, IL

Art by Mark DeBernardi, Melanie Deal, Darlene Grossman, Liz Albertson, Katie Holland and Christine McClure will be on display!

Drinks and hors d'oeuvres will be served.

Bring a friend!
RSVPs encouraged, but not required.

Next!

I am going to be curating and also showing in the May I AM Logan Square exhibit. This is last minute as the show that was scheduled was canceled. I am accepting proposals from artists who would like to show with me for this group exhibit. The artist should live and/or work in Logan Square and the exhibit will be dealing with female issues/identity, etc. Email heartless.arts@gmail.com for details or to submit work.

This will be May 5th, more details and poster when I have them.

go go go go go go

Ok, maybe a black and white studio shot is dumb because you can't tell what color the canvas is, but hey, it looks cool. It's in progress anyways, which by the way, is taking forever. This is part of a diptych and I really wish I had two easels! After really seeing and studying the texture on a Jasper Johns piece at the Art Institute I'm really not happy with this background, I need to push it further. I got some weird palette knives at the hardware store today so I can play around with paint application.

I got a "thanks but no thanks" for an installation proposal I sent in to a bar for their gallery window. I was pretty bummed but I need to keep working and moving along. The new Red City Radio album is called, "The Dangers of Standing Still" and I've been sort of feeling that way lately. Must keep working, must keep trying. Also have fun going to shows and hanging with my friends.