Michael Workman

Of all the wonderful art on exhibit during this past weekend's art-fair bonanza, the one work that I appreciated the most involved a pancake brunch on Sunday called "Menu."

I was exhausted, famished, had a long day ahead of me--and this show just hit the spot. Conducted by Chicago art mavericks operating under the collective designation of Law Office, the 1837 West Evergreen apartment of Vincent Dermody, Rob Davis and Michael Langois was transformed into a restaurant serving dog-tired art-fair patrons after a weekend of endless art-going. Battered-looking boys and girls filed into an apartment decked out with paintings of pancakes dripping melted butter and tables draped with white paper and arranged with emptied liquor bottles (a nod to the other favorite activity of the art world) filled with maple syrup and flowers.

Dermody and Law Office member Rebekah Levine rushed back and forth from kitchen to dining room while Langois and Davis prepared menu selections in the back. And, wow, was the food good. Sausage and banana walnut pancakes, yogurt, fresh fruit, mimosas and Bloody Marys were all served freely. Law Office had carefully studied their subject too, and were suitably outfitted in red ties, white shirts, black pants and aprons. A smoking section was provided, and the servers had appropriately numbered all of the tables for increased efficiency. If an art brunch alone wasn't enough, Law Office served up a post-dining video screening of the Best of Discount Cinema in Dermody's attic studio. A subtle nudge: we know you're tired, but have a bite to eat, soldier through it and get back to the shows.

Law Office is a good case study for the free experimentation that makes forming an art collective so attractive. After all, this is the gang who, a while back, staged "Duel," a paintball gunfight at the University of Chicago Women's Studies Department and got Jack Daniel's to sponsor the event. Despite the implications of honor and masculinity, it was mostly for kicks. That's what makes Law Office's practice so vital: they're freer to strike out, explore new ideas, make important mistakes and learn artistically from them in a way that no artist who counts themselves part of a local gallery stable would likely dare.

Several art collectives like these exist in Chicago--groups without any regular physical space to exhibit their work, and a variety of divergent philosophies. Though Law Office was not, several of these collectives were featured at this past weekend's Stray Show, including Deluxe Projects, Milhaus, NFA Space, Joymore (several of whom have previously operated out of personal or gallery spaces). Alternatively, some collectives such as Temporary Services, F/A, and others chose not to participate.

One obvious benefit that these collectives enjoy is the complete absence of any hint of being livestock in any sort of horse trade--financial, social or otherwise. Everything about how these groups present themselves and their art is dictated solely by the artists who run them and however they prefer to present their work. The defect in this strategy, of course, is an unusually low visibility and a fractious practice. Though in a metropolis with an insularity surplus, these collectives seem like a pretty good way to avoid the identity-crushing compliance that would damage and potentially terminate their identification with the forms of art that they practice.

Consequently, many patrons primarily attuned to the white cubes of standard gallery practice will likely find these collectives even more obscure than the "personal spaces" described here two weeks ago, and understandably so. You have to work pretty hard to find out how and where to even see the work these groups make available. But the effort's worth it, since some of the most interesting art made in this city is stubbornly being produced by groups like Law Office.

Desire talks!

With everybody taking a breather after Art Chicago weekend, the Brandon LeBelle show "Learning From Seedbed" at Standard Gallery in the Wicker Park neighborhood is still worth catching. LeBelle, a Los Angeles-based sound artist, has reconceived the Vito Acconci project "Seedbed," originally staged in 1972 at Sonnabend Gallery in New York. In the original, Acconci crawled beneath a constructed wooden ramp and masturbated while speaking into a microphone to patrons, who he addressed as lovers. LeBelle replaces Acconci's focus on his performance under the ramp--which, by interfering with the architecture of the space, denoted the unevenness of desire--and focuses on the wooden structure itself. Lebelle has wired it so that sounds are effected by interactions with the ramp, allowing desire to speak directly from patrons, whether deciding to tread its inclined surface or linger beneath with friends in a moment of intimate social repose from the masses.

To learn about Law Office events, visit http://www.lawoffice4.com or call (773)732-7006. Brandon LeBelle shows at Standard Gallery, 1437 North Bosworth Avenue (773)486-1005 or (312)455-1990, through June 14.

(2003-05-14)

Also by Michael Workman

Eye Exam
If you live in Chicago, can you make a living selling art? Definitely, especially this time in May every year, when Art Chicago throws opens the floodgates to the rest of the art world.
(2003-05-07)

Eye Exam
Is it really "us" versus "them"? Are our current art options as simple a choice as between "alternative" and commercial?
(2003-04-30)

Sex in Public
Three years ago, while working on a feature-length video, this graduate of the School of the Art Institute's master's program placed an ad in a local paper seeking production assistance for a work-in-progress. Local filmmaker and Z Film Fest director Usama Alshaibi offered her space at Heaven Gallery that he was using to stage the first installment of his annual program. Kristie accepted his offer, and ended up shooting a party scene in the space. The two became friends and eventually married.
(2002-12-12)

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