Michael Workman

Eye Exam started in this space just over one year ago with a column on work by Gabe Fowler, Jeff Scharf and Emily Counts. Thank you so much to all the regular readers who've faithfully turned every week to my page. Half art philosopher, half straight critic, I've sought and found my stride. At first, writing on the same subject week after week took some getting used to, but I hope I've been able to mitigate sometimes awkwardness of my attempt. As with most creative ambitions, you have to find a way to tune out the inner critic, to ignore that little voice inside and forge ahead.

Along the way, I've struggled my best to serve both sides of the equation: to provide viewers who have different levels of knowledge about art with a passport, while forming a balanced critical opinion of Chicago's scene, the artists who populate it and the art they make. Fifty-two columns and some fifty thousand words later, I find myself thinking: "la plus ca change..." and, truly, how much and how little this art world has changed. As you wade through the blur of this weekend's frenzied art activities, let's all raise a glass or two in toast to the continued growth of all our spirits.

Art Chicago, 12 years on

At the heart of the art explosion that occurs this time every year is the international art exposition at Navy Pier. With the exception of the young satellite art fair, the Stray Show (on which more below), Festival Hall plays host to tens of thousands of visitors from Chicago and around the globe. Worrywarts (including this reporter) have speculated on the health of the fair in recent years. And rightly so: director Thomas Blackman has publicly groused about a possible move to McCormick Place in the midst of a visibly dwindling number of attendees. And yet, to Blackman and staff's immense credit, the artistic mission of the fair, having endured its share of shocks, has managed to keep a chokehold. Part of the reason for the fair's elasticity has been an insistence on openness to new ideas in art.

This year, the excitement has shifted away from the new blood welling up at the Stray Show and firmly onto the revitalized International Invitational. Successfully lured over from the prep-school environment of the Stray Show, exhibitors new to the floor include 1R (whose director, Van Harrison, had a key role in the organizing this year's Invitational), Bucket Rider, Boom, Bodybuilder & Sportsman and Monique Meloche Galleries, all from Chicago and Uncle Freddy's Gallery from Hammond, Indiana. One can only hope that Uncle Freddy will be there in person, serving up sips of white lightning straight from the jug.

Adding "inter" to the national are Changing Role-Move Over Gallery from Naples, showing saucy oils on paper by Fabulousekhate and Galerie Beckel Odille Boicos of Paris with delightful aluminum-mounted cibachrome prints by Jennifer Lund. Also present will be members of Chelsea's so-called "gay mafia." Daniel Reich ships in from the storied New York art district with gouache and graphite installations by Scoli Acosta and work by the ever-surprising Christian Holstad. Foxy Productions co-director Michael Gillespie also runs a Chelsea space, his the size of a walk-in shoe closet. But what he lacks in size he makes up for in style with the lo-fi psychedelia of works on paper and video-synched monitors of Paper Rad and Australian painter David Noonan's film genre-exploding canvases. Former Chicago Project Room Co-Director Daniel Hug returns from Los Angeles as daniel hug gallery, showing work by Chicago artists Joe Baldwin and Gaylen Gerber. Peres projects also stops in from L.A., showing work by Terence Koh, Jim Drain and this year's Whitney Biennial sweethearts, assume vivid astro focus. It's all so exciting it's probably barely legal.

Stray the course

What people will notice first about this year's Stray Show will be those who have resisted the transition to the fully commercial environment of Festival Hall, such as Dogmatic, Garden Fresh, Mule, Seven Three Split, Suitable and Western Exhibitions, all from Chicago. The next thing they'll notice are the decreasing number of Chicago galleries represented out of the total. No longer a vehicle for pandering to Chicago alt-spaces, there are deeper issues that need working out now. Namely, whether or not an alternative art fair can actually find a coherent identity distinct from the market-driven international art expo.

Whether or not that happens, plenty of fresh faces will be seeking out the limelight at this year's show, including local notables Three Walls and Track House, Worm-Hole Laboratory from Miami and, on this end of the water, Shona Macdonald's Drawing Project (Chicago/London) with dazzlingly complex works on paper by Chris Uphues and Katy Fischer.

Boating on

File this one under shameless self-promotion: check out Artboat2004, a project organized by the not-for-profit run by yours truly. It's the second annual incarnation of this art show aboard the 140-foot, three-level Anita Dee II docked at Navy Pier. It's the third or fourth yacht back and it's got a helicopter mounted on its top deck. Don't worry, the helicopter doesn't get airborne. But this year's show, curated by Andrew Rigsby, Middlemanagement and Mixed Pallet will present works by a bevy of emerging talent that are sure to soar. There are two planned cruises this year, the earlier one dry, the late afternoon cruise catered and pretty much drenched in alcohol. With a capacity of 400 passengers per cruise, patrons of Art Chicago looking for an afternoon distraction might want to have a look at the gem of the Midwest from a mile out on the surface of Lake Michigan.

Art Chicago 2004, Navy Pier 600 West Grand, (312)595-7437, May 6-10. OPENING NIGHT VERNISSAGE May 6, 7:30-10pm. Tickets to Vernissage are $125. General admission to the fair $15. 2-day passes $25. 3-day passes $35. Groups of 10 or more $10 each. Seniors and students $10 each. Children under 10 are admitted free. Stray Show 2004, 1418 North Kingsbury, (312) 587-3300, May 6-9. OPENING NIGHT May 6, 8-midnight. PERFORMANCE: Airbrains and Frankie's Golden Limo, 10:45pm. Tickets to opening night events are $15. General admission tickets $10. Artboat2004 sails from Navy Pier, 600 North Grand, (312)421-2227, May 8 at noon and 3pm. Early cruise reservations $50, late cruise $75. Newcity is a sponsor of many of the events discussed in this article.

(2004-05-05)

Also by Michael Workman

Eye Exam
In the gear-up to the week when the entire city engages in its annual ritual of art binge and purge, there's good and plenty available as an appetizer
(2004-04-27)

Tip of the Week
Many of the paintings in Laurie Hogin's show "Pathological Colours" at the West Loop's Peter Miller Gallery seem taken right out of "Where the Wild Things Are"
(2004-04-22)

Eye Exam
In the sleepy northern Chicago suburb of Highwood, a 2,000-square-foot gallery called Street Level labors against the odds to import works of the imagination
(2004-04-22)

Tip of the Week
Make the trek this weekend down to Bridgeport's tenacious project space, MN Gallery, for British-born artist Fraser Taylor's deliciously gloppy paintings
(2004-04-09)

Eye Exam
(2004-04-09)

Eye Exam
(2004-03-31)

Tip of the Week
(2004-03-25)

Eye Exam
(2004-03-25)

Tip of the Week
(2004-03-18)

Eye Exam
(2004-03-18)

Eye Exam
(2004-03-10)

The answer
(2004-03-03)

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