Michael Workman

Ready or not the summer reading season is fresh upon us, and with it come those often-dubious lists of recommended titles. But pairing the love of art with good taste in books has perhaps never been this easy. "Books and Shelves" at the Arts Center at College of DuPage can satisfy a yearning for both in one solid afternoon jaunt. As stated in the short essay by Buzz Spector that accompanies the show, book lists offer a way of charting "the cognitive terrain covered" by others. And that terrain is expansive. Not only have each of the list of artists contributed work to the exhibit, but they've also compiled lists of their own preferred texts to help navigate viewers into intriguing new worlds.

Many of the works on display included actual books. Milwaukee-based artist Nicholas Frank, for instance, has produced the "Nicholas Frank Public Library," a series of black-bound slipcase volumes organized together on a library shelving cart. His book recommendations include "Independent People" by Nobel Laureate Halldor Laxness and Giordano Bruno's "The Candlemaker." The Oak Park-based husband and wife team of Brad Killam and Michelle Grabner offer their "Figure 2 (Sam Walton)," a stack of books laid across the top of a paint can. Their reading list includes titles in ethics and market analysis (including one on Wal-Mart), and Grabner includes "all the paperback mysteries my friend Annika has given me since February." Mystery of mysteries! Rashid Johnson took the theme more literally than most, offering a "Contemporary Black Male Literature Starter Kit," a piece comprised entirely of a palette stacked with books that were then industrially shrink-wrapped. His reading list should come as no surprise: "The Crisis of the Negro Intellectual" by Harold Cruse and Camus' "The Stranger."

Also displayed are more object-based interpretations of the bookish theme or works that leave out actual books altogether: Stephanie Brooks offers her "Compact Edition of the O.E.D.," presumably a copy of the Oxford English Dictionary in a blue-gray poplar and acrylic casing shaped like a small cube. Her reading list includes the light reading of Lynne Truss' "Eats, Shoots and Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation" and the dauntingly titled "Philosophy of the Marquis de Sade" by Timo Airaksinen. Bill Davenport simply walked into a room in his home and painted in acrylic on canvas his "Shelf of Books." Reading his list, he then proceeded to walk into yet another room in his downstairs to compile a list that includes "The Success and Failure of Picasso," by John Berger--of which he commits the cardinal academic sin by admitting to not having read it yet--and Dostoevsky's "Brothers Karamazov." Of this last, he compounds the honesty by remarking that "[I] still haven't gotten past the first hundred pages."

Finally, Karen Reimer avoids the debate altogether by taking only a page or two from her favorite books. As in much earlier work, her "Awkwardness and Obscurity" confronts viewers with hand-stitched embroidery made to resemble a typewritten page on which the majority of text is illegible. Her list? Titles include Jean-Charles Massera's "Sex, Art and the Dow Jones."

Bar art

Now on the walls at Delilah's tavern on Lincoln Avenue down the street from the Lake View Mennonite Brethren Church are Shane Swank's pop-psychology portraits of popular cartoon figures like Betty Boop. Art in bars is nothing new, of course, but Delilah's has been making a concerted effort in recent months to establish itself as a destination for art, with programming to rival that most hipster of cattle corrals, the Rainbo Club. Swank's canvases hang on the bar's black-painted walls amidst commercial tins such as Dogfish Head Craft Brewed Ale, crammed in among the candy dispensers offering gumballs for 25 cents and pistachios for half a dollar. The former Poop Studio founder, whom the doorman describes as a "fucked-up clown" will be replaced in a few days with portraits of music stars and cult figures by the energetic member of the Waco Brothers and the Mekons, Jon Langford.

Though the show has been billed as "new art" by Langford, the card shows his Hank Williams portrait from an older series. Besides a recurrent Williams, his past work has also included portraits of the Delmore Brothers, Tammy Wynette and, recently rediscovered by popular culture, Loretta Lynn. Regardless of whether or not these are new to his oeuvre, Langford's loving visionary style of his musical and mental health precursors are worth a gander. And it's just a fun place to view art. How better to contemplate Langford's work than wading in with Modern Lovers on the juke amidst all the ladies sporting their fluorescent dye-jobs, alongside burners in markered Chuck Taylors and studded arm bracelets? Mondays it's only a buck a beer and they've got a pool table, Galaga machine and a darkened version of the Adams Family pinball game to satisfy any need for added distraction.

"Books and Shelves" shows at the Arts Center at College of DuPage, 425 Fawell Boulevard, (630)942-4000, through August 21. Jon Langford shows at Delilah's, 2771 North Lincoln, (773)472-2771, through August 25.

(2004-06-29)

Also by Michael Workman

Soapbox Studs
Howard Dean may have not managed to get himself elected president, but his ability to speak with conviction still makes him a rock star with the Left
(2004-06-22)

Eye Exam
Three shows right now aim for rooms bursting, garage-sale style, with art
(2004-06-22)

Plasticman
Peterman's no stranger to the MCA--in fact, he's literally a fixture: the drywall on the fourth floor was produced using the gypsum left over from one of his earlier art projects
(2004-06-16)

Eye Exam
Known as JAM, the collaborative team of [J]ane Palmer [A]nd [M]arianne Fairbanks has made waves with a particular brand of green-conscious artwork
(2004-06-16)

Tip of the Week
(2004-06-09)

Eye Exam
(2004-06-09)

Eye Exam
(2004-06-02)

Eye Exam
(2004-05-25)

Blowing in the wind
(2004-05-25)

Tip of the Week
(2004-05-18)

Make rhetoric not war
(2004-05-18)

Eye Exam
(2004-05-18)

about Newcitychicago | about Newcity magazine | advertising | privacy policy | FAQ | employment