Michael Workman

News hit this week that, in March, the Van Harrison Gallery (nee 1R Gallery) will move from the West Loop to Los Angeles. Or is it New York? According to Harrison, whose move comes as the escape from a persistent identity crisis, it could go either way. And this brings up a sickly familiar point that's debated ad nauseum, a complaint that goes something like this: Chicago's got an inferiority complex, can't offer artists opportunity like New York can, there's not enough collectors, curators, what have you. It's an oafish argument. While it's true that galleries and artists seek their fortunes by moving to New York and Los Angeles, they just as equally first sought their fortunes by moving here. And that supposed second city stigma? C'mon. First off, it's factually inaccurate: Chicago stopped being the "second city" in population years ago. But as anyone who's spent a week rummaging through the offal for a few moments of pleasure in Chelsea can testify, that doesn't matter one whit when it comes to art.

What galls most, however, about this whole characterization of Chicago as a town that can't hold its talent is how it's usually repeated by artists who don't have any (and thus cling to the complaint that their genius thrives unappreciated). I, for one, have had enough of such diddling, pathetic self-pity disguised as Midwestern self-righteousness. The real shame is that anybody lends it any credence. New York may dole out the market values, but Chicago's the place where artists form ideas that make those values possible. That we should actually believe what's happening "here" has no distinction from what's happening "over there" is a comfortable illusion that should have been universally shattered by 9/11, inside the art world and out. Our old yardsticks are moot, and we ought to tear out that old, rotten hardwiring once and for all.

Bad stereotypes aside, galleries and artists do and should occasionally move away. What do we actually lose with Van Harrison Gallery? Well, much maladroit work has certainly hung on Harrison's ever-shifting walls. Not six months ago, the gallery flirted with a dangerously moribund if not borderline-embarrassing emulation of New York's Daniel Reich Gallery, an experiment that ended in the professionally tragic amateurism and homeless chic of Sterling Ruby's "Interior Burnout." Co-director Marc LeBlanc left the gallery the day after the show opened and the writing was suddenly on the wall (literally: for Ruby's show, he scribbled on the wall using black spray-paint--with a skull-fucking scene thrown in for good measure). There have been successes, of course. Though luck played a part in their "discovery" of Siebren Versteeg, Carol Jackson's tooled leather denunciations of "condo-izing" real-estate development were a source of wicked inspiration and Craig Doty's repressed homosexuals (half-naked boys photographed physically abusing each other) have threaded an enticing narrative of restrained violence. And don't we all just want to hug Jon Parot, and steal some of his mountains of cocaine?

In Van Harrison's case, ultimately, it's a chance at hope. Originally shown at both Locust Projects in Miami and Milwaukee's General Store, "The 4-Color Pen Show," curated by MCA-er Elysia Borowy and former Stray Show Director Heather Hubbs (now working for the NADA art fair in Miami), will travel here to open at the gallery on February 11. Approximately seventy-five artists were given those four-color pens from the eighties and ask to make art with them; a somewhat hokey if fun wrap-up for Van Harrison's tenure here. And this columnist for one wishes that Texas boy, a longtime friend and business partner, a fond farewell. His wine-drunk shenanigans and lusty appetite for the art life will be dearly missed. Hopefully, a city packed with a few thousand galleries will afford him the second chance he needs to finally find his own, unique art-world way.

Dogmatic lives

This week, yet another Chicago gallery that closed its doors, the Pilsen neighborhood's Dogmatic Gallery, will momentarily hyperventilate the breath of new life. But rather than reopen the doors of the two-story house where director Michael Thomas staged his shows for the better part of a decade, local artist Julie Marsh will open "Re:location" at the Butcher Shop in the West Loop. But as Dogmatic Gallery.

Huh? It sounds like the Butcher Shop has suffered a demonic possession by the spirit of Dogmatic. Nope. Marsh, who spent months scanning the gallery walls before Dogmatic decided to close, will hang printouts of her scanned images of the Dogmatic space. She'll effectively wallpaper the interior of the Butcher Shop with color printouts of the scanned Dogmatic walls, though replacing floors with ceilings and walls with floors. Kind of a Willy Wonka version of the gallery, if you will. But remember: it's really the Butcher Shop. It just looks like Dogmatic, or maybe just the ghost of Dogmatic. Either way, Dogmatic lives. Sort of.

Artnet Postscript

As every literate person knows, blogs have recently come of age. And while art blogs as a specialty niche haven't exactly dotted the horizon, readers should take a minute to check out Iconoduel.org, a very informative site run by Dan Hopewell. In-depth, intelligent analysis alongside a personal style of art patois make it a savory read. Dan's up-to-the-minute postings are also great for staying informed on a daily, if not hourly basis. Check it out.

Julia Marsh shows at the Butcher Shop, 1319 West Lake, (312)666-4566. OPENING RECEPTION: January 28, 6-9pm. Through March 6.

(2005-01-25)

Also by Michael Workman

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Online discussion groups often generate the kind of dialogue you'd hear at a meeting to abolish the tax system. Intransigent opinions aired carelessly and without any attempt to imagine the effects the art may have on the culture it moves through
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Our lives are filled with media: TV, radio and print. But interactive media--appropriately dubbed "new media"--remains known to most only through the still-limited capacity of our desktop computers and video games
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One of those rare breeds of artists whose work equals his art-world savvy, Fandell revels in the quip, the one-liner and the sprawling aesthetic vision all at once
(2004-12-07)

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"Who Makes Self-Portraits in 2004" opens this weekend at Wicker Park's Heaven Gallery and, as curator Jason Lazarus hopes, the artists he picked for the show will demonstrate "new boundaries for the genre"
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Tip of the Week
(2004-11-30)

Eye Exam
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Tip of the Week
(2004-11-17)

Reconstruction
(2004-11-17)

Eye Exam
(2004-11-17)

Tip of the Week
(2004-11-09)

Eye Exam
(2004-11-03)

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