Michael Workman

The late Ed Paschke was so ubiquitous in Chicago, so prolific and managed to so deeply stamp the wake of his presence on this city that you can't help but wonder why aren't there droves of memorial tributes and exhibitions? Why doesn't his work adorn every window of every gallery worth its hometown salt, hang in our city's museums (there was one up at the MCA recently) and amass a general uproar in the imagery he so liberally scattered across our burg? Maybe it's a respectful silence, but Paschke was never so reserved in his work, which often screams.

Those screams will get a chance to be heard again at Gallery 415, this time with accompaniment: artists who were friends with Paschke have also contributed works for the exhibition, including Jeff Koons, Karl Wirsum, Tony Fitzpatrick, Richard Hunt, Jim Nutt, and Glenn Wexler just to name a few. Art by his wife, Nancy Paschke, who passed--only two months after her husband--from advanced Parkinson's, will also appear in the show.

As a younger art guy, I've always held the "old guard" at arm's length, always wondered where they maybe came from, how they got where they are, and Paschke is a figure who haunts the now of Chicago art. It's a shame I'm so cautious, actually. In the notes to the show a quote from Paschke reminds us what kind of artist--and what kind of person--he really was: "Life is very much about rule-breaking, about confrontation. Otherwise history would just stand still." It's something to recognize how clearly he understood and embraced the historic reversals that he himself once perpetuated. Such a rare generosity of spirit fixes the odds that such a combative, exhaustive and beneficent legacy will continue to haunt for a long time to come.

More Death...

More on the subject of death, this time paired with that other inescapable fact of life--taxes. At the new Parts Unknown Gallery, "Death and Taxes" opens this weekend. It's a strange legacy that this particular space, which has shifted ownership as many times as years--previous incarnations include Gallery 645 and Meatyard Gallery--should continue to serve as a de facto "gateway gallery" to the neighborhood art complex that the Pilsen area longs to become. In any case, artists Richard Cronborg, Robert Corwin, Jim Lloyd, David Simpson, Doug Travis and Robert Treece offer their take on these two eternally grim subjects, with a generous helping of skeletons and 1040 forms so as to ensure literal interpretation of the theme.

At the far extreme of the subject-matter continuum, we have Vanessa Shinmoto, also headquartered in Pilsen, whose work revolves around her responses to the bumps in her romantic relationship with fellow artist Renato Petterino. After a night of reading "Recovery of Your Inner Child" by Lucia Ph.D. Capacchione, the story goes, she took particular notice of the snide and funny quips that Petterino was making at her. She wrote down and later incorporated them into what look like bad Crayola drawings that illustrate their meaning: a coloring book of the romantically damned (read: maladjusted). As long as there's no meltdown, expect more of this good-natured stuff from Shinmoto. Both shows serve as sufficient lure for a night of trolling the Pilsen galleries and studios during the neighborhood's Second Fridays open house.

...and Sex Too

Occasionally a student at the Art Institute gets the urge to bare it all, and this time around it's Scott Nash. It's a peculiar pleasure of youth that these artists feel so freely the power of their own barely sexualized nude bodies, and what's nice about Nash (he often refers to himself as "Snash") is his choice to snap portraits of what are often little more than average, sometimes just plain meaty males: guys with belt-lined bellies, bad tattoos and flowing excesses of body hair. Check out Nash's hilarious website at http://www.artic.edu/~snash. Those with a bit of a self-deprecating streak can even sign up to model.

And, finally...

It's the peculiar nature of art blogs that those who write them can simply decide to stop whenever it becomes inconvenient to continue. I've always enjoyed reading the local blogs and listservs, sometimes as a source of Jerry Springer-style entertainment, and Panel-House.com was always one of them. Its author, Terrence Hannum, who also often published the writing of others, struck a pose as an ethically conflicted critic (as if art had ethics) who wanted to cultivate a spruce image of himself for readers and so engaged in much curmudgeonly nay-saying and tut-tutting, but with a sense of mission. So it's sad that he's made a recent announcement that he's "resigning" from the site. What it means, exactly, to resign from your own blog remains unclear, but it's still up and readable. Those seeking a longer-term fix should check out the still-live "Art or Idiocy?" blog of Chicago artist Erik Wenzel (known on the site as "The Artist Extraordinaire") at http://artoridiocy.blogspot.com as another source for first-person perspective on the Chicago scene.

Ed Paschke shows at Gallery 415, 41 Gallery 415 North LaSalle, (312)245-5443. Through July 8. "Death and Taxes" shows at Parts Unknown Gallery, 645 West 18th Street, (312)492-9058. Through May 7. Vanessa Shinmoto shows at Vartiste/Maladjusted Art Studios, 1932 South Halsted, (312)316-7392. Through June 5. Scott Nash shows at Gallery 2, 847 West Jackson, (312)563-5162. Through April 15.

(2005-04-05)

Also by Michael Workman

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Small group shows usually render ideas in Petri-dish-sized portions
(2005-03-29)

Eye Exam
The nonprofit Gallery 312 has reopened--four months after closing at 312 May Street--in a vacant upper-floor apartment on a strip busy with forklifts and delivery trucks on Fulton Market
(2005-03-15)

Games People Play
It's a typical night in the Temple of Retribution
(2005-03-08)

Eye Exam
I loved "Tragic Beauty" at the West Loop's Open End Gallery
(2005-03-08)

Eye Exam
(2005-03-01)

Tip of the Week
(2005-02-22)

Eye Exam
(2005-02-22)

Tip of the Week
(2005-02-15)

Eye Exam
(2005-02-15)

Eye Exam
(2005-02-08)

Tourist Class
(2005-02-01)

Eye Exam
(2005-02-01)

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