Michael Workman

Most galleries were dark this past Friday night, creating a perfect opportunity to see what artists are up to in their studios. At the Network of Visual Art studios in the West Loop neighborhood, my tenants at Garden Fresh were showing the work of a Milwaukee artist I'd never heard of, Kathryn Martin. Bridge, the not-for-profit for which I serve as director, has had this space since we used it for last year's Nova Art Fair artists' projects, a place that now mostly functions as space for artist's studios. Usually I don't write about shows there because of my business connections, but sometimes the art is good enough to tear down the "Chinese Wall." Garden Fresh is a collective of artists who use one of the rooms in the building to show the work of other artists. During Martin's opening on Friday, the entire neighborhood was quiet except for their space in the back of the building, where a dozen or so people had gathered.

Martin's "The Airplane Project" is a bit like one huge model kit, except its final assembly is the artist's rendering of a 55-by-13-foot airplane. Sheets of corrugated white plastic, varied in dimension, are laid out in stacks on the floor and, on the wall, a series of toy bags suspend from hooks, filled with Behr Premium Plus paint chips. What materials are present in the room are all that's required to complete the assemblage, which Martin suggests should be arranged indoors on a flat stretch of wall. The idea is to hang the pre-drilled plastic sheets with Velcro. Then, following the instructions in an accompanying manual, begin using T-pins to affix each of the paint chips in color-coded order. When finished, the resulting arrangement of paint chips recreates her "drawing." It's unclear exactly what model plane this is, with four huge propellers, resembling a cargo liner. On her website at www.uwm.edu/~martinke/airplanes, in a very mumbly artist's statement, Martin cites New Jersey artist Martha Rosler's collection of airport and airline photography, "Observations of a Frequent Flyer" as a factor in her decision to do a plane. But the intense level of assembly involved clearly also puts art in the same category as the flat-packaged furniture of such popular outlets as IKEA. When asked how may hours it would take to fully assemble the piece, she replied that since she's crazy, it'd probably only take her a week.

Afterwards, a quick jaunt down Halsted to 18th Street and Pilsen was looking absolutely sloppy with visitors compared to where I'd just been. Aren't people afraid of the cold? Apparently not there. I'd gone specifically for the neighborhood's Second Friday openings and actually started out because of news I'd heard about the Pilsen Photo Group. Word on the street was that after nineteen months this fine little photo outpost was taking down its shingle for good. Rumor? Truth? It was time to find out. Before getting there, however, I started at the far end of 18th Street, as I usually do, at 4Art, where I stumbled across a sandwich board in the lobby for Robert Marshall's stained-glass studio in the same building. How long have there been studios there? I'd been going for years and somehow missed them. Kids were hopping on pogo sticks in the hall amongst crowds of Polish visitors with cups of wine in hand. Marshall showed off his newest stained-glass light boxes, which he mostly sells privately or through commissions. Next, it was down to the Chicago Art Department (chicagoartdepartment.org), a bright gem in the Pilsen constellation, and their excitement for the new season of classes was palpable. It was nice to see such old standards as live video and sound mixing on the bill with new additions as "The Art of Games," in which students are given a chance to encounter the history of gaming, from board to video games. Trying to extend their reach as a cultural destination, the CAD gang has also added a colorful Friday night schedule that includes video and movie screenings--the "CAD Drive-In" and "Drunk Class"--a standing public invitation to come out and get wasted, all in pursuit of higher education, of course.

Hours later, the crowd at the Pilsen Photo Group had thinned but was still lingering. Asking around, I found Jeff Mickey, a stout man with a sprawling white beard amongst a group of friends and supporters, and asked whether the rumors were true. Yes, he admitted, they'd lost their lease. It took a few minutes of conversation to finally work out the correct number of months they'd been working in the space and the whole conversation proceeded with no small amount of melancholy. Mickey hinted that they'd continue their operations in some form in the future, but there were no specifics he could offer other than watching their website at www.pilsenphotogroup.org for any news that might come along.

Kathryn Martin shows at Garden Fresh, 840 West Washington, (773)732-8968. Through February 17.

(2006-01-17)

Also by Michael Workman

Eye Exam
Pulling into a parking spot outside the Skestos Gabriele Gallery Friday night, I find myself comparing the nearby Lake Street nightclub throngs with the crowd in front of the gallery chatting into mobile phones and puffing on cigarettes
(2006-01-10)

Eye Exam
Chicago artist Matthew Hoffman has been anonymously and pseudonymously making art in Chicago for years
(2006-01-03)

Eye Exam
In the final days before the holiday break, most galleries have shuttered their doors against the frost, offering a perfect chance to spend time at gescheidle in the West Loop with "la frontera"
(2005-12-20)

Eye Exam
Despite the nasty weather, a lot of people were out Friday night. Hunkered down in the offices behind Bucket Rider Gallery at about seven that evening, I was flanked on all sides by the Bad At Sports team of Duncan Macenzie, Richard Holland and Amanda Browder
(2005-12-13)

Eye Exam
(2005-12-06)

Eye Exam
(2005-11-15)

Eye Exam
(2005-11-08)

Eye Exam
(2005-11-01)

Chicago Artist
(2005-10-25)

Eye Exam
(2005-10-25)

The Collectors
(2005-10-18)

Eye Exam
(2005-10-18)

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