Michael Weinstein

What would happen if you set a Chicago graffiti artist armed with cans of spray paint loose in a room furnished in the spare and clean modern style and told him to get down to business to his heart's content? Doug Fogelson's soft color photographs on which different aerosol artists have simulated their exploits give us an idea. Most of all, Fogelson's images drive home the point that each practitioner of the outlaw mural is distinctively individual and that as a whole all of them fill out all the possibilities of visual art. There are minimalists like Al Llewellyn who leave the room undisturbed except for an arresting detail; in this case a man with a traffic light for a head controls access to the inner sanctum. There are maximalists like Aren a.k.a. Solo who cover the space with an elaborate icing of colors, forms and icons that we could dwell in for eternity.

Doug Fogelson shows at Hejfina, 1529 North Milwaukee, (773)772-0002, through March 23. (2007-02-27)

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