Seduced by Design

Urban Oasis

Last Saturday I had errands to run downtown, a part of Chicago you can get away without visiting due to it's neighborhoods that are a little town unto themselves. After completing my tasks, I found myself in a familiar place. Surrounded by the greenery and chirping birds, it was hard to imagine I was in the heart of this metropolis. My mind wondered to happy lazy days and London. As I read my paper the only thing missing was a pret-a-manger baguette and a dog chewing on a stick near by...but this is Chicago! Click play again to repeat experience...

A Handful Of Gems

It's a sad day indeed when you attend the BA/BFA show that you were once part of and graduated from and there is only 5 student's work that makes you stop and move in for closer inspection. Columbia College is now in it's third year of showcasing it's graduating class (this year well over 100 students) in the Raw Space at 525 S. State Street. This ever poorly ventilated commercial space added to the already present feeling of clastraphobia achieved by the overcrowding of student work on the walls. This lead to some students work being placed behind pillars that few would peer around or worse in a room at the back. As seems to be the running theme in past shows, the work was broken up into Portraits, Landscapes and Food, non of which inspired. As I covered the entire space, ensuring I took the time to give each piece a chance, I snapped 5 students work who had obviously spent time and indepth thought with their vision. Keep your eys open for: Christina Mann, Christopher Starbody, Hans Seaburg, Brian Imhop (shown below) and Michael Kemp, all of which coincidently happened to be in the landscape genre.



Also, check out the MFA show at the Glass Curtain Gallery...Josh Winegar's work is both subtle and evoking.

SAIC MFA 2007

It's that time of year when all the schools in Chicago are saying goodbye to their students and putting on big extravaganza's to showcase their hard work. The School of the Art Institute of Chicago had their opening last Friday in the G2 space on Jackson. Unfortunately, as with a lot of openings, the majority of the people seemed to be more concerned with each other than with the art work in front of them. Sadly, it could be said that this was reflected in the work itself, with many of the pieces showing more of a knowledge and practise of technic, than of mastering and execution of concept. I went to support a fellow photographer Chase Carroll Bowder and am happy to say he is showing progress in his chosen subject. Other note worthy artists were: Gillian Collyer, Megan Euker, Thomas Gokey, Jinsu Han, Louie Holwerk, Sung Soo Kim, Elise Rasmussen, Bikram Singh Saggoo, Carrie Schneider, Jeremy Tinder, Feng-Shu Wang and Scott Patrick Wiener. The video is of Jinsu han's work, Multiple paint brushes painting the floor white, attached to wheels, run by motors all connected by a clay chicken head with glowing orange eyes. Very Cool! I could have stood in front of for a while, if it had not been for the bad ventilation. Please forgive the poor quality of the recording, but hopefully it will intrigue you enough to see it in person. Open may 5-18 FREE admission.