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Chicagoheads, or anyone going near Chicago before August, go go go! Some of it was exactly what you want it to be, some of it was exactly what you donāt want it to be, much of it is both at the same time. Interesting, convicting, sad, exciting, Iām hyper off this exhibit
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Jul 12, 2025
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Hidden in a neighborhood in a building designed by Ando, lots of rotating exhibitions often involving queer art and history, digital art, and bigger art and architecture retrospectives. Prob as close to a secret big art space as you can get in Chicago.
Feb 25, 2025
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I saw this show in LA in 2023 and couldnāt stop thinking about it. So much so, I told my boss at the museum they should consider bringing the show to Chicago. The show has arrived and is such a powerful exploration of spectacle, mass culture, sports, and conceptual art. And so many of the galleries felt like little cathedrals, as if going to the museum or the sports match was akin to going to church. If youāre in Chicago, come thru and experience this show! Tuesday nights are free to Illinois residents.
Pictured below is a snippet of his installation depicting Justin Bieberās body carved out of wood, in the same manner and by the same artisans who make religious icons and reliquaries.
Pictured below is a snippet of his installation depicting Justin Bieberās body carved out of wood, in the same manner and by the same artisans who make religious icons and reliquaries.
Jul 16, 2025
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Located at the intersection of Western and Cermak in Chicago, the Western Pole is a makeshift rotating exhibition space on a city-owned light pole. Itās run by the artist and curator Jesse Malmed and is one of the single most delightful things in my life. I get to walk by it on my commute to the train and see the exhibitions change at a seemingly random cadence. Theyāre usually poster-based in format but Iāve seen a very cool sculpture of a birdhouse affixed to the pole and sometimes the work is interactive, using phone numbers, QR codes, and even links to artistās Venmoās. Iām aching to know how artists are picked and what the general āinfrastructureā of running the pole is. But also, Iām addicted to the mystery and in love with the reclamation of The Commons.
Chicago has a gorgeous and historied community of alternative art spaces, including an ecosystem of apartment galleries and non-traditional exhibition spaces. We have Barely Fair, a miniature art fair with tiny booths. Thereās a gallery run out of someoneās purse and a now-closed space that existed inside of someoneās medicine cabinet! One curator commissioned artists to make earrings and used her earlobes and neck as an exhibition space. Iām even in on it. My husband and I ran Curb Appeal Gallery out of our living room for a year and a half!
I guess what Iām trying to say is, be scrappy, be nimble, and be creative. You want to do a show, build up your artist CV, get into curatorial work? Make the spaces you want to be within. They can be as simple as a city light pole.
Chicago has a gorgeous and historied community of alternative art spaces, including an ecosystem of apartment galleries and non-traditional exhibition spaces. We have Barely Fair, a miniature art fair with tiny booths. Thereās a gallery run out of someoneās purse and a now-closed space that existed inside of someoneās medicine cabinet! One curator commissioned artists to make earrings and used her earlobes and neck as an exhibition space. Iām even in on it. My husband and I ran Curb Appeal Gallery out of our living room for a year and a half!
I guess what Iām trying to say is, be scrappy, be nimble, and be creative. You want to do a show, build up your artist CV, get into curatorial work? Make the spaces you want to be within. They can be as simple as a city light pole.
Feb 25, 2025
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And we split a white pizza and salad and had some beers
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Clockwise: wallet Iāve had since 7th grade, phone and vape chargers and bricks, credentials, portable battery, pants, marker/pen assortment, book, sketchbook, toothbrush+paste,. earbuds and a couple more pens slid out of frame but Iām not setting that up again