Berry Sanders: Tales from the Bubble & Interview

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I just got home from a remarkable show, so remarkable in fact, it kept me from going to the Gapers Block meet up this evening. Tonight, at the Co-Prosperity Sphere, was the opening of Tales from the Bubble, new work by Berry Sanders.

Now, I know what your thinking: retired running back Barry Sanders is making art now -- how awesome is that? And, as much as I would like to tell you that was true, it is just too good to be so. Berry Sanders is a painter from Eindhoven, in the Netherlands. He is in Chicago participating in a residency program at the Co-Prosperity Sphere.

These works are all large, black and white, oil paintings on a prepared paper, you "prepare" paper because otherwise you would get unsightly stains from both the turpentine and the oil. With the smallest dimension of every piece being 55 inches, these do demand a bit of attention. The imagery is obviously narrative, and in the statement for the show they address that calling the pieces "stories". These stories do have a lot to tell, although it is ultimately left to the viewer to decide how much and what.

These twelve stories take the viewer on an odd trip, to say the least. First, one is enveloped by the size of the show; again, the smallest dimension of every piece is almost five feet. Then, you begin to take in these large landscapes where the stories take place: huge mountain ranges, inhabited wilderness and muddy flatlands. This is about the time that I noticed "Sputnik" a story about a monkey about to go into space. I don't know about you, but I can always get down with a monkey in a space suit.

I have to say, if these were any smaller they might be unimpressive, any bigger, and it might be hard to be engaged. Color would give the viewer too much information, and it is obvious that Berry didn't want to do that; these were almost perfect for me. The one thing I had trouble with was calling these paintings. I saw some great painterly areas where swaths of paint were laid down and layered beautifully, but I had a tendency to interact with these as drawings. Using paint as a drawing medium is nothing new, that's for sure, and for these, the imagery is much more important than the application of paint on the paper. At times these would remind me of political cartoons, and that opens up a whole new can of worms that I am not ready to get into.

If you got (or get) the chance to see this show let me know what you think.

Berry Sanders: Tales from the Bubble
Sept 25 - Oct 11
Co-Prosperity Sphere
3219 S Morgan St
Chicago Il 60608
Tel : 773.837.0145

ChicagoArts Talks with International artist Paul Sierra

Cuban Artist Paul Sierra shares, with ChicagoArts, both thoughts and ideas formulated over twenty successful years as an artist.

Please join us for ChicagoArts live where Paul will be taking comments and questions.

ChicagoArts live with Paul Sierra will be held on
Tuesday September 29th at 7:30 pm Central
HERE

http://www.paulsierra.com/
http://martinjon.com/

Traveling at Home - The Art of Patrick Fitzgerald

I got the opportunity to preview the next show at Home Gallery in Hyde Park. Patrick Fitzgerald's one person show Traveling, opens on Saturday and is primarily a collection of sculptures, which are reminiscent of drawings done in the margins of 7th grade math books. Vehicles of all sorts, sleek racers, ominous surveillance vans and odd creations. These sculptures are made from recycled objects like toilet paper tubes, cardboard and scrap pieces of balsa wood.

Now, this show might of taken me to a dreamy place filled with spies, surveillance and intrigue, except for the lack of attention paid to the objects by the artist. I understand not wanting to take yourself too seriously, but I feel as if these objects are not sculptures, but more byproducts of processes Patrick uses to organize his world. The actual artwork, and what might be most interesting, is his making them.

Talking with Home Gallery co-owner, Laura Shaeffer, I found that she had a difficult time trying to find a proper way to display the work. Home Gallery, which, as the name suggests, is not only a gallery but a home as well, had to incorporate the work in a way that separated it from the other objects in the home. The vehicles, which are no more than about eight inches in any dimension, would easily be lost in the active space that Home Gallery has to work with. Pedestals were built and, as of my writing this, no final decisions were made on this front.

One aspect of the show that is top notch , is a series of landscape paintings that compliment the vehicles. These paintings, in my opinion, are the strongest part of the show. It may be because a painting is so obviously art, and these vehicle sculptures seem to be more meditations than anything else.

At the end of a long day people like to unwind with something that our day jobs don't consist of, some people walk, others drink, Patrick makes some cool stuff and if your interested you can see what at Home Gallery, Saturday September 19, 2009, 6-9 pm.


Traveling recent work by Patrick Fitzgerald

PRESENTED BY: Home Gallery, 1407 E. 54th Place, Chicago, IL 60615
Opening reception: Saturday, September 19, 2009, 6-9 pm
Closing brunch: Sunday, October 11, 2009 12-3 pm

CONTACT: Laura Shaeffer - laura.shaeffer@gmail.com, 773.363.5935

If I Can Do It, You Can Do It Too

During September in West Chicago, Berit Nørgaard of Copenhagen, is performing a social project as part of the West Chicago Museum's Artist in Residence program. If I Can Do It, You Can Do It Too asks individuals of the West Chicago community to tell Berit what they would like to learn, and then she goes out and tries to find others who, not only have the skill, but are also willing to teach it. Most lessons will be conducted in the West Chicago Museum and the durations are limited to an hour depending on the skill being taught.

This project is being introduced to West Chicago on a simple two sided flier, one side written in English and the other in Spanish, the approach seems a bit lack luster, although I firmly believe in the basic premise. I found Berit's actions to be both noble and novel. As a foreigner, to not only the community but to the country, she has a lot of hurdles to overcome in a months time. Berit addresses this project as a way to look at people in our communities as possessing potential rather than posing a threat.

The official press release states "Nørgaard's projects invite people to make small exchanges. The aim is to engage the other as an attentive potential that forms new perspectives on how to go about living." I think this project will mean something very different to different people. I, for one, have always learned from my neighbors, from how to play games as a kid, to how to fix my car as an adult. I understand that this is not how a lot of people in the world learn, so if you are interested in learning something new and would like to participate in If I Can Do It, You Can Do It Too feel free to contact Berit with what you would like to learn at you-can-too@hotmail.com.

Currently Berrit is looking to find people...

...who would like to learn
Origami
Knitting
Composting
Journalistic Writing
Sharpen Gardening Tools

...who would like to teach
Piano
African Drumming
Business Plan Writing
Introduction to Dance

Upon completion of this project Berit will put together in a small publication containing information gathered during the process.

this is just a test

Here is a painting I did that I now get to enjpy in my living room.

Ecofriendly Interview with Shannon Downey

Is there Magic in Art (or) A Simple Portrait

I think that most people would agree, in theory at least, that there is some sort of magic in the arts. Somewhere between the artist and their canvas, script, lens, or myriad of other mediums, lies something that is hard to grasp. Why is it that music is a class I never here about from high school students? Why is being an artist so damn novel to so many people? What the hell do I care that your cousin is a real good drawer?

As an artist I have created thousands of drawings, paintings, prints and all sorts of other kinds of artwork. Some of those pieces are, of course, more substantial than others, in terms of importance, to me and/or to the world in which they reside. Art is no joke. There is some serious stuff going on here and the proof of what is going on there is often just out of reach. With historically famous artists being quoted as saying thinks like, “There is only one valuable thing in art: the thing you cannot explain.” George Braque or “Art evokes the mystery without which the world would not exist.” Rene Magritte, we, as artists, live day to day, working within this mystery, trying desperately to explain that our work is important to someone somewhere.

In 2001 I began a project I simply call my Portrait Project. In this project I bring art into homes by doing portraits of people. It is a huge project and I have done 473 portraits, to date. The portraits are done in oil pastel on Bristol board and, that is where the technical aspect of this project ends. From this point on I am going to talk about the mystery of art and how I have been stumbling on the threshold of something very interesting.


Upon completion, every portrait I have done, has been given to the person it is a portrait of. This was, and is, an attempt to help people have art in there lives, to try and explain or impart some of that art mystery into the lives of people.
A funny thing began to happen after I had been working on this project for a time. People who had their portraits done were telling me about a process that I was familiar with. They were telling me that over the first 48 hours of owning the work, their feelings about it would change. One moment they would love it, the next they would be self conscious about some aspect of the portrait. They were going through, what I now consider the taming of an artwork.

Lets say that art is some sort of raw creation, and that an artist has a very specific skill of tapping into the ether of what binds us all together. Under these circumstances, when a piece of art is completed by an artist there needs to be an amount of time to look upon their creation and exclaim, "it is good". While this raw art is being examined by the artist, they begin to struggle with decisions they made, they think about their life they meditate, all sorts of things go on during this process, all the while imbuing the recently complete work of art with meaning, vitality and life. Personal insights, political commentary, reality that is so real it is hardly recognized as such, these things are there with us not really knowing where they came from, we are lucky if we get to recognize any of that before it gets either piled in the studio or shipped off to a gallery. Once again art is no joke.

Moving back to the Portrait Project, people take these portraits willingly, and for the next two days real in self reflection, hopefully changing them from that day forward. It is hard to know if this process is similar to musicians, and actors or performance artists. I would assume that they have something that is similar but as a painter I stare into a painting, and I have watched people stare into their portraits unable to look away, gathering and instilling information, understanding something very primal and raw. Unable to explain it they grow knowing that not everything needs an explanation.

For those of you who know about this phenomenon please let me know by leaving a comment. I would also like to hear from people whose portraits I have done, Thank You.