Gallery B1E & Gretchen Hasse

Gretchen Hasse "Couple Number 1"

Went to the city yesterday and hung out with Gretchen, my artist/videographer pal who gets involved in a wide range of social causes and lives it what sounds like a really awesome commune. Anyway, her work is hanging in Gallery B1E in Rogers Park.  It was a good space in a juicy location. Here's a link to a video about the gallery and some of it's artists (I'm not real crazy about the interviewer's questions): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBucR1NlQ7U . I don't know that I spent much time (if any) in Rogers Park when I lived in Chicago, but its an interesting and extremely diverse place with what feels like an active arts community.

So I went to see Gretchen and check out her work and the gallery itself. I have one of her pieces posted here, which I picked because I have always loved her figure drawing technique. Here's Gretchen's website, if you want to see more: http://gretchenhasse.com/home.html. Beyond the piece I have here, Gretchen had a good range of stuff on display, including photography and several urban scenes using distressed windows with panes of glass as frames. This gave the impression of looking out the window at a view, which in some of the pieces created an interesting tension between the mundane idea of looking out a window and the collage-like compositions which not always are meant to be a cohesive whole and/or have a clear tie to representation.  It wasn't at all gimmcky, because the color and texture of the window frames made them an organic part of the work. We drank in her work and the work of some of the two other artists on display. One was a painter using a lot more color than Gretchen does and the other was a sculptor. It was good that the work was unrelated, as it provided a broader range of visual experience. 

Then we moved out to have dinner. We found a tiny Persian restaurant with really friendly staff called Masouleh, and we enjoyed a pleasant dinner. We chatted about her video and artwork, I provided some input on her story arc and cells from a comic she is planning, I revealed my efforts on a nascent script for a horror short called 'Revenant', and I shared my experiences learning some new sonatinas on piano.  You know 'girl talk'.

We noticed a restaurant called Den Den just down the street...with Eritrean cuisine! Never had that, though I would suspect it may be similar to Ethiopian given the geography. Definitely need to give that a whirl! There was also a Peruvian restaurant too. I think we'll be back to Rogers Park.

My Dinner With Gretchen

I had a client meeting in the city, and this was a chance for me to connect with my one of my very oldest friends. We met up on Michigan and walked from Monroe up to the the Museum of Contemporary Art for drinks. It was a glorious day, and I had to work off my lunch before I could enjoy a proper dinner.  Of course, the conversation didn't wait and - as usual - we dove right in: careers, relationships (what is an approrpriate term for our 'boyfriends' when we're in our 40s?), religion, art, and of course life updates. We always have a lot of ground to cover.

We decided to go to Firefly on Halsted for dinner but it was closed...boo hoo! So we wandered a bit and, after seeing the menu for Tapas Gitana (used to be Arco), we decided for sure we needed this. We must have been there for two or three hours sitting right by the open french doors and people watching - but mostly carrying the conversation into all areas deep, risque, and dreaming. Our waitress was totally cool and fun, and we ended up getting this fantastic bottle of red Spanish wine that we just killed.

Plus the food was fantastic!!! So I have to give a shout out to Tapas Gitana overall.  Go there!!! It made me remember how much I love tapas. Our experience was so relaxed as we tried many different things:

• Calamares A La Plancha - My second favorite cephalopod flavored with garlic, lemon and olive oil. Cooked perfectly (i.e., tender to firm but not rubbery)!
• Champiñones Rellenos - Big mushrooms full of spinach, garlic, and cheese. A mouthful of flavor!
• Montaditos de Cerdo - Pork and caramelized red onions on a sort of bruschetta. Orgasm on a plate!
• Pechuga de Pato - Duck breast with lentils, couscous, and a mushroom sauce. Mmmmm!

All of the food was delicious, and we also had dessert too. For all that, it was only my crazy high tip that took us over $100. Totally wonderful experience!
 
The ultimate cap was to walk after dinner (one of the things I will never stop missing about city life). We tried to go to Chicago Comics but they were closing (at 9PM on a weekday...how dare they!). The next day was mostly made up of the team event where I went canoeing for the first time (see last post), so this was a great way to ease into my holiday weekend while catching up with Gretchen.

Toothpaste on Chic-A-go-go

Here's the performance of Toothpaste, with me , John, and Gretchen rocking in the back. Camilo - Gretchen's boyfriend - is the lead singer. Rock that puppet, Gretchen!

Chic-A-go-go

Gretchen's boyfriend is in a band called Toothpaste that performed at a cable access show called Chic-A-go-go. Obviously the name of the show is play on the city's name, and the show bills itself as a 'dance show for kids of all ages'. With over 700 shows, Chic-A-go-go has been go-go-going for a long time (sorry, couldn't resist that little bit of wordplay). It's sort of like a psychedelic collision of Soul Train and Captain Kangaroo. Off-beat bands perform, there's a knock-knock joke telling rat puppet, and many of the people who attend as audience members dress up real crazy.

I met up with my friends Gretchen and John at the Chic-A-go-go studio this evening, and we danced through a series of tapings. Bonus was that there was a phone-in guest 'appearance' by Fred Schneider of the B-52s! The show - and our dancing - will be airing on cable TV sometime soon, though I'm not sure I'm ready for the world to see that. Assuming I can live with it, I'll post it on here. In the meantime, here's a picture of us (along with a friend of Gretchen's on the far right and Gretchen's metalhead puppet) standing on the Chic-A-go-go set.

After the taping, Gretchen, John, and I went for pizza and then a drink in Greektown. Wonderful night with great friends and lots of catching up!

Chicago Vacation: Postscript

Gretchen sent me one of the pics from Garbage Fest! Truly memorable night of theatre and performance! Definitely click this to see the full size. From what I gather this monster was made partially of sofa cushions that were painted as needed.

Chicago Vacation: Day 3

Last day of my vacation was similarly a bit busier than I had planned on. Today was the Mag Mile! I started off Michigan Avenue at a used book store. They weren't geared for the true antiquarian bibliophile, but I did find a hard copy edition of Kenilworth by Sir Walter Scott. Good buy since I would not want to spend a whole lot on his work at this point. After that it was up to the Mag Mile for window shopping and Christmas shopping. I got Jim something really nice (but I can't say what it is because it's a surprise!). I ate lunch at Baisi Thai at 900 North Michigan Avenue. Tried something semi-sushi: an octopus and sea kelp salad. It was actually very good.

While I see no reason to run on about this or that store, I did spend some time in one of the galleries along the strip: Hilligoss Galleries. Lovely interior with cordial staff. Some of the painting were quite appealing. Several of the artists were into a sort of post-impressionist style with heavy impasto that I quite liked. Not exactly edgy (subject matter ranged from Venice, flowers, water lilies, and portraits of ladies), but something I could certainly see hanging in the living room if I found just the right piece.  While I liked the paintings and they were well-executed, there is part of me that feels if I am going to pay a gallery price then I would prefer something that's less decorative and a bit more of a 'statement'. I suppose a purchase of that magnitude really should approached as an investment rather than as an expensive indulgence to fill a space on a wall.

After napping for part of the afternoon (by this time I was truly wiped out from walking around so much), I had dinner with my friend David at an Italian place in my old neighborhood. The place was actually located about a block from an apartment I rented in the city for a couple years on Broadway.  After dinner, we skipped the frou-frou desserts for ice cream sundaes.

Next morning, I walked around a bit but really just packed and relaxed before checking out and bringing this brief sojourn to an end.

Chicago Vacation: Day 2 (part two)

Okay, so after the Art Institute, my back was broken from standing around so much (ah, yes, the advance of age and infirmity!). Had a great lunch, and then went home to nap before my 1.5 hour hot stone massage in the hotel spa. Soooooo nice after a strenuous day bumming around the city.

Later that night I met up with Gretchen and her boyfriend Camilo for dinner at some little Mexican joint is Pilsen, and then we went to see Garbage Fest, a night of performance art/theatre. From what I can gather they kinda squat in a building and set up shop (and stage). So not sure how legal it is, but the various plays we saw were very thought-provoking and enjoyable. Plus, it so takes me back to my twenties to be in the city and just wandering into something really amazing just because there is so much going on in the city.

The place was decked out in these huge replicas of Garbage Pail Kids. Gretchen snapped a pic of me with this big fat satanic baby, but I haven't got the pic yet to post here. The hostess of the event was dressed up as a trashed up woman and I think she was carrying a forty with her while she gave 'drunken' introductions to the performers. The night started with a weird sort of wedding ceremony that was more flatulent than creative. Then these two guys came out and did a sort of weird intro (but I couldn't understand much of what they were saying into their mic). Their section ended well though. They had a strobe light behind a fan and were playing a repeated sound of what I think was a slowed down needle getting pulled across a vinyl record. The one guy was hunched over a tin bucket and yelled into the mic (NO. ONE. IS. FORCING. YOU. TO. DO. A. WHOLE. BUNCH. OF. STUFF. THAT. YOU. DON'T. WANT. TO. DO.). The other guys would emerge from behind the speakers and at set intervals timed to the words being said, approached the other guy and dumped some metal 'coins' in his bucket. Then the yelling guy immediately dumped them out and they did it again. Over and over and over and OVER!!! You start thinking, "This is pointless; why don't they just stop? AHA! I get it! Why don't any of us, right? Very futurist/theatre of the absurd.

The next guy came out in a strange yellow suit and did a bit of a monologue/prose poem/one man show. Part of his piece was lying out a replica of himself in his yellow suit on the floor made out of pieces of some kind of plastic. He was a little all over the place and the piece probably could have done better had he tried to not do so much. Still it was thought-provoking as you were watching it.

Then this other guy comes out with some sort of makeshift mixing board and for twenty minutes (the max time allowed), makes the most ear grinding noise by warping and twisting the noise created from his contraption. Interspersed with the noise were fragments of radio or TV programming from a snippet of a basketball sportscast to the Lava jingle to laugh tracks. By the end, many of us were plugging our ears because the noise was so loud that it made you worry about your hearing. Okay, I get it. The media is noise and we can't stand listening to it, but we don't shut it off. Still it was a bit overly annoying, though I guess theatre like this is supposed to be anti-entertaining to a certain extent. I still would have liked to wring the neck of the young guy in charge of this sound torture chamber by the time it was over.

The final piece was much bigger in scope. About ten actors/dancers involved. They were each dressed in a costume that was based off old oriental ritual garb, but instead of ornamentation the costumes bore trash: empty milkshake containers, fast food carry out containers, scraps of fabric, etc. They were moving around a maypole like contraption as an eastern-styled piece of music that sounded ritualistic droned on with gongs going off every so often. They paced around in a daze and then started trading junk with one another as they passed each other. Then they brought all their junk to the center and engaged in a frenzied dance like some sort of psychedelic voodoo ceremony. The theme obviously was the fetishization of commodities. It depicted society as a group of religious zealots/hoarders gathering and swapping their junk, oblivious to anything else. Falls flat in my text, but it was pretty hypnotic to see it performed largely due to the actors being so into the 'characters' and the really elaborate and clever trash/fetish gear.

Day 2 was over and I'm extremely pleased I decided to take a 'vacation' with some of that 'use it or lose it' PTO time, rather than just taking a bunch of 'days off.'

Chicago Vacation: Day 2 (part one)

Missed a day blogging, but I am so beat from this vacation that I'm glad I have the next week off.

Started Thursday off slow with some Zen journaling, but then I got out and went to the Art Institute. I wanted to have a good long time to spend there before my hot rock massage, and it turned out that I needed the time. I spent about 4-5 hours at the Art Institute and the best was that I went mostly to galleries that I traditionally do not go to. I avoided all the modern art, Impressionism, Expressionism, and Surrealism galleries. Instead, I went to the Thorne Miniature Rooms (intricate models of room interiors throughout the last several hundred years), the new location for the armor collection (a great visit though it didn't look like they had even half of the collection out), the restored Chagall wall (have to admit it seemed a lot more impressive when I was a kid), Far East art (including the new Ando Gallery), and the contemporary art wing (always a hoot). However, the best was the seated Buddhas.

I also stopped into the Richard Hawkins exhibition (Third Mind). I always enter contemporary art exhibitions with some trepidation because if you don't like the artist then it's a downer. If you do, however, it's wonderful fodder for the imagination and really enjoyable. This was definitely the latter. I haven't read the brochure that was provided at the entrance, so I'm only assuming he's gay (pretty safe bet based on the art). I mention this fact because, knowing he was colored my initial reaction to his art. The exhibition was broken up into many rooms, each with varying styles. He does everything from collage to installations to sculpture so it was a wonderfully varied set of pieces.

One of the initial rooms had pictures along the lines of this one, collages incorporated pieces of Classical art with words scripted onto them. The text on them (unfortunately I could only find a tame example to snag off the web) commented on the 'delectable posterior', the genitalia, and the amount of come one of the youth sculptures might produce were he real, and insinuations of Roman men rubbing against the statues for sexual gratification. My first reaction was: "Oh here's another tired queen making everything into a sex joke."

But as I read more of the pieces, I realized he was visually declaring something that I had always sort of felt about this art. Some of this stuff is clearly sexual in content and was intended to celebrate the male form for largely male viewers and we all know homosexuality was a much less taboo topic then than it is today in our allegedly post-Victorian world. All I can say is that Hawkins is 'outing' art. None of the tip-toeing around the homoerotic content that you usually see in write-ups of the material. He confronts it head on in graphic language. Brilliant! He uses a similar approach with heavy metal artists and Asian male models, exposing the rampant homoeroticism that threads through the history of all societies.

All in all, it was a long, literally back-breaking morning and afternoon in the Art Institute. Okay, this is getting to be a very long entry. I'll hold off on writing about the rest of this day until later. Gotta get out there to enjoy the last morning of my Chicago vacation.

Chicago Vacation: Day 1

Day one ended up being unexpectedly busy! If I do this again, I need to schedule more time to make sure I can relax.

While I waited for the room to be ready for check-in, I walked a couple blocks over to the Museum of Contemporary Art to check what they had up. The thing that always strikes me about that building is that it seems like there's an awful lot of wasted room/space that could go to displaying art. One of the exhibitions was called Lost and Found and it was various sculptures on display. Of course, I didn't memorize any of the artists names, and the museum website doesn't list them. And the few images they show on the website give you the message: "image protected by copyright laws" if you try to copy it. Yeah, it's all about the art, isn't it? I mean, I know I don't have a zillion people reading this blog, but why would an artist not want people posting examples of their work on blogs? Artists do make work to be SEEN, right? I mean isn't that the point? To have as many people see your work as possible?

This exhibition was very interesting. There was one work call "Weeds" that looked like a plant, but it was made of scraps of newspaper and magazine. Very visual comment on the media. Another piece I liked was called "Dialectic" (I think), and it was a wall of cinder blocks with the holes filled with material that was very simplistically rendered to look like faces. The eyes and mouths were holes that went all the way through to the back of the wall. Then there were two light sources, one shining on the front of the wall and the other backlighting it. They alternated slowly coming on and off, so that the faces were first illuminated and then back lit with light coming through the eye and mouth holes. All sorts of images went through my mind from the obvious: we're all just bricks in the wall, to stuff more specific to this work: illuminated face equals being communicated to while the back lit face is the individual thinking/reacting what they hear and all of us separated from one another. Very evocative work.

Another piece was two buddhist statues kneeling and facing one another in prayer position. Between them a string hung taught from one statue's hand to the others. In the middle of the string, a safety pin was suspended. Again this is an extremely evocative image. Is it some kind of statement about how we build these grand edifices called 'religions' merely to provide ourselves with tiny little comforts or is it a statement that two two praying people are in complicity to make each other feel safe and secure through shared religious belief, which isn't a particularly savory comment on religion overall.

Another exhibition was a single artist retrospective. The artist was Luc Tuymans, who creates simplified paintings (not minimalistic per se) of everyday objects based on photographed objects which he uses as his reference material. His approach (and pallette) really left me cold, with its unvarying and amateurish-looking approach. Too often, the pieces were so drained of anything that would compel serious introspection or engagement that you'd have to know the artist's objectives for the works to resonate, rather than having them stand on their own and speak on their own. He did have several pieces that justified the approach (and I was able to snag one off the web for this posting!). It's called "Within". It's a jail or gate with nothing back darkness beyond. This piece really makes you ponder some serious questions while you're trying to figure it out. Am I within? Or am I standing outside and looking at what is within? If I'm outside what does that say about that perspective; if inside the same question holds. Does my interpretation of the painting perspective say something about how I feel in general? Plus Tuymans' pallette really works here, creating a very ominous mood.

Another exhibit was called Contested Territory which, according to the MCA website "explores the continued conversation between history and present as well as the artist's ongoing duel with tradition as they test themselves, their materials, and the tradition of painting to keep it relevant and alive." One artist, in particular, from this collection really interested me: Leon Golub. Just glad the MCA mentioned him on the website or I would not have remembered his name at all! I snagged a pic of one of the works shown ("Reclining Youth"), which I really liked a lot. Apparently, he lays down paint and then (I think) uses chemicals or turpentine or something to corrode or chip it away and then relayers it to create a sort of eroded look. Some of his work using classical period themes (as in "Reclining Youth" which is layout is very much ancient Greek). I felt like his approach replicated in painting the passage of time around these images, almost creating the same ancient, worn appearance in his modern painting as we see in distressed sculpture from ancient societies.  Interesting way to rethink depicting standard artistic themes as well as paying homage to ancient works.

The last exhibition was around urban China, but it felt a little to cutesy-kiddie for me. Probably an 'outreach' thing of some sort. So I had a very good time at the musueum. In a way, I guess I didn't realize how much I saw in this visit. There's something positive about a musuem that doens't have so much stuff that you can't possible react to it all. I probably spent more time with the pieces here because I knew that I was going to see the whole museum so why rush?

After checking in and getting settled, I went out to have dinner with my old friend Ray. Should have got a pic to show here!!! Nice long conversation over a much needed burger/tater tot meal. Then I went to my old haunt Reckless Records and picked up Thievery Corporation's CD The Cosmic Game, which I cited in an earlier post as being sort of 'more of the same' and I skipped buying it. Well, Radio Retaliation has continued to impress me with its power and craft, so I thought I better give the Thievery boys the benefit of th doubt and grab this one. Came home quite tired and pleased with my first half day of this Chicago adventure.