NEXT/ and other Chicago related weekend activities.
Okay. I am going to tell you about my weekend. It was pretty fancy.
So I spent the week at the Merchandise Mart helping gallerist bad boy Scott Speh set up the Western Exhibitions booth for NEXT. Next is an invitational/ curated fair that was one of five fairs happening at the Merchandise Mart, a building so large, it has it's own area code! NEXT, was super refreshing, we have not had a solid fair since the days of the stray show. Sorry for some of the images, it was a liquor fueled weekend.
It's astounding how last minute things run at a fair. There were galleries with empty booths on Thursday with only a matter of hours until the grand opening.
So anyhow, Thursday I sat at the actual Western Exhibitions gallery. This guy, Mark Wagner, makes really great collages only using dollar bills and there are lots of em', big and small.
After that I met up with my ladyfriend, Marcie, and we went on over to the mart for the opening night. There was TONS of good stuff. Okay, lets go!
Richard Heller Gallery was there...
Jacob Magraw
Damn randall!
Randall Sellers
"A Drowning Man Takes Down Those Nearest"
Lamar Peterson
Kim Light/Lightbox gallery wa s also there.
With PAPERRAD!!!!!
And their new film Problem Solvers. Har har har
Kavi Gupta gallery...
Adam Scott
The mighty Tony Tasset
Met Scott Anderson, he practices tai kwon do
Taylor de Cordoba had some work by Frohawk TwoFeathers
The West Collection was there from PA. If you are unaware of them , check them out, they want to give you a pile of money to roll around in.
They had this mega bling snake made out of acrylic nails and gold sequences.
Lisa Boyle Gallery had some paintings by Steven Husby
I chatted with this Cody Hudson... he's a real sweetheart. Some new work of his gallantly hung in the BucketRider space
Western Exhibitions threw down the gauntlet.
Melissa Oresky
"I am the world, I am the children"
"XXX sex through X-ray spex"
Geoffrey Todd Smith
Ben Stone
John Parot
Stan Shellabarger and Dutes Miller sewing themselves together
There was so much work, overwhelming, we chilled Friday for my birthday and ate ice cream cake. Marcie gifted me a nice little drawing by Kyle Fields as a reward for lasting a quarter century.
Saturday we returned to try and really look at some work instead of walking circles and drinking tons of free Grolsch. Lunch at Crust and then back to the Mart we went.
Imperfect Articles had a some work by May Mayfield
OSP gallery was showcasing some new drawings by Michael Kreuger
John Sparagana had some super rad looking, fatigued, microscopic, magazine page collage things
Frances Trombley @ David Castillo gallery
Mixed Greens/ Lee Stoetzel had this big ol' wooden vw bus
Nicholas Robinson brought some John Copeland work to Chicago.
Andrew Schoultz had work at like 10 galleries.
Chicago's own Stop Smiling magazine, brought along all you can eat free issues, a complimentary photo booth and some super hot gouache paintings y the ever elusive Tom Long.
Deb Sokolow had a monster drawing installation about Scarface, super impressive, here is a detail. My camera could not handle the massiveness of the entire thing. She also had really great books and zines with Bertran Projects.
Jeremy Mora
Sarah Bridgland
Tiny sculpture!
We decided to leave and meet up with this guy,Mike Rea , to the Black Beetle for burgers and drinks and comrades!
Then we stopped by COMA (California Occidental Museum of Art) for a erotic cakes exhibition. Edie Fake, Keith Herzig, and Jeremy Onsmith had screenprints and such there, too. Electronic noise stylings by Frenchman Jean- Louis Costes.
Edie Fake
A few old styles and boob cupcakes and we jetted down to the Co Prosperity Sphere for the final night of Version Fest.
Little Dancing Robots guys were neat
A tambourine and a saxaphone by Rae
Trippy E.T. guy- part of a big installation by The Up Set!
Brilliant Pebbles rocked the set
As well as Dj Douggpound
Met these guys
Went to bed at five a.m. tomarrow we knock it all down and start over again.
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Some really good work (minus the overly-ironic 80's band). Thanks for the coverage.
Written by jamie on 2008-04-29 19:10:45
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I went Sunday and didn't even see half this stuff. I think it was because i could not comprehend how much fantastic art was in one building.
Written by MotionIsPantomime on 2008-04-30 04:39:25
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just moved to chicago area..besides CPS, what are other galleries worth checking into?
Written by dlsuits on 2008-04-30 06:58:53
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This work is amazing in comparison to the pics you usually post from these types of events!
Written by ben on 2008-04-30 09:11:14
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yes!. like i said it was really strong for a fair.
disuits-
what neighborhood are you in?
there are lots of great places
Bucket Rider
Av-earie
Western Exhibitions
Rhona Hoffman
Reversible Eye
Green Lantern
Philip von Zweck
Deadtech
Roots and Culture
gallery 400
Packer Schopf
MCA
will that suffice for now? what kind of stuff are you into? if you need more info hit me up
Written by ryan travis christian on 2008-04-30 09:17:30
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Cody Hudson's work was "...gallantly hung".
Written by elowsky on 2008-04-30 10:06:43
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That ooo mama! ooo mama stuff is funny as hell. Those guys are funny and that Fair looks dope. Love to see heads do amazing shit with wood....
Written by Mr.Bello on 2008-05-04 19:33:11
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"i mean i like 8, but maybe it's just me.." //
