Exhibits

Museum of Contemporary Art – October 1, 2024

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Finally, a way to promote societal interests through the recycling of my old tea bags. Apparently, ala Tania Bruguera’s Poetic Justice collage at the Museum of Contemporary Art, I can sew hundreds of them together on canvas and then convince someone that the result belongs in a museum as part of an exhibit called Trade Windings: De-Lineating the American Tropics.

Martha Stewart would be proud.

Not to be outdone in terms of using items found around the house, Juana Valdés created a boat sail (Tranquil Waterways) by sewing together cotton handkerchiefs, which by the look of them, had not, fortunately, unlike the tea bags, already served their original purpose.

I guess I’m going to have to learn how to sew.

Moving on to the Arthur Jafa: Works from the MCA Collection exhibit, I was visually overwhelmed, but not literally overpowered, by the credible cutout of The Incredible Hulk, though somewhat disappointed that it wasn’t made by sewing together leftover containers from carryout orders.

I concluded with Virginia Jaramillo: Principle of Equivalence, which, I must grudgingly admit, had a series of simple, elegant, unpretentious acrylics on canvas that I wouldn’t be embarrassed to hang on my walls. Bet you didn’t see that one coming.

 

 

Clown Torture and Spectrum Colors Arranged by Chance – Art Institute of Chicago – August 30, 2024

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I’ve never been scared of clowns, as some people are. I’ve always liked them, until I saw Bruce Nauman’s Clown Torture.

The exhibit, at the museum until November, is described as “utter cacophony, an aural and visual assault.” Is that a good thing? Not to me.

The “artist’s” suggested viewing time of the four films is an hour. A minute is more than enough. The only one that I found at all interesting was of a clown sitting on an accessible toilet reading a magazine (that should tell you something), but the awful racket from the other films, playing simultaneously, drove me from the theater before I could fully appreciate the profundity of the bathroom’s mise-en-scène.

Fortunately, I thought, I could salvage my visit with the soon-to-close Elizabeth Kelly 10-piece exhibit of Spectrum Colors Arranged by Chance. Swing and a miss.

Using papier gommette, which is, we are told, commonly used by French schoolchildren, Kelly’s work fits right into that mode.

She is described as one of the 20th century’s defining artists, creating collages using the “modified random technique.” If it’s random, what skill is she bringing to the table? I’m guessing this is one instance where no one would be able to tell the difference between Kelly’s work and one produced by artificial intelligence, except perhaps by the price tags.

A Bigger Table: 50 Years of the Chicago Poetry Center – Poetry Foundation – July 25, 2024

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I’ve walked past the Poetry Foundation approximately three million times since it opened its current location in 2011, and, until now, never stopped in. Part of the reason was that, on the first nine hundred fifty three thousand two hundred twelve or so occasions, I couldn’t figure out where the door was.

It wasn’t just me. A review of the building on the Chicago Detours tour company website said: “Upon initial entry I became briefly confused as an eddy of space was revealed. I found an court that was easily interpreted as the main entry, though it is a dead end.”

But, today, I approached from a different side and voila, an epiphany, as if I were Newton under the apple tree. I believe I had some help, as physical changes have been made, again, not just according to me, but also confirmed by someone I ran into on the street, later, on my way out.

The current exhibit is A Bigger Table: 50 Years of the Chicago Poetry Center. I have no idea where the organization was housed prior to 2011, perhaps in some bohemian cafe that was big enough to warehouse over 30,000 volumes.

Of the 30 or so short poems covering one of the walls, I could find only one, Wish You Were Here, by Denise Duhamel, that drew me in. It started, “I’m writing to you from inside a red m&m.” Unfortunately, it wasn’t like a wine tasting, where they pair cheeses. No bites were available.

Chicago Style: Mike Royko and Windy City Journalism – The Newberry – June 25, 2024

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I was an avid reader of Mike Royko, whose influence on me may be somewhat evident in my own irreverent style.

Though I don’t think we exchanged any pleasantries, I was present at his August 15, 1971 penny-pitching contest in the Chicago Daily News parking lot, the famous large photo of which adorns the exhibit. Unfortunately I’m not captured in the shot.

Royko won the 1972 Pulitzer Prize for Commentary. If I hope to follow in his footsteps, I may need to make some adjustments.

The exhibit includes four typed pages, with handwritten edits, from Royko’s book Boss. Perhaps I should start showing all my tracked changes in my blog, though doing so would break the illusion I hoped to create that my prose just comes gushing out of me fully-formed,

Then there was the matter of Royko’s “fictional neighborhood-guy everyman” Slats Grobnik. Do I need my own alter ego? (Then I wouldn’t have to write “I” so much.) What would he be like?

Finally, there’s all the good contacts he had (and I don’t). His rolodex (what’s that?) was on display, open to the card for Studs Terkel. I sat next to Terkel at a restaurant once, but no contact information was exchanged. I need to find my own names to drop, which means I might have to interact with people.

To that end, and further inspired by the display of some of Royko’s press passes, I have located the page on the United States Press Agency website with information regarding press passes for bloggers. Also, now that the Democratic National Convention Committee has announced that it will allow social media content creators to apply for credentials to cover the 2024 convention in Chicago (that’s going to be interesting), that could be my ticket to fame and fortune, and my own exhibit at The Newberry.

Georgia O’Keeffe: “My New Yorks” Member Reception – Chicago Art Institute – June 24, 2024

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Note to self – next time you go to an event at the Art Institute that features “light bites,” skip everything but the chocolate banana bread.

It stands to reason that trained experts know a lot more than I do about their chosen fields, but that doesn’t mean that all the opinions they serve are easily digested. So, when curator Annie Morse told us that she viewed Georgia O’Keeffe’s Black Cross as, in a way, a self portrait, I had to take it with more than a grain of salt to make it appealing to my uneducated palate. (No amount of salt could have helped the quiche.)

That said, Morse gave an interesting, educational presentation in a nice half-hour package that included, not only photographs of New York from her husband Alfred Stieglitz, but also some mention of and visuals from other artists who Morse saw as influenced by O’Keeffe, including Roger Brown and his famous Leaning Tower of Touhy, housed at the Art Institute.

As for the exhibit itself, it was crowded, so I’ll have to go back to spend more time with it. It’s probably good, so I’ll give it a provisional four brushes for now and salt it away for future reference.

007 Science: Inventing the World of James Bond – Museum of Science and Industry – June 18, 2024

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It’s never too late for a new career, so why not secret agent, although, with James Bond, there never was anything secret about who he was (even repeating his last name to make sure everyone knew) or who employed him. His idea of a disguise was putting on a pair of glasses in Her Majesty’s Secret Service.

Nevertheless, after gazing bleary-eyed at the massive amount of information about, and science behind, Bond’s gadgets, I tried the interactive, computerized, disguise station at the exhibit. I failed miserably, most notably in how well I would have blended into my environment (not at all).

Moving on, I killed myself multiple times attempting to recreate stunts from Goldeneye, The Man with the Golden Gun and Casino Royale (the remake).

What was left of the car from the CR stunt was present, looking exactly as battered as it appeared post stunt in the movie after rolling over seven times. Intact vehicles, however, abounded throughout the exhibit: cars, submarines, submarine cars, flying cars, motorcycles, boats, snowmobiles, jetpacks, etc.

My talents for a field assignment were further dashed by one look at Hang Time, which I skipped after reading the sign that said “ For your safety, do not use Hang Time if you have hand, knee, back, neck, or shoulder problems.” The only thing was missing was my picture.

I also wasn’t great at hiding listening and viewing devices, so a Q position is probably not in the offing.

Finally, I gave myself some hope with success at the decoding station. So perhaps a desk job with MI6, although I’m certainly not prepared for the British equivalent of a Three Days of the Condor adventure.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Level Up: Writers and Gamers – American Writers Museum – May 23, 2024

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The only thing I know about Dungeons and Dragons is what I’ve seen on The Big Bang Theory. I also have seen the movies Ready Player One, Free Guy, Tetris, The Last Starfighter, Cloak and Dagger, Tron and Pixels, and the first season of Fallout, all together unfortunately still not enough to make me a hit at those geek parties I long to attend.

Way back when, I played Zork and Myst, not particularly well.  Both are mentioned in the exhibit, giving me at least a smidgen of credibility and knowledge that I thought I could at least quadruple by attending the exhibit’s opening event.

Alas, my attention span for such things is sorely lacking and I learned nothing except that game playing had changed the lives of a couple of creators who gave heartfelt and mercifully short speeches.

I spent a few minutes chatting with a couple guys from an organization of people who make movie props. They had a table with some samples, including guns, which I quickly found out were rubber, so phew.

Money Museum – Chicago Federal Reserve Bank – April 23, 2024

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First answer – yes the museum gives out samples. Really. But they’re of shredded bills and you’re only supposed to take one piece (though I don’t think anyone was watching).

And, you have to reach into a dark hole, ala something Indiana Jones might do, and though I doubted there were spiders or snakes guarding the paper (actually 75% cotton and 25% linen), I decided to forego the experience.

Second answer – “not a clue”, to the question of whether, after spending my whole life here, I had any idea that this museum existed (before yesterday).

Third answer – definitely worth the visit. I may have spent more time there than I did at the Louvre. And the Buy Bonds posters are worthy of any art gallery. I was particularly fascinated by the one featuring Joan of Arc (probably Jeanne D’Arc on any copies at Musée du Louvre).

I learned a lot about Military Payment Certificates used during the Viet Nam troop deployment, including how easy it apparently was to counterfeit them.

I leaned a lot about counterfeiting, not how to do it (darn), but how to spot it and the fact that, at the time of the U.S. Civil War (also, strictly speaking, not a war) almost one-third of all the U.S. currency in circulation was counterfeit (today only about .03%, but who uses cash anymore anyway, probably just counterfeiters).

To show how hip they are, the curators also have an area dedicated to the first Secretary of the Treasury (and Broadway star), Alexander Hamilton that included quotes from the musical.

There was plenty more, but perhaps the best thing was the Life Cycle of a Dollar section featuring a wonderful Rube Goldberg-type contraption that would look great in my living room.

 

 

A Night at Mr. Kelly’s Exhibit – The Newberry – April 16, 2024

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I’ve never read or seen The Accidental Tourist, but accidentally joined a tour of the A Night at Mr. Kelly’s exhibit at The Newberry (running through July 20) when I unknowingly burst into the back of a gathering just as the docent began her spiel.

I think the last time I did something like that was in Luxembourg City in the mid 1980’s when I had the good fortune to stumble upon the back of the pack of a group of American college students (not my status at the time) being shown around the walled city.

Alas, I remember nothing about Luxembourg City, other than the McDonald’s where I grabbed an orange juice. Nevertheless I’m sure that experience didn’t include stories about Barbra Streisand’s signature being forged for patrons because her hand got tired, the building burning down just as Lainie Kazan was about to sing Smoke Gets in Your Eyes and the audience being handed their checks as they fled the establishment. Also, where else can you see Lenny Bruce’s bar tab.

I saw Woody Allen at Mr. Kelly’s the night of my senior prom and the docent confirmed for me that such parties were accommodated, no fake IDs required. Woody is not mentioned in the exhibit, though, again, the docent confirmed that he appeared at the club several times and his lack of inclusion in the exhibit was not related to later accusations against him, the only person purposefully excluded being Bill Cosby.

The exhibit makes a point of the diversity in Mr. Kelly’s performers and audience members often not found at other clubs of its era, but, I might add, also not in today’s tour group.

Dan Friedman: Stay Radical – The Art Institute of Chicago – February 2, 2024

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When modernism just isn’t enough, why not radical modernism, of which Friedman was apparently the father. But that was years ago, so I looked up ultraradical to see how far things have gone. The second definition of that involves the complete surgical removal of organs in a body cavity, so I’m glad he didn’t go there. What would that design look like – a blank canvas?

When asked, the security guard standing ten feet away from the door to the Architecture and Design room where the exhibit was housed didn’t know where the exhibit was, so I dared to be great and read the sign next to the door, which informed me.

I liked Friedman’s work, in particular the Gallimaufry and ICA Street Sights posters, Deep Sea Meltdown (a startling replica of my hall closet) and Tornado Fetish (an even more startling replica of my brain in the morning).

Friedman was said to have scavenged streets for materials and displayed them at home, using his apartment as a lab, recycling at its best.

And, just when I thought I had seen it all, I read that he was inspired by the futuristic decor of the Jetsons. If I could have snuck his Asteroid Lamp under my coat, I would have considered it. I wasn’t worried about the security guard noticing.