First, it was quiet. Like a street in the early hours before a parade. A feeling of ceremony hung in the air, underscored by the seats still being set up before the […]
Everyone’s Picasso, Amid Confusion and Disappointment
Blondie and Garbage Prove They Can Still Rock
After 40 years, Debbie’s still got it. Punk rock veterans Blondie delivered an incredible performance at Ravinia Festival to a massive, diverse crowd. Both Debbie Harry and Chris Stein have been with […]
Sketchbooks Tell Stories at 8th International Urban Sketchers Symposium
This past week, Chicago hosted the 8th International Urban Sketchers Symposium, drawing over 600 artists and hobbyists from all over the world to fill their sketchpads with the bustling life of the […]
ArtSea: Shedd Aquarium Unveils Sculpture Ahead of New Exhibit
It’s a seahorse of a different color at the Shedd Aquarium. Visitors to the Waters of the World exhibit, which showcases the vast variety of sea life from all different regions of […]
Slack Curation Belies History at the MCA’s To the Racy Brink
In 1967, a small group of curators, art historians, artists, critics, and architects set up shop in the former Playboy headquarters at 237 E. Ontario Street. They shared in a singular conviction: […]
Bill Graham and the Rock and Roll Revolution Comes to Chicago
“The streets were never full of flowers.” -Bill Graham, Fillmore: The Last Days Visual and auditory introduction to Bill Graham and the Rock and Roll Revolution The 1960s promoted revolution, rebellion, and […]
Photo Shows on Poverty, Joan of Arc, and Commercialized Beauty Now on Display @ LUMA
The Loyola University Museum of Art (LUMA) offers a plethora of photographs on display this summer, featuring three exhibitions: Jeffrey Wolin’s Pigeon Hill: Then and Now; Michelle Murphy’s Responsive Beauty; and Susan Aurinko’s Searching for Jehanne, The Joan […]
Dark Photographs Divulge Racism and Xenophobia in WWII Japanese Internment Camps
Then They Came for Me: Incarceration of Japanese Americans during WWII and the Demise of Civil Liberties is a monumental exhibition at the Alphawood Gallery that examines a dark episode in American […]
Book Review: The Peregrine Returns Is a Joy to Read
I can’t be the only one who has forgotten how to look up. Whether your heart is heavy with worries or your mind occupied with office bullshit, any cloud of frustration can […]
Cultural Legacy in the Year of Public Art: From Picasso to Mucca Pazza
At the start of 2017, the Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events announced Chicago’s Year of Public Art (YOPA), in recognition of the 50th anniversary of the famed untitled Picasso sculpture that […]
Darkest Before Dawn: A Dark Circus of Music, Theater and Fashion
Friday, June 30, is the time to get your gothic on for a good cause, and for a night of entertainment. Collaboraction Theatre Company is hosting Darkest Before Dawn: A Dark Circus […]
Mr. & Mrs. Wednesday Night’s Comedy of the Avant-Garde
The backroom of a dive bar is hardly where one expects to find fresh voices in contemporary performance art. Then again, The Hideout has never been just a dive bar. An unassuming […]