As denizens of the neighborhood nurse their thirsty vehicles at the BP station on East Hyde Park Boulevard, just east of the Metra tracks, they can already hear it. Perhaps they are distracted by the hiss of the frothing pump or are inside buying a bag of Flaming Hot Cheetos; but if you pause and look around, they all appear to be swaying to a subdued bass line and a chilling croon with no ostensible earthly source. Around the corner, the street is showered from above with dense light. Clouds and skulls dance before the sidewalk on a monolithic screen, accompanied by a tune that has already become to local residents disarmingly familiar.

This nightly apparition that haunts the corner of East Hyde Park and Cornell every night from 4 to 10pm is only a peripheral component of “Notes to Nonself,” an installation that has been hosted at the Hyde Park Art Center for the past 21 days and will remain until May 2. Read the rest of this entry »

“We don’t hear too much about Haiti anymore, because most Americans were evacuated.” Thus East Coast artist Charles Jean-Pierre, a Chicago native and the son of Haitian immigrants, introduces a fundraiser in support of Haiti on Mardi Gras, February 16, at the University of Chicago. Read the rest of this entry »

On the ground lies Geoffrey, a cat who has seen better days. His limbs are splayed out and his skin is peeled off. The apparatus that killed Geoffrey is constructed from simple materials: a plastic bag, an air mattress pump, hair, epoxy, and packaging tape. The bag is appended to the twisted form of the animal and can be inflated from underneath in a novel method of torture that only uses household materials. A table, strewn with makeshift construction materials—Styrofoam cups, a plastic fan, clothespins—faces a wall filled with sketches for various other devices. The macabre scene is part of “Inland Architect,” the new installation piece by artist Chris Smith at Pilsen’s antena gallery. Read the rest of this entry »

On one wall, a woman cradles her dead child in her arms. On another, bloody birds are tacked to a barn door. Turn around and you will find—if your eyes are sharp enough to see across the dimly lit gallery—soulless corpses hovering above a dark Parisian skyline, victims of a cholera epidemic. You’ve been warned: “The Darker Side of Light: Arts of Privacy, 1850-1900,” the new exhibit at the University of Chicago’s Smart Museum, is not for the faint of heart. Read the rest of this entry »

Chicago’s art scene continues to elude easy characterization, but the creative crosstalk between our own art community and those of smaller Midwestern cities is turning Chicago into a regional center of creative dialogue. Tapping into this teeming reservoir is Pilsen’s No Coast Collective, whose new series of gallery shows, “Exhibitions and Editions,” is devoted to presenting the work of artists from Chicago, the Midwest, and beyond. The series starts off on Saturday, February 13, with an exhibition of work from Minneapolis-based printmakers and designers Danimal and Jes Seamans, entitled “Look Into the Light.” Read the rest of this entry »

At a damp and dark hour in Pilsen, a few people stand in a semi-circle in the window of a storefront, drinking hot chocolate with whiskey. Over the course of a couple of hours, the group fluctuates. Artists and friends tenacious enough to brave the slush and ice come in and out, clutching warm Styrofoam cups. This is the opening celebration for “Street Level,” a series of art installations in the windows of seven storefronts that will be visible from the street to anyone who walks down Halsted between 18th and 19th Streets this February. Read the rest of this entry »

In the United States, the prevailing notion of Iran is one of religious fundamentalism and political oppression. “Iran” conjures up images of veiled women, state-sponsored terrorism, and nuclear weapons; rarely is it connected with contemporary art. “Dialogue,” a new exhibition of collaborative U.S.-Iranian art, opens January 29 at the Co-Prosperity Sphere in Bridgeport. The show presents a very different reflection on Iranian culture and its relationship with the United States. Read the rest of this entry »

Lines are being blurred in the Chicago art scene. As demonstrated by last Saturday’s Artist Run Spaces Tour, organized by the Hyde Park Art Center, the divisions between artist and curator, studio and gallery, office and home really aren’t so defined after all. The Artist Run Spaces Tour represents HPAC’s contribution to the year-long Studio Chicago project, a collaborative project that seeks to celebrate methods and places of artistic production. Read the rest of this entry »