Three Walls Gallery - "Sin Will Find You Out" - Paintings and a video - The paintings were heavily patterned, brightly colored, large, and painted directly on canvas that was stretched to the wall with grommets (which Eric liked. He likes metal things.) One grouping was a series of abstracted, stylized super-hero masks, and the other was a series of similarly stylized crosses. The treatment of each can best be described as incredibly "fancy." Like they almost should have been made out of glowing neon lights and glitter, or something. So yes, the impulse towards organized religion and escapist super-hero fantasy is very similar, if not the same, in governing people's ideals, behaviors, aspirations, and moral codes. And both are very decorative and fancy.
The video, which seemed to be much stronger, was a series of urban scenes, shot at night, as though on a quest for something. Or perhaps to set the scene for some larger action later. The camera does find something: a guy dressed up as Spiderman, lurking in some sort of dark basement. Spiderman lurks and tries to hide from view, but the more this happens the more futile his hiding seems- it becomes more obvious that this is no superhero with magnificent powers, but a guy dressed up as some thing he's not, and perhaps a little sensitive about the fact that we caught him at it. He doesn't want to be seen - he doesn't want us to examine his outfit perhaps, and see how fake it is. ( I would have been happy with just this sequence, but I guess I like simplicity.)
Western Exhibitions - Walking Books - I like Stan Shellabarger ( and his partner Dutes, who wasn't really part of this show, although I saw him there) so I was happy to see this show so soon upon arriving in Chicago. This work continued in the conceptual framework the two have established in their collaborative work - repetitive creative acts that build up to something larger, usually both creating something and destroying/obstructing something in the process. Stan had a series of "walking books," in which he walked repetitively on paper in fixed paths and differing surfaces, until the texture of the surface wore through the paper or left a significant mark. This left intricate, almost lace-like holes and patterns in the papers, which was then displayed, both as an object and a record of an action.
Kavi Gupta Gallery - NPR (Neighborhood Public Radio) - A collaborative group that has figured out how to make radio and TV transmitters, as well as intense electronic sound machines, out of pretty much anything. They have been around for a few years (were at the Whitney Biennial this year) and focus on creating community-based radio broadcasts, on their home-made radio transmitters. Ok, I really don't know all that they do, or how it all works, but this show featured them in a room, making some wildly intense sound mixes using all manner of electric equipment, including electronic toys and vintage radio thingies. They were making some of the stuff right there during the performance, which was mesmerizing, for no other reason than they were quite obviously totally enjoying themselves, getting caught up in the nearly hedonistic act of making SO MUCH NOISE. And with things they made themselves, out of junk. They are pretty in that way - a DIY/populist approach to the commercially dictated sphere of media and sound. And they're giving workshops over the next month so we can all learn how to take over the airwaves.
And if you're interested in further discussion of the evening, check out PhotoAwesome, where Walker posted a video of us acting all giddy and gleeful at being in Chicago.
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