recycle your ideas

early 1900s

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Art and Technology in Chicago

Art and Technology in Chicago
by Miguel Cortez
(published in Contratiempo, October 2011)

"Skin has become inadequate in interfacing with reality. Technology has become the body's new membrane of existence." - Nam June Paik


This article is by no means a history of New Media Art, but will focus on a few artists using new technologies in Chicago.


New Media Art's roots can be traced back as far as to the mid to late 1800s with the invention of animation projectors such as the "zoetrope" and the "praxinoscope" and continued on to the use of experimental sound instruments called "intonarumori" by the Italian Futurists in 1913.


It evolved and expanded as new technologies came about such as the invention of video and affordable video cameras such as the Sony Portapak introduced in 1967. Nam June Paik is considered to be the first artist to use this technology. Although early computers were mostly used by engineers, scientists and computer programmers in universities, artists also found this technology as a new tool for expression. The origins of computer art dates back to 1960 with the invention of the Henry Drawing Machine by Desmond Paul Henry. This led to him having a solo show in London in 1962.




Nowadays artists use 3D virtual social environments to create sculptures or interactive performances. One such artist, Patrick Lichty uses Second Life as a virtual performance space with his group Second Front. They explain on their web site: "Second Front creates theatres of the absurd that challenge notions of virtual embodiment, online performance and the formation of virtual narrative."  In a separate art piece Lichty recreated in Second Life the sculpture titled Spindle by the artist Dustin Shuler which existed in Berwyn, Illinois from 1989 until its demolition in May of 2008. It consisted of eight cars impaled on a 50 foot spike. The sculpture was removed to make way for a Walgreen's drive-thru window but now thanks to Lichty, it exists in a virtual world.


A local group called I Love Presets consisting of Jon Sartrom, Rob Ray and Jason Soliday create physical(not virtual) multimedia performances consisting of digital video, circuit bent electronics, custom video games and audio software. A review of a performance at the Gene Siskel Film Center explains, "The trio chops up and recontextualizes bits of digital ephemera into new processes, sounds, and even games; it may sound a bit techy, but one look at Ray's ultra-provocative Guilty Party installation or ILP's labyrinthine website, and it becomes clear that the gadgetry's impressive, but the concepts are just as fully formed."


In 2009 Ben Chang did an installation of two virtual characters doing a performance using telegraph machines and video projectors. Each computer generated character is seen tapping on their virtual telegraphs while next to the two projections a real antique telegraph equipment produces the sound. It is a love performance between two virtual characters that uses old antiquated instruments alongside the new and in my opinion gives an homage to the origins of technology.


The use of the internet has also been used by artists. Earlier this year artists Adam Trowbridge and Jessica Westbrook organized a one night show of web performances at Antena in Pilsen called Daisy Chain. Using multiple projectors and computers they filled the space with a continuous array of moving images, pictures, sound and text. This also included a gallery performance by Jeff Kolar manipulating the sound of Hallmark sound greeting cards.


We are not limited to the media that I listed before. We live in a time period were technology is evolving at a rapid scale. Computer chips are becoming smaller and holding more memory which in turn give us access to faster computers, tablets and smartphones. Pretty soon we may be able to create nanobots which will help heal and repair the human body at the cellular level or we may create life-size holodeck simulated virtual environments. As all these developments occur I am sure artists will find a way to use them for experimentation.


Links:
Patrick Lichty: http://www.voyd.com/
Second Front: http://www.secondfront.org
I Love Presets: http://ilovepresets.net/
Ben Chang: http://www.bcchang.com/art/sounderandrelay/index.php
Daisy Chain by Adam Trowbridge and Jessica Westbrook: http://antenapilsen.com/exhibit28.html


-------------------------------

Arte y tecnología en Chicago

“La piel se ha vuelto inadecuada para interactuar con la realidad.
La tecnología se ha convertido en la nueva membrana existencial del cuerpo”.
Nam June Paik

Este artículo en modo alguno constituye una historia del arte de nuevos medios, sino que se enfocará en unos cuantos artistas que utilizan tecnologías nuevas en Chicago. Las raíces del arte de nuevos medios se remontan inclusive a la segunda mitad del siglo XIX con la invención de proyectores de animación como el zoótropo o el praxinoscopio, y continúan hasta 1913 con el uso de instrumentos de sonido experimentales, como los llamados “intonarumori” usados por los futuristas italianos.

Estos medios evolucionaron y se expandieron en la medida en que aparecían nuevas tecnologías, como el vídeo, o a partir de la popularización de las cámaras de vídeo, a partir de la introducción de la Sony Portapak en 1967. Nam June Paik está considerado como uno de los primeros artistas en usar esta tecnología. Si bien las primeras computadoras eran usadas más que nada por ingenieros, científicos y programadores en las universidades, los artistas también encontraron esta tecnología como una nueva herramienta para la expresión. Los orígenes del arte por computadora se remontan a 1960 con la invención de la Máquina de Dibujo Henry por parte de Desmond Paul Henry, quien la presentó por vez primera en una exhibición en Londres en 1962.

Hoy en día, los artistas usan ambientes sociales virtuales en 3D para crear esculturas o llevar a cabo performances interactivas. Uno de estos artistas, Patrick Lichty, usa el programa Second Life como espacio para una performance virtual junto con su grupo Second Front. El grupo explica en su página Web que Second Front “crea teatros del absurdo que prueban hasta el límite los conceptos de encarnación virtual, online performance y la formación de la narrativa virtual”. En otra pieza, Lichty recreó en Second Life la escultura llamada “Spindle” de Dustin Shuler, que estuvo puesta en un centro comercial de Berwyn, suburbio de Chicago, entre 1989 hasta su demolición en mayo de 2008, y que consistía en ocho automóviles empalados sobre una pica de 17 metros de altura. La escultura fue eliminada para darle paso a la ventanilla para automovilistas de un nuevo Walgreen’s, pero ahora, gracias a Lichty, existe en el mundo virtual.

Un grupo local llamado “I Love Presets”, formado por Jon Sartorm, Rob Ray y Jason Soliday, han creado performances multimedia en vivo que consisten en vídeo digital, efectos electrónicos de circuit bent, vídeo juegos adaptados y software de audio. Una reciente reseña de su trabajo en el Gene Siskel Film Center indicaba que “el trío rebana y recontextualiza efímeros bits digitales, convirtiéndolos en procesos, sonidos y hasta juegos nuevos. Puede que suene un poco techy, pero una mirada a la instalación ultraprovocadora Guilty Party, de Ray, o al laberíntico sitio Web de ILP, y nos queda claro que la parafernalia es impresionante, pero que sus conceptos están plenamente formados”.

En el 2009, Ben Chang montó una instalación de dos personajes virtuales que hacían un performance usando telégrafos y proyectores de vídeo. Cada personaje generado por computadora aparecía aporreando el teclado de sus telégrafos virtuales, en tanto que al lado de las dos proyecciones había un auténtico equipo telegráfico que producía el sonido. Era una performance de amor entre dos personajes virtuales que usaban instrumentos anticuados e instrumentos nuevos, algo que en mi opinión rinde homenaje a los orígenes de la tecnología.

El uso del Internet ha sido también frecuentado por los artistas. A principios de año, Adam Trowbridge y Jessica Westbrook montaron un show de una sola noche de performances Web, llamado Daisy Chain, que se presentó en el Antena de Pilsen. Usando múltiples proyectores y computadoras, llenaron el espacio con una gama continua de imágenes en movimiento, fotografías, sonido y texto. Esto incluía también una performance de galería a cargo de Jeff Kolar, quien manipulaba el sonido de las tarjetas de felicitación sonoras de Hallmark.

No estamos limitados a los medios descritos hasta ahora. Vivimos en una era en la que la tecnología evoluciona a una veloz escala. Los chips de computadora son cada vez más pequeños y cargan cada vez más memoria, lo que a su vez nos da acceso a computadoras más rápidas, tabletas y smartphones. Pronto, seremos capaces de crear nanobots que nos ayudarán a curar y reparar el cuerpo humano a nivel celular, o podremos crear ambientes virtuales simulados a escala real. Conforme estos conceptos se vuelven realidad, estoy seguro que los artistas los usarán para su experimentación.

Algunos enlaces:
Patrick Lichty
Second Front
I Love Presets
Ben Chang
Daisy Chain de Adam Trowbridge y Jessica Westbrook

Miguel Cortez es un artista y curador, nacido en la ciudad mexicana de Guanajuato y residente en Chicago. Estudió cine en Columbia College, y arte en el School of the Art Institute. Está a cargo de Antena, un espacio de arte alternativo en el barrio de Pilsen. Su obra ha sido exhibida en Gallery 414 de Fort Worth, Texas, el Krannert Museum y el Museo Nacional de Arte Mexicano de Chicago. También ha presentado obra en la Mighty Fine Arts Gallery de Dallas, la Glass Curtain Gallery y el VU Space de Melbourne, Australia.

http://contratiempo.net/2011/10/arte-y-tecnologia-en-chicago/

Article in ArtSlant

  

Antena  & Miguel Cortez

by Joel Kuennen

Renovation Creep: Joe Cassan, Dan Bruttig and Erin Thurlow

Joe Cassan, Dan Bruttig and Erin Thurlow

Antena

1765 S. Laflin St., Chicago, IL 60608

August 5, 2011 - September 3, 2011

Antena (the Spanish spelling of “antenna”) is a project space run by Miguel Cortez of the now-defunct Polvo collective and magazine. Located in Pilsen, Antena has a history of presenting new and interesting work that has given it a reputation of excellent curation representative of young artists and emerging work at the intersection of genres most important to the contemporary moment. Mr. Cortez points to his laissez-faire approach to curating as the key to keeping artists and patrons interested in Antena. “I allow artists to alter the space for their experimentation. Artists can paint the walls, put up bathroom tile (like the current show “Renovation Creep”) and even build walls. For a show about two years ago this artist wanted more wall space for his paintings so he had an L-shaped wall built. At the end of the show I left it in place for future artists to use.”

Antena is itself an apartment gallery following in the long tradition that has defined Chicago’s art scene for years. Both because of the prevalence of two large art school institutions that bring in a rotating cast of artists and curators, the apartment gallery is kept as a transient phenomenon. Cortez takes advantage of this through allowing the space to reflect each show. The apartment renews with each exhibition.

 Installation view of "Renovation Creep" at Antena. Image courtesy of Antena

Much of the contemporary art scene in Chicago is a cloud of alternative gallery spaces that come into existence for a year or two and then disappear. Some transition into more permanent institutions, others are lost to time and the revolving door of the city. Sometimes, as is the case with Miguel Cortez, the closing of one space, Polvo, leads to the opening of another, Antena.

Cortez says of the consecutive galleries; “Both were very similar and it was just a natural transition. Polvo was run by a collective. Once the collective disbanded then I decided to continue using my apartment to showcase art under a different name.” The mission didn’t change however. What has changed is the frequency of shows as well as their make-up. “With Antena there are fewer shows a year and most are one person shows (with the exception of the current show). Antena runs six-to-eight shows a year as opposed to twelve shows a year and more group shows during the Polvo years.”

“Renovation Creep,” is on view (by appointment) until September 3^rd and will be followed by an exhibition by a local group of female crafters called El Stitch y Bitch, following Antena’s mission “as a cultural space that transmits/broadcasts symbolically art ideas, new media and installation projects on a local and global scale.”

-Joel Kuennen, ArtSlant Staff Writer
http://www.artslant.com/chi/articles/picklist#p24566

"Is this thing on?: The art of comedy"

"Is this thing on?: The art of comedy"
Guest Curator: Miguel Cortez from Antena

Opening Friday August 12 from 6pm-10pm
August 12-28, 2011

"If Jesus had been killed twenty years ago, Catholic school children would be wearing little electric chairs around their necks instead of crosses."
- Lenny Bruce

Contemporary art is too serious sometimes. This show will focus on the lightheartedness and humor in art. Most of us are part of the system and work 40+ hours a week and by the weekend we just want to unwind and be entertained. Then this show is just for you. These artists use irony, goofiness, satire, and sarcasm in their work. 

Artists:
Andy Detskas
Ben Pederson
Catie Olson
Chris Silva
Darrell Luce
David Leggett
Lauren Feece
Meg Duguid
Nick Black
Nicole Marroquin
Paul Shortt
Rick Huggett
Sarah Perez

Born June 3rd, 1975, Andy Detskas grew up hopping around the Midwest, deep South and East coast. Like many artists, Andy began to work at a young age exploring drawing, painting and sculpture. Since graduating from Cranbrook Academy of Art in 2000 Andy's work has varied as much as the places he grew up; exploring themes of human scale, urban ruin, defacement, landscape, ghosts, robots and typography. Andy's current body of work is focused on using discarded motel landscape paintings as a canvas for hand-drawn typography and strange comedic characters. http://andyandyandy.com/

Ben Pederson was born in 1979 in Grand Rapids Michigan and received his B.A. in Studio art from Aquinas College in 2003. He went on to obtain his M.F.A. in Sculpture from the University of Massachusetts, which he received in 2007. After graduate school, Ben moved to Brooklyn, New York, where he worked as an art handler and continued to make and show work. Now residing in Madison, WI, he has shown in Chicago and throughout the midwest as well as staying involved with shows and screenings on the east coast. http://benforceblog.blogspot.com/

Catie Olson is multi-disciplinary artist born in Decatur, Illinois, the pleasant home of two chicken cars. She received her BS from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1995 in Agriculture, ventured to Chicago and received her BFA at the School of the Art Institute in 2000. Catie organizes SpiderBug, a mobile short film festival, along with her husband, EC Brown. The pair also run Floor Length and Tux, an apartment art space. Catie has an animation that will be shown in the International Pancake Film Festival in Boston upcoming in July. She has shown work in Chicago including Heaven, Swimming Pool, antena and minidutch galleries. http://www.catieolson.com, http://www.floorlengthandtux.com, http://www.spiderbug.org

Christopher Tavares Silva is a multi-disciplinary artist who has been cold rockin' shit since his little monkey feet touched down on Planet Earth. Having recently returned to Chicago from a 4 year vision quest in the jungles of Puerto Rico, Chris is splitting his energy between creating collaborative and heart-warming works of art and music with his expansive band of misfit slackers - and charging ever onward with his tireless passion for data entry. Chris's work has been exhibited and published in places that would make you shit your pants, and since most of us prefer to shit our pants in the privacy of our own homes (I know - there's nothing greater) the details will be spared. It's simple - buy one of these reasonably priced pieces of supreme quality visual funk...or live a life full of regret. Pussy. http://chrissilva.com/

Darrell Luce, b. circa 1963, probably in San Francisco. Luce is the wild man of the workshop, which he joined in 1996, at the request of Alma de la Serra. He either refuses to discuss his past or concocts sly stories that in retrospect cannot possibly be true. A realist in more ways than one, Luce paints in an expressionistic style that borrows freely from old masters, publicity stills, and cartooning. His sarcastically entitled 'Life of Ignotus' series documents his skepticism with regard to Ignotus's ideas--which Ignotus fully shares. His series of paintings of de la Serra apparently documents his relationship with her, though no one has yet figured out exactly what that relationship is, since Luce never gives a straight answer and de la Serra limits herself to saying "you either trust Darrell completely or not at all."

David Leggett was born in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1980. He received his Bachelors of Fine Arts from Savannah College of Art and Design (2003), and a Masters of Fine Arts form the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (2007). He also attended Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture (2010). His work is influenced by relationships, both personal and cultural. Popular culture and imagery are often used in his work. He has shown his work throughout the United States and internationally. He received the visual artist award from 3Arts in 2009. http://www.davidleggettart.com/

Lauren Feece
I have always loved making things and I have spent most of my life happily tucked away in my beloved studio. It helped to make me a bit unprepared for real life but completely comfortable with life in my sketchbooks and paintings. In my youth I struck out for success in the city of Chicago. Waitressing and pursuing a career as a working artist kept me very busy. One night on my way to an art opening with friends I met a very interesting musical and visual artist named Chris Silva. I like to think in hindsight that at that moment I knew I was meeting my future husband, but even if it wasn't entirely clear back then I knew instantly I was meeting someone very special. We were hardly apart and soon we had combined our lives, our living and studio spaces. We made our first attempts at collaborative work. Life was beautiful and full of art making.

For years we put art making first and "real jobs" second. Living simply and working hard we happily enjoyed life as full time artists. Over time, our energies focused on making and selling art work for years, began to run down. We wanted to recharge so in 2006 we moved on to a new opportunity. The Silva Family property in Moca, Puerto Rico was without a caretaker and we left The Windy City to take on that job.

From December 2006 to September 2010 we learned more than we had planned on. We encountered many trials as the abandoned house became a home. We got to be more green as the well was dug and the solar were panels installed. We learned how hard it is to grow a garden in the tropics. We learned to listen to the birds, bugs, and frogs, and to see the stars again. This was a life with many new challenges, but through it we got back to art making with a recharged and refreshed perspective.

In the fall of 2010 we returned to our sweet home in Chicago. Continuing to make a life full of love, we are wiser from our travels, and more committed than ever to our human responsibility to the earth, the animals, and especially to one another.

I continue to be motivated by the challenge of being present in the moment. The paintings and drawings I make are thoughts about the nature of things, musings on the everyday, and studies of the layers of meaning just under the surface. In my work I continue to be inspired by the connection of the artistic process to ritual, myth, and meditation. My work is a dance of brushstroke, line, swirls, drips, explosions and movements of paint. As I dance, I remember life, birds, clouds, color, flowers, trees, light, lace, pattern, people, blooms, webs, waves, vines, twilight, leaves, sunrise and sunsets... http://laurenfeece.com/

Meg Duguid was raised in Columbus, Ohio, and received her BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and her MFA in from Bard College. She has performed and exhibited at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, the Hyde Park Art Center in Chicago, the DUMBO Arts Festival in Brooklyn, and 667 Shotwell in San Francsiso. Duguid has screened work at Synthetic Zero in New York, Spiderbug in Chicago, and at the Last Supper Festival in Brooklyn. Duguid lives and works in Chicago, IL where she runs Clutch Gallery, a 25 square-inch white cube located in the heart of her purse. http://megduguid.com/, http://clutchgallery.blogspot.com/

Nick Black was born in Chicago in 1958. He has attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, DePaul University, the University of Illinois at Chicago, and the Massachusetts College of Art. Recent exhibitions include Byron Cohen Gallery, Kansas City, Uncle Freddy's Gallery, Highland, IN, and Joymore, Buddy Space, and Klein Art Works, all in Chicago. Nick has had key works at Art Chicago, the Stray Show, Version Fest, and the New Chicagoans. http://www.flickr.com/photos/nbtoy/sets/72157607672560085/

Nicole Marroquin is an interdisciplinary artist whose creative practice includes collaboration, studio art, research, teaching, and strategic intervention.  As a classroom art teacher in Chicago and Detroit, Marroquin taught and collaborated with youth on art-based action research projects.   She makes art, exhibits and writes about participatory cultural production with youth and in communities.  Marroquin recieved her MFA from the University of Michigan in 2008 and is now living in Pilsen in Chicago.  She is an Assistant Professor of Art Education at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.  nicolemarroquin.com

Rick Huggett
Raised in shrimpy Chagrin Falls, Ohio, the starting place for plenty of jokers including; Tim Conway and Tom Watterson (Calvin & Hobbs), I graduated from high school there and then attended Kent State University for a degree in Graphic Design.  Four weeks before graduating I took a job in advertising and never completed my degree.  I worked in advertising for two years before it dawned on me that I was both starving and penniless.  Moved to Canton, Ohio after taking a job selling material handling systems to the steel and aluminum industries and did the 50-60 hour work week grind for the next 20+ years.  During that time I acquired a wife, a house, 3 children, a dog, and a business degree from Malone University in Canton, Ohio. Now retired from sales I am currently pursuing a B.A. in Arts at Malone University with an emphasis in painting.  In other words, I am a 52-year old undergraduate who will graduate in December of 2011, so long as I pay off all of my parking fines.

Paul Shortt (b. 1981) received his BFA in Painting from the Kansas City Art Institute in 2009. He has been in numerous group shows in Chicago, Nebraska, Kansas City, and Minneapolis. From 2009-2010, he directed a monthly, year-long series of performance art at the Fishtank Performance Studio in Kansas City, Missouri, called The Paul Shortt Invitational Performances. He has participated in the Charlotte Street Foundation residency program in Kansas City, and spoken about his work at the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art. Shortt currently is pursing his MFA in New Media at The University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign, and expects to graduate in 2013. http://www.paulshortt.com/

Sarah Perez
Born in the suburbs of Chicago, I lived for most of my childhood in a tiny, one-bedroom apartment with my mother, father and younger sister.  My entire family relies on love and humor to get through tough times, which has been a continued inspiration.  I feel this evident in my work, in addition to the combination of real and surreal that creates a delicate balance in our day-to-day lives. http://www.sarahperez.net/gallery.html

----------------------
Miguel Cortez is an artist/curator living in Chicago and born in Guanajuato, Mexico. He has studied filmmaking at Columbia College and art at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He currently runs Antena, an alternative art space located in Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood. His artwork has been shown at Gallery 414 in Fort Worth, Texas, at the Krannert Museum and at the National Museum of Mexican Art in Chicago. Other shows include exhibits in Dallas at Mighty Fine Arts Gallery, Glass Curtain Gallery and at VU Space in Melbourne, Australia. http://www.mcortez.com/

Cobalt Studio is an artist run space. Studio artists, Adriana Baltazar and Antonio Martinez work separately and collaborate on occasion to produce thoughtful public art that is meaningful for it's communities. As a project/exhibition space, Cobalt's key purpose is to provide exceptional artists, established and emerging, with an opportunity to showcase their work in a gallery-like atmosphere minus the commercial pressures and b.s.

Cobalt Studio
1950 W. 21st St.
Chicago, IL 60608
http://cobaltartstudio.blogspot.com/


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Is this thing on?: the art of comedy

I am curating this art exhibit. Feel free to submit work. /////MC

A call for artists/comedians:
Is this thing on?: the art of comedy
Art exhibit at Cobalt Art Studio in Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood, August 2011


Deadline: July 15, 2011


"If Jesus had been killed twenty years ago, Catholic school children would be wearing little electric chairs around their necks instead of crosses."
- Lenny Bruce

Art is too serious sometimes. This show will focus on what makes us laugh. Most of us are part of the system and work 40+ hours a week and by the weekend we just want to unwind and be entertained. Artists will create work for you that is funny and absurd but will make you think.

 Acceptable formats include: video, performance, installation, audio, painting and drawings. You can submit 4-5 pieces. There is no fee. email submissions with video/audio links or jpeg attachments  to antenapilsen@gmail.com

May 7, 2011

"The wind is my friend"
GIF, 2011

phone app

i want to do an augmented reality phone app where one can place a status update and people see it on their phone in real time. So when one walks into a cafe/bar your phone scans the room and tells you people's status updates.

I am in this show!

THE OCTAGON presents 
TWEEN
a one night event, 7-10pm, Saturday, May 7th

TWEEN is a survey of responses to the animated GIF via animated GIF-the bastard child of early motion picture technology and most pesky annoyance generator capable of rendering the most sober of images into perpetual ridicule. Local, national, and international cultural workers were asked to either create or curate an animated GIF. The show is divided in two parts.

1.THE RACE
Emphasizing the personal computer as the frame for production and consumption, 30 animated GIFS will play simultaneously by a diverse yet local slew of artists, designers, curators, writers, art historians, and cat fanciers, as they all race their animated GIF to personal computer battery death via an ad hoc computer lab.  

2.TWEEN SCREEN
Projecting the animated GIF to a monumental scale via the 15' TWEEN SCREEN;  the wee GIF file will reach new lofty proportions that are incapable of experiencing at home in your mom's basement. 

TWEEN is a one night event and all GIFS and documentation, as well as a text by Steven Pate, will have an eternal afterlife where you can revel in its planned obsolescence at tweenchicago.tumblr.com. TWEEN is a project in collaboration between artist Christopher Smith and Octagon Gallery.  

Participants include:
 Aaron Orsini,   Adam Farcus, Adam Grossi, Alberto Aguilar, Alicja Zelazko, Angeline Evans, Arielle Bielak, Adam Trowbridge, Ben Russell, Big Bad Ron, Brandon Alvendia, Brian Wadford, Burak Birinci, Chris Hammes, E. Aaron Ross, Eric Fleischauer, Emily Keuhn, Hooliganship, Isak Berbic,  Jake Myers, Jesse Avina, Jon Satrom, Kevin Jennings, Kevin Robinson, Kirsten Leenars, Kyle Fletcher, Laura Boban, Lara Unnerstall, Mark Sansone, Michael Radziewicz, Miguel Cortez, PaperRad, Philip Parcellano, Philip von Zweck,  Rob Ray, Silas Reeves, Steven Pate, Tim Pigot, Tom Burtonwood, Theo Darst, and many more!

THE OCTAGON gallery and screening space
1318 N Milwaukee
Apt 300
Chicago, IL, 60622
http://theoctagongallery.tumblr.com/

exist

1-28-2011

As i was driving home south on Laflin St. and came to the viaduct on 15th St. I noticed that there was some construction on my right side(a truck blocking that side and some workers), so I drove on the left side of the viaduct which has the traffic coming the opposite way. As i was passing the viaduct i saw a cop car on the left side waiting to go north on that side. I became nervous but kept driving south and then moved to the right lane past the cops on 16th St.

They did a u-turn and flashed the lights so i moved the car to the far right and stopped. This burly latino cop driver came out and walked towards my car. At that same moment I noticed his partner was also opening his door and slowly was also about to walk towards my car. Now I started to think of what to say and also I do not have a license nor car insurance, so i was thinking about the future consequences of me in jail, etc...(I am also a burly and a tall mexican with a shaved head and could be mistaken for a gangbanger driving an old Ford Crown Victoria...?)

I lowered my window as the latino cop came over. I said "Hello, sir."
and he asked "Why where you driving on the opposite side over there?"

I answered, "There was road construction."
He then said, "Good excuse." and made a gesture to continue on my way.

installing at Cobalt Studio

I installed my latest photographs at Cobalt Studio in Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood tonight and hung out for a bit with Antonio and Adriana who run the space. You can check out my 2 photographs and more info on my ongoing project here: http://recycle-ideas.blogspot.com/


Below is info on the show:

Artifice//Artifact- Every Photo tells a Story

Sarah Best, Ira S. Murfin, Ernesto De Anda, Miguel Cortez, Linda Prieto, Rosy 'Campanita Torres, Thelma Uranga, Antonio Martinez, Leonel Hernandez, Anthony Marcos Rea, Jackie Orozco, Marisa Moy, Adriana Baltazar

Every Photo Tells a Story

Inquiry into artifacts and photography as a medium to represent facts or to construct them frame the theme of this exhibit. Pulling from various interests and backgrounds, each artist will present a freshly made narrative.The subject of these narratives vary according to each artist's directive.

Opening Friday, January 14, 2011 from 6:00pm - 10:00pm

Cobalt Studio

1950 W. 21st St
Chicago, IL 60608
http://cobaltartstudio.blogspot.com/

strange lucid dream january 12, 2011

last night I dreamt I was living in this house that was on the edge of a mountain and at certain intervals 1/2 part of the house separated and would float down with wires and across to another mountain and attach to another building. I was with several other people and we opened a door to go into the next building and that housed several medieval sculptures and corridors.

The sculptures started moving and throwing rocks and objects at us so we started running and climbed up some stairs and onto the roof. There we saw that there was a river between the 2 mountains and we were trying to figure out how to cross back to the other side. Upon waiting a few minutes we noticed the river would drain and then fill back up. So we ran across during one of these intervals and on the bottom side on the adjacent mountain there was an entire array of mostly commercial stores inside the mountain. We ran into one of the stores and the manager kept telling us to climb up the mountain because the river will fill back up.

We looked for stairways or ladders but could not find any. This other person came into the store and told us we would be safe if we followed him underground and he walked us to a spot which was now a cave and pointed at this area that resembled quicksand. He jumped in first and several of my friends followed but I decided not to and instead went outside to look for another way. I woke up and it was 4:57am.