And the basement lives here
Wesley Kimler: Open Studio
2046 W. Carroll, Chicago IL
December 19, 2009
artnet.com/artist/21755/wesley-kimler.html
wikipedia.org/wiki/Wesley_Kimler
wesleykimlerstudio.com
Adam Ekberg @ Thomas Robertello
In the between
December 11, 2009 - February 6, 2010
939 W. Randolph, Chicago
"Born in 1975, Adam Ekberg resides in Chicago and graduated the School of the Art Institute's MFA Photography program in 2006."
thomasrobertello.com
adamekberg.com/home.html
Small souls, extant and visible in the world, come around to fill in the gaps towards the fruition of our humanity. They offer small things that well founded, and confident people sometimes cannot offer, a recognition of suffering and injustice... and with gentle resolve, they lie quietly at our feet, dreaming magnificent combinations of swift motion, adoration, and devotion.
The "In the Factory" series brings you an interview with Chicago's great photographer Dawoud Bey as he discusses his career as an artist, working with high school students and his exhibition at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, Class Pictures: Photographs by Dawoud Bey.
That’s me with a group of my buddies at my birthday party on April 4, 1965. We were a group of rowdy, rough-edged little lads, but old enough to start wondering about important things in our country's history.
The Chicago River is an artery of great renown in the history of the city, and it connects the lower waterways that lead to the town of Lockport and beyond. Near the old neighborhood where I used to live, the river divides the district, from Chinatown, down through the Northern European neighborhood of Pilsen, and into the South Loop of the Chicago Center.
Jeffrey Dorchen is an essayist, fiction writer, and internationally produced playwright. He has also served the theater as a composer, musician, music director and dramaturg. He is an autodidact scholar of Jewish folklore and agaddot.
very sad news - joel dorn has got his hat - the masked announcer checked out this past mondayafter a sudden heart attack - the great producer/hilarious liner note scribbler/grand imagineer/photographer had a heart attack on monday and has left us behind in this very sad and square world - it was an honor to be his friend and collaborator - as a teenager i would buy records by guys i never heard of simply because his name appeared on the back of the jacket - beyond the far-out rufus harley blowin bagpipe jazz there were incredible - life-changing discs by rahsaan, yusef, les and eddie, fathead and hank, leon redbone - on and on
if you don't know - as hal willner says "google his ass!" jd gave me the shot when most folks closed the doors - as he said about rahsaan or yusef - he was "truly singular" more thoughts to come on the late, great jd - i'll miss him terribly - i'm sure we all will... he was the only guy i knew who called a pakastani cab driver "babe"
- jdk
From the New York Times:BANGKOK, Monday, Sept. 24 — The largest street protests in two decades against Myanmar’s military rulers gained momentum Sunday as thousands of onlookers cheered huge columns of Buddhist monks and shouted support for the detained pro-democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.Link
Winding for a sixth day through rainy streets, the protest swelled to 10,000 monks in the main city of Yangon, formerly Rangoon, according to witnesses and other accounts relayed from the closed country, including some clandestinely shot videos.
In 1811, near the end of his life, poet, ornithologist, naturalist and illustrator Alexander Wilson named this common North American warbler after observing it for the first time in the branches of a Mississippi magnolia tree. This bird, which breeds in spruce trees near the Canadian border of the United States and in Canada, is commonly called the Black and Yellow Warbler.
Hey all Sharks and Shark readers! I’m coming to Chicago from Europe, but only very quickly. I’ll be there from Wednesday, April 25th through Monday, April 30th. I’ll be in the Artists Project part of the Art Fair, actually in a building next to the Merchandise Mart, every day from and then at events and so on at night. Please come visit me there, as I would love to see everyone I know, as well as anyone who enjoy my Shark posts and even those who dislike my posts. Please drop by my booth and/or contact me through the artist Wesley Kimler, with whom I’m staying.
Here is a link to a good interview-cum-discussion with Matthew Collings, one of my favorite “art commenters“ or critics. He can be vicious, flippant, London-boosterish, London-dismissive and cynical — yet is always interesting, far more intelligent than I think he wants to let on and very insightful about current art and the artworld.
Collings is an artworld star in his own right. In print, such as Modern Painters, on the radio and in various TV series about art. Furthermore, he is a successful abstract painter in his own right, disproving the oft-espoused claim that critics are failed artists. Perhaps more surprisingly still, he often, very often, doesn't actually like art now being made. Yet, he is passionate and fervent even in his distaste for the prevailing trends in post-modern art. It has been said of him that “with his eloquent and engaging approach to art criticism, he is one of the foremost art critics.” I agree. Get an enjoyable taste of him here on Radio New Zealand in an interview (about 40 minutes) with Kim Hill: http://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/national/sat/matthew_collings
U.S. personnel 6,821 Killed 19,217 Wounded 2,648 Combat Fatigue Total 28,686
Marine Casualties 23,573
Japanese Troops 1,083 POW and 20,000 est. Killed
Sharkforum's very own Nick Tremulis shares a radio show withi Jon Langford called "The Eclectic Company". Tonight's show promises to be another good one:
Tuesday, February 20 at 10 PM: Fat Tuesday Special - Nick is joined by Mark Guarino, Daily Herald music columnist, and Bloodshoot Records owner and co-founder, Rob Miller for a show devoted to songs and stories from today's New Orleans.
January 4. The clouds sweeping low across the southern horizon, you can just see the peaks of the Alps. We never see them spread in their full immensity from our aerie under the eaves of this old house, itself sitting atop the old city walls of Diessenhofen am Rhein. To get the full panorama you need to climb away from the river. Sometimes we don’t see the mountains for weeks on end, but it’s a good feeling to know they’re there, looming across the southern rim of Europe, with the Mediterranean world beyond. I always feel like I need a geographical fix in my head, an internal GPS, to know where I’m standing. I don’t think I’m alone in this; I believe this is why we like to watch the monitor screen tracking our progress when we fly across the Atlantic. I’m trying to get such a fix now, I guess, though it is time as much as geography that concerns me. The year is young but the hour is late. Where do we stand, and where do we go from here?
Photo of Ed Paschke by John Reilly. Photo of Paul Carroll by Sheldon Goldstein.
"The Cavalcade of Hats"
Talking with Ed Paschke about Paul Carroll
By KC Clarke
I called Ed Paschke during the summer of 2001 to ask if he'd get together with me to share some of his memories about Paul Carroll: poet, publisher of Big Table magazine (the archive of which is at the University of Chicago Library), Big Table Books, founder of The Program for Writers at the University of Illinois Chicago, and The Poetry Center, Inc. at the Museum of Contemporary Art . Ed invited me to his Howard Street Studio, and for most of the time we talked, he worked on a painting.
I recently gave the "opening speech" for a show and book signing by artist, "low-brow" queen, illustrator, comic artist, poster artist, indy rocker and all-around Wunderfrau, Tara Mc Pherson. I'm posting it here because I think her artwork is great, crosses and ignores "important" borders, and because she and her colleagues have successfully and marvelously managed to create their own supportive artworld.
Tara McPherson, who comes from Los Angeles, California, lives in New York City in the US, is a painter, poster artist, comic artist, freelance Illustrator, toy designer, book author and more. The artist also plays bass in a band and loves tattoos. In short, she is a multi-tasking, immensely creative artist straddling the line between popular art and fine art. Or better said, totally ignoring that line, which is admirable.
It hardly seems possible, but it's been exactly one year since my father took his life. Rather than serving as a creepy, public rending of shirts, the following is meant as a loving tribute to a truly unique man.
My father, Robert David Roth (Sr.), was a complex man - equal parts Marlon Brando rebel and Norman Rockwell conservative, Ray Charles hipster and James Taylor americana, Lenny Bruce iconoclast and Johnny Carson classic. He was a lover of jazz, fine chianti, travel, movies, gadgets, children and animals (in small doses), science. The Simpsons, The Sopranos, Stanley Kubrick, literature, art, ladies, history and blue humor. He was the most charismatic person I've ever met, and he was my favorite Republican. (Elvis Presley is a distant number 2)
Last Monday Hans-Ruedi and I practiced out on his terrace, as we frequently do in warm weather. The day had been hot and still, and as we played we could see thunder clouds and occasional lightning flashes to the north over the Hegau across the Rhine, a plateau studded with ancient volcanoes. Hans-Ruedi and I have been playing together for two or three years now, more since Thomm Jutz moved to Nashville. A landscape gardener by trade, he plays upright bass in the Western Store country band from Schaffhausen, and in several Swiss folk music ensembles. We were remarking on the departure of our young friend, Tabea who used to join us for Monday night practice, recently departed for a job in England. “I’m afraid our friend, my neighbor Alfred is also gone. The family has been here since yesterday.”
“He came home from the hospital?”
“There was nothing more they could do for him. He was working until two weeks ago; and now…”
“That fast.”
“He was a good friend to me since I came here seventeen years ago. I’m going to miss Alfred. He may be gone already.”
For a guy who called himself "The Crocodile Hunter," Irwin was in reality a fearless champion of biodiversity and a living example of someone living a life of respect for all living things. Here's a link to the CNN piece on him.
I recently completed a painting intended to be used as a banner. It is an homage to Chicago artists. I hope you enjoy it.
Kim was married to my sweet friend and musical hero, Ian "Mac" Mclagan.
I had known them for twelve years.
Eleven years ago I was hit by a truck, head-on.
One of my fondest memories of recovering was that my NEW friends,
Kim and Mac would come by to check on me.
They were LOVE.
Everyone has called Kim an angel. She truly was. Is.
Kim was killed in a car wreck this week.
It is still hard to grasp that I won't get to see that warm smile again.
My heart goes out to Mac.
I cannot believe that I ran into him at the grocery store on Saturday.
A store that neither of us frequent.
I think we were supposed to hug and tell each other how loved the other is.....
if you want to make any Donations in Kim's honor, please make them to:
The Women's Advocacy Project
Care of Raji World
806-A West 10th St.
Austin, Texas 78701
Jack Warden, who died in New York City on July 19, was raised in Louisville, KY. He was born in Newark, NJ, but by his high school years he was down here and cutting classes in order to indulge other interests. Eventually, Warden, born John Lebzelter, would be nominated for Academy Awards and appear in some of the finest motion pictures made during American cinema’s Golden Era (the 1970’s). Those other interests back then included boxing, at which he excelled, winning dozens of professional bouts at middleweight until war called.
Syd Barrett, co-founder of Pink Floyd has died. Here's a link to the AP piece. Barrett was easily one of the strangest figures in the psychedelic scene which sprouted in the late 1960's and early 1970's, and his departure from "The Floyd" marked the beginning of the mainstreaming of their sound.
I've been a fan of Pink Floyd for a very long time, and will even admit to an abiding love and admiration of The Final Cut, but there's just nothing on any of the post-Syd records which can compare in velvet-grooviness to Lucifer Sam, or the strangely cute Bike.
Editors note: On this Memorial Day we pay tribute to a man known not for his military accomplishment and sacrifice, but for artistic vision and courage. The first offering is sent by Don Suggs, a long-time friend of Mr. Heinecken and a serious, accomplished artist in his own right. Our second piece comes from our very own Lynne Warren, a curator at the MCA in Chicago, who curated a major exhibition of his work at the MCA. We mourn his passing and celebrate his lifes accomplishments. - Ed.
I don't know that I am qualified to eulogize Bob Heinecken. My friend Stan Mock (photographer and sculptor, who was very close to him) would be a good choice. I can ask him, if you like. I can say that my memories of Bob personally are Bogartian. I knew him long, though little. I can see him as the Photo prof. at UCLA, cigarette in hand (always), the only faculty longhair in the 60's, a singularly masculine short man who, along with Dick Diebenkorn, embodied for his students the mystery of authentic accomplishment as an artist. Or later, for many years, across the table at the ritual of the monthly poker game, plumed in smoke (occasionally grabbed by smoker's cough), a poised player, impossible to read. Even after he and Joy(ce Neimanas) moved to Chicago, he would return to the poker game whenever they were in L. A. When they attended my opening at McCormick in 2000, he and I had a good chat, and then he wandered off. Joy had to retrieve him from the sidewalk. It was the first sign I had seen of any change, though we had all known about the Alzhemer's for awhile. He was still, when we talked then, acutely observant about the work, still wryly humorous. The last time I saw him was at one of the poker games (2001?) Joy came with him to the game, for the first time, and he sat beside her as she played the hands. He smoked, talked a little, we had some laughs, and she ran the table.
Don Suggs
Wes Pope has worked as a photojournalist for twelve years and is currently a staff photographer at the Chicago Tribune. He has a B.A. in cultural anthropology from the University of Washington. We're proud to include him as a guest artist. - ed
In the year 2000 philanthropist Gary Comer hired more than 200 photographers to create a record of Chicago at the millennium. Called CITY 2000 (3 Book Publishing, distributed by UIC Press), I was one of a lucky handful who worked on the project throughout the year. The archive is now housed at UIC.
The following set of photos does not appear in the book. It is a small sample from the half million in the archive that didn't make it in (not an indictment of the book, it is nicely done). I spent a week documenting the last days of Lounge Ax. I am from Seattle and spent my rock-and-roll youth at the Crocodile Cafe, RCKCNDY, OK Hotel, Moore Theatre. Caught a few shows at Lounge Ax after my arrival in Chicago, but am sorry I missed most of the fun.
A lecture for the book will be held Sunday, June 4 at 2 p.m. at the Harold Washington Library. A complete list of book fair events can be downloaded as a PDF here.
"Many pictures turn out to be limp translations of the known world instead of vital objects which create an intrinsic world of their own. There is a vast difference between taking a picture and making a photograph."
The New York Times obituary can be found here.
In the coming weeks, I will bring you photos of musicians (sometimes FAMOUS), actors, artists...people who inspire me. My goal here is to show you some of the people who make my life as a photographer interesting. I hope you enjoy this, as I know that I will enjoy bringing it to you, the viewer!
Mickey's light !
From the superstar status, the voracious appetites for just about anything and everything, to the mad adulation of hordes of fans screaming our names, (ELVIS! HELP! SHARK!) all the way to starring in a string of bad movies, the similarities between The King and The Cadillac Of All That Has Come to Mean Fish, are all too striking. Who knew when Mr. Benchley first approached me about starring in this silly little beach thing of a film called of all things, 'Jaws,' that indeed, a star was being born.
The problem of the theologian is to keep his symbol translucent
so that it may not block out the very light it is supposed to convey.
- Joseph Campbell
According to a Passamaquoddy Indian named George I met at a rest stop on the Massachusetts Turnpike last week, the word totem means, “that to which a person or thing belongs.”
I don’t know what it is about It’s A Wonderful Life. I’ve seen the damn thing over a dozen times and yet every Christmas when they haul it out of the attic, with the cherished ornaments, shimmering tinsel and fake snow, I can’t look away. Each year I tell myself I’m just gonna watch a couple of scenes: Uncle Billy, drunk with a crow on his shoulder, frantically searching for the wad of cash he rolled up into a newspaper and absentmindedly handed to that slimy bastard Mr. Potter. Or maybe Violet whoring around the seedy, neon-lit streets of Pottersville. That should do it. But this year I wound up watching the whole damn thing again. Maybe it’s because back in the fifties my mom looked a like an ethnic Donna Reed and this is the first Christmas that she’s gone.
The allegedly 21-year-old, certainly talented singer-songwriter Nellie McKay ('mi-KAI') has two strikes against her in one month. First, a few new tunes go to waste in the awful movie Rumor Has It, and, reports the NY Times, she's the latest musician to be told by the suits that she doesn't suit their biz plans.
Make A Rising: Semolina Pilchard's climbing up the Eiffel Tower once again, but this time the Walrus isn't Paul...
Okay, when was the last time you heard an album that combined elements and influences by the following: The Incredible String Band' Hangman's Beautiful Daughter, The Mothers of Invention's Burnt Weeny Sandwich, Beach Boys' Smiley Smile, Love's Forever Changes with sonic shards of Robert Wyatt, Eric Satie riding a bicycle with a flat tire and something that sounds like Harry Partch shaking up a can of spray paint then suddenly smashing Mr. Satie's bike to bits with a shovel which kinda creates music to a French movie I've never seen before.
A snappy little snapshot of local history, Genevieve Coleman's charming first feature, Monday Night at the Rock 'N Bowl chronicles about the punk rock bowlathon-drinkathon at the Diversey River Bowl in Chicago. It's out on DVD now, and we check in with first-time feature filmmaker Genevieve Coleman about its process and progress of a story told over the course of several months of Mondays around the turn-of-the-century with borrowed video cameras.
Paul Nudd is an artist whose pieces i have seen in person only a few times, yet his style and technique register so firmly in my mind that any time his work appears, I immediately know who it is.
We here at SHARKFORUM are working continually in our efforts to bring you only the finest, most qualified reporting of our local (and national/international) culture coverage: all of our editors have been thoroughly screened, subjected to rigorous background checks, and submitted to a personal interview with one of the co-founders of SHARKFORUM - David Roth, or, The Shark himself.....here is a recent photograph of Le Grand Requin du' Blanc interviewing a prospective member: why the cage? Do I look THAT famished?
Not literally, of course. (And not that there's anything wrong with that.) In today's Sun-Times Anders Smith Lindall offers up a steaming platter of home-town goodness: Jay Ryan of The Bird Machine. Ryan's burgeoning cottage industry designs and prints brilliant original pieces for cd covers and concert posters.