Wednesday, June 29, 2011

I Am Logan Square: Visual Arts at MAAF

I finally wrote my first blog post for I Am Logan Square. check it out and make sure to check out the Milwaukee Ave. Arts Festival at the end of july!

I Am Logan Square: Visual Arts at MAAF: "So you may have heard of this little thing called the Milwaukee Avenue Arts Festival . No? yes! no? well if not, we should all seriously pon..."

Saturday, June 18, 2011

Hang In There!

oops! got a little behind! but, Hang In There! no, literally. tonight was the opening for "Hang In There!" a show at the Co-properity Sphere, curated by Jason Lazarus. yes yes, San Fracisco may be badass, New York may be cool, but chicago has shows curated by Jason Lazarus, with rock climbing walls and Joan of Arc (apparently him and Tim K are friends? CHICAGO SUPER GROUP!).


this one reminds me of a less subtle/nice version of J Laz's "Try Harder" piece









so the Co-Prosperity Sphere is a pretty legit space. HUGE studio, a basement for bands....well tonight was just weird remix-onica stuff...and dazzling pretty pretty lights. but the art! did i mention there was a rock climbing wall?

over all the show left me feeling...well, like it was a show curated by Jason Lazarus. Video, Performance, Scultpure, Photo, but the common theme to them all seemed to be the shared experience. Hell, even the bands playing became more of a performance than a music show in the setting, which is what music shows really are, when you stop taking them for granted.

if you havent checked out the show, you definitely should. as with a lot of shows - but especially one with such an emphasis on community experience - if you missed the opening, it wont be quite the same; but its still a pretty great collection of works.
http://hangintherejune17.wordpress.com/
A group show curated by Jason Lazarus.
Open June 17 – July 02, 2011
Co-Prosperity Sphere
3219-21 South Morgan Street, Chicago, IL


also, did i mention i finally got my Fuji x100? no?

;DSFAJDF. what an elegant piece of machinery. Its a great blend of manual camera and digital technology. not for the auto-settings-using faint of heart! i did some tests between my D3100 and the x100. can you say SHARP!?

Friday, June 10, 2011

TONIGHT!!

don't forget, if you live in the chicago area, or are going to be in town, the opening reception for An Excerpt of Various Photographs Strewn About the Room is TONIGHT!

here are the deets:
Friday, June !0th, 6pm-?
Caffe Baci
225 W. Wacker Dr.
Chicago, IL 60606

come out and have a drink and a good time! hope to see you there!

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Chicago Summers!

Chicago says "Summer Fun" a little differently. out here, we say it "Beach+Booze+Street Fests." look it up, you wont find it. unless you're looking it up on here...

check it out!




Saturday, June 4, 2011

WeeGee's Lounge

So Thursday was WeeGee's Lounge's 5 year anniversary party....well it isnt OWNED by Arthur Fellig, but it's Arthur Fellig themed. not ringing a bell?



how about now? Well then....you must not be a photographer. but thats ok! you can still enjoy the great beer selection, along with posters and reproductions of WeeGee photos (with permission from ICP New York, ive heard), a shuffleboard and an oldschool photobooth.
and anyway, how badass is a WeeGee themed bar? i love this city.
(ps - ok ok, i'll fill you in. Arthur Fellig, aka WeeGee, was a NYC street photographer in the 30s and 40's. He captured a lot of crime and murder shots that he sold to the newspapers, shots that would later become "the film noir of life-and death- in New York.")

oh! how about that dude with an Arthur Fellig looking Polaroid Camera snapping pics of you and your friends? Yeah? Good, because they had him there for the event.

I think they're related.

Weegee's was started 5 years ago by Alex Huebner, an SAIC photog(obviously) grad...or was it Columbia. no, no, it was SAIC. Sorry, there were a lot of drinks had with their $20 bottomless pints anniversary special. did i mention that? no? oh, well $20 would get you unlimited pints of whatever beer you'd like. and my limit is fairly close to unlimited. And the best part (yes, it gets better) is those 20 dollars went to benefit Ames Middle School. Isnt that swell? Weegee's must be the only place that prefers to give gifts on their birthday.

Here's a photo of Alex looking at Weegee's cousin's polaroids:



and a couple more parting shots:






so next time you feel like having a drink, but really want to see a great street photo show, don't worry about hiding that flask in your blazer pocket; head over to Weegee's Lounge and get the best of both worlds!

Weegee's Lounge
3659 W. Armitage Ave. (3700W, 2000N)
Chicago, IL 60647
(773) 384-0707

oh and one more thing, thanks to Alex for teaching me how to play Shuffleboard last month. I might feel a new obsession coming on.

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Milwaukee Ave. Arts Festival

So in case you havent heard, Milwaukee Ave Arts Festival is badass. or in their words:

"
Once a year, Logan Square's commercial corridor transforms into a full-blown arts district."

Conceived by I Am Logan Square organization and involving the help of all sorts of area artists and collectives, MAAF takes place in Logan Square, July 29th-31, on Milwaukee Ave (go figure) from Kimball to California. This Festival will play host to all sorts of badass curated visual and performance art, local cuisine and (more excitingly) local beers, as well as live music and a SHITTON of people.

i only caught the tail end of it last year, so this year i decided to get involved. I'll be taking photos of the event, and since MAAF was conceived and organized by the gals from I Am Logan Square Gallery, i've also been getting involved with their events; taking photos and writing blogs covering various Logan Square events. ill be sure to post them as they're posted on IALS blog.

that being said, i'll be interviewing Brett Swinney and Tracy Kostenbader from AnySquared, who are spearheading the gallery organization and fundraising for the event. I had the pleasure of talking a bit with Tracy today, and i'll be posting some info and photos when i talk with her and Brett more in depth.

that being said, here are a few photos from my daily visual diary.






these all have a common quality i cant quite put my finger on. but i think it's stretching. longing, distance, distortion. or whatever intersection where those three would meet. onward, outward, lost; respectively.