Stephanie Cristello

July 10, 2013, 8:30am

Museum Admission: José Lerma at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago

Engaging all the melodrama and frivolity of commemorative portraiture, José Lerma’s most recent exhibition, currently on view at the MCA Chicago, challenges the long-since relevant historical relationship between social status and painting. Fitting the museum with a number of works ranging from painting, sculpture, and installation, Lerma combines the pomp and splendor of honorary gestures with the sharp and undercutting wit of his overly embellished, and stylized method.

Listed under: Chicago, Museum Admission

July 02, 2013, 8:30am

Ella Hatchet: Alex Chitty and Alice Tippit at Roots & Culture

At once phonetic and ambiguous, the work in Ella Hatchet reflects the title – a collection of paintings, photographs, and sculptures by Alex Chitty and Alice Tippit that strike a mood, rather than a specific target. In fact, the symbol a target would be the antithesis of what this exhibition, currently on view at Roots & Culture, so beautifully achieves.

Listed under: Review

June 25, 2013, 8:30am

New Work From Kansas City at Carrie Secrist Gallery

An effort to define “Midwestern Painting” has been a major topic of discussion lately – not a quite debate, but definitely an inquiry.  Carrie Secrist’s recent exhibition New Work from Kansas City, featuring work by Anne Lindberg, Kent Michael Smith, and Paul Anthony Smith, foregrounds an emphasis on site and contemporary practice in the Midwest.  While the press release pushes against a read of “regionalism”, the exhibition suggests otherwise – th

Listed under: Kansas City, Review

June 14, 2013, 8:30am

Postpositive: New Work by Zach Meisner at Courtney Blades

Appearances can be deceiving in Zach Meisner’s work, and what may seem like a potentially recognizable form at first is often an illusion.  His recent exhibition, currently on view at Courtney Blades, is no exception.  In New Work, a collection of small paintings, symbols stand in for silhouettes of busts; asymmetry masks itself as something more harmonious, and meaningless forms take lovely lapses into the aesthetics of utilitarian design objects.  Though made out of low-grade construction materials – Plexiglas, plywood, MDF, and acrylic – Meisner’s paintings are sleek, clean, and crisp.  Through combinations of bold geometric elements and slow passage

Listed under: Chicago, Review

May 22, 2013, 8:30am

Invisible Performers: David Salle at The Arts Club of Chicago

How can a figure pretend to be invisible, yet still remain the focus of the painting?  David Salle begs the question with his recent exhibition at The Arts Club of Chicago – a stunning collection entitled the Ghost Paintings, which displays a collection of work produced by Salle in the early 1990s.

Listed under: Chicago, Review

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