Art
Challenging the Narrative of “Gentrification as Development” in Chicago
Peeling off the Grey, an exhibition at the National Museum of Mexican Art, offers visual understandings of the gentrification of one Chicago neighborhood.
Chicago
Interview
Meet the Arts Organization Directly Aiding Puerto Rico's Hurricane Maria Victims, One Year Later
Whereas the American government is providing loans to Puerto Rican victims of Hurricane Maria, Arte al Rescate is providing direct aid to victims by fundraising through the arts.
Books
Mapping Chicago’s Concrete and Brutalist Buildings
For a new map published by Blue Crow Media, Chicago-based architect Iker Gil has selected over 50 examples of concrete and Brutalist buildings across the city and its suburbs to highlight.
Art
A Symphony of Delicate and Colorful Concrete Forms
Cathy Hsiao's concrete sculptures, currently on view at Chicago gallery Goldfinch, possess a surprising airiness.
News
Kerry James Marshall's Largest Work Yet Honors Women in the Arts
Marshall recently unveiled a 132-foot-wide, 100-foot-tall mural that pays homage to 20 women who shaped Chicago's cultural scene.
Art
Pushing Back Against the Sensational Image of Chicago as "Chi-raq"
Amanda Williams, an architect turned artist, has shifted her practice from constructing buildings, to making work that understands and reveals the social implications of how and when they are destroyed.
Art
A Lending Library for Handmade Protest Banners
Artist Aram Han Sifuentes has created a roving archive of fabric protest signs, which anyone can check out at no charge.
Art
Chicago’s Plan for Sick Trees: Turn Them into Art
Artists turn trees devastated by a pest into works of public art, calling attention to the problem and creating opportunities for unexpected artistic encounters across the city.
In Brief
Anish Kapoor's Bean Will Be Windexed, Baked (by Guy Fieri), Turned into a Ghost, and More
A new meme has people creating Facebook events to render peculiar tributes to Chicago's iconic "Cloud Gate" sculpture.
Art
Getting Comfortable with Sexy and Silly Art
SEX, an exhibition at Chicago's Lawrence & Clark gallery, challenged me to reckon with the cultural inheritance of my Taiwanese American upbringing.
Art
The Many Arms of Takashi Murakami’s Career
A retrospective at the MCA Chicago charts the many strands of Murakami's painting practice, from his early Nihonga style to recent Buddhist iconography.
Art
Sculpture of Abe Lincoln Confusingly Includes Generic White Man Sporting "a Dad Look"
Seward Johnson's latest sculpture in downtown Chicago features a giant Abe Lincoln next to a "common man," or a white guy in a cable-knit sweater and corduroy pants.