Having never been to the Pilsen galleries along Halsted Street, I was thrilled to join Ms N for Second Fridays. I found a mix of studio spaces, gallery storefronts and a very eclectic assortment of work. Having only the River North Area of galleries to compare to, I think the Pilsen area really explores a wider range of work and artistry, which is apparent from gallery to gallery.
Our first stop at the 4Art Gallery group show Unconnected, exhibited such diversity. On exhibit were sculptures, paintings, even clothing. Most striking were the untitled sculptures by Matthew Thomas Grimaldi, which resembled big blocks of clear gelatin soap with small symmetrical compartments full of shredded pieces of clothing that evoked images of rose petals; a green thrift store tag still stapled to part of the fabric seemed like a leaf. These pieces were illuminated from underneath. Also striking here were the tiny 4X6 oil paintings by Karena Karras, portrait style animalistic human figures, the best of which was a swan like woman with a bold blue background called "Tetra."
4Art Inc. is on the ground floor of a five story loft building, which is converted into artist studios and living spaces. The second Friday of every month some of the studios open their spaces for public perusal, most notably that evening was the fifth floor and the artists Bryan Sperry and Robert Marshall. As an enthusiast of found object art, I especially enjoyed Sperry's big unwieldy sculptures, the sort that are abstract enough to be engaging, but full of small thoughtful themes, circles within circles or parallel lines, but most of all, the variation of the color of pieces used give the work so much interest.
The studio space of Robert Marshall was alive with sound and light, as Ms. n described Marshall's light box synthesizer excellently, I will merely add that he encouraged visitors to interact with the magnetic field by waving our hands over what looked like metal hangers bent into bunny rabbit ears to change the pitch and volume. He plans on further experimenting and expanding this light sound box of his and it will be interesting to visit him again in the future. His stained glass work is symmetrical yet unbalanced colorwise, which leads the eye into a field of color, almost like a mixed up color chart.
We then wandered down Halsted St. in and out of various galleries, and most notably was a gallery that had an assortment of work with ballet shoes by Jhonmar Radames at the Moka Gallery. A ballet shoe mobile took centerstage, a mostly white canvas held bright blue ballet shoes elegantly rendered in delicate lines, and ballet shoes were the focus in another half dozen paintings. Further along, the clever gallery owner created walls by hanging thick white painted wood on hooks from exposed plumbing. In the far back the work of a woman painter who has a very Klimt influenced style was very striking.
HIT Halsted street for the Chicago Arts District Second Fridays. http://www.chicagoartsdistrict.org