After a year of wanting to finish a small video of last years Madhatter’s Ball in Chicago and many starts & stops I figured just to cut it where I left off and just post it. I didnt have alot of useable photos anyway so in celebration of last years Ball and this years coming one (which I cant make) here is the 2005 Madhatters Ball Revue. Just click the image to the left to start the show.
Here’s hoping everyone has a good time this year even without the art…..
Went to the Art Fair on Thursday and was plesently suprised, it was full of many strong works that i enjoyed and the entire style of encapsulating the galleries in a different hotel room on three floors was both soothing & fun. The turnout was great and the gallerists were more then kind, helpful, outgoing and pleasent. On a larger scale it would be both trully amazing (something to drive hours away for) and surely deadly to Tony Fitzpatrick and his hard working team of organizers.
More information about the show can be found in these articles:
Bad at Sports Podcast Coverage
Also the award for Best of Show (cause that is what this is all about, a clear winner or loser forget just a comunity gathering) brought to you by iHudgens.com & Halliburton Inc. goes to:
Ending a tradition, the Art Institute of Chicago aims to require visitors to start paying a fixed admission fee beginning June 3, though it wants to slash prices for younger kids and expand some summer evening hours.
After countless years (I would like to know exactly how many) of offering the wonderful option of paying what you can instead of the full 12$ admission fee the Institute givith and the Institute taketh away by trying to make the 12$ a mandatory voluntary fee, in return they are planing on not just having bankers hours now.
Most of these changes in my opinion are great, not only great but a earthquake to the arts in Chicago and LONG LONG overdue. Having the doors open at a realistic time for working people to view the art is a simple decision. Who can sprint from work grab a friend or family member, see some art before the doors close at 4:30pm (or get harassed by guards at 4:10-4:15) and actually be relaxed enough to enjoy the process?
Apparently the bulk of the visitors were “found to be disproportionately white, educated and affluent.” How can that be a surprise when the hours of operation are so tight and the details of the voluntary fee are in the smallest type possible and if you dare to offer less you are met with attitude and snide looks of disdain. What non affluent, educated, white would be able to or care to jump though those hoops. You want to open the doors to people who don’t come to the Institute? Simple.
Now you can share what you have learned here with others when you return home to the trailer park.
~Frist Art Center Docent after giving a lecture on two african ceremonial headpeices
I wouldn’t use quotes if there was a symbol at my disposal that expressed the idea of not exactly quoting word for word but really close, minus a pronoun or slightly shifted. When you hear something you didn’t expect everything just kind of grinds to a stop like a wrench in the teeth of gears. So with humility and 20/25 vision I relate what to many could be a serious issue in a social institution but to me is another day in the arts.
The quick and the dirty of the story is that I and a friend went to the Frist Gallery (I thought of changing the names to protect the innocent but honestly that’s annoying) on a Sunday afternoon since we were in the Nashville area due to a old friends wedding. Having a free day we decided to see the many attractions there (Built-to-Scale Parthenon, Old Family Cemetery, Vanderbilt Art Gallery & Jack-in-the-Box since there are none in Chicago).
Back in 2003 I had a series of paintings put to video with music. After going through the archives I thought this also would be interesting to post agian and get feedback.The idea behind the series is a celebration of the people in our life, both good and bad. How they bring light and energy to our lives in much the same way as a dim and old film on a black wall. We have them and the dancing light they give off even if only for a second at a time then the rest of it we wait in the dark eager for the next sequence. Think of the people that give you hope, enjoyment, change. The people that even if they dont do everything you would want, when they are gone you want them back. Everything changes, life and moments are fleeting and always in flux. So remeber those who make your life brighter both pro and con. Even if its in the abstract cherish what you have and look forward to what’s to come.
