Photo: David Gremp
ALIBI FINE ART
Through 8/24 David Gremp: Chicago 78/79. Old storefronts, children, neighborhoods, and streets dominate David Gremp’s collection of black-and-white photos of Chicago in the late 1970s. 1966 W Montrose. alibifineart.com.
ART ON ARMITAGE
8/1–31 Peyton Rack. Inspired by the glamour overload of Macy’s shop windows, the painter Peyton Rack decked out the window display at Logan Square’s Art on Armitage gallery with a glut of decadent, decorative painting. 4125 W Armitage. artonarmitage.com.
ARTS CLUB OF CHICAGO
Through 8/10 David Salle: Ghost Paintings. The ghost paintings of the famed New York postmodernist painter David Salle—so called because they depict a woman posing underneath a large, faded bedsheet—are strikingly haunting. The works have not been seen in public since 1992, when they were made. The public gallery of this private club is a perfect workday afternoon escape. 201 E Ontario. artsclubchicago.org.
CENTER FOR BOOK AND PAPER ARTS
Through 8/10 Word on the Street: Image, Language, Signage. More than 15 sign makers (and sign connoisseurs) present a multilayered chorus of declarative words, from the hand drawn to the mass-produced. 1104 S Wabash. colum.edu/bookandpaper.
CHICAGO ARTISTS’ COALITION
8/9–29 The curatorial collective Happy Collaborationists brings together work by some of Chicago’s promising artists, including Chaz Evans, Amber Ginsburg, Mothergirl, Jake Myers, Hoyun Son, and Latham Zearfoss. 217 N Carpenter. chicagoartistscoalition.org.
CORBETT VS. DEMPSEY
Through 8/17 Peter Brötzmann: Left/Right. The Fluxus artist is also a well-known improvisational jazz musician, and that freedom shows in his sculptures, His drawings were made ambidextrously, hence the show’s name. 1120 N Ashland. corbettvsdempsey.com.
LINDA WARREN PROJECTS
Through 8/10 Conrad Freiburg jerry-rigs the gallery’s front door to kick a bucket when opened, setting off a chain of events among the gallery’s sculptures. Also in the project space, Eric Esper presents new paintings of tragic historical Chicago events: fires, train derailments, boat disasters—in his luscious style. 327 N Aberdeen. lindawarrengallery.com.
PACKER SCHOPF
LVL3
Through 9/1 Timeshares. It’s leisure and pleasure all day, every day in the abstract paintings of Calvin Ross Carl, Josh Reames, and Maria Walker. 1542 N Milwaukee, 3rd floor. lvl3gallery.com.
PACKER SCHOPF
Through 8/17 Vesna Jovanovic’s background in chemistry heavily influences her collection of vivid watercolors, which is aptly called Tender Anatomy. The gallery also showcases the septuagenarian artist Hank Feeley, whose pop paintings are provocative as postmodern Zen riddles. 942 W Lake. packergallery.com.
PRINTWORKS
Through 8/17 The local author Audrey Niffenegger is also an accomplished printmaker. On display: prints from Raven Girl, her graphic novella about a half-woman/half-raven and the difficulty of self-transformation. 311 W Superior. printworkschicago.com.
SAE INSTITUTE
Through 8/31 Luis Sahagun draws compelling portraits on reshaped cardboard boxes, a material he also uses in sculptural compositions that are so physically immediate they seem to emote. 820 N Orleans. sae-usa.com.
WOMAN MADE GALLERY
Through 8/22 Slippery Slope. Pornography as art? Maybe. Purge the hardcore penetration shots and you’re left with something that resembles contemporary art: fabricated sets, awkward dialogue, jazzy title sequences, and nude portraiture. The local author and artist Robin Hustle curates the group show. 685 N Milwaukee. womanmade.org.
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