This couldn’t be a more timely review of heavy weight constructivists at a time when the term, and meaning of the movement are constantly being thrown around (See Shepard Fairey/ObamArt).  The ideas of constructivism are often not sited directly as the movement itself and ideas behind it are often lost in the coopting of the term for the needed purpose.  That’s precisely what makes the Tate show so special.  You can see first hand, what the movement was about, how it was embodied in these two leading figures and how its spirit was defined by the philosophy that drove this work.

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The Constructivists challenged the idea of the work of art as a unique commodity, explored more collective ways of working, and looked at how they could contribute to everyday life through design, architecture, industrial production, theatre and film.  In addition, constructivists sought to speak directly to the ‘common man’  and give something tangible through art to everyone.

Of course, one might argue that figuration and representation are a more common language than abstraction, but constructivism at its core has a rather Utopian world view.  A new Russian Utopia, rising from the ashes of its past.

For more info on this be sure to check out the Tate exhibit in person or online here.

There are also some good articles on the subject here:

Two Coats of Paint

The Times UK

The Times Waldemar Januszczak

Colescott’s work employs a wonderful sense of perspective and narrative that belies its simple drawing style and overt childlike cartoonish treatment.  His paintings are snapshots of historical events, places, re-creations of famous paintings, or creations based on politics, current events and perhaps mixed with  his own fantasy.  They are incredibly facinating narritives, packed with insight, historical detail that allow you to revist these works over and over and find something new.

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Bio from Annex Galleries

Warrington Colescott was born in Oakland, California in 1921. His parents, Warrington, Sr. and Lydia Colescott moved to Oakland from Louisiana in 1920. Earning his B.A. and M.A. from the University of California at Berkeley, he continued with studies at the Grande Chaumiere, Paris, and the Slade School of Art, London. He received prestigious fellowships with a Guggenheim in 1959, followed by a Fulbright in 1966, and National Endowments for the Art Artists Fellowships in 1976, 1979, and 1983.

Colescott was a Professor of Art at the University of Wisconsin at Madison between 1949 and 1978 and was named Professor Emeritus in 1986. His early graphics were abstractions created in the medium of serigraphy. By the early 1960s he turned his focus on intaglio printmaking and his imagery evolved into social satire and commentary. He has produced a number of narrative satires, including one on the history of printmaking.

Perimiter Gallery
210 W. Superior Street, Chicago, IL 60654
(312)266-9473   fax: (312)266-7984
Tue-Sat    10:30am-5:30pm

For some insight into the “Not What You Think” campaign, take a look at their flickr page

From the Reader by Alison True

The Bird Machine’s Jay Ryan will be on the panel judging the Chicago Public Library’s design contest. The library’s trolling for a poster to promote its new url, chipublib.org, and its Not What You Think campaign, which the library says “challenges perceptions and highlights the library’s less well-known free services such as music and audiobook downloads, new release DVDs, and free Wi-Fi.”

Entrants need to be “residents of the Chicagoland area eligible for a Chicago Public Library card.” Click here for the rest of the offical rules of entry.

And for profiles of many of the artists who could enter, and samples of their work, here’s a screenprinting scene roundup by Liz Armstrong.

Needless to say, he’s an incredibly interesting character and as a bonus, he’s got some really great art too.  Surprisingly, there’s a good amount of info online about the artist.  Its hard to tell where fact and fiction overlap, diverge and even fade into fantasy.  A line the artist was very careful in blurring.

Check out the show at PS.1

A good New York Times article from 1990 at Gino

Gino De Dominicis: Invisibility and Immortality

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Bio

Gino De Dominicis was born in 1947 in Ancona, Italy and lived in Rome until his death in 1998. He had many solo exhibitions, including Galleria L’Attico, Rome, Italy (1970, 1971, 1974); Galleria Pieroni, Roma (1979); Galleria Pio Monti, Rome (1977, 1980); Galleria Toselli, Milan (1995); Galleria Mazzoli, Modena (1998);  Palazzo Taverna, Rome, Italy (1972, 1977); Galleria Lia Rumma, Naples, Italy (1988); The Murray and Isabella Rayburn Foundation, New York, NY (1989); Centre National d’Art Contemporaine, Grenoble, France (1990); His work has been included in group shows, including Biennale Internatzionale della Giovane Pittura, Bologna, Italy (1970); VII Biennale de Paris, Parc Floral de Paris, Bois de Vincennes, Paris (1971) ; Documenta V, Kassel, Germany (1972); 8th Biennale de Paris, Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville et Musée National d’Art Moderne, Paris (1973); Italy two: Art around ’70, Museum of Philadelphia Civic Center, Philadelphia (1973); Prospectretrospect Europe 1946-1976, Stadtische Kunsthalle, Düsseldorf, Germany (1976); 40th Biennale di Venezia, Venice, Italy (1980); Identité italienne, l’art en Italie depuis 1959, Centre George Pompidou, Musée National d’Art Moderne, Paris (1981);Fiera d’Arte Contemporanea Internazionale, Milan, Italy (1988); 44th Biennale di Venezia, Venice, Italy (1990); 45th Biennale di Venezia, Venice, Italy (1995); 47th Biennale di Venezia, Venice, Italy (1997).

JANUARY 16 – MARCH 21, 2009

Works on paper by:

Stuart Davis, Lazlo Maholy-Nagy, Burgoyne Diller, Ralston Crawford, Jose de Rivera, David Smith, Ellsworth Kelly, Agnes Martin, Al Held, Frank Stella, Donald Judd, Sol LeWitt, Richard Serra, Brice Marden, Robert Mangold,
Dorothea Rockburne, Richard Tuttle, Fred Sandback, Joel Shapiro, Peter Halley

website
Geometry

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All images © 2003-8 Russell Bowman Art Advisory, all rights reserved

This exhibition features works on paper by Barbara Kendrick, paintings Sam Ainsley and a collaborative installation by both artists. The exhibition catalogue contains essays by John Calcutt and Lisa Wainwright

Barbara Kendrick is Professor Emeritus in the School of Art and Design, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Barbara Kendrick, Nursery, watercolor, gouache, pencil, pastel, 2008

Barbara Kendrick, Whizzle, watercolor, colored pencil, 2008

I-Space

230 West Superior Street
Second Floor
Chicago, IL 60610
312.587.9976
Tu-Sa 11am-5pm

If we were a bank and had say billions of bailout dollars…..here are just a few things that would be coming home with us.

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Here’s all the info if you happen to find yourself in the area:

Sunday, March 8th, 2009
John Toomey Gallery
818 North Boulevard
Oak Park, IL
10:00 am
708 • 383 • 5234

Treadway-Toomey Galleries

Sale Preview

Gladstone Gallery March 2007 Exhibition

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Bio

With studios in Chelsea, New York, and Salisbury, Connecticut, Carroll Dunham creates raucous acrylic paintings with additives that he describes as a “kind of high-wire act of the id and ego”.  Many of his paintings are full of humorous figures with disconnected body parts.

He is a regular exhibitor at Whitney Biennials, and his work is in numerous prestigious museums including the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis and the Art Institute of Chicago.

He was born in Old Lyme, Connecticut to parents who ran a real-estate business.  He became a studio art major at Trinity College, and his exposure to the New York art world came from regular college field trips into the city.  He interned there one summer for Dorothea Rockburn and from her learned studio skills.  He worked for seven years as a lay-out artist for Time magazine, and then by age 30 settled into doing his own art work, which at the beginning was working with floating shapes and then later added texture.  He also did figurative work.

He credits older artists Mel Bochner and Barry LeVa as helping him find his own direction.  Dunham also became a committed art teacher and works with students in the graduate program at Columbia University.

He is married to pop-photographer Laurie Simmons, and they have two daughters and spend summers at their country retreat in Salisbury, Connecticut.  He prefers the medium of acrylic paint and textural additives such as styrofoam, asphalt and crushed glass.

Source:
ARTnews, January 1999