Stan Shellabarger at Western Exhibitions Stan Shellabarger is a conceptual performance artist. This exhibit concerns, quite simply, walking. In fact, the artist loves to walk, sometimes to test his endurance and to underline his compulsive nature. Presented on the gallery walls were long sheets of paper that the artist had repeatedly walked on. The result was an impression of his footprints and a rubbing or image of the surface he toiled on. Also on display was photo documentation of Stan’s walking strategies. At Chicago’s Millennium Park, for example, he walked armed with a water canister and tubing running down to his gym shoe, so as to leave a water trail. Temporal in nature. Perhaps the artist is alluding to the ephemeral, transient reality of man and art. In another series of photos, Stan repeatedly walked across an intersection with chalk attached to his shoes, so as to create a geometric square. As prehistoric cave dwellers marked cave walls, the artist marks his immortality fir the good of man. To my mind, Stan’s explorations are related to Chris Burden, who tests the physical limits of the human body; the Earth Works of Richard Long; and of course Henry David Thoreau, who used literature to extoll the virtues if the humble art of walking. In one of his journals of 1857, Thoreau remarks, “I have told many that I walk every day, about half the daylight.” Walking is zen, in this most simple of acts. Knowledge, nature, and the spirit of man coalesce. Gordon Matta Clark at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago Art Fag Fave Show for 2008 Unequivocally, the Gordon Matta Clark Retrospective at the MCA was the most revelatory and enlightening of all shows I have seen and will see this year. It floored me. This comprehensive exhibit illuminated all aspects of this most revolutionary and visionary artist, who explored sociological and ecological concerns thought his architectural divinations. After studies in architecture at Cornell, Gordon made his way to New York, where he reminded for and away from mainstream architecture. In the late 1960’s, New York was a thriving metropolis where old statures would be razed to make way for sleek skyscrapers. Gordon would make clandestine forays into these old buildings, sometimes just days away from being demolished, and make them part of his architectural laboratory. Gordon would investigate, reveal, and reinvent these corpses before they became vacant lots. An architectural surgeon armed with industrial strength cutting tools, saw and torch, would do a post mortem study of these condemned structures. Gordon would cut into the building existing walls and ceiling floors to redefine and reinterpret their structural components, to rework and reinvent their architectural space. By cutting into visual space, he opened up new possibilities for revitalization and made the old new, the arcane avant-garde. Gordon called his art anarchitecture. He certainly was a rebel with a cause, and all these illegal intrusions and modifications could have landed him in jail. As a concerned artist creating in the 1960’s, Gordon was well aware of our squandering of natural resources, our poisoning and polluting of air and water for capitalist gain. Gordon produced some striking short films, photos, and documents, voicing his concern for our survival and the survival of the planet. To underline the air pollution problem in New York City, Gordon carted out oxygen tanks to downtown pedestrians. In another timely film, he drives his vehicle to Fresh Kills Waste Dump, where we see it bulldozed apart and haphazardly incorporated into a stagnant mountain of toxic waste and debris. We view thousands of seabirds, feasting on this poisonous time bomb and jeopardizing the cycle of life. Gordon was also interested in humanitarian concerns like the plight of the poor, the homeless, and his fellow struggling artists. He opened up a low-cost neighborhood community kitchen for the needy. He melted down bottles and glass to make bricks and building materials. He utilized inorganic garbage and waste to construct walls of shelter, and even jacked up abandoned cars to provide temporary shelter for the homeless. Gordon was ahead of the curve. He knew of the unlimited potential of recycling. Awareness, compassion concern make Gordon Matta Clark a visionary hero for the 21st century. He died in 1978, at only 35 years of age. His actions and example inspire us. Everything that is manufactured has an impact on our environment, and this must be addressed. Energy resources taken from the earth are nonrenewable. Carbon emissions from coal and oil poison the air and water for future generations and cause mutations, disease and death. Plants and animals are becoming extinct at an alarming rate. Gordon Matta Clark was aware of these issues and took personal action. So can you. If we can’t move fast enough, we may have already commuted our expiration date. Patricia Acosta Freedom Voyage at Prospectus Art Gallery (1210 W. 18th St, Chicago) An inviting exhibit of painting that takes you on a journey from the natural world to the metaphysical. Under the mentorship of Pilsen art guru Marcos Raya, Patricia Acosta forges her own being. Hers is an intoxicating universe of wonder. A landscape of trees and eyeballs create a bewitching forest of the imagination. An earth godess makes the transition from death to life. A carnal maiden communicates her desires through intercourse with the universe. A strong effort from an emerging artist. Stina Kaczmaryn It’s Lonely on Top at Motherland (1125 w. 31st St, Chicago) Mutant genetic splicing. Continuing ecological disasters. Plant, animal, man and insect metamorphosizing into bizarre new life forms. Strange birds carrying weapons of mass destruction. We view turkey necked generals and dreamlike vistas where all is not right. Whimsical castles, mythical beings. Stina Kaczmaryn invites you into her brave new crosshatched world. The artist has a lyrical illustrative style, bright and fantastic but dark and chilling at the same time. Check this out for that look into your future. Jeff Koons at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago Just about the time Michael Jordan was ascending to athletic stardom, I became aware of Jeff Koons confounding basketball in an aquarium piece. This conceptual piece was his initial splash in his journey toward stardom in a very competitive art world. Later, a billboard-sized photograph of the artist with a European porno star, poised in perfect Romeo and Juliet embrace, confirmed my assumptions this kid did his homework and was going straight to the top. It’s Summer 2008, and the Jeff Koons Retrospective is in full bloom. Abuzz with art viewers and strong difference in opinion. The gallery space is aglow with glossy, shiny objects and kitschy sculptures, super-sized and overwrought, tempered to overpower the senses. Are we viewing a hedonistic feast or a studied avant-guard incursion? Standing in the center of the room, I view large mirror silhouettes of sheep, walruses, and cows; a giant, stainless steel, magenta cracked egg; and a ring fit for Goliath. Need I mention the surfaces were immaculate and pristine? Unblemished, new toys on a Christmas morn. On the walls were paintings, James Rosenquist style. A mash-up of Disney characters, Playboy pinups, Hulk and Popeye, and even a ladle of soup, its garish colors so mouthwatering and delicious I could have gladly eaten the Play-Doh painting. Also on display are kitschy items, swiped from Grandma’s dresser. We view sunny cherubs escorting a joyful pig to slaughter, carved wooden cherry birds and innocent lap dogs, a ceramic whisky train canister glazed in rich silver, and of course, Michael Jackson, the Kind of Pop, immortalized in ostentatious delight with his pet monkey, Bubbles. Does taking kitschy items and reinventing them in a florid, over-the-top, neobaroque, style increase their value and make them museum worthy? Perhaps, The artist questions our perceptions of beauty and taste in art. Through it all, Jeff has a perfectionist’s eye for creating flawless objects. Do they celebrate, love, youth, sex, luxury, the American dream? Or is the artist reflecting on society’s vice and sin? The contradictions make for an intriguing artist. All of Jeff Koons’ work has consumer appeal. His are enlarged, sumptuous, enticing, art masterpieces. Does the heavy-handed pop art represent a top-heavy America, ready to collapse on itself? An intoxicating richness of emptiness? Or is the artist just serving the dish you ordered? Michael Hernandez De Luna at Carl Hammer Gallery I’m sure many art-minded Chicagoans are familiar with the postal hijinks of art conspirator Michael Hernandez. He creates outrageously satirical stamps and gleefully propels them through the postal system, to the dismay of the postal inspectors. The artist’s new work was exhibited at Carl Hammer Gallery, along with the release of his new book, American Beauty. Of course, the artist uses a fair amount of scandalous and salacious material for the artistically jaded. His freshly-minted batch of illicit stamps features rock stars who overdosed on drugs, such as Janis Joplin and Hank Willians. Also, there are all-American stamps that celebrate weapons of mass destruction, baby suicide bombers, McBarbie, and even blow-up sex dolls. Of course, the artist also addresses serious issues, Mike is one of the few dissenting voices casting a curveball to this new society of control, subversion, and surveillance. Defying convention and questioning government policy, his radically medicated stamps address racism, immigration, and our continued involvement in an immoral war in Iraq. Though he’s an art prankster at hear, there is always a dialectic element in Michael’s work, to express his philosophical outlook. Our man in the mailbox is not unlike a “Jake in the Box,” ready to jump out and oppose those who preach hate, lies and racism; to shock, amuse, and question authority. Of course, he’s no Andy Warhol Messiah, but his defiance is truth. by Art Fag