February 2012
1 post
1 tag
Gold Rush
Although I am a committed urban bicyclist and advocate for public transit, I loved going to the auto show as a kid. I got a big thrill from all the concept cars — particularly the wild paint jobs you’d never see out on the street. That’s what I thought about when I saw this Lexus parked on Paulina Ave near Wellington.
I’m not sure who would drive it, but I’m...
January 2012
5 posts
16 tags
Art[s] and Letters
Let’s begin by stating the obvious: art is all about interpretation. Who can say with certainty what the “meaning” of any particular piece of art is? If you like a work of art, does it matter whether you are liking what the artist intended? Can you like a work of art for the “wrong” reason? The issue is complicated enough when the art under discussion is an image; it’s compounded...
12 tags
Virtuous Objects and the categorical imperative
I am always interested in how museums categorize objects they display. Paintings and sculpture and photographs are pretty easy, although you certainly can make a case for sculptures that are really about painting [think Robert Arneson or Viola Frey] and paintings that are sculpture [Red Grooms, Ellsworth Kelly].
Utilitarian objects are a different story. Consider the pieces displayed in the four...
Nice Package
If the knives were arranged in ROYGBIV fashion, I would submit this to Things Organized Neatly.
Even so, it’s certainly eye catching. Great gift idea for $9.99, although I wonder if the color on the blades will wear off eventually.
6 tags
Eva Zeisel
The January 2001, Metropolis featured profiles of nine designers who were still working at the age of 90 and beyond. Most prominent among them was Philip Johnson [95 at the time, he died in 2005], but also Julius Shulman, Morris Lapidus, Al Hirschfeld, Viktor Schreckengost, Pauline Trigere, and Eva Zeisel, who died last week at 105 — the last survivor of the group lionized at the time.
I...
December 2011
4 posts
5 tags
Lingering Voices
I am posting this way too late for anyone to see either of the shows that Janeil Engelstad assembled and mounted at the threewalls gallery space and the Center for Book and Paper Arts at Columbia College during November. But due to the magic of digital media, you can still experience some of the content in cyberspace. Engelstad built both shows on material she had developed for her website,...
22 tags
Virtuous Objects -- Wright "Important Design"...
The preview of an auction at Wright Gallery remains one of my great personal pleasures: I have often likened it to going to a great, small design museum where you can touch everything. It’s fun to look at the items in the catalog and online, but really, nothing beats going to Wright’s show room and seeing how the staff creates the display vignettes. I went the day before the auction, where...
1 tag
My Trip to Microgastronomyland
While I like to watch food tv and used to read food magazines, my issue with all of it is that you can’t taste the food. But sometimes the visual presentation is so spectacular, it’s almost as impressive as the aromatic and savory elements of the dining experience.
Dinner at Moto falls into that category: it’s a true adventure, and even though my phone pictures are pretty...
17 tags
Shopping Windows
Although I am not, generally, somebody who finds much to like about the “winter holidays,” from time to time I fall victim to a kind of a thing for the store window decorations. This year in Chicago, I must regretfully report that the holiday offerings are, overall, kind of limp. If retailers depended on their window displays to lure shoppers off the street, a lot of the stores along Michigan,...
November 2011
4 posts
3 tags
Elysian fields?
Sam Zell built his reputation as a turnaround vulture — a guy who exploits the misfortunes of others by acquiring assets [usually under-preforming real estate] at greatly reduced prices. So the news that he’s acquired the Elysian Hotel at [according to Crain’s] a record per-room price for Chicago and re-branding it as a Waldorf-Astoria, is a head-scratcher.
As a category, hotels...
9 tags
Busy bodies
While I have recently pointed out how many New York museums occupy grand old residences, Chicago has only a few — the most obvious being the Graham Foundation and the Richard H. Driehaus Museum. Far more obscure is the International Museum of Surgical Science, one of three lavish early 20th century mansions on Lake Shore Drive just south of North Avenue. Body of Work, a contemporary art...
7 tags
I survived the great blizzard of October 2011. Snow is bad everywhere, but in New York, where you expect to be able to walk all over the city, slush sucks.
The next day was perfectly clear and windless, and off I went. Among the many virtues of New York is the plethora of museums and other cultural institutions located in buildings converted from residences. I’m not talking about house museums,...
14 tags
People who know me are tired, I am sure, of hearing this, but I still think that Chicago is the greatest American city, mostly because New York is another country. The most exciting place on the planet — and basically, the center of the universe.
I started my first day of a long weekend there with a stroll up Madison Avenue in the 60s, home to the priciest retail in the Western...
October 2011
3 posts
14 tags
MDW Fair II
I am not sure why the organizers of the MDW show decided to have another one at the Geolofts building so soon after the last. I always assume these things are annual events. But I couldn’t have been the only one to find plenty to like at their presentation last April, and although there’s lots of junk on display, I think I saw even more good work at this one.
Most of the presenters at the...
6 tags
Harvest time
The second annual Design Harvest event seemed to be well attended this weekend, although it was unclear if any of the vendors were actually selling anything. I, of course, bought nothing, but saw some really nice stuff. Seth Deysach of Lagomorph Design is an accomplished furniture maker, but it’s his bike design that puts him in a totally different category. He reminded me that the earliest...
4 tags
Mining Goldberg
Just mentioning the name of architect Bertrand Goldberg, who is undergoing lionization this fall in Chicago with several exhibitions about him and his work, more or less demands a reference to Marina City, his most famous design — and, inevitably, its description as “iconic.”
“Icon” — applied variously to objects, people and even places — is one of those words that has been...
September 2011
4 posts
5 tags
Virtuous Objects @ Vintage Bazaar
Vintage Bazaar, the floating agora that styles itself a flea market without tube socks, landed on 9/18 at the Congress Theater, which proved to be a not entirely accommodating venue for the event.
I’ve never been to a concert at the Congress — although I know they still use it as such but only, evidently, for dance parties [Erasure — yes, the dance-pop darlings are still,...
[Missing the] Target
Like a lot of Missoni-philes, I have been curious to see the branded merchandise that Target has been promising for a couple of months. In August, Racked graciously posted the entire 400 piece Look Book, and it all looked pretty cool.
But of course you had to wonder what it was going to be like in the flesh. What is distinctive about Missoni is, of course, the amazing color ways and signature...
Fire!
How weird is it that I wrote about Piaseka Bakery yesterday and the place burned to the ground today?
1 tag
A lotta love for terra cotta
In our continuing efforts to keep Chicago’s terra cotta treasures high in the general consciousness, consider these gems:
This storefront at Elston and Irving seems to have survived — not unlike a lot of great architecture — through a combination of benign neglect and a depressed real estate market.
It really doesn’t look like much when you whiz by in a car. But if you...
August 2011
1 post
4 tags
Small victories still a big deal
In the architectural preservation arena, you’ve got to celebrate the small as well as the big. If they save Prentice Hospital, it will be a major accomplishment. The remodeled storefront at the corner of Lincoln and Melrose may represent a more minor victory, but it is still triumphant in its way.
I had watched the place for years, because it has one of the greatest terra cotta facades in the...
July 2011
3 posts
Lost in translation
I want to stand behind the people at Chicago’s Dankhaus, the German-American Cultural Center, for taking pride in the building it occupies on Western Avenue.
But I couldn’t help but point out their fracturing of the French language in their otherwise noble campaign to improve the building’s skin.
Maybe somebody should send them a German-French dictionary.
5 tags
Hidden treasure [and likely to remain so]
While US Postal Service buildings are some of Chicago’s most architecturally splendid, I’m guessing that most are undocumented because, for a variety of reasons, you’re not allowed to take photographs inside. I discovered this recently when I went inside one of the best post offices in the city — the Logan Square/ Roberto Clemente branch at 2339 N California. It is probably the best...
6 tags
Virtuous Objects -- Wright Mass Modern Auction...
The last sale of the year — the auction world follows an academic year calendar — took place at Wright on Saturday. Its “Mass Modern” sale is supposed to include stuff that’s generally less rarefied than what the house has in its regular design auctions. But you do find that some of the lots are items that went unsold at previous sales. Some of the items that I would have loved to...
June 2011
4 posts
7 tags
Where Is Where Is here [for a little while]
I keep hearing that art school thesis shows are hunting grounds for art dealers searching for The Next Big Thing. I’m not sure whether any stars will be born from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago’s “Where Is Where” show, spotlighting recent MFA graduates in Architecture, Interior Architecture, Designed Objects and Fashion, but I saw some work that I would not be at all surprised to...
19 tags
The Big Show, pt 2
Although NEOCon is ostensibly about contract furnishings, Merchandise Mart Properties has over the years tried to glam it up and attract more of a residential component. This year, attendees were offered a keynote address from Margaret Russell, who recently became editor-in-chief of Architectural Digest after two decades at Elle Decor. Turnout was huge; pre-registration demand was such that the...
14 tags
Truckin'
The 7th annual Guerilla Truck Show took place on a rain free evening [in contrast to the crappy weather that’s plagued the last couple of editions] and from all indications was a major success. Originally conceived as an alternative creative environment to the buttoned up atmosphere at NEOCon, it’s evolved into a full-scale Happening. Although GTS godfather Morlen Sinoway [below]
...
11 tags
The Big Show, pt 1
I wish I could make a definitive connection between the health of the contract furnishings industry and the economy at large, because the mood at NEOCon is up. Way up. Of course, as the grandaddy of all modern trade shows [now in its 43rd year], it’s unabashedly about sales, so there’s a pervasive atmosphere of positivist hucksterism. But the good vibes are hardly without foundation. The...
May 2011
2 posts
4 tags
A new museum
There has been so little new construction in Chicago the past couple of years that when the barricades come down on any completed project — as they have this week at the new DePaul University Art Museum — it’s a momentous occasion. I have generally been impressed with a lot of what I’ve seen at DePaul’s museum, which until now has only had gallery space in one of its classroom...
2 tags
Anne Tyng
I’m a little surprised that no one seems to have recognized Anne Tyng as an unsung feminist heroine. Looking at the chronology of her life that accompanies her Inhabiting Geometry exhibit at the Graham Foundation, it’s easy to see the makings of a great novel, although it requires you to supply your own connections to the bare facts.
Tyng could be a symbol for generations of women who...
April 2011
3 posts
1 tag
MDW Fair
I’m guessing Rick Owen, owner of the Geolofts building at 3636 South Iron Street, gave the not-for-profits threewalls, Roots & Culture and Public Media Institute a very attractive deal for the initial offering of their MDW Fair, self described as “a gathering of independent art initiatives, spaces, galleries and artist groups from the Chicago metropolitan area.” Certainly hosting it there...
3 tags
Poetry Center unveiled [for now, at least]
The construction barricades at the Poetry Center building in River North came down sometime recently, revealing its gleaming glass window wall. But if you want to see in this state, you’d better hurry over there, because the final design from John Ronan Architect calls for a screen of pierced anodized metal to cover most of it. It’s kind of like a reverse strip-tease.
Despite the...
Wright auction postmortem
The Wright Modern Design auction generated some big, big sales, and only a few passed lots. Overall pretty astonishing results.
From the first lot — a Prouve table that was estimated to sell from 12-15K that brought 40K
to the Prouve platform bed I really liked, estimated at 9-12K, sold for $33,750
to a set of armchairs by Pierre Jeanneret, estimated at 15-20K that brought $74,500
...
March 2011
4 posts
3 tags
Virtuous Objects: Wright Gallery Edition
I have said many times that going to the preview for one of Wright Gallery’s design auctions is like going to a design museum, except you get to touch everything. You can even sit on the furniture.
It’s fun to look at the catalog online, of course, but nothing beats going over to Wright’s place on Hubbard Street and seeing it all in their display room. You’ve really got to...
The Real March Madness
You may think that with the NCAA revving up, seasonal insanity is just starting. But it’s really over: the true March Madness — St Patrick’s Day week in Chicago — is about as extreme as it gets for total party overload. [Outside of New Orleans, I guess.] It’s a stupid drunken mess. The parade — and the simultaneous bacchanal throughout the city — always takes place the...
Virtuous Object
Marble Polar Bear bench by Judy Kensley McKie, sold at Christies March 11. Pre-sale estimate was $25-35K; hammer price was $80,500.
Outstanding example of “functional art.”
3 tags
Elevating art
I noted earlier in these “pages” that, while the new Brown Line station designs are a mite uneven in quality [but generally pretty good], they’re a major step forward for the transit experience. Some of them are actually quite fine. What really impresses me most about the re-vamp are the major artworks installed at each Brown Line station. They have been funded by the percent-for-art provisions...
February 2011
1 post
1 tag
Pink Re-think
I have previously taken the NY Times Home section to task for laziness — as one example, announcing a trend for appreciating mid-century pink bathrooms when they not only didn’t give much evidence of trendiness, but also offered very lame examples of the “trend.”
If they really wanted to illustrate a pink bathroom story with one that has some real style — and that...
December 2010
1 post
4 tags
Design Sloth
This week’s Home & Garden section of the New York Times makes me think the editors are acknowledging that this is the slowest news week of the year, so they’re running pieces that have been moldering in the excess pile for a while. Either that or they’ve just gotten lazy. First, there’s a trend story about a revival in pink for bathrooms.
[All photos from NYT website]
I’m guessing that...
November 2010
2 posts
Erol Altay explains Eric Owen Moss to me
Eric Owen Moss’ work is eye-popping in the extreme, with a huge range of materials and forms. Just look at some of his buildings in Culver City [all images from his firm’s website]
The Samitaur Tower
The Stealth office building
The Beehive conference center
The Slash/ Backslash building
The Umbrella at the LA Philharmonic
The title of his lecture sponsored by the Art...
Photo shopping
A friend of mine who sells real estate told me to check out the work of Larry Malvin, who, judged by his website, does yeoman work as a photographer of pricey houses for sale as well as more artistic shots of landscapes. What she specifically wanted me to take a look at were what he calls “image enhanced” cityscapes of Chicago like these Am I wrong to find them treacly, sentimental, and even...
October 2010
6 posts
Flattery and insincerity
Chicago designer Randall Kramer sent me a picture of a brass-plated fireplace screen he made for a New York apartment. I was impressed.
He says he was inspired by Edgar Brandt’s Art Deco-era designs for Au Bon Marche. So I looked for a picture of Brandt’s work and found this photo of one of the panels he’d made for the Paris store, now relocated to a building in Charlotte, NC...
Please buy this house
On the market in Highland Park: a 1963 Keck & Keck house
still occupied by the original owners. Check out the listing here.
From the interior pics, it seems to be in excellent condition, and although you would probably do some re-decorating [flowered wallpaper in a Keck house?], it looks like you could move right in.
The ask is $489,000, which to me seems like a bargain for a 4 bedroom...
4 tags
Signage patrol
When I discovered that Potbelly Sandwiches was moving into the old Erickson jewelry store on Clark Street in Andersonville, I felt a little nauseated. Not because I care so much about chain stores moving in to “real” Chicago neighborhoods, but mostly because you can pretty reliably count on Potbelly to slap a garish, back-lit plastic sign on just about any storefront it occupies. And the old...
5 tags
Sensory Overload -- Gotham edition
Unlike a lot of people who live in Chicago, I am happy to admit that I <3 New York. Lots. There’s something stupendous on almost every inch of Manhattan island.
Although I am not the first person to reach this epiphany, I am consistently astonished by how much there is to look at. You cannot process even a small fraction of it. [And despite common perceptions about how expensive New York...
3 tags
Magic Carpet -- [Still] Made in USA
My pulse rose a little the other day walking through the handbags department on the main floor of the store that used to be Marshall Field’s, where I saw a poster from the 1933-34 Century of Progress exhibition hawking an appearance of what they called Karastan’s “World’s Fair Rug” in the newly opened Fine Rug department. I’m just a sucker for world’s fair related design...
3 tags
Sullivan/ Samuelson
It’s hard to explain Tim Samuelson’s significance to the cultural vitality of Chicago. The fact that the city created a job for him — as its official Cultural Historian — probably says it all. But if you want to understand why he’s such a an important force, take a look at “Sullivan’s Idea,” the show he’s curated about Louis Sullivan at the Cultural Center. Actually, you might call...
September 2010
9 posts
Virtuous Object
Just about everything at Pavilion is pretty wonderful — mostly midcentury European furniture and lighting — but a little crazy when you look at the tickets. [Actually, there are no tickets — as with most places like this, you’ve got to ask for numbers.] The shop does actually carry a few newly manufactured items, and they’re not outrageously priced. I was particularly...
3 tags
One of these things is not like the other
At the still-unfinished Jewel on Southport Ave, they’ve put up the signage, including the traffic indicators for the parking garage.
If one sign says “in,” shouldn’t the other say “out?” Or if one is “exit,” shouldn’t its companion be “entrance?”
No doubt Edwin Newman [of blessed memory] is already spinning.