the best alley in Wicker Park vol. VII

Though our pop up show 'Love Flows Both Ways: street culture x contemporary art' has been keeping us down in the South Loop more than we are used to, we still make the time to check out our favorite Wicker Park alley at least a couple of times a month because it's always worth the effort.  As we look back at the last month's activity in the alley, we are struck by Snaki's  'Waste Away Your Starry Nights', with it's visual nod to Van Gogh.  It made our inner art school geek smile.

Check out our flickr set here to peep all the great work that appeared in the alley since our last update.

Love Flows Both Ways: pop up show update

Recently our neighbors over at Time Out Chicago were kind enough to write about our pop up show 'Love Flows Both Ways'.  Check out their article and pics of the show here.

The Chiguide wrote about the show as well, as did Chicagoist who used our quote "Art is the new bling" as the title for their arts roundup piece.  Thanks for noticing!

And in other pop up related news, we spotted President Bill Clinton across the street from our space the other day. That's him waving in our blurry phone pic below.  Unfortunately he wasn't able to pop into the space for a browse.  Next time we are going to get him to come in and view the show.

Da Mayor

Mayor Daley has had an interesting and challenging relationship with the street art community of Chicago, so it is no surprise that said community has taken notice of his announcement that he will not be seeking reelection. After all, Daley's reign has seen the outlawing of spray paint sales within Chicago city limits, the classification of markers as criminal tools, and the creation of "Mayor Daley's Graffiti Busters" whose sole raison d'etre involves the destruction of street art.  What is perhaps most amazing is that even after the installation of these draconian measures, Chicago's street art community continues to thrive.

Reaction to Daley's announcement has taken many forms, and has provided an opening for the launch of at least two mayoral campaigns by artists Swiv and Jagoff.  We will continue to monitor further developments and bring images of the best Daley inspired street work as we become aware of it.

the making of 'Exit Through The Gift Shop'

Movie City News has recently posted this in depth interview with two of the creative forces responsible for Banksy's movie 'Exit Through The Gift Shop'.  Hear the movie's producer Jaimie D'Cruz and it's editor Chris King muse on what it was like to work with Banksy creating "the world's first street art disaster movie".

You can also read Jaimie D'Cruz's production diary about the two year long project here.
And check out the movie's official site banksyfilm.com for late breaking updates.
The DVD version drops in the USA on December 14.

revolution outside our window...

One of the most interesting aspects of our pop up show has been the amazing variety of people we get to observe outside on State Street.    Along with art scene hipsters and bloggers, the show is drawing tourists, loop workers, design students and the occasional homeless person.  We also seem to encounter at least one demonstration a week from people angry about something.

If you haven't done so yet, you should consider stopping by the pop up space.  You never know what you will see while you're here. Sometimes the view outside our windows is nearly as interesting as what's inside the space.

'LOVE FLOWS BOTH WAYS: street culture x contemporary art' runs thru December 4th.  The show is located at 205 S. State Street (State and Adams) and is open Tuesday thru Sunday from 11:30 am until 5:30 pm.

it's starting to get political out there...finally.

stop motion graffiti

Love Flows Both Ways: opening night

Sorry we've been neglecting the blog and the flicker a little bit lately.  The preparation and installation of our pop up show with the Chicago Urban Art Society was all consuming, and it has taken us a couple of days to catch up on sleep, emails, and all the posting we've missed.  To this end we bring you some photos from Thursday night's opening:

Mad thanks to everyone who turned out for the opening.  We hope you had a great time (and perhaps a little too much wine).  And a big shout to the staff at the Chicago Urban Art Society, without who's help we would have never been able to frame, wrap, transport and install over one hundred works in the short span of seven days.

In case you missed it: The Chicago Urban Art Society documented the installation of 'Love Flows Both Ways' and posted awesome pics of the process, the opening, and the art on their flickr.  And here are links to articles about the pop up opening on chicagoist, flavorpill, and fotoflow.

'LOVE FLOWS BOTH WAYS: street culture x contemporary art' runs thru December 4th.  The show is located at 205 S. State Street (State and Adams) and is open Tuesday thru Sunday from 11:30 am until 5:30 pm.

new work from Banksy

Banksy has updated the 'outdoors' section of his website with a selection of new street work including this sublime nod to Keith Haring.  This isn't the first time that Mr B. has painted a picture of someone walking a famous contemporary art dog.  Back in May he hit L.A. and Toronto with mirror images of a security guard brandishing a Koons balloon dog.  

And it seems that Mr B's interest in videos is a continuing theme.  He has added a 'seen on t.v.' section to the website that features two pieces of British sketch comedy and the jaw dropping opening sequence he story boarded and directed for The Simpsons.  Since he posted the update, Fox has made youtube remove the Simpsons video, but you can see the complete sequence here:

Check out the rest of the new street pieces and videos on Banksy's website banksy.co.uk.

Love Flows Both Ways: sneak peek part two

We've taken over a bank.  It was built in 1962 and has underground vaults and safety deposit boxes, the whole nine yards.  We're going to stick to hanging the show in the lobby though as the downstairs is pretty creepy and we don't want to have to clean it.

We've packed up a ton of art to fill the space.  Though we loathe Rachel Zoe's tv show, we subscribe to her concept of bringing everything, and then editing it down on site.  We''re in the space and the editing has begun.

And please don't ask us about the packing tape.  It's a long story and we end up looking a little foolish in the end.  Let's just say that it was free...

'LOVE FLOWS BOTH WAYS: street culture x contemporary art' opens this thursday, October 7th and runs thru December 4th.  The show is located at 205 S. State Street (State and Adams) and will be open Tuesday thru Sunday from 11:30 am until 5:30 pm.