mountshang: My Career as an Art Critic

Beginning with weekly sketching trips to the Cincinnati Art Museum sixty years ago, I've been viewing, making, and more recently writing about art ever since. Growing up in the studio of a sculptor whose interest in a kind of Modern Classical figuration was outdated the moment his career began, I've recklessly continued in that direction while earning a living as a music retailer in Oak Park, Illinois. A web museum of Twentieth Century figure sculpture was begun in 2001 and a blog of expeditions to exhibitions in 2006. Jason Foumberg invited me to write art criticism for New City in 2008. Some of my sculpture can be seen here . More recent ceramics can be seen here and recent drawings are shown here .

Reviews began to receive provocative, and often inaccurate, headlines in 2015. Please do not hold me responsible for them.

A brief discussion of my critical qualifications, or lack of them, may be found here

As readers may soon notice - my critical voice is sui generis. It certainly is outside the trends of either Chicago art or university approved art theory. It is rooted in the art and aesthetics of Milton Horn, a neo-medieval Jewish sculptor who worked in Chicago from 1950 to 1990. I have written about him here. I doubt he would share many of my current opinions, however, and he never bought contemporary ABX painting as i do (Just as I would not like to live within the world-class collection of medieval sculpture that filled his home on Lincoln Avenue. )

*******

New City's editor stopped accepting my pitches in 2022,

explaining that the online journal was becoming more "newsy".

New City has always been more about documentation than critique, and as journalism has become ever more partisan, New City has followed suit.

Now, I suppose, they will become even more so.

I write criticism that is unapologetically subjective. Sometimes positive, more often negative, sometimes political, not always politically correct, never politically centered.

It's not surprising that a politically correct journal will no longer publish me.

God knows why they ever did.

Those who write art criticism periodically wring their hands at its disappearance in newspapers or magazines. But even those who do get published hardly ever dare to critique.

Denis Diderot wrote his brutal, withering Salon critiques for fifteen readers,

and I am proud to say that my polite, self published reviews, sometimes reach nearly thirty.

************

Recent reviews can be found here .

John Himmelfarb at the Koehnline Museum

Bill Conger" at 65 Grand

Sol Kordich at Mariane Ibrahim

Entre Horizontes (the Chicago - Puerto Rican connection) at MCA

Nicole Eisenman at MCA

Rebecca Morris at MCA

Johan Wahlstrom at the Swedish American Museum

System and Dialectic at Madron Gallery

Perl-Rapport-Zawickiat College of Dupage

Amtonio Canova at the Art Institute of Chicago

Candida Alvaez. at Monique Meloche.

Jackie Kazarian. at O'Connor Gallery.

Women on the Verge. at Rhona Hoffman.

Picasso - Drawing from Life at the Art Institute of Chicago.

Remedios Varo at the Art Institute of Chicago

Ruth Duckworth at the Smart Museum

Drawings of Ellsworth Kelly at the Art Institute of Chicago

Camille Claudel at the Art Institute of Chicago

Bassim al Shaker at Rhona Hoffman

No Martins at Mariane Ibrahim

George Petrides at National Hellenic Museum

Anna Kunz at McCormick Gallery

Tom Torluemke at Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art

Omar Velazquez at Corbett vs. Dempsey

Yulia Gasio at UIMA

Laura Myntti at Epiphany Arts Center

Tyler Bernard Anthony at A Very Serious Art Gallery

Van Gogh and the Avant Garde at Art Institute of Chicago

Lygia Pape at Art Institute of Chicago

Liu Shou Kwan at Art Institute of Chicago

Dimitri Hadzi at Rosenthal Gallery

Suchitra Mattai at Kavi Gupta

James Little at Kavi Gupta

Language of Beauty in African Art at the Art Institute of Chicago

Tcharam! at Very Serious Gallery

Ian Mswiga at Mariane Ibrahm

Arvie Smith at Monique Meloche

Mitch Clark at Oliva Gallery

October Museum Tour
A Natural Turn at DePaul Art Museum
First Homosexuals at Wrightwood 659
David Hockney at the Art Institute of Chicago
Bridget Riley at the Art Institute of Chicago

(shown above: Charles Demuth)

Nick Cave at M.C.A.

Ruben Aguirre at National Museum of Mexican Art

An Instrument in the Shape of a Woman at Chicago Cultural Center

(Piece shown above: Leslie Baum)

Igshaan Adams at Art Institute of Chicago

Cezanne at Art Institute of Chicago

Robert Colescott at Chicago Cultural Center

Melanie Pankau at Thomas McCormick

Susanne Doremus at Zolla Lieberman

Joseph Lindon Smith at the Oriental Institute

Bob Thompson at the Smart Museum

Tomokazu Matsuyama at Kavi Gupta

Brendan Getz at Carrie Secrist

Rachel Harrison at Corbett Vs Dempsey

Detail

David Antonio Cruz at Monique Meloche (self published)

Peter Uka at Mariane Ibrahim (self published)

,Nancy Rubins at Rhonda Hoffman

Lay of the Land at O'Connor Gallery

(piece shown above: Nina Rizzo)

Surface is only a Material Vehicle for Spirit at Kavi Gupta

(piece shown above by Charles Mason III)

Celeste Rapone at Corbett vs Dempsey

(self published)

Carmen Chami at National Museum of Mexican Art

(self published)

Pooja Pittie at Thomas McCormick Gallery

(self published)

The Breakfast Group at Leslie Wolfe Gallery

(piece shown above by Leslie Robin)

Stanley Edwards at Oliva Gallery

Caroline Kent at the MCA

Tai Xiangzhou at Art Institute of Chicago

Yukimasa Ida at Mariane Ibrahim

Yannis Tsarouchis at Wrightwood 659

Christina Forrer at Corbett vs Dempsey

Fugue State at Victor Armendariz

Hurvin Anderson at the Arts Club of Chicago

Claude Monet at the Art Institute of Chicago

El Greco at the Art Institute of Chicago

Andrew Conklin at Victor Armendariz

Gabriel Garland at Corbett vs Dempsey

Modernisms at the Block Museum

Kaveri Raina at Patron

Down by Line at One After 909

( piece shown above by Tony Davis )

Allure of Matter at Wrightwood 659

A.R. Ammons at the Poetry Center

Day Drawing / Day Dreaming at Portrait Society (Milwaukee)

Kennedy Yanko at Kavi Gupta

Florine Demosthene at Mariane Ibrahim

Gordon Powell at Thomas McCormick

Duncan Phillips Collection at Milwaukee Art Museum

David Bekker at Koehnline Museum

Jennifer Olds Kryczka at Riverside Arts Center

Wesley Willis
at Matthew Rachman

Julia Fish
at DePaul Art Museum

Tetsuya Ishida
at Wrightwood 659

Darrell Roberts
at McCormick Gallery

Third Generation Imagists
at Elmhurst Art Museum

Janice Nowinski

at Riverside Arts Center

Mary Porterfield

at Hofheimer Gallery

(self published)

Chicago Bears Statuary

at Soldier Field

Bengt Lindstrom
at Swedish American Museum

Blue Collar
at UIMA

Maura Segal
at Matthew Rachman

Serious Vanity
at One After 909

Synergy
at Zhou B Art Center

Arceo Press
at Bridgeport Art Center

Andrew Hostick
at Western Exhibitions

Small Paintings
at Corbett vs. Dempsey

Melville Price
at Thomas McCormick

Posters from London Underground
at Art Institute of Chicago

Nude Figuration
at Victor Armendariz and Melanie Meloche

Marion Kryczka
at Eat Paint Studio

With a Capital P
at Elmhurst Art Museum

Joseph Burlini
at Koehnline Museum

Poojah Pittie
at McCormick Gallery

Paul Nudd
at Western Exhibitions

Abstractly Speaking
at Woman Made Gallery

Manet and Modern Beauty
at Art Institute of Chicago (self published)

Amy Sillman
at Arts Club of Chicago (self published)

Herman Aguirre
at Zolla Lieberman (self published)

Rembrandt Portraits
at Art Institute of Chicago

Meghan Borah
at Goldfinch Projects

William Bouguereau
at Milwaukee Art Museum

Soak Stroke Scratch
at Melanee Cooper

Johnson and Nix
at Intuit

Solidary and Solitary
at the Smart Museum
(shown above: Sam Gilliam)

Craig Blietz
at Tory Folliard

Kay Hofmann
at Patron Gallery

Todros Geller
at Spertus Institute (self published)

Tomma Abts
at Art Institute of Chicago
(shown above: "Teiko", detail)

Ben Tinsley
at McCormick Gallery
(shown above: detail from "Marco Polo")

Ukiyo-e Paintings
at Art Institute of Chicago
(shown above: Miyagawa Issho)

Hairy Who
at Art Institute of Chicago
(self published)
(shown above: Jim Falconer)

Yoshida Family prints
at the Art Institute of Chicago

John Singer Sargent
at the Art Institute of Chicago

Charles White
at the Art Institute of Chicago
(self published)

Richard Hunt and Mentors
at the Koehnline Museum

(detail)

Young Il Ahn at Kavi Gupta

Greg Breda
at Patron Gallery

Tang Chang
at the Smart Museum

Richard Schmid and students
at the Palette and Chisel Academy
(self published)

Jan Matulka
at Thomas McCormick

(self published)

Arte Diseno Xicago
at National Museum of Mexican Art
(self published)

Ivan Albright
at Art Institute of Chicago
(self published)

Rachel Niffenegger
at Western Exhibitions
(self published)

Xu Longsen
at Art Institute of Chicago

Women Painting Men
at Riverside Arts Center
(self published)

Elliott Hundley
at Shane Campbell
(self published)

Visions of Venus
at Zhou B. Art Center
(shown above: Daniel Maidman)

Della Wells
at LUMA

Dozier Bell
at Zolla Lieberman

Judy Ledgerwood
at Rhona Hoffman

(self published)

Martin Hurtig
at Renaissance Society

(self published)

Richard Hull
at Western Exhibitions

(self published)

Mary Qian and Miguel Malagon
at Vanderpoel Museum

(self published)

Richard Rezac
at Renaissance Society

(self published)

Valerio - Bowers - Tomasula
at Printworks
(self published)

Ancient Chinese Broze
at Art Institute of Chicago

Winslow Homer
at Milwaukee Art Museum

Asian Perspective
at Gallerie Waterton

Piotrowsky-Marshall-Rizzo
at Linda Warren

Andrew Lord
at Art Institute of Chicago

Gregory Block
at Zolla Lieberman

This is a Pipe
at Shane Campbell

Nina Chanel Abney
at the Chicago Cultural Center
(self published)

Gertrude Abercrombie
at the Elmhurst Art Museum

Faiyum portraits
at the Block Museum

Otto Neumann

at Robert Morris University

Pamela Johnson

at the Saw Room

Luis Tapia
at the National Museum of Mexican Art

Eddie Owens Martin
at Intuit

Jackie Saccoccio
at Rhona Hoffman

Apocolyptic Images
at Haggerty Museum

Richard J. Olsen
at Zhou B. Art Center

3-D art
at Gallery Victor Armendariz

Rick Shaefer
at Haggerty Art Museum

Peter Drake
at Linda Warren

Degas to Picasso
at the Milwaukee Museum of Art

Tarsila do Amaral
at the Art Institute of Chicago

Lui Shtini
at Corbett vs Dempsey

William Blake and Age of Aquarius
at Block Museum

Go Figure
at Linda Warren

Anna Kunz
at McCormick Gallery

Rodin-Naumann
at Smart Museum

Portage
at Riverside Arts Center

M.F. Husain
at the Art Institute of Chicago
(unpublished)

West and Weidner
at Palette and Chisel
(unpublished)

Figure 8
at Victor Armendariz
(shown above: Aaron Smith - detail)

Lindsey and Azarnia
at Abryant Gallery
(shown above: Karen Azarnia)

Woman as Warrior
at Zhou B Art Center
(shown above: Daniela Kovacic)

Encaustic

at Bridgeport Art Center

(shown above: Michele Thrane)

Wisconsin

at La Luz Gallery

(shown above: Anne Horjus)

Distortion

at Victor Armendariz

(shown above: Christopher Klein)

Automythography
at Anastasia Tinari
(shown above: Kaveri Raina: Twist of Bajrang)

A Sag, Harbored
at Western Exhibitions

Indianapolis-Chicago Connection

at Zolla Lieberman

Gauguin: Artist as Alchemist

at Art Institute of Chicago

(unpublished)

Martin Weinstein

at Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum

Steele, Witham, Chidester

at Gallery 19

Toyoharu Kii
at Pagoda Red

Corinna Button

at the Hyde Park Art Center

Batik Textiles of Java

at the Art Institute of Chicago

Candida Alvarez

at Chicago Cultural Center

Marcos Raya

at U.I.M.A.

Dannielle Tegeder

at Carrie Secrist

Ashley Yeo and Xiaofei Yue

at Galerie Waterton

Jim Dine

at Richard Gray Gallery

(unpublished)

Tom Torluemke

at Linda Warren

Emily Rapport

at Firecat Projects

(unpublished)

Memoria Presente

at National Museum of Mexican Art

(shown above: Luis Nuno)

Classicisms

at the Smart Museum

(unpublished)

Mncane Nzuza

at Douglas s Dawson

Patrick Chamberlain

at Kavi Gupta

Kyle Surges

at Thomas McCormick Gallery

Paper Arts

at Bridgeport Art Center

(shown above: Katherine Nemanich)

Malcolm X Doors

at the Chicago Cultural Center

Alvarez and Matthes

at the Charles Allis Art Museum

Milwaukee Collects

at the Milwaukee Art Museum

(shown above: Johan Frederik Møller )

Pinball and Imagists

at the Elmhurst Art Museum

(shown above: Constantino Mitchell)

Afruz Amighi

at Jane Addams Memorial Park

Four Saints in Three Acts

at Depaul Art Museum

( shown above: Rodrigo Lara Zendejas )

Lars-Birger Sponberg

at the Swedish Museum

Nothing from Something

at Gallery 19

(shown above:: Anne Kaferle)

Para-Natural World

at ZG gallery

(shown above: Amy Casey)

Watercolor Wisconsin

at Racine Art Museum

(shown above: Karen Mathis)

Underlying System not Known

at Western Exhibitions

Martin Johnson Heade

at the Milwaukee Art Museum

George C. Clark

at Chicago Cultural Center

Sacred and Profane

at Laluz Gallery

Inspired by Social Issues

at Bridgeport Art Center

David Leggett

at Gallery 400 (unpublished)

Shai Azoulay

at Zolla Lieberman (unpublished)

Norman Lewis

at Chicago Cultural Center (unpublished)

Bats, Babes, and Brocolli

at Mongerson Gallery

Never Far Away

at LVL3

Rebecca Morris

at Corbett Vs. Dempsey

Adam Siegel

at Golden Triangle

Reality Check

at U.I.M.A.

Judith Brotman and Fraser Taylor

at Riverside Arts Center

Axiom

at U.I.M.A.

Theaster Gates

at Richard Gray

(rejected for publication)

at Thomas McCormick

at Shane Campbell

at Addington Gallery

at DuSable Museum

(shown above: Elio Rodriguez Valdes)

Hard to Believe

at Bridgeport Art Gallery

(shown above: Russell Harris)

Kawamura and Lev

at Chicago Cultural Center

(shown above: Sueko Kawamura)

Oscar Moya

at the National Museum of Mexican Art

Joanna Pinsky

at the Koehnline Museum

John Santoro

at Richard Gray Gallery

Phyllis Bramson
at the Chicago Cultural Center

Two Portraits of Antinous
at the Art Institute of Chicago

Dorothy Hughes
at the Chicago Cultural Center

Figure sculpture
at Gallery Oh!

Known Unknowns
at Cleve Carney
(Shown above: Leslie Baum)

Material
at National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture
(shown above: Sebastian Vallejo - detail)

New American Paintings
at Elmhurst Art Museum
(shown above: David Rettner, detail)

Barbara Rossi
at the DePaul Art Museum

Tony Fitzpatrick
at the DePaul Art Museum

Kerry James Marshall
at the MCA (unpublished)

Juan Munoz
at Art Institute of Chicago

Judith Goldsmith
at Rosenthal Fine Art

DuSable Masterworks
at DuSable Museum
(shown above: Alfred E. Jackson, Jr.)

Julio Galan and Daniel Lezama
at Mana Contemporary

Estampas de la Raza
at the National Museum of Mexican Art

Jennifer Presant
at Linda Warren Gallery

Vidvuds Zviedris
at Thomas McCormick Gallery
(shown above: detail)

By Hand

at Carrie Secrist Gallery

(shown above: Howard Fonda)

Chicago and Vicinity Show

at Shane Campbell Gallery

(shown above: William J. O'Brien)

Terracotta Warriors
at the Field Museum

Hudson River Valley School
at the Milwaukee Art Museum

(shown above: Kensett, Shrewsbury River)

Malvina Hoffman
at the Field Museum

Monster Roster
at the Smart Museum
(shown above: Leon Golub)

Patrick Earl Hammie
at Kruger Gallery

William Utermohlen
at LUMA

Latin American Connections
at Depaul Art Museum
(shown above: Jose Bedia)

ABG Artists
at Andrew Bae Gallery
(shown above:Gapchul Lee)

Hard Edge Abstraction
at McCormick Gallery
(shown above: Harold Krisel)

Phases of Faces
at Jean Albano Gallery
(shown above: Hunt Slonem)

Spirit in the Land
Addington Gallery
(shown above: Rebecca Crowell, - detail)

The Greeks
at the Field Museum

Dionysos Unmasked
at the Art Institute of Chicago

Homegrown at the Art Institute of Chicago
(shown above: Michiko Ito)

Michael Hedges at McCormick Gallery
(shown above: detail)

Milwaukee Museum Renovation

Larassa Kabel at The Mission

Political Clay
at the Chicago Ceramic Center
(piece shown: Beverly Mayeri)

Stanley Tigerman
at Volume Gallery

Nature Transformed
at Chicago Art Source
(pieces shown: Elise Morris)

Far Out Females
at Mongerson Gallery
(shown above: Marcena Barton - detail)

Kishio Suga
at Shane Campbell Gallery

Krishna Painting
at the Art Institute of Chicago

Florian Baudrexel
at the Art Institute of Chicago

Carole Feuerman
at KM Fine Arts

Chicago Connection
At the U.I.M.A.
(shown above: Maurice Lapp)

Hohenberg and Klein
at Richard Norton Gallery

Dimitry Pavlotsky

at Studio Oh!

Kevin Swallow

at Firecat Projects

Cyrus Tang Hall
at the Field Museum

Brandon Anschultz
at Regards Gallery

Timothy J. Clark at L.U.M.A.

Art Paul at U.I.M.A.

Mary Porterfield at Packer Schopf

Rim Lee at Japonais

Archibald Motley
at the Chicago Cultural Center

Australian Artists from Ukraine
at U.I.M.A.
(shown above: Michael Kmit)

Matt Mitchell: One Hundred Faces of War
National Veterans Art Museum
( unpublished )

Bill Frederick at Printworks Gallery

Eldzier Cortor at the Art Institute of Chicago

Collecting Paradise (Kashmir) at the Block Museum

Bruce Thorn
at Koehnline Museum

Her Work
at McCormick Gallery
(shown above: Mary Abbott, 1955, detail)

Chicago's New Realists
at Zhou B. Center
(shown above: "A Figure Painter with Gin Martini, Tums, and Cigarettes"
by Aras Volodka )

Erik Weisenburger
at Perimeter Gallery

Shio Kusaka at Shane Campbell

Ben Herr
at Thomas McCormick Gallery
"Open Secret", 2013 (detail)

Richard Hunt
at Chicago Cultural Center
(un-published)

Jack Tworkov
at Valerie Carberry

Christian Vincent
at Ann Nathan

Heaven and Earth, 500 years of Italian Painting
at the Milwaukee Museum of Art

Tim Leeming
profile

Heaven and Earth, Byzantine Art from Greek Collections
Art Institute of Chicago

Jaume Plensa
at Millennium Park and Richard Gray Gallery Plensa

10th National Self Portrait Show
at Zhou B. Art Center
(shown above: Corinna Button)

Ethel Stein

at the Art Institute of Chicago

Wassily Kandinsky
at the Milwaukee Museum of Art

Deborah Butterfield
at Zolla-Lieberman

Joe Steiner
at A.R.C.

(unpublished)

International Sculpture Center
at Elks National Memorial

Perle Fine and Lisa Nankivil
at Thomas MccCormick Gallery
(shown above: Lisa Nankivil: "A Place to Greet the Day" )

Anthony Adcock at Packer Schopf
(detail)

Stephen Dinsmore
at Anne Loucks Gallery

Diane Thodos
at Re-Invent Gallery

Joseph Noderer
at Linda Warren Gallery

African American Quilts
at the Depaul Museum
(shown above: Mary Lee Bendolph)

Sam Feinstein
at McCormick Gallery
(detail)

Jose Lerma
at Kavi Gupta

Modern Metaphors
at the Rockford Art Museum
(shown above: Katherine Ace)

Nilima Sheikh
at the Art Institute of Chicago

35 years of Public Art
at the Chicago Cultural Center
(shown above: Kerry James Marshal, detail)

Emilie Charmy
at Arts Club of Chicago

The Left Front"
at the Block Museum
(shown above: Reginald Marsh, "Chicago 1930"

Dmitry Samarov
at the Living Room Gallery

Jane Freilicher
at Valerie Carberry

Jeff Britton

at Bert Green

Peri Schwartz

at Perimeter

Emmett Kerrigan
at Linda Warren Projects

Zoe Nelson
at Western Exhibitions

Ben Stone
at Western Exhibitions

Judith Roth and Sandra Holubow
at Koehnline Museum of Art
(shown above; Judith Roth)

John Sparagana, Arturo Herrera, and Jackie Saccoccio
at Corbett Vs. Dempsey
(shown above; Jackie Saccoccio)

David Hockney
at Richard Gray Gallery

David Sharpe
at Karl Hammer Gallery

Sabina Ott
at Riverside Arts Center

Errol Jacobson
at the Palette and Chisel Academy

Robert Guinan and Mary Livoni
at Frederick Baker Inc.

Cornelius Varley

Dreams and Echoes: Drawings and Sculpture in the David and Celia Hilliard Collection
at the Art Institute of Chicago
(un-edited version found here )

Elijah Burgher
at Western Exhibitions

Violence and Virtue
at the Art Institute of Chicago

Alex Katz
at Richard Gray Gallery
(un-edited version found found here )

Nicholas Sistler
at Printworks Gallery

Bill Traylor
at Carl Hammer Gallery

Chicago's Bauhaus Legacy
at the Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art
(shown above: June Leaf "Turtle Clock")

Keiko Hara

at Perimeter Gallery

Sarah Sohn

at Zolla Liebermann Gallery

Leon and Sadie Garland
at the Koehnline Museum
(unpublished)

Steinunn Thorarinsdottir
in Solti Garden

Richard Gibbons
at Roy Boyd Gallery

Koffler Collection
at the DePaul Art Museum (shown above: Robert Louis Thompson)

John Valadez
at the National Mexican Museum of Art
(unpublished)

Tomoaki Suzuki
at the Art Institute of Chicago
(unpublished)

John Buck and Hunter Buck
at Zolla Lieberman Gallery

Thomas Kapsalis
at the Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art

Bruno Surdo
at Ann Nathan Gallery

Charles Szymkowicz
at the Koehnline Museum

Gina Litherland, Gertrude Abercrombie, Julia Thecla
at Corbett Vs. Dempsey
(shown above: "Vernal Equinox" by Gina Litherland)

From Russia to America
at the Palette and Chisel Academy
(shown above: Misha Livchitz (detail) )

Subconsious Eye
at Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art

(shown above: John A. Kurtz (detail))

Kaoru Arima
at Queer Thoughts Gallery

Elsa Munoz
at Zygman Voss Gallery

David Abed
at Century Guild

Xiaowei Chen
at Maya Polsky Gallery

Cave Paintings from Lascaux
at the Field Museum

Hale Woodruff
at the Chicago Cultural Center

Eric Bellis
at Thomas Masters Gallery

They Seek a City
at the Art Institute of Chicago
(Shown above: Bernece Berkman "Jim Crow Train")

Michael Van Zeyl
at Gallery 180
(unpublished)

Peace, War, More War
at Out of Line Gallery
(shown above: Doug Blanchard)

Herbert Ferber
at Valerie Carberry

Gabriel Vormstein
at Monique Meloche Gallery

Ceramic Sculpture
at Rhona Hoffman Gallery
(shown above: Tiago Carneiro da Cunha )

James Mesple
at Jackson/Junge Gallery

Picasso in Chicago
at the Art Institute of Chicago
(unedited version found here )

William Conger and Vera Klement
at Zolla Lieberman Gallery

Shay Kun
at Linda Warren

Moissei Liangleben
at Palette and Chisel Academy

Richard Koppe
at Corbett Vs. Dempsey

Body and Soul
at Norback, Hilton-Asmus, and Addington galleries
(shown above: Ettore Greco)

Art of the Self Portrait
at Printworks Gallery
(shown above: Robert Barnes)

Walter Robinson
at Firecat Projects

Tribute to Francisco Mendoza
at the National Museum of Mexican Art

(shown above: Rene Arceo)

Chaz Bojorquez
at the National Museum of Mexican Art

Jaharis Galleries of Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Art

At the Art Institute of Chicago

Xavier Toubes
at Perimeter Gallery

Radiate: Art of the South Asian Diaspora

(Shown above: Siona Benjamin)

J Clayton and Michelle Bolinger
at Riverside Art Center
(shown above: Michelle Bolinger)

No Rules Ceramic
at the Elmhurst Art Museum (shown above: "Ron Paul" by Joeseph Siegenthaler)

Maharaja: Splendor of India's Royal Courts
at the Field Museum

Treasures of Kenwood House
at the Milwaukee Art Museum
(shown above: 'Mary, Lady Howe' by Gainsborough)

Clare Rojas
at Kavi Gupta Gallery

Josef Frank>
at Swedish American Museum

Jack Roth
at Thomas McCormick Gallery

Brenda Moore
at Linda Warren Projects

Quest for the West (unpublished)
at the Eiteljorn Museum
(piece shown: P.A. Nisbet)

Itow Takumi
at Floating World Gallery

Candida Alvarez
at Riverside Arts Center

Buried Treasures
at the DuSable Museum

Traditions of Korean Art
at the Smart Museum
(shown above: Kim Eung Won)

Mario Gonzalez Jr.
at Zhao B. Art Center

Anders Nilsen
at Elmhurst Art Museum

Jeff Gillette
at Bert Green Fine Art

Larry Zgoda
at Vale Craft Gallery

Kathleen Waterloo
at Addington Gallery

Robert Barnes
at Printworks Gallery

Andy Paczos
at Maya Polsky

Push-Pull
at Riverside Art Center
(piece shown: Kyle Staver)

Mutuality
at the Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art
(piece shown: Mishiko Itatani)

Mario Trejo
at the Elmhurst Art Museum

Peggy Macnamara
at the Elmhurst Art Museum

Keiko Nemeth
at 300 South Riverside Plaza

Daniel Bodner
at Roy Boyd Gallery

Molly Zuckerman-Hartung
at the Museum of Contemporary Art
(unpublished)

Modern Polish Posters
at the Polish Museum of America
(piece shown: Gregorz Marszalek)

Antonio Martorell
at Puerto Rican Institute of Arts and Culture

50 Years of American Glass
Krannert Museum
(shown above: Nicolas Africano)

Petullo Collection
at the Milwaukee Art Museum
(shown above: Sylvia Levine
(though not Petullo's))

Un-edited version posted here

H.D. Tylle
at the Grohmann Museum

Various shows
at the Field Museum

Heaven and Hell
at LUMA and Intuit
(unedited version foundhere )
(Shown above: Clementine Hunter)

Lester Goldman
at Kamp Galleries

Don Southard
at the Union League Club

Figurisms
at the Illinois State Museum Gallery
(piece shown: Mark Forth)

Vivuds Zviedris and Andre Butzer
at Thomas McCormick and Rhona Hoffman

Bright Lights, Big City
lecture at Floating World Gallery

Rabindranath Tagore at the Art Institute of Chicago

Human
at Gallery 180
(piece shown: Catherine Maize)

Formalisms 2
at 65 Grand
(piece shown: Melissa Oresky)

Mary Borgman
at Ann Nathan

Angelicies at Jackson Junge Gallery
(shown above: John Pranica and Laura Lein-Svencner )

Tony Fitzpatrick
at Firecat Projects

Jamie Adams
at Zolla Liebermann Gallery

Edgar Miller at Richard Norton Gallery

From Turin to Chicago
at Zhao B Center

Jim Lutes
at Valerie Carberry
(unedited version found here)

Kusmierczak Art Gallery
at the Polish Museum of America
(piece shown: Alfons Karpinski)

Celebrarte
at Zhao B. Art Center
(shown above: Marcos Raya "PTSD")

Dmitry Samarov
at Lloyd Dobler Gallery

Discussing technology
at Weekend with the Masters

Bauhaus Now
at Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art
(pieces shown by William FitzPatrick)

Bill Harrison >
at Packer Schopf Gallery

Julia Katz
at Addington Gallery

Andrew Holmquist
at Carrie Secrist

John Santoro at Thomas McCormick
and Angel Otero at Kavi Gupta
(Santoro shown above)

North Park Art Walk

Mary Lou Zelazny
at Carl Hammer Gallery

Ellen Lanyon and Philip Pearlstein
at Valerie Carberry Gallery

Mary McCarthy
at the Union League Club of Chicago

Re:Chicago
at DePaul Art Museum
(shown above: Ramon Gabriel, 1945)

Phil Renaud
at Palette and Chisel Gallery

Janet Mckenzie
at Loyola University Museum of Art

Elsa Munoz at National Museum of Mexican Art

Gift of Hope
at the Swedish American Museum
(piece shown: Boruch Lev)

Soviet war posters at Art Institute of Chicago
(piece shown: Sergei Kostin)
(uncensored version posted here )

7th Annual Self Portrait Exhibition
at Zhou B. Art Center
(piece shown: Brian Curtis)

Movie posters from Ghana
at the Chicago Cultural Center

Rina Lazo and Arturo Garcia-Bustos
at Casa Aviles

Ali Hasmut
at Palette and Chisel Gallery

Rita O'Hara
at the Chicago Cultural Center

Emperor's Private Paradise
at Milwaukee Art Museum

Nature Unframed at the Morton Arboretum
(piece shown: Juan Angel Chavez)

Ruth Vansickle Ford
at Aurora Public Art Commission Gallery

Denise Burgie
at Elmhurst Art Museum

Charlie Shobe
at National Veterans Art Museum

Seymour Rosofsky
at Elmhurst Art Museum

Luminous Ground
at Illinois Art Museum
(shown above: Elizabeth Rupprecht "Untitled (Oxbow)"

Down and Out
at Madron LLC
(shown above: Edmund Yaghjian "Most any night on Columbus Circle")

Susan Clinard at Art Matrix Gallery

East-West
at Murphy-Hill Gallery
(piece shown: Li Hu)

Marion Kryczka
at Chicago Cultural Center

The Tragic Muse
at the Smart Museum
(piece shown: "Tragic Actor" by Edouard Manet)

Claire Sherman
at Kavi Gupta Gallery

Franz Schulze
at Printworks Gallery
(shown: portrait of Thomas Beeby)

Douglas C. Bloom
at Carrie Secrist Gallery

Kings, Queens, and Courtiers
at the Art Institute of Chicago

Bohdan Kowalsky Collection
at the Ukrainain Institute of Modern Art
(piece shown: Jerzy Nowosielski)

Get Real: New Figurative Realism in Chicago
at 33 Collective Gallery
(shown above: Javier Chavira)

Peter Saul and Brian Calvin
at Corbett Vs. Dempsey
(shown above: Brian Calvin)

Charles White
at N'Namdi Gallery
(original version is here )

Thomas Rowlandson
at the Block Museum

William Eckhardt Kohler
at Linda Warren Gallery

Alfonso Iannelli
at Architech Gallery

Echoes of the Past
at the Smart Museum

James Brooks
at Valerie Carberry

Svitlana and Vasyl Yarych
at the Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art

Jun'Ichiro Sekino
at Floating World Gallery

Richard Bresnahan and students
at the Elmhurst Art Museum
(piece shown by Anne Meyer)

Society for Art of the Imagination
at Murphy-Hill Gallery
(piece shown: Brigid Martin (detail))

Joseph Spangler
at Galleries Maurice Sternberg

Creating What Has Never Been
at the Floating World Gallery

Polaridad Complementaria
at the Chicago Cultural Center

Walter Krawiec
at Richard Norton Gallery

Robert Amft
at Galleries Maurice Sternberg

Kehinde Wiley
at Rhona Hoffman Gallery

Ben Whitehouse
at Perimeter Gallery

Angelbert Metoyer
at N'Namdi Gallery
(unpublished)

Chuck Walker and Heather Marshall
at Linda Warren Gallery

Cartier-Bresson
at the Art Institute of Chicago
(un-published)

African Presence in Mexico
at the DuSable Museum
(un-published)

National Self Portrait Show
at 33 Collective Gallery
(un-published)

Arthur Upham Pope and the New Survey of Persian Art
at the Art Institute of Chicago
(un-published)

Ox-Bow Centennial
at Corbett Vs. Dempsey
(piece shown by Edgar Rupprecht)

Louis Sullivan at the Chicago Cultural Center
and the Art Institute
(pieces shown: John Edelmann (left), Louis Sullivan (right))

Peter Hoffer and Patrick Adams
at Gallery KH
(un-published)
(piece shown: Patrick Adams)

Passionate Holiness
at La Llorona Gallery
(above piece by Robert Lentz)

Drawing Attention at Tom Robinson Studio
(piece shown by Chuck Walker)
(un-edited text found here )

Ben Shahn at the Smart Museum

Tom Parish at Gruen Galleries
(original, unedited version found here )

Steve Tobin at Morton Arboretum
(original, unedited version found here )

Gary Bowling
at Gallery KH

Chicago Art Open and Dali Lamb Museum
(piece shown above is by Joseph Kim)

Romare Bearden and Jacob Lawrence>
at Chicago Cultural Center
and N'Namdi Gallery
(piece shown: Bearden's "Brass Section" at N'Namdi)

Gladys Nilsson
at U.I.M.A.
(unpublished)

Mishiko Itatani at Walsh Gallery
(shown above: detail from Moonlight/Mooring #1)

Matisse: Radical Invention
at the Art Institute of Chicago
(unpublished)

New Gallery of Folk Art
at the Art Institute of Chicago
(Piece shown: Leslie Bolling "Sister Tuesday")

Robert Vonnoh
at Madron LLC

A Touch of the Poet
at the Irish Cultural Center
(above "Innisfree" by Anne Farley Gaines)

Two exhibits of Blackness
at Dittmar and Murphy Hill Galleries.
(piece shown by Tim Leeming)

Deborah Maris Lader
at Chicago Art Matrix

Translating Revolution
at the National Museum of Mexican Art
(shown above: sketch by Jose Orozco)

Palette and Chisel Faculty Show
(shown above: David Leffel self portrait)

Ulysses Davis
at Intuit Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art

Joe Sheesley
at the Chicago Cultural Center

Good, Bad, Ugly
at the DePaul Univiverity Museum.
(painting shown above by Jose Puyet)

Angel Otero
at the Chicago Cultural Center

National Wet Paint Exhibit
at Zhou B Art Center
(above by Kim Deakins)

Robert Guinan
at Ann Nathan Gallery

Susan Clinard
at Art Matrix Chicago

Margo Hoff
at Corbett Vs. Dempsey

Hiratsuka Unichi
at Art Institute of Chicago

Gedion Nyanhongo
at Galleries Maurice Sternberg

Scott Addis
at KH Gallery

(note: before the editor chopped it up,
the first sentence read:
"There’s nothing wrong with landscapes about land.",
though, thankfully,
the rest of the text was untouched)

Phyllis Brodny and Marina Kovalevskaya
at Palette and Chisel
(piece shown is by Kovalevskaya)

Iran Inside Out at DePaul Art Museum
Piece shown above
by Bita Fayyazi

Yozo Hamaguchi
at Floating World Gallery

Niels Strobek
at Galleries Maurice Sternberg

Francis Chapin at Richard Norton Gallery

Tony Smith at Carberry Gallery

Note: the last sentence of this review originally read:

"Which doesn’t make these paintings any less enjoyable, but would diminish their value in an artworld that demands innovation, and only celebrated his works when they were made large enough to abuse the public spaces into which they were placed."

But was edited as follows:

"This doesn’t make them any less enjoyable, but perhaps these quiet studies are only interesting retroactively as we celebrate his large sculptures that abuse the public spaces into which they were placed."

Just to make it clear that it is the editor,
Jason Foumberg,
not myself,
who is doing that celebrating.