Chicago’s Mainstream Art Coverage Reduced to Zero

On April 22nd the Chicago Tribune announced it was cutting 53 positions in its newsroom.  And according to the Chicago Reader blog “News Bites” one of those let go is the Tribune’s only art critic, Alan Artner.  That’s leaves absolutely no one reporting on Chicago’s vibrant and massive art scene in our daily newspapers or other mainstream media.

I haven’t always agreed with Artner’s commentaries or criticisms, but it’s important for the Tribune to cover the art scene here in Chicago. Chicago has a massive visual arts community that is dynamic and active on all levels, from local apartment spaces to international exhibitions.  The city of Chicago is also increasingly marketing itself as a center of culture, particularly linked to the international scene.  This has been crucial in our Olympic bid.  An indication of our internationalism is we have both the Cultural Center and Millennium Park currently featuring contemporary Chinese artists (it’s even notable that the dual timing was coincidental).  And yet despite the city government’s growing emphasis on the arts and Chicago’s massive culture scene, Chicago’s newspapers have pulled away from culture coverage.

Ironically, the elimination of Artner was accompanied by this staff memo from Editor Gerould Kern: “Our thinking was driven by the Tribune’s goal to be the Chicago region’s top destination for news and information and grow especially in the digital space. . . [we must] cover the Chicago area better than anyone else across all of our media.”  Despite the popularity and importance of visual art in Chicago, and in the minds of Chicago’s citizens, the Trib has effectively and completely withdrawn from visual arts reporting.

In an era when newspapers are struggling and folding all over the country and looking for ways to reinvent themselves, committing to more arts coverage rather than less seems an obvious and easy way to go.  An increase in cultural reporting would be an easy way for a newspaper to gain a particular identity and voice.  In addition to regular gallery reviews, there could be comprehensive looks at the city’s cultural programming finding crossover interests between institutions or disciplines.  It would be an easy way to appeal to younger readers also, assuming there was a particular focus on emerging art and artists.  An increased focus on the visual arts would facilitate a logical move into cyberspace also, as both easily accommodate images.  The move to the web is something newspapers have voiced a desire for (even in the above memo from Kern) but seem confused on how to do it.  Oddly Christopher Knight’s “Culture Monster” blog on the Los Angeles Times site is well done and seems popular, but was not followed here in Chicago, despite the fact that both papers are owned by the same parent corporation.

Chicago is really the latest casualty of arts coverage, though one may hope it could lead the way revitalizing cultural reporting.  As Chicago reinvents itself as a culture capital it would only make sense that its media follow the play, but they haven’t and it’s disappointing to see Chicago’s mainstream arts coverage decline to nothing.

What’s that in the Sky? A Bird? A Plane? Renzo Piano’s Addition to the Art Institute?

For everyone that doesn’t live here in Chicago or does live here but can’t make it downtown to see the progress on the addition at the Art Institute, here are some pictures of the progress. The big thing going on right now is the Nichol’s Bridge which will link the museum with Millennium Park, a very good idea in my mind. And yes, apparently this is the shape of the bridge, rounded on the bottom. According the museum’s press release this was inspired by: “the hull of a boat or sleek racing shell. It is a long, thin structure with a rounded bottom.” I thought it would be flat and thinner, but then again there’s only so much modeling you can do with balsa wood (I spent some time looking at the model in the museum’s grand staircase hall). So without further ado here are some photos I took:

This is the where the bridge will lead into the museum. The green trusses are holding the bridge up while the supports are properly secured.

Panning down the bridge towards Millennium Park.

Looking at the bridge across the South Shore train yard. You’ll notice that the bridge is as yet unlinked as this was taken on Thursday. Images of the bridge spanning the road follow.

The landing site in Millennium Park, all ready to receive the bridge.

An admittedly crappy photo I took on my camera phone yesterday. You can see that the bridge now spans Monroe Street.

An admittedly much better photo from the Chicago Tribune, by an unknown photographer. Perhaps they weren’t using a camera phone, taking pictures at night, in the rain.

More Chicago architecture news to come.

Looptopia Tonight! Freebies Abound!

Looptopia 2008 is tonight, the downtown’s free arts festival. Whether or not it is also intended to show people downtown is safe and not scary is another issue. Freebies abound and the arts are in the air. For a total listing of the events go to the website by clicking here.

Following up on my posts about free admission to museums, the Art Institute of Chicago will be free and open from 10-1 am (!). Who says Institutions can’t party like rockstars? Oddly the MCA will not be open as far as I know.

So check out what’s happening tonight, and go downtown, even if it is raining!

IMPORTANT NOTE: Please be careful going downtown tonight, severe storms maybe on the way, and have already hit other parts of the US.  Have fun, but be careful should severe weather blow up.

. . . But is it Staying?

I’m excited for Art Chicago this week and it would seem that the entire city is gearing up for the event.  Merchandise Mart has been decorated for about a week in Art Chicago banners and logos, mimicking their advertisements in the various art magazines that have been trumpeting this event for months.  Complementing his exhibit in Millennium Park, there is another sculpture by Mark di Suvero being installed right outside of Merchandise Mart, which the Chicago Tribune documented. 

Christopher Yockey helps install  Choopy, 2007 by Mark di Suvero (Tribune photo by Nancy Stone 2008 )

I really enjoyed di Suvero at Millennium Park despite the poor placement of some work.  It makes it clear that the city of Chicago could really use a permanently installed sculpture by di Suvero to add to its collection of publicly sited sculpture, as I advocated in a previous post.  We should form a committee or something, Chicagoans are great at doing that.  So ultimately it’s good that di Suvero is installing yet another piece . . . but is it staying?

Mark di Suvero at Millennium Park

For the first time in a long time in Chicago it feels like Spring. I imagine that people in New York must flock to Central Park when Spring first arrives much like we migrate to the lake front when it gets even a little warm. Walking to the lake, or just walking around downtown, make sure to walk through Millennium Park and see Mark di Suvero’s sculpture, there until October 12th (oh, and if you go to this page, don’t believe that the sculpture is up to April 1st, the dates have been extended).

As far as I know these are the only di Suvero sculptures downtown, in Chicago’s open air museum of public art. It is fantastic seeing di Suvero downtown in Chicago and it is too bad that the work will be leaving. Although not within line-of-sight of each other, the exchange between di Suvero’s work and permanent Chicago resident, Flamingo (1974) by Alexander Calder is quite evident in the way each uses steel, color, space, etc.

Photo: JeremyA (2003) via Wikipedia.

There are a total of five di Suvero sculptures on view, three smaller pieces (relatively) in the South Boeing Gallery and two large pieces in the North (again, don’t believe the online press releases that say there are four sculptures, and kudos to di Suvero for adding another one). To begin with the South Gallery, on display there are two kinetic sculptures Shang and Yoga (1985 and 1991, respectively). What makes these sculpture kinetic is of course their moving parts, Shang has a suspended platform that visitors can sit and swing on (there is a picture of me doing so in “Seen around Chicago”), and Yoga is atop a pole and supposedly will move in wind, though I haven’t seen it move.

The author swinging on Shang.

Shang is exceedingly heavy looking and somewhat resembles a Japanese torii, the traditional gate to a Shinto temple (di Suvero was born in Shanghai, China), though the title pays homage to the Chinese Shang dynasty . This heaviness is balanced by the suspended swing and its motion that makes what is otherwise a very static and massive piece, lighter. The third piece is Rust Angel (1995) which is fully on the ground and smaller. The sculpture utilized a single sheet of steel that has been cut into a swirl shape.

It’s very important to realize that there is another gallery, the Boeing North Gallery, on the other side of Millennium Park, next to the grouping of Doric columns (the peristyle). I never realized there was more sculpture over there, until Winter when the trees were bare and one of the pieces was clearly visible.

Mark di Suvero, Orion, 2007 (Photo: Bram Ritchie)

The North Gallery holds the two best pieces of the di Suvero show, Johnny Appleseed (1989-93) and Orion (2007). Orion is what I think of when I think of di Suvero, huge, bright orange I-beams that meet at a specific point twenty-something feet in the air. It is a great example of balance, force and restraint. Di Suvero’s technical concerns in his sculpture are echoed in the skyscrapers behind it, both rely on the physical possibilities of steel.

Mark di Suvero, Johnny Appleseed, 1989-93 (Photo: Bram Ritchie)

Johnny Appleseed is also an excellent sprawling sculpture that is raw whereas Orion, due to the paint, feels finished. It utilizes two steam shovels, and their arms, in the main body of the sculpture to great effect. Just as the titular character changed the natural landscape, so have steam shovels, and their relatives, changed the urban landscape. Again this sculpture interacts very well with the towering building surrounding it, it is almost like the method of their creation rises with them.

Unfortunately, both works in the North Gallery suffer immensely from the lack of room around the sculpture to properly view it. The work seems shoehorned into a very small space, with a small hill on one side and planters on the other. These are the best photos I could take, without bumping up into the other sculpture the planters, or falling into the street. The South Gallery would have seemed a much better choice, both for the work and its visibility. These are the largest, most complex and best of the grouping and their placement in the slight North Gallery makes little sense, as they compete with each other for breathing room and even with the trees for visibility. Come Spring, I am sure that the leaves of the trees will once again be a hazard to properly viewing the work. However, I guess that’s what happens when you lack a curator, the interaction between work and space suffers. Really, these issues are such a problem it nearly ruins the viewing experience. I left with the feeling that I had only seen half of these two pieces. For the future Millennium Park: the big work goes in the south, the small work goes in the north.

All in all though, it is great to see di Suvero in Chicago and it really begs the questions when the MCA, the Art Institute or simply just the city will have one of his pieces on permanent display. Maybe we can get Milwaukee’s since they don’t want it anymore. . .