Chicago tips

Monkey Model A Hot Property

architecture, photography, services

I'd be a bit embarrassed if I'd used this theoretically riveting model to discover that others got there first. 

Can't resist pointing out that the September issue of Chicago magazine and the hot off the press CB2 catalog appear to have used the same off-beat primate on their new covers.

A Chicago employe said (proudly, so I didn't have the heart to tell her of the coincidence) that it's a baby white faced Capuchin monkey obtained for the photo shoot from www.animal rentals.com.

It's definitely an uncool way to launch the important fall season in this large (but small) town.

However Chicago has a needed article on new architecturally notable Chicago buildings.  I'm especially fond of Ralph Johnson's The Contemporaine at 516 N. Wells.  It's worth going out of your way a bit to see this innovative apartment building.

Also terrific is the highly visible Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies addition at 618 South Michigan designed by Krueck & Sexton.  The glass facade manages complex simplicity masterfully.

CB2 which I greatly prefer to its' more stodgy Crate & Barrel parent will launch a New York City (Soho) store in September.  They've a swell new furniture shipping plan with reasonable flat rate charges.

Lost Chicago Photos Reimerge

current calendar, books, photography

Richard Nickel's Chicago, Photographs Of A Lost City, a newly published book containing over 200 unknown photographs by the esteemed architectural photographer should make a perfect Valentine for someone you know (or yourself).

The authors, Richard Cahan and Michael Williams will be at the Cultural Center for a presentation on Thursday, February 15 at 12:15PM.  Books will be available for purchase and a book signing will follow.  If you need an advance copy you can find one at Prairie Avenue Bookshop, 418 S. Wabash, a fine resource, particularly for architectural books.

Although today Chicago is renowned for its' architecture and attracts many visitors as a result, it wasn't always that way.  During the 50's and 60's many inner city neighborhoods had become slums and many fine loop buildings were demolished in the name of progress.

Richard Nickel and others tried to call attention to this travesty;  Nickel began taking pictures while a student at the Institute of Design which became a center for the New Bauhaus.  There the Chicago photographer Harry Callahan became Nickel's teacher and mentor.  As a student he began a project to photograph architect Louis Sullivan's buildings.  Despite the efforts of Nickel and others, the Garrick Theater and the Chicago Stock Exchange, both fine examples of Sullivan's work were razed.

Tragically Nickel was killed while photographing the partially demolished Stock Exchange.  Perhaps this helped to focus public attention on the progressive devastation of the city.  Nickel's photographs are classic reminders of fine architecture.  Some are permanently displayed in the corridors of the Cultural Center.  The Richard Nickel Commitee and Photographic Archive www.richardnickelcommittee.org  is a non-profit devoted to preserving his work.

An-My Le Photos / Museum Of Contemporary Photography

photography, culture, current calendar

The Museum of Contemporary Photography here in the South Loop is a wonderful resource.  It was founded by Columbia College in 1984 and is the leading photography museum in the Midwest.  As such it exhibits local, national and international work and projects. The permanent collection shares this focus.   

Just opened is an exhibit of the work of acclaimed photographer An-My Le, entitled Small Wars.

An-My Le was born in Vietnam in 1960, lived in France for a portion of her childhood and came to the U.S. in 1975 as a refugee.  She received BAS and MS degrees from Stanford University, a MFA from Yale University and a Guggenheim fellowship in 1997.  Her work is in the collections of  the Whitney Museum, MOMA, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY, among others.

The current exhibit includes images relating to the war in Viet Nam and current interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq.  Her approach to both is oblique.

"Instead of addressing her subject by creating reportage images of actual shocking events, she photographs places where war is psychologically anticipated, processed and relived."  The exhibit is impressively thought provoking in a broader sense than the experience one might find viewing more common images of the horrors of war.

Concurrently a related exhibit entitled, "War Fare"  includes photographs by Sarah Pickering, Ashley Gilbertson, Sean Hemmerle, Martha Rosler and Sean Snyder.  All may be seen through January 6.

Karen Irvine, will discuss both exhibits, Tuesday December 5 at noon in the galleries.  Karen is the curator of both exhibits and a terrific lecturer. 

You can have a fine time on the museum's website  http://www.mocp.org perusing their permanent collection.   Works of noted photographers may be seen there along with their bios. 

The Museum of Contemporary Photography, 600 S. Michigan, M-F 10-5; Thurs. til 8, Sat, 12-5.