Projection For Chicago, 2008 / Merchandise Mart, © 2008Jenny Holzer, member Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY

For as much as I enjoy living and working in New York i really miss some of the things that i took for granted during the nine years that I lived and worked in Chicago. At one time home to the most important art fair in america, Art Chicago although the metropolis has since been brought back to its second city status through the powerhouse efforts of the Armory Show and Art Basel Miami Beach. Although Art Chicago is still a very important art fair and a place that I learned about as much about art and the art world as I did at the Art institute and MCA it is still in the process of re-creating itself under the new management of the Merchandise Mart Properties, Inc. Art Group which includes: The Armory Show, NEXT, Toronto International Art Fair, VOLTA and VOLTA NY, in addition to Art Chicago. Do they know how to run a trade show....Hell Ya. and this year it looks like they went out of their way to bring on some exciting special exhibition to supplement what is sure to be low sales in this current crazy market. The highlight this year being a curated exhibition curated by Mary Jane Jacob, executive director of exhibitions at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, called Partisan is a special exhibition of works culled from Art Chicago galleries that are dedicated to the artistic exploration of social and political ideas.  With hopes of initiating dialogue about art, activism and social change, Partisan provides a critical and challenging space of thought provoking and project-oriented works within an art fair context. In addion they will also have a show honoring the legendary Harry Who and Chicago Imagists artists best known for a colorful and subversive aesthetic, curated by the MCA's Lynne Warren and an installation of Buckminster Fuller's Fly Eye Dome. All in all worth checking out if you are in Chicago May 1-4. For more information on Art Chicago CLICK HERE Left - Maia with Kalashnicov (AK-47), 2008 by Guillermo Muñoz Vera; Courtesy of Ribera Galerie But there is something else going on that is a must see and the main reason why I am taking the time to write today. Chicago has something that most large cities dont have and New York acts like it has, and thats a very strong sense of community life in the arts. Although there is a market for art it is not at the level of the art world capitals of New York City or London. What it does have is many artists run galleries, festivals and apartment shows. So what do you get when you put together an art parade, temporary housing structures, independent contemporary art space networking, one day only exhibition formats, video sweat lodges, an artist run art fair, a reincarnation of the depression era Public Works of Art Project, a social networked free public school, impressive musical performances, boring theoretical nonsense, the revamping of a local community center, mapping projects, a design agency for social movements, and korean polish bar-b-qing are just a few of the projects and phenomena that will be presented during Version>09 : Immodest Proposals.   From April 23-May2 (for 10 days), artists and community organizers are gathering to celebrate, identify, and discuss Version's Immodest Proposals to change and improve social, political and cultural ecologies. Version>09 will showcase emerging, progressive trends in art, politics, technology and music. They will gather and see how our peers live and work in a rebooted 21st century. Founded in 2002 and produced by the Public Media Institute, a non profit 501(c)(3) arts organization, Version is an annual springtime arts festival that brings together hundreds of artists, musicians, and educators from around the world to present some of the most challenging ideas and progressive art initiatives of our day. The ten day festival showcases emerging trends in art, technology and music. Version festival presents a diverse program of activities featuring an exposition/art fair called the NFO XPO, visiting exhibitions, A temporary shelter project, public interventions, video screenings, interactive technologies, performances, live art, presentations, talks, workshops, art rendezvous and action. Much of Version>09 IMMODEST PROPOSALS was programmed via a call for submissions. Other projects and programs were selected and curated by the Version>09 organizers. For more information on Version>09 CLICK HERE

Freedom Club, the movie trailer from Lee Wells on Vimeo.

OTO Presents SOAP BOX OPERA WORKSHOP by Artists Meeting A one night event @ Over The Opening (OTO) Saturday, April 18, 2009 7:00pm - 10:00pm 60 North 6th, 2nd floor Williamsburg Brooklyn SOAP BOX OPERA WORKSHOP is a project developed by the collective Artists Meeting. Honing in on the dramaturgy of theory, the group has adapted excerpts from a variety of scholarly and art-theory-based texts from different eras and genres to a “Soap Opera” filmic format whereby plots are reduced to one liners, drama is played out in an exaggerated manner and scenes rely on emotional turmoil and ambiguity to capture the distracted viewer. Project Curators: James Andrews, Raphaele Shirley, Olga Lysenko Excerpts of Arthur Rimbaud, Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault and Andy Warhol directed by Raphaele Shirley Excerpts of Guy Debord and Ted Kaczynski directed by Lee Wells Featuring performances by Caraid O’Brien, Edita Zulic, Aaron Beall, Randolph Curtis Rand, George Spaeth, G.H. Hovagimyan, Lee Wells Special Thanks to: MTAA, Gia Forakis, Lanna Joffrey, G.H. Hovagimyan FOR MORE INFO CLICK HERE