ML - Michigan Avenue

2015 - Issue 4 - Summer - Art of the City - Hebru Brantley

Michigan Avenue - Niche Media - Michigan Avenue magazine is a luxury lifestyle magazine centered around Chicago’s finest people, events, fashion, health & beauty, fine dining & more!

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An interior gallery at the Chicago Artists Coalition on Carpenter Street, showing Psychometrics by Regina Mamou, 2015. PHOTOGRAPHY BY EVA DEITCH (PSYCHOMETRICS). OPPOSITE PAGE: PHOTOGRAPHY BY CLARE BRITT (ORCHID/DIRGE, SHOW/ROOM) At a Christie's auction in May 2014, the final bid topped $1 million for a pastel-colored sky painting by LA artist Alex Israel, who was born in 1982. Such lucrative prices grab headlines, but for every such high-profile, young, commercial success, there are scores of other artists across the nation struggling to make a career. For Windy City artists, that's where nonprofit organi- zations like the Chicago Artists Coalition, Hyde Park Art Center, and Threewalls come in, filling a vital gap between commercial art galleries and art museums. All three are dedicated to supporting artists in a range of ways, such as providing residencies, exhibition opportu- nities, and guidance on everything from building sales and snaring commissions to shaping résumés and corralling social media. "An art career is not a straight line," says Kate Lorenz, Hyde Park's executive director. "Artists can zigzag. They can curve. I think about [what we do] as creating opportunities along the way—shows, publications, money, grants, connections, conversations, community, writing, and critical feedback. That's going to be essential." Among the emerging Chicago artists whose careers have gotten a significant boost in this way is Israeli-born Assaf Evron, 38, who earned his master of fine arts degree from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2013. After graduation, he faced some big career questions. "I was in a kind of limbo," he says. "What do I do? Do I stay in Chicago? Do I leave? What's the next step?" Help came from the Hyde Park Art Center (5020 S. Cornell Ave., 773-324-5520; hydeparkart.org). Not only did it feature one of his installations in a show that opened in September of that same year, "A Study in Midwestern Appropriation," but it loaned him some vacant studio space to complete the piece and later made him an artist-in-residence. Evron was showcased earlier this year in a debut solo THE PUBLIC ART SHOW "HORSES OF HONOR" RETURNS TO PAY TRIBUTE TO FALLEN CHICAGO POLICE OFFICERS. For most of last fall, a series of 90 six- foot-tall fi berglass horses stood watch at various spots around the downtown area. Adorned with geometric patterns, cloud motifs, and electric colors, each equine was painted by a different Chicago artist, and the horses became popular photo-op destinations for both visitors and locals. Behind the whimsy of the brightly colored animals, though, was a serious goal: to honor the 572 Chicago police offi cers who have fallen in the line of duty. Called "Horses of Honor," the fundraising project was an initiative of the Chicago Police Memorial Foundation (the horse theme was inspired by the CPD's Mounted Police Unit) and ultimately generated $150,000 from an auction and sponsorships. "It was amazing to see how many people would stop and take pictures," says project manager John Gordon. "It was pretty powerful." This summer, the exhibition returns to Michigan Avenue from July 22 through August 26, with sponsorship proceeds going toward new bulletproof vests for offi cers. Among the artists who took part in last year's project were Othello Anderson, Sandie Bacon, and InJung Oh, who earned her master of fi ne arts degree from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2009. Oh was inspired in part by the birth of her son in 2014, the Chinese year of the horse. "I wanted to do something for the commu- nity," she says, "and then I thought, Oh, horses—perfect." horsesofhonor.com THESE CHICAGO ORGANIZATIONS MAKE IT THEIR BUSINESS TO GIVE EMERGING ARTISTS A BOOST. by Kyle MacMillan 110 MICHIGANAVEMAG.COM

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