Lots of cool stuff happening this weekend and I’ll miss all of it; so enjoy it twice over, I’ll be somewhere else.

Chris Silva & Lauren Feece @ Believe Inn

Believe Inn opens a new show this weekend titled Mating Call and featuring the kinda adorable collaborative work of husband and wife team Chris Silva (dope tunes) & Lauren Feece (dopest strokes). I had such a good time with Believe Inn’s last show, I’ll recommend this one sight unseen. Show opens Friday July 31st (with reception 6-10 PM) and will run through August 23rd @ Believe Inn, 2043 N Winchester.

Chris Silva & Lauren Feece, Couples Meditation Party

Joanna Goss @ Dovetail

Speaking of adorable, Noble Square’s plushest vintage shop is showing brand new work by Joanna Goss. Probably the best match of art and calender ever, with summer camp summer tans summer vans cookout sleepover craft craft. Show opens Friday, July 31st with reception from 8-11 PM @Dovetail, 1452 W Chicago Ave.

Joanna Goss

Megan Plunkett @ Golden Age

Like Kingsboro Press? Then you already like Megan Plunkett! Her installation’s been up all month, but I’ll plug now because it closes Saturday. Catch Megan Plunkett’s I don’t care about the rest of the year @ Golden Age, 1744 W. 18th Street.

(click the dog)

Justin Cooper @ The Museum of Contemporary Art

Local SAIC professor and all around good guy Justin Cooper will be performing Vay Kay, another clutch of very wacked summer-centric vacation art, all weekend at the MCA. His first performance, Crater, actually started this last Tuesday, but you can catch some kind of video of it here and see the other three today (Noon – 5 PM), tomorrow (all day), and saturday (Noon – 5 PM) @ The Museum of Contemporary Art, 220 East Chicago Avenue.

Justin Cooper, Untitled (Pumpkin)

Happy summer.

Two little shows opened this Sunday at The Suburban, the backyard super-space of Michelle Grabner and Brad Killam. The first, Keil Borrman: I have not painted in a year. I have been listening to my stereo, is a small collection of works by Borrman and six others. The second, located in the original ten by ten space, is a multimedia installation by David G.A. Stephenson entitled Songs for Suburbanites, an art rock display shipped in from the United Kingdom along with the charming artist himself.

Amelia Saddington, Notes

I thought Keil Borrman: I have not painted in a year. I have been listening to my stereo represented interesting work from interesting artists, but casually presented. Borrman‘s four paintings were good but scrappy (all were suggestively entitled November 3rd, 2008), Divya Mehra‘s photograph was also enjoyable but was only a selection of a series, and Malika Green & Alex Jovanovitch‘s piece was a funny one-off exquisite corpse. The Virginia Poundstone/Bel Canto design pairing was smart,  and the Amelia Saddington was beautiful.

Keil Borrman

What I mean is that it’d be impossible to complain about the work or the quality of the work, but the whole show together felt like it was curated by way of “So, what have you been up to?”. I’m okay with that. These shows are one of the benefits of having alternative spaces. And it led me to watch Divya Mehra‘s holy shit, insane videos like this one.

Keil Borrman: I have not painted in a year. I have been listening to my stereo

While the outbuilding was still done up as it was when Konsortium installed their “Eurostyle” show last month, Sebastian Freytrag‘s wallpaper fit perfectly (and ironically) with David G.A. Stephenson’s installation. I really enjoyed the three pronged iconoclastic combination of Americana (though limited specifically to the overlap between artists and musicians) by way of English fascination laid on a background of German design.

The show featured clips and collages of music and art history from art reviews to raisin boxes to magazine spreads pinned to the walls or spread on the ground before a television which played videos accompanying musical pieces by Stephenson and about, well, art.

David G.A. Stephenson, Songs for Suburbanites

Stephenson’s tunes were great, both poetic and funny in an appropriately Lou Reed-y way, and I liked being reminded of the history of (and crossover between) art and music and appreciated Stephenson’s enthusiasm in pointing out all the polymathic artists who made it happen.

Here’s his song, I Want Paint a Joke Like Richard Prince:

[audio http://stevekushruiz.com/ChicagoArtReview/stephenson.mp3|righticon=0xff3333]

And another, I Want To Hang Out With Ed Ruscha:

[audio http://stevekushruiz.com/ChicagoArtReview/ruscha.mp3|righticon=0xff3333]

The Suburban has an extensive description of his life and work here. For now, at least.

Dave Muller (Untitled)

Not a new show, but one that I saw for the first time and thoroughly enjoyed, was a show of xerox prints put together by (and with the proceeds benefiting) the long-time, longest-time running New York alt space White Columns. With each piece in editions of 50 and priced at or around $150, it makes for a really smart, affordable show, and a great way of fund-raising with excellent art on a relative dime.

Xerox Show @ The Suburban

Pretty cool stuff all around. I’ll mash both shows together and give the whole experience a:

7.6

Keil Borrman: I have not painted in a year. I have been listening to my stereo & David G.A. Stephenson’s Songs for Suburbanites both run July 26th to September 5th @ The Suburban, 125 N. Harvey, Oak Park. Hours by appointment.

Mystery replaces history this month at the Hyde Park Art Center, where the heavy and the high of contemporary art have been shaken south for one of the hottest shows of the summer. Following the curatorial undertaking that was Artists Run Chicago, the Hyde Park Art Center’s Signs of the Apocalypse/Rapture is a doomsday blend of local and international artists curated by Front 40 Press, who publish the critical survey book of the same name and from which is born this exhibition.

Eduardo De Soignie, Saint Child of Atocha

Signs of the Apocalypse / Rapture immediately brought up place and time as contributory issues. However foreboding the subject matter of this show, the HPAC’s main gallery space is so beautiful that the imagery of ruin and whirlwind destruction echo like hellfire in a megachurch. Whats even stranger is that the content of the show seemed five years old and politically unsynced, as if some time around the re-election of George W. Bush would have been the more appropriate moment for this show, the peak of doom, back when we were fucked for sure whether it was the terrorists or the neocons or the fags or the devil who would push the button.

Jon Elliott, Continental Drift

Back then I could stare at a Julie Mehretu and imagine myself exploding.

Back then if someone asked me how I expected to die, I would have said “violently.”

Today, I’d say “broke.” Its a different kind of horror.

Ricky Allman, Apocolyzer

Emilio Perez (detail)

But while the horrible specter of poverty might be overlooked in the content of the artwork shown in Signs of the Apocolypse/Rapture, the quality of artwork does invoke it. Putting an Emilio Perez next to a Julie Mehretu is enough to make any collector ache, and that pairing represents only two of the many top shelf artists who are represented. Though there are plenty of scenes of chaos and collapse, they’re matched with more somber images (David Opdyke‘s Undisclosed Location and Richard Misrach’s Swamp and Pipeline, Geismar, Louisiana) along with a few pictorial, appropriately scaled rapturous paintings (Nicola Verlato‘s Mothers 2, John Prianca‘s Autumn).

Caleb Weintraub (detail)

The only piece to actually disturb me was from Caleb Weintraub. I think. His painting is hung on the ominous black object in the middle of the gallery and, like the other pieces on that object, whether for misfortune or mystery or mistake, isn’t tagged so far as I could see. Hopefully they are by now.

In addition to the artwork in the main gallery, two wall pieces are included, both stellar and massive. The first is a boggling, visually ecstatic wall painting by Hisham Akira Bharoocha (who also has work in control c, control v), and directly across from it Andrew Schoultz‘ mural rampages down the hallway in a flaming ticker-tape parade. Both are excellent installations, and Schoultz’ piece is an especially appropriate up-sized companion to his painting in the main space.

I wish I had greater access to Front 40 Press’ Signs of the Apocalypse / Rapture book, whether at the show or online, as without the critical writing that informed the show I feel like I’m only getting one half the experience. I’m curious. However, when considering the quality and work on display, even my partial slice of the curatorial team’s complete vision may be enough. Signs of the Apocolypse / Rapture is simply an excellent show, a highly appreciated opportunity to see top flight work, and yet another excuse to get down to Hyde Park.

I give it a:

9.3

Signs of the Apocalypse / Rapture runs from July 19th to September 20th, 2009 @ the Hyde Park Art Center, 5020 S. Cornell Ave.

This weekend is pretty light for openings, but here’s what I’d see if I were you:

NAH POP NO CAT @ Roots and Culture

SAMAD @ Nightingale Theater

Shirin Mazaffari and Ehsan Ghoreishi have curated an exhibition of short underground Iranian videos which, due to political or otherwise controversial content, have never been screened publically in Iran. Very cool event that I will definitely miss, so here’s hoping it plays again somewhere. SAMAD will be shown @ the Nightingale Theater, 1084 N Milwaukee Ave tonight, Friday, July 24th at 7:00 PM. $5 at the door.

Meg Onli @ Twelve Galleries

More than just a travelogue, more than just an art show, Meg Onli‘s Underground Railway Project is a multimedia exhibit which traces her journey from Montgomery County, Maryland, to Dresden, Ontario,  following the path of Josiah Henson, the man who inspired Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Identity pilgrimage, very highway cool of course. Check out this more in-depth article (from Bad at Sports) and check out the show itself @ Twelve Galleries, 2156 West 21st Place (2nd Floor apartment) this Saturday, July 25th, 7:00 – 10:00 PM.

Keil Borrman @ The Suburban

Our friendly Oak Park ultra-alternative art space will be hosting a multi-media group show entitled Keil Borrman: I have not painted in a year. I have been listening to my stereo, with a bonus six-song presentation/wall installation from americana altrocker David G. A. Stephenson, and a triple double bonus of having bar-b-que for the opening. Check it out @ The Suburban, 125 N. Harvey Ave, Oak Park this Sunday, July 26th, from 2:00-4:00 PM.

And if you haven’t seen it yet, get down to the Hyde Park Art Center for their on-going show, Signs of the Apocolypse/Rapture. Say Hi to the Emilio Perez for me, I miss it already.