1. Black Damp at Johalla Projects

Work by Jessica Taylor Caponigro.

Johalla Projects is located at 1821 W. Hubbard St. Reception Saturday, 7-10pm.

2. No Gods No Masters at Chicago Artists’ Coalition

Work by Jesse Butcher, James Green, and Christopher Meerdo.

Chicago Artists’ Coalition is located at 217 N. Carpenter St. Reception Friday, 6-9pm.

3. Abstracting the Seam at Hyde Park Art Center

Work by Shannon Kerrigan, Christopher Michlig, Patrick McDonough, Sarah Nishiura, Andrew Rigsby, Hans Sundquist and Stacia Yeapanis.

Hyde Park Art Center is located at 5020 S. Cornell Ave. Reception Sunday, 3-5pm.

4. DARK STAR at Roots & Culture

Work by Tim Brown and Rimas Simaitis.

Roots & Culture is located at 1034 N. Milwaukee Ave. Reception Friday, 6-9pm.

5. Calamity at Chicago Art Department

Work by Thomas Wolfe.

Chicago Art Department is located at 1932 S. Halsted St. Reception Friday, 6-10pm.

1. Chicago Sky Interior at PSA Projects

Work by Jovencio de la Paz.

PSA Projects is located at 2509 N. Lawndale Ave. Reception Sunday, 6-8pm.

2. GASPAR / HALL at The Franklin

Work by Maria Gaspar and Andy Hall.

The Franklin is located at 3522 W. Franklin Blvd. Reception Saturday, 7-10pm.

3. Old Work/New Work at Happy Collaborationists

Work by Garett Yahn.

Happy Collaborationists is located at 1254 N Noble St. Performance Saturday, 7-10pm.

4. Typeforce 4 at Co-Prosperity Sphere

Work by Alex Moulitsas, Alexa Viscius & Drew Ryan, Anthony Lewellen, Baozhen Li, Lucky Pierre (Bill Talsma, Michael Thomas, Mary Zerkel, Holly Abney, Travis Hale, Kevin Kaempf, Jeffrey Kowalkowski, Heather Lindahl, Tyler B. Myers), Blazo, Chris Branson & Jeremy Van Cleef, DePaul University Graphic Design Student Chapter (Chris Kalis, Samantha Rangel, Julia Simplicio), Drew Tyndell, Emily Haasch, Franchec Crespo & Adrianne Hawthorne, Greg Calvert, Jason Frohlichstein, Kelly Dorsey & Tricia Chamberlain, Kyle Louis Fletcher, CMYKittens (Laura Rafson, Maria Squeri, Erika Galvez and Liz Rosenberg), Slightly Insulting Chicago Posters (Lauren Schroer, RC Jones, Jeni Brendemuehl), Lou Medel, Renata Graw, Tanawat Sakdawisark, Todd King, and Double Blind (Victor Fong, Stephen Lee, Simone Martin-Newberry, Aaron Maurer, Lou Medel, Margo Yoon).

Co-Prosperity Sphere is located at 3219 S. Morgan St. Reception Friday, 6-11pm.

5. I Know Nothing, Daya at Chicago Art Department

Work by Vanessa Luna, Cassie Hamrick, and Jen Gorman.

Chicago Art Department is located at 1932 S Halsted St. Reception Friday, 6-9pm.

1. More Than I Had To Say at Firecat Projects

Work by Samantha Simpson.

Firecat Projects is located at 2124 N. Damen Ave. Reception Friday, 7-10pm.

2. Tough Enough at Rotofugi Gallery

Work by Amanda Visell.

Rotofugi Gallery is located at 2780 N. Lincoln Ave. Reception Friday, 7-10pm.

3. Feat of Clay at Prak Sis Gallery

Work by Miyeon Kwon.

Prak Sis Gallery is located 1917 W. Irving Park Rd. Reception Saturday, 6-9:30pm.

4. Collective Dreams: Prints and Memories at Chicago Art Department

Work by Frol Boundin, Michael Coleman, Chadwick, Karsten Creightney, Jessica Chao, Aaron Ishaeik, shaurya kumar, and Galina Shevchenko.

Chicago Art Department is located at 1932 S. Halsted Ave. Reception Friday, 5-9pm.

5. In Absentia at Eyeporium Gallery

Work by Eric Holubow.

Eyeporium Gallery is located at 1431 N. Milwaukee Ave. Reception Friday, 6-9pm.

1. Luke Aleckson and Matt McAuliffe at The Suburban

125 N. Harvey Ave.
Sunday 2-4 PM.

2. Book Release Party: Composition 2 / Color Studies at  Center for Book & Paper Arts

Book of works by Tom Burtonwood

1104 S. Wabash, 2nd Fl.
Friday 5-8 PM

3. Tape: A Celebration at Chicago Art Department

Work by Chris Silva, Chuck Przybyl, Teppei Katori, Lisa Chiodini, Frederic Moffet, Todd Frugia, Clifford Novey, Jason Frohlichstein, Timothy Olson, Edyta Stepien, Agnieszka Kulon, Mark Salach, Dandee Petr, Benjamin Thorp, Martin Rille, and Nat Soti.

1932 S. Halsted St. #100
Friday 6-10 PM.

4. Dominion at Eel Space

Work by Amy Babinec, Jessica Taylor Caponigro, and Neal Vandenbergh.

1906 S Throop St #2F
Saturday 6-9 PM.

5. Inaugural Exhibition Opening at Fulton Market Gallery

Group exhibition of gallery artists.

310 N. Peoria St.
Friday 6-10 p.m.

This weekend is making up for the last couple slow ones. In all, 35 openings, with shows in all the standard art districts, a few museum events, and an awesome array of shows at the weird-ass venues that make Chicago such a vibrant art scene. Here’s my picks:

1. Living Treasure at Pentagon

“Living Treasure is a shadow of Pentagon Gallery’s first opening Nemesis, A show that engaged cultural others and darkness in music, film, literature and athleticism. Living Treasure attempts to take note from Nemesis but focuses on current global issues and America’s involvement with in them. Each artist transforms ideas of violence, destruction, environment, religion, and sexuality by utilizing different mediums and engaging the viewer to be critical of their own social nature. The show it’s self might seem sinister but stays satirical with subject and matter.” Work by Carl Baratta, Carolina Wheat, Montgomery Perry Smith, Theodore Darst, Ryan Ingebritson & Flash Gordon (1980).

Pentagon is located at 961 W. 19th St., 1F. Reception is PLEASE NOTE: Saturday from 7-10pm.

2. Younger Than Janis at Noble & Superior Projects

“The work of all of these artists (who together cover film, sculpture, sound, food, printed matter, painting, photography and video) considers the ephemeral nature of youth and beauty. The work ranges from musings on death to pursuit of an infinite youth, covering all the fleeting affect in between.” Work by Marcel Alcala, Ryan Barone, Lucas Blair, Patrick Bobilin, Connor Camburn, Kevin Clancy, Adam Cruces, Cara Anne Greene, Eliza Koch, Andre & Evan Lenox, Vanessa Macholl, Celia Marks, Ross Meckfessel, Michael Morris, Erin Nixon, Michael Radziewicz, Anna Rochinski, Steve Ruiz, Liz Rugg, Hannah Verrill, Blair Waters, Ali White, Andrew Norman Wilson, and Travis Wyche.

Noble & Superior Projects  is located at 1418 W. Superior St. Reception is Friday from 6-10pm, film screening is Saturday from 7-10pm.

3. A Packer Schopf 3-fer: “South County Scrapbook”, “Gleaners, Hawkers, and Reapers” and “Skivery”

Danny Hein: South County Scrapbook – “My drawings are inspired by romantic memories of growing up in rural Indiana. I always felt there was a lot of mystery there. The figures here represent the land. I think of them as corn-fed-ghosts.”

Catherine Jacobi: Gleaners, Hawkers, and Reapers – “The Histories of Objects are platforms from which Jacobi starts her pieces – considering a narrative that has already existed and one that she will have imagined existed. The novelty of form is that it leads you to believe it will endure. Look at a body, her body – immortality it seems is mortal.”

Nancy Bardawil & Casey Gunshel: Skivery – “Nancy Bardawil started her art career as a painter and a sculptor, but for the last twenty years she has been working in film as a director. Although she’s been painting since she was six-years-old, this is the first time she’s shown her paintings in public. As a child, Casey Gunschel learned to draw by way of National Geographic and Dungeons and Dragons monster manuals. That introduction has inspired a lifetime fascination with animals, creatures and all things wild.”

Packer Schopf Gallery is located at 942 W. Lake St. Reception is Friday from 5-8pm.

4. Action! at Chicago Art Department

“ACTION! is a Chicago Art Department exhibition themed around the idea of the Hollywood summer blockbuster movie.  Since the release of Jaws in 1977, the summer movie season has, for better or for worse, become characterized by over the top, big budget, action, special-effects laden movies that we now know as “the summer blockbuster”.    The art in this exhibition looks at the summer movie as cultural phenomena and symbol, as nostalgia and memory, and yes even simple, mindless fun.” Work by Ryan Roberts, Christophe Roberts, Clare Rosean, Nat Soti, Jim Jeffers, Ali Serradge, Sarah and Joseph Belknap, Kayce Bayer, Chris Lin, and Kerry Flaherty.

Chicago Art Department  is located at 1837 S Halsted St. Reception is Friday from 6-10pm.

5. Visible City: Map Room at Fill in the Blank Gallery

“Visible City: Map Room is part of an ongoing body of work by Aaron Delehanty in which painted images and drawn maps work together to build a mythos of a nonexistent place called Visible City. This exhibition highlights two features of this city—its urban physical space and its mental space—by showing scenes of the city as being designed in harmony with its surroundings. The maps of Visible City are strange and unique, different from your usual map because Visible City is a different kind of human settlement.”

Fill in the Blank Gallery is located at 5038 N. Lincoln Ave. Reception is Friday from 7-11pm.