1. Bound and/or Stapled (or not) & Plant Life at Western Exhibitions

Bound and/or Stapled (or not) includes work by Elijah Burgher, Lilli Carré, Terence Hannum, Leah Mackin, Dutes Miller, Andy Moore, Miller & Shellabarger, Stan Shellabarger, and Scott Teplin. Plant Life is curated by Geoffrey Todd Smith, with work by Chinatsu Ikeda, Eric Wert, Heidi Norton, Jonathan Gardener, Mindy Rose Schwartz, Scott Wolniak, and Tyson Reeder.

Western Exhibitions is located at 845 W. Washington Blvd. Reception Friday, 5-8pm.

2. Two Women Do Three Things at Happy Collaborationists

Work by Mothergirl (Katy Albert and Sophia Hamilton).

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

3. Shit is Real & UUUUU at Devening Projects + Editions

Shit is Real includes work by Aron Gent, Carrie Gundersdorf, Cody Hudson, Sofia Leiby, and Josh Reamesand Cody Tumblin. UUUUU includes work by Rainer Spangl.

Devening Projects + Editions is located at 3039 West Carroll St. Reception Sunday, 4-7pm.

4. Tempus fungit-amor mannet at moniquemeloche

Work by Gabriel Vormstein.

moniquemeloche is located at 2154 W. Division St. Reception Friday, 6-8pm.

5. Contemporary Artists from Ukraine at Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art

Work by Oleksander Babak, Oleksander Dubovyk, Serhiy Mikhnovsky, Roman Romanyshyn, Serhij Savchenko, Oksana Stratijchuk, Katarina Svirhunenko, and Mykola Zhuravel.

Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art is located at 2320 W Chicago Ave. Reception Friday, 6-9pm.

1. The Dragon is the Frame at Gallery 400

Work by Mark Aguhar, Claire Arctander, Nina Barnett, Jeremy Bolen, Elijah Burgher, Edie Fake, Pamela Fraser, Tiffany Funk, R. E. H. Gordon, Steve Hnilicka, Kasia Houlihan, Mark Kent, Young Joon Kwak, Andrew Mausert-Mooney, Marianna Milhorat, Tim Nickodemus, Aay Preston-Myint, Juana Peralta, Macon Reed, Colin Self, Michael Sirianni, Nathan Thomas, Neal Vandenbergh, Xina Xurner and Isaac Fosl-Van Wyke, Allison Yasukawa, Gwendolyn Zabicki, and Latham Zearfoss.

Gallery 400 is located at 400 S. Peoria St. Reception Friday, 5-8pm.

2. Show Room at Threewalls

Curated by Shannon Stratton, with work by Laura Davis, Carson Fisk-Vittori and Julia Klein.

Threewalls is located at 119 N. Peoria St. #2C. Reception Friday, 6-9pm.

3. KLOSS/STOLTMANN at New Capital

Work by Mike Kloss and Kirsten Stoltmann.

New Capital is located at 3114 W. Carroll St. Reception Saturday, 7-10pm.

4. Inner Self at Prak Sis Gallery

Work by Juyeon Kim.

Prak Sis Gallery is located at 1917 W. Irving Park Rd. Reception Saturday, 5-8pm.

5. Bowling Alone at Andrew Rafacz Gallery

Work by Brandon Anschultz, Daniel Baird, Benjamin Funke, Sarah Mosk, Eileen Mueller, Aay Preston-Myint, and Min Song.

Andrew Rafacz Gallery is located at 835 W. Washington Blvd. Reception Saturday, 4-7pm.

1. Addendum & The Blind Light, the Pyre of Night at Linda Warren Gallery

Addendum features work by Jason Peot and The Blind Light, the Pyre of Night features work by Conrad Freiburg.

Linda Warren Gallery is located at 1052 W. Fulton Mkt. Reception is Friday from 6-9pm.

2. Space Out, Space In at Andrew Rafacz

Curated by Scott Wolniak. Work by Thorne Brandt, Ken Fandell, Young Joon Kwak, Jesse McLean, Shana Moulton, Jon Rafman, Andy Roche, Ben Russell, Jen Stark and Kirsten Stoltmann.

Andrew Rafacz Gallery is located at 835 W Washington Blvd. Reception is Saturday from 4-7pm.

3. People Don’t Like to Read Art at Western Exhibitions

Work by Nicholas Frank, Adriane Herman, John Parot, Mark Wagner, Joe Hardesty, Deb Sokolow, Rebecca Blakley, Elijah Burgher, Simon Evans, Cat Glennon, Meg Hitchcock, Rachel Foster, David Leggett, Andy Moore, and Angie Waller.

Western Exhibitions is located at 119 N. Peoria St., suite 2A. Reception Saturday from 6-9pm.

4. Samuel D. York at Courtney Blades

New works by Samuel D. York.

Courtney Blades is located at 1324 W Grand Ave. Reception is Friday from 7-10pm.

5. Part Wolf at What It Is

Work by Jacob Crose, Chris Holmes, and Vaughnda Johnson.

What It Is is located at 1155 Lyman. Reception Saturday from 3-8pm.  

Hello again everyone. Sorry for the silence last week, I was on an adventure to California. It was great, except for the fact that someone out there got me sick, and now that I’m back with my nose to the grinding stone and a shoot to go to this weekend (both kinds), and I’ve got a wicked cold. Art’s been slimming down in preparation for the big Sept. 10th blowout, but there’s still a lot of great work up. Here’s my weekend picks…

1. Chicago Variety Show at Rotofugi Gallery

Work by Chicago artists Jeremiah Ketner, Myong Kurily, Jim Pavelec, David Rettker, Shawn Roberts, and Chema Skandal.

Rotofugi Gallery is located at 1955 W. Chicago Ave. Reception is Friday, from 7-10pm.

2. A Walking Tour of Here at Fill in the Blank Gallery

Paintings and prints by Justin Santora.

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

3.Who’s Yr Shaman? at Johalla Projects

Work by Elijah Burgher, Sara Fagala, Terence Hannum, Chad Harrison, Ivan Lozano, Adam Ludwig, and Rebecca Walz.

Johalla Projects is located at 1561 N. Milwaukee Ave. Reception is Friday, from 7-11pm.

4. Pastoral at Kasia Kay Art Projects Gallery

Work by Kim Curtis and S.J. Hart made at Tryon Farm in Michigan City.

Kasia Kay Art Projects Gallery is located at 215 N. Aberdeen St. Reception is Saturday, from 4-6pm.

5. Feeble Intimacy at LVL3

Work by Liz Nielsen, Kate Ruggeri, and Brendan Sullivan.

LVL3 is located at 1452 N Milwaukee Ave, #3. Reception Saturday, from 6-10pm.

Off-Topic invites artists, curators, writers, and cultural workers to discuss a subject not directly related to the practice of making art. We would like to welcome Elijah Burgher as our latest guest. Earlier this week Elijah participated in the magic-themed Cabinet of Curiosities at the MCA, hosted by Bad at Sports’ Duncan MacKenzie.  His Off-Topic post takes the form of a narrated YouTube tour of his favorite group Coil.

COIL ARE MY FAVORITE
Elijah Burgher

On November 13, 2004, Jhonn Balance died after falling from a second floor landing in his home. His death effectively ended the mighty Coil, which he had founded in 1982 with Peter “Sleazy” Chistopherson. Along with Psychic TV and Chris & Cosey, Coil rose from the ashes of Throbbing Gristle—Sleazy is a member of TG, who recently resurrected—and, with Current 93, Nurse with Wound,

Death in June, plotted a new course for the various strains of experimental music that issued from the first wave of industrial music in the mid-to-late 70s. For more information about the band’s history and recordings, look at the Threshold House site, Brainwashed’s Coil page, or the brief entry on them on the Disinformation site.

Coil are also my favorite. I love a lot of things, and have named possibly hundreds of artists, bands, filmmakers, books, etc. as my “favorite” at one time or another. When Claudine asked me to write an Off-Topic post for the BaS blog, I knew I wanted to write about something that I loved, and considered Swans’ Children of God, Dennis Cooper’s George Myles cycle, and Pasolini’s Salo, the latter of which I’ve seen too many times to justifiably claim anything resembling mental health. But Coil really are my favorite. They are what I listen to when I work in my studio. And I have a Coil t-shirt that I consider a good luck talisman and wear when I feel particularly stressed out or sad. They inspire exactly this type of ecstatic, pathologically intense fandom in their followers. For this blog post, I’ll be leading you through some of my favorite songs by the band.

Balance had long suffered from alcoholism and drug abuse, which contributed to his untimely death. Since we started with news of his death, here is “Heartworms,” where he reflects self-deprecatingly on his addictions, intoning “there’s too much blood in my alcohol.” (Also I stole the name of my drawing blog from a lyric in this song: “Ghosts vomit over me.”) An enterprising YouTuber has added a super 8 short by Derek Jarman for visuals:

I first heard Coil when I was a teenager and a big fan of industrial music. I loved Ministry, Revolting Cocks, Pigface, and My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult. Originally, I had picked up their cd, Love’s Secret Domain, because I’d buy anything Wax Trax put out. It came out in 1991, so I must have been 13 or 14 since I didn’t buy it too long after it had been released. That record soundtracked much of my high school years, from toothy teenage blowjobs to acid comedowns watching the dancing patterns of my bedsheets, and numerous late night sessions hunkered over my journal writing bad poems and drawing cute boys. I remember playing their track “The Snow” on repeat. It is now a veritable classic of early 90s house music, albeit still somewhat anomalous for the genre. Here is the “Answers Come in Dreams II” remix from “The Snow Ep”: Read more