Praeterita

1 . This is the fifth year that the giant exhibition hall at the end of Chicago's Navy Pier has hosted the Expo Chicago art fair, and according to its organizers and PR people, it was the biggest and most successful of all, in terms of participating galleries, attendance, and sales. 2 . I could not tell whether the impressive, shiny, well-produced art on display was any different from what I saw on the walls last year, or the year before that, or the year before that, or the year before that. But a couple of things with lots of texture and loose execution caught my eye, nevertheless: Rose , Donald Baechler Mica Painting (Sunflowers) , Catherine Howe 3 . The special projects, ranged around the sides of the hall, were dedicated to more experimental works created by exhibiting artists. I liked this piece by Cody Hudson: Hold It Up to the Light , 2016 4 . Why does anyone go to art fairs? It's about as much fun as going to Walmart. Yes, there is a lot of contemp...

Floating - Ephemeral Passage from Grace Graupe Pillard on Vimeo . I've been spending a lot of time on Google Plus, after getting one of the early invites from a friend. In the space of a few short weeks, I've gone from thinking of it as a needless addition to the world of social media, to thinking that I prefer it to Facebook. The main reason for that is the number of contacts with very talented artists that I've made through G+, as we hip early adopters call it. I've already posted several interviews with some of them, and more are to follow. Meanwhile, here is a moving video by someone else I encountered on G+. The artist is Grace Graupe Pillard. The video is a meditation on: the death of Pillard's grandparents and other family members in the Nazi death camps; her own sense of aging and physical vulnerability; change. If you like the video, leave a comment on the Vimeo page.   Subscribe to Praeterita in a reader

Meditation number 31 is on a video piece by Bill Viola. As I say in the talk, I don't really like video art, or rather, it fails to move me much, but Viola's work, while teetering constantly on the edge of pretentiousness, has had some effect on me whenever I've seen it.   Subscribe to Praeterita in a reader