Art/Work

Art/Work is a monthly profile series that features contemporary visual artists exhibiting in Chicago talking about the inspiration and perspiration behind their creative endeavors.

Whither Art/Work?

Art/Work hasn’t gone away. We’re working on an exciting story about a moment when Chicago made art history.

When the party is over, artist’s still life remains

Historically the still life has been considered a “debased genre” – less important, say, than the portrait or the landscape.

An artist traces the border with wood and metaphor

Chicago artist Juan Angel Chavez recalls a Latin pop song he heard on a recent trip back to his home state of Chihuahua, Mexico. It offered tongue-in-cheek advice to would-be immigrants trying to cross the border into the U.S. “Try not to look like you’re from Neptune,” the lyrics advise.

A painter gets funny to get you in the door

Editor’s Note: The above video contains certain images that may not be appropriate for younger or more sensitive viewers. Scott Reeder is a funny painter. Not funny-strange, but funny-ha ha: a painter with a sense of humor.

Art? Yes. Conspiracy? Maybe.

At age 12, while eating lunch with her mother in a Washington, D.C. McDonalds, Deb Sokolow watched a man enter the restaurant bathroom with a suitcase.

In photos, the origins of war

Today WBEZ launches a new monthly series called Art/Work, where we talk with contemporary visual artists exhibiting in Chicago about the inspiration and perspiration behind their creative endeavors.