Art Loop Open Friday @ Block 37 ~ Please Vote

Life Guards from the Crude Awakening portfolio will be exhibited at Block 37 Friday night at the very first Art Loop Open, Chicago’s new curated art competition which will transform ten venues throughout Chicago’s Loop into interactive public art exhibits. Please visit each venue and begin voting for your favorite artwork, while enjoying specialty "Artini" cocktails. I promise it will be a blast.

Life Guards 40" x 40".

Blogging From Berlin ~ Part 3

Berlin is such an amazing city. It is grand, elegant, quaint, vibrant, boxy, dazzling and endlessly fascinating.

I am so impressed by the power good art has on the psyche, mind and body. Yesterday was the first day using a 3 day continuous museum pass and there is just no way to get thru all the museums, even in a week. After 3 museums and 6 hours on my feet, I was feeling quite tired and fatigued. I was reinvigorated, again, by visiting the Hamburger Bahnhof Museum where I view an Anselm Kiefer work IN Germany! He is one of my all time favorite artists. I was first introduced to his work the Art Institute of Chicago.







And what fun to see an Andy Warhol!



On Heidestrasse Street I thought I had exhausted all the galleries and then I stumbled upon the Haunch of Venison Gallery. The show was titled Das Gift, works by Yoko Ono...and what a gift it was! Focused mostly on performance and conceptual art, she asks for the viewers participation to heal the world of violence, a universal concern.




Heal
A Large canvas with rips and cuts in the canvas, inviting the viewer to help in mending oneself and the world.


Coats
Seven coats hang at the very end of the room, all belonging to people who were wearing the coats when they were shot point blank from close range.



Art, done well, has the power to transform.

Berlin ~ Part 2

Berlin is an incredible city seeped in dramatic history. It is impossible not to be deeply moved by its past and the numerous markers of rememberence. I keep flashing back to the movie, The Lives of Others. If you haven't seen it, you should. It is one of the most haunting movies I have ever seen. Please go rent it.

remenant of the Berlin Wall

One of the first sites I visited was Neue Wache, a memorial for all victims of the war, the modern Pieta by one of my very favorite artists, Kathe Kollwitz (more on her work later). It is a sober and beautiful work.



On a walking tour I passed markers for those whose lives were lost trying to cross the river to freedom.



and the Holocaust Memorial consisting of 2711 sarcophagi-like columns rising up in somber silence from undulating ground.





Holocaust Tower from the Jewish Museum


To the left of the Brandenburg Gate there is a Room of Silence, a much welcomed space. It's purpose is to "provide an opportunity for everyone, independent of backround, color ideology, religion and physical condition to enter and remain in silence for a while ...and an invitation to tolerence, a brotherhood of man embracing all nationalites and ideologies, a continuous reminder against violence and xenophobia, a small step toward peace and spirituality.

The weaving on the wall was created by Hungarian aritst Ritta Hager and was the perfect object to contemplateon while searching for the light in the darkness.

Blogging from Berlin ~ 10/10/10

Have spent my first full day in Berlin. The light has been extraordinary...











Spent several hours at Art Forum Berlin, an art fair that focuses only on contemporary art. Seeing so many objects that I had difficulty relating to has left me contemplating.....





What Is Art?

Chicago Artist Month

October is Chicago Artist Month and there are many venue offerings. My Crude Awakening photographs will be exhibited in 3 locations. The first is for the Art Loop Open, October 15-29, Chicago’s new art competition— which will transform ten venues throughout Chicago’s Loop into interactive public art exhibits. My piece, Life Guards, will be exhibited at Block 37. On Friday, October 15 from 5 to 8 p.m. The public is encouraged to visit each venue and begin voting for their favorite artwork, while enjoying specialty "Artini" cocktails and other offerings.

Life Guards 40" x 40".

The next venue is at the Chicago Center for Green Technology. They partnered up with the Global Alliance of Artists and put a show together called "What We Worry About." I will have Life Guards, Marissa, and Keith,Laura and Olivia in this show. The opening reception is this Thursday from 5:30 - 7:30 at 445 N. Sacramento.



Marissa

Keith, Laura and Olivia


And finally, I will be showing "Life Guards" in the 2nd Annual Artists for a Greener Evanston Showcase October 15 and 16th at the Noyes Cultural Arts Center.

Phew!
Have a great month!

Filter Photo Festival

It is coming up next week. The brain child of Sarah Hadley, Filter Photo will offer the Chicago Photographic community a five day event dedicated to inspiring and educating emerging and professional photographers. There will be an opening Wednesday, October 6, 6-9 pm, of a juried show, "Bauhaus Inspired Photography" at the Chicago Photography Center followed by multiple lectures, master classes, portfolio reviews, and panel offerings. It is clearly a photography lovers delight. I will be teaching a workshop Finding Your Muse ~ Reflections On the Creative Process, from 9am-1pm on Friday morning. I am really looking forward to sharing my insights about art making. Hope to see you there!

On Balance...Hubertus von der Goltz

The Encounter by Hubertus von der Goltz is an amazing piece. Each time I view it, it has different meaning for me. I finally decided to learn more about it and to my surprise, I had only been seeing on half of the piece! The work was created and installed atop the Maple Avenue Garage for the City of Evanston in December 2009. Created by artist Hubertus von der Goltz, The Encounter features two figures delicately balancing and moving toward each other.







Not having seen the second figure, I was thinking about how life...every moment, hour, day, week and year...is a balancing act.
Keeping the mind, body and spirit in a state of equilibrium each and every day is a balancing act.

"Keep The Balance", 2009, Sculpture Project for Riverside Landscaping Belt at World Expo 2010, Shanghai, China

On his website Hubertus von der Goltz states..

"In the distance on a building high above, a man tries to maintain his balance along a narrow steel beam. Both him and the beam seem somewhat superfluous to the structure of the building. Why is he up there and what is he doing? Our pulse quickens in respond to the spectacle above, and gives us cause to question the man`s sanity. Hubertus von der Goltz´s two-dimensional silhouettes can only sustain this deception momentarily, however, and the drama of the situation finally gives way to reality.

Balance is at the core of Hubertus von der Goltz´s work. The subtly rendered gestures and postures of his figures are poised to reflect the allegorical possibilities which balance suggests. The rise and fall of mankind are contained in their lofty heights, precarious disposition, and enduring stance. His figures are powerful, concise symbols, epitomizing the trials and tribulations of human existence."

"On The Way" Drielanden, Harderwijk, 2005, Netherlands


Auf dem Weg", Binningen, Basel, 2008, Schweiz

The Encounter, Sculpture for Evanston Illinois by H.v.d. Goltz from Peter Hartel on Vimeo.