Art Chicago is an annual event held at the Merchandise Mart in Chicago, Illinois during the Artropolis event.  I exhibited at the International Antiques Fair at the Mart that is held concurrently with the art fair, this past May.  Click on images to enlarge.

These large scale prints are composed of tiny images of other “personalities,” such as the Madonna image might be made up of tiny pixel images of Marilyn Monroe.  The artist is Alex Guofeng Cao.

The gallery had cards in the form of small boxes with photos on two sides.  Greg and I were disappointed that the boxes didn’t have any treats  inside of them, it would’ve been a nice touch.

This artist’s work has a jewel-like quality to it.  Click on images to enlarge.

The imagery of this piece of artwork is haunting and rather mysterious.

The “boy with a bird” looks like it was drawn using gunpowder that has been burned.

She is in such a relaxed state after her refreshing swim, still dripping with water.  I’ve always enjoyed watching the reactions people have to life-size super-realism figures.  I find this sculpture more calming than most of the life-size figures, especially those of Duane Hanson.

I will never get tired of looking Deborah Butterfield’s Horses.  This polychrome over bronze example has such an elegance and looks effortless.

Richard Wright Gallery had two really fine Harry Bertoia “bush” sculptures on a low coffee table.  Click on images to enlarge.

Packer Schopf Gallery never disappoints.  Aron has an amazing eye that I like to think has been influenced by his years in the antiques trade.

The “beast” has been composed out of many, many books; most likely encyclopedias.

This cut work on books at  Aron’s gallery is by Brian Dettmer.

This artwork is by Diem Chau.  The artist has stretched very fine “fabric” over ordinary household china plates and stitched these curious images of people or parts of people.  You can check out the Packer Schopf Gallery here.

This life-sized sculpture was covered entirely in puzzle pieces put on end, thousands and thousands.

Now that could be Duane Hansen sculpture on the right, but he is actually a Merchandise Mart employee.  Click on images to enlarge.

This paper and cotton sculpture was so delicate and so beautifully crafted I was fascinated by the workmanship as well as the concept.

There were about seven or eight of these “smoking aircraft”  sculptures along the back wall of the gallery booth, they were so clean and white and yet so tragic. I loved them.

Odd little creatures their bodies covered in shells.

This humming bird is just a little larger than life size and is made from cast lead, it and following snake sculpture is by the artist Mark Calderon.

The snake sculpture has a sinuous sleekness about it.  It would look great displayed on a large table as well as it does hanging on the wall.

I rarely see contemporary photography that I find fresh.  If a  photographer’s work makes you take a second glance than you might stand a chance at a show like Art Chicago.  This photographer has challenged the viewer to stop and question the refection in the puddle and what it is telling us about the reality of the street scene.

As far as I am concerned William Edmondson was one of Americas most important sculptors of the 20th century.  This totemic as well as whimsical sculpture by Edmondson was shown by Fleisher/Ollman Gallery at Art Chicago.

Both of these labor intensive drawings are by Joan Linder who uses very tradition materials in her work.  The dandelion drawing is over six feet tall and was drawn entirely with a ball point pen.  Joan is represented by Mixed Greens Gallery in New York City.  Click on images to enlarge.

Carl Hammer Gallery always has great contemporary fine art as well as an amazing inventory of antique folk art.  These polychromed “jiggers” date from the 1930s and have great appeal en masse.

This piece of artwork by California artist Cameron Gray was one of my favorite pieces at Art Chicago.  The artist uses tiny paintings to create his large scale artworks.

The smaller scale paintings are all from the history of art.  Many of the greats from the Renaissance to post impressionist are used in his work.   Gray doesn’t actually paint the smaller panels but has other artist do these pieces and then he assembles them into a larger cohesive image .  Cameron Gray’s website is here.

I rather think Vincent Van Gogh would have been fascinated by many of his paintings being used to help form a much larger piece of artwork completely unrelated to his original work.  Or maybe not.  Art begs questions sometimes more than it makes statements.  This is the joy and the challenge of going to shows like Art Chicago.  Make plans to attend the 2011 Art Chicago show now, all of the info is here.  Click on images to enlarge.

The Chicago Merchandise Mart annual Antiques and Fine Art Fair was held April 30th thru May 3rd, it was a distinct pleasure to be exhibiting at the Mart again this year.  The quality of the dealers at the show and time they take to create engaging booth spaces makes the show exciting to see.    So here are a few photos to give you a taste of the variety of amazing material that was shown at the Mart during this past event.  Click on images to enlarge.

The two photos above are dealers from Italy that always bring objects that I especially covet, their business name is Il Segno Del Tempo and they have a great website you can check out here.

One of many booths with rare Art Deco and Modernist pieces.  Click on images to enlarge.

More tramp art than you can shake a stick at, this is the booth of Clifford Wallach who has an intriguing  website filled with tramp, you can see it here.

Now this is a billiard table.  The inlay work is impressive.  To the right is a large double gaming wheel slot machine.

This back wall panel is European tile and is spectacular, it is in the booth of Rita Bucheith, Ltd.  Click on images to enlarge.

Harvey Pranian is good friend and a great dealer with an ever changing inventory of folk art.  His website is here.

Tiffany, Tiffany, and more amazing Tiffany everywhere you look.

Mid-century modern at its best.  The banana yellow Tommy Parzinger console at the back of the booth is one of those show stoppers I would love to try to work into my house.  It would make a great “stage” for sculpture and objects.

The scientific sign makes a strong statement in this eclectic booth display.  Click on images to enlarge.

I could move into this room.  The lighting was tweaked just so to help give the room the impression of a luxurious apartment in an exotic locale.  These last two photos were taken in the booth of  The Golden Triangle, located in Chicago.  They have an extensive website you can check out  here.

Hard to believe this is a booth at an antiques show until you notice the white walls in the distance.   If you did not make it to the show this year hopefully these photos will entice you to visit the Mart in 2011.  The photos I took at Art Chicago will be coming soon to this blog site.  Stay Tuned.  Click on images to enlarge.

I thought this year’s show at the Merchandise Mart was more visually interesting, and even an even higher level of quality then in any of the previous years I’ve been to the show.   Setting up at the show is an amazing experience on many levels.  Set up allows me the luxury of seeing  rare and sometimes startling objects being moved past my booth before the show opens up as everyone is trying to work their booths into beautiful room-like settings.  The enormous Mart building, two football fields long, fills up in just a few short days with antiques from all over the world as well as dealers from several different countries exhibiting their very best for this fair.  Click on images to enlarge.

My booth at the mart show had my usual mix of periods and styles that for some reason seem to work together.  I like to think of the pieces as all settling in together in the booth whether they like it or not.  Each piece seems to find to place to show off without competing with the others…or so I tell myself.

The 19th century framed botanical flowers formed a backdrop for the dark oak 18th century gate-leg table with a small grouping of santos figures on top.  Click on images to enlarge.

The santos shown in the previous photo replaced this grouping of 19th century candlesticks that sold one by one at the show.

I love this mix of art work on the back wall of the booth.  The top painting is by Guillermo Silva Santamaria, an artist from Bogota, Colombia below it is a painting by a St. Louis artist, Margery Dodson Imster.  To the left of the lamp are three 1920s stained glass window watercolor studies from the Emil Frei Art Glass Studios in St. Louis.  Click on images to enlarge.

Greta Von Nessen “Anywhere Lamp”, circa 1951 in original mint condition.  The lamp and the painting in the background found really good new homes.

The Italian gilt mirror on the back wall was a recent lucky find just a few days before the show.  The modernist painting on the right is by St. Louis artist Virginia Davis, it stayed behind in Chicago, now showing off on a new wall.

The 19th century European skull and crossbones pediment was lucky enough to find a new residence in the Windy City.

The soft whites of the walrus tusk and the shells play so well against the warm browns and grey color tones on the 18th century Russian table.  Click on image to enlarge.

The brass swan sculpture on the wall is by Curtis Jere.  To the left of the Jere are two French manikin forms, both the manikins and the Jere represent the variety of objects I bring to show and fortunately seem to be what I sell at the Mart as both stayed behind in Chicago.

The rare advertising poster behind the manikins announces Herman Miller’s opening of a store in New York City that would sell their furniture as well as fabrics by Alexander Girard and “sympathetic” decorative objects (those objects I would be curious to see.)  The poster must date from the late 1960s to early 1970s and is in mint condition.

My booth is on a corner so I have an outside wall to decorate.  At the beginning of the show the wall looked like this, and then after several things sold it evolved to the wall pictured below.  Click on images to enlarge.

The wallpaper stamps shown in the previous photo got replaced with a collection of vintage dog photos. Part of the fun of being at the show for so many days is seeing the other booths at the show change as items are sold and moved out and new things are brought in from storage and the booth redesigned.

I brought one of the showcases from the shop for displaying collections of objects.  The shelf has a collection of 19th century plaster heads and hands.

“Just say ah.”  Which is appropriate for this sculpture and is also a cool website showcasing the work of Adam Hughes.  You can check it out here.  The object in the image above was made as a European medical teaching aid in the 1930s.

One of my favorite pieces that I brought to the show was this balustrade from the Chicago Stock Exchange building designed by Louis Sullivan and Dankmar Adler and completed was in 1894. Click on images to enlarge.

Staying in downtown Chicago is an experience, however staying on the 33rd floor of a downtown hotel is a better experience.  This was our view from the Hotel 71.  Wacker drive is on the left and the Merchandise Mart is on the right past the wonderfully ’60s Marina Cities twin towers.  Every morning  starts off with a nice brisk walk to the mart with a quick stop for a morning shot of caffeine and then to the 8th floor for a visual feast for the eyes as the elevator doors open and the day of selling begins.  There is something about the energy of downtown Chicago and the Mart that makes going to the show a time to remember and something I very much enjoy.   Photos from other booths at the show as well as images from Art Chicago will follow in this blog soon.  Click on images to enlarge.

This artist presented some very curious sculpture and photography at the Chicago Artopolis Art Fair.   He filled these very traditional, rather ubiquitous snowdomes with snowy landscapes he creates in minute detail.  This one is of a woman confronting a giant man leaning against a tree.  The attention to detail is  very refined.  I would’ve enjoyed watching the casual observer take a quick second look at these domes while walking through the show.  There is so much artwork that screams for your attention that something like a snowdome goes unnoticed…until…. you really notice it.

The artist photographs the snowdomes and enlarges the image to the point where the whole perspective changes and we see these rather surreal, dreamlike creations become huge images.  Almost like a part of one of our dreams exposed, photographed, and mounted.

This snowdome has a man rounding a bend coming across rather large footprints in the snow, certainly not an everyday occurrence.  So is this about some person drama of confronting a possible threat or simply the humor in the possibility of really finding huge footprints on a snow trail ?

This skeleton at the Packer Schopf Gallery is made entirely out of plastic cassette tapes.

This shows more of the detail of the construction.

The Gallery had some of this artist’s work last year at the Fair.   The attention to detail is amazing.   I  like the concept of a book pulling you through it, taking you on a journey as you read it and this artist doing the same thing in a very unique visual way.

Another cut-out book at the Packer Gallery.

Also at Packer Gallery are these white mac lap-tops that have been inked in a technique that looks like scrimshaw.

“Beware the tendency to become the things you covet, it’s unsustainable & will only disappoint you in the end.”

I am drawn to the beauty of wood, especially carved sculptural pieces.  This piece has such an elegance and strength about it.  This skull is by Laurel Roth also at the Packer Gallery.  Laurel Roth has described this new series as, “..based on the bones of food animals using  finely polished wood, crystal, and gold to highlight the sacred and the profane aspects of food in an age of industrial agriculture.”