Art Archives - Page 14 of 36 - Interesting Ideas

Wacky store names: Sign and storefront of Do Eat restaurant, Chicago

December 8, 2018 Bill Swislow

Some Really OK New Wacky Store Names

Another batch of the strange, the bizarre, the inexplicable wacky store names of the world. As someone pathologically prone to understatement, I’m especially fond of business names that don’t try too hard. Do eat some OK paella before buying a simply basic but typical gift. Do Eat Korean Barbecue, Chicago Favorable Chicken-Kebabs-Ribs, London: Photo by Martin Stocks Nice Pharmacy, Koh Samui, Thailand O.K. Paella, Toledo, Spain OK Painters, Siem Reap, Cambodia Simply Basic, Barcelona Typical Gift, Toledo, Spain Closely related to understatement, and just as dynamic, are the businesses whose owners favor highly generalized branding. Here are those latest additions:

Street dominoes game, pastel by Quinten B. Smith

October 10, 2018 Bill Swislow

Quinten B. Smith’s Masterful City Scenes

These city scenes show a mastery of detail and a real feeling for people and place. Drawn by Quinten B. Smith in the 1990s and early 2000s, their precision and beauty make them wholly convincing.

September 5, 2018 Bill Swislow

Vintage Vinyl For Sale

I’m selling many vintage vinyl LPs at my neighborhood’s community yard sale Saturday, Sept. 8, 9-4. Plus vintage furniture, art objects, collectibles, household items, vintage textiles and more. Of course, any reasonable offer will be considered. Here are the LPs that will be on sale:

August 15, 2018 Bill Swislow

Outsider Art: Chicago We Own It

A look past Chicago’s outsider art canon to anonymous & lesser-known artists, the collectors who found their work, and Maxwell Street, where many learned how

Joe Markevicius with his painting of the Tripoly building, Chicago

July 1, 2018 Bill Swislow

Farewell Joe Markevicius

I learned today of the death of Joe Markevicius, one of my favorite artists. Joe was a “soutsider” artist, a graduate of Gage Park High School and a wizard with pastels. I always thought there was a sadness to Joe at least partly reflected in his choice of subject — mostly Chicago places that had disappeared or were in the process of disappearing.

Two figures on ceramic plaque by Harvey Ford, 1994

June 16, 2018 Bill Swislow

Harvey Ford: Objects of Beautyness

Harvey Ford was a prolific producer of drawings when he was in the art program at Joliet’s Stateville Penitentiary, but he also made some impressive sculptures, mostly ceramic, and at least a few papier-mâché. The colors and shapes are more than a match for the intensity of his drawings, many of which he made with burnt matches. Although prison art programs produce a lot of material that is of little interest beyond the cellblock walls, the Stateville program, as its output makes evident, encouraged artists to follow their own creative direction. Ford was a true visionary and a case study

Portraits from signs for Frank's West Side Auto Parts Chicago

April 24, 2018 Bill Swislow

Auto Parts Art Gallery, and Vicinity

Frank’s West Side Auto Parts, at Kedzie Avenue and 30th Street, is an art gallery unto itself. Plus, there are other great signs in its vicinity, including more auto parts art and other examples of vernacular creativity.

April 18, 2018 Bill Swislow

Pop-Up Art Sale At Intuit: Folk, Outsider, Tribal, Etc.

I’m joining with several other collectors for a two-day art sale Friday April 20 (5-8) and Saturday April 21 (11-5) at Intuit, 756 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago. The emphasis will be self-taught, folk and outsider art, but there will also be African masks, textiles, kitsch items, contemporary art and other interesting things — lots of cool stuff at very good prices. You can see a flier below, and photos of some of the things I’m planning to bring. It should be a fun event, and We’ll be donating 10% of our proceeds to Intuit. While you’re at Intuit, we’ve got

Ruth Norman, aka Uriel, the Unarius Society, with flying saucer models

March 5, 2018 Bill Swislow

Review — Jim Shaw: The Hidden World

Jim Shaw: The Hidden World, edited by Marc-Olivier Wahler. Koenig Books, London, 512 pages, 2014. ISBN: 978-3863355845. Hardcover. Jim Shaw’s collection of religious, political and cultural ephemera, published in 2014 as an exhibition catalog, makes for a great book, especially if your collecting interests align with Shaw’s, as mine not coincidentally do.

March 1, 2018 Bill Swislow

Review — As Essential as Dreams: Self-Taught Art from the Collection of Stephanie and John Smither

As Essential as Dreams: Self-Taught Art from the Collection of Stephanie and John Smither, by Michelle White, with contributions by Lynne Adele, Brooke Davis Anderson, Haley Berkman, David Breslin, Víctor M. Espinosa, William Fagaly, Edward M. Gómez, Jo Farb Hernández, Lee Kogan, Colin Rhodes and Leslie Umberger. The Menil Collection, Houston, 112 pages, 114 color illustrations, 2016. ISBN: 9780300218411. Hardcover, $45. As Essential as Dreams could easily have been another routine entry in a long line of vanity art projects-exhibits of personal collections, ideally at prestige museums, with catalogs just weighty enough to prove the collectors’ good taste and sound