The Latest Stuff - Page 21 of 42

March 5, 2016 Bill Swislow

The Gyros Project

Rebuilt and Expanded More gyros signs, hundreds of them! Each a bit of vernacular art genius The Gyros Project started as a way of collecting fine examples of Chicago-school hand-painted business advertising. The gyros was a graphically strong object, with lots of sellers all over the city, and typically promoted via one-off signs. Hot dogs, the most commonly advertised product on Chicago streets, were less interesting since they tended to be merchandised via Vienna Beef-supplied printed materials (not that there’s anything wrong with that, it just wasn’t my primary interest). I also had a particular affection for the gyros in

Muffler man face detail, 3 Stars Auto Body sidewalk muffler man in November 2011. Lawrence Avenue near Sacramento, Chicago

February 25, 2016 Bill Swislow

Lawrence Avenue Vernacular, Again

Lawrence Avenue is a paradise for muffler men and auto parts, not to mention food images. Click here for an earlier installment of the Lawrence Avenue gallery of vernacular art.

January 27, 2016 Bill Swislow

Review: John Baeder’s Road Well Taken

“John Baeder’s Road Well Taken,” by Jay Williams, Vendome Press, 272 pages, 300 color and b&w illustrations, 2015. 978-0865653191. Hard cover $45 John Baeder is legendary among roadside architecture enthusiasts for Diners,” his book of photorealistic diner paintings that turned out to be one of the most culturally influential publications of the 1970s. Baeder, the subject of a new biography by art historian and curator Jay Williams, appreciated 20th century roadsides and the buildings that populated them before they became old, when they were just ugly rather than a source of popular nostalgia.Widespread fascination with highways like Route 66 and

January 27, 2016 Bill Swislow

Review: Letters of Note: An Eclectic Collection of Correspondence Deserving of a Wider Audience

Letters of Note: An Eclectic Collection of Correspondence Deserving of a Wider Audience by Shaun Usher My rating: 5 of 5 stars Interesting letters, most by notable people, through the centuries, well presented. What’s not to like?

January 25, 2016 Bill Swislow

Short Review: Sue Williams

An important book about an important artist. I confess I’m biased, since I collected Sue Williams’ art early in her career. But that art’s development, in its formal variety and conceptual complexity, has demonstrated a deepening of her talent and intelligence. This book is thoroughly illustrated, of course, and the essayists do a creditable job keeping up with the evolution it shows, especially the artist’s shift from explicit messages literally written into the work to an embrace of abstraction that is stylistically powerful and still intellectually challenging. You can find it here on Amazon.

January 23, 2016 Bill Swislow

The Art of Daniel Clowes: Modern Cartoonist

A good survey of Daniel Clowes’ career, with plenty of biographical insights. I used to live for the next issue of Eightball. I found his drawing style engaging — not true for me with many comic artists — and his sensibility was exactly on target. The fact that he once drew the House of Boris sign, then a North Side Chicago landmark, sealed the deal. Clowes is near the top of my list of all-time favorite cartoonists, which for the record also includes (not in exact order): Charles Addams R. Crumb Ernie Bushmiller Gary Larson Bill Watterson Roz Chast Chris

January 20, 2016 Bill Swislow

Review: Martín Ramírez: Framing His Life and Art

Martín Ramírez: Framing His Life and Art by Víctor M. Espinosa My rating: 5 of 5 stars Victor Espinosa’s long-awaited study of Martin Ramirez — for most of his life an unknown inmate of an obscure California asylum but now an art-world star — joins the 5 or 10 most important books yet published on the subject of self-taught and outsider art. (Read my full review). View all my reviews

January 18, 2016 Bill Swislow

Confession of a Sports Non-Lover

I admit it. I don’t carry my weight in the company of men. I don’t discuss sports. For most men, talking sports is as basic and natural a transaction as watching TV, tossing back beer or going to the toilet. It’s a universally understood way for strangers to structure interactions, for friends and family to build bonds.

Abstractions from extreme closeup of fast-food painted signs

January 16, 2016 Bill Swislow

An Appetite For Abstraction

Abstraction occurs all over. Can you guess where these abstract images are from? Click on the individual images below this group to find out.

Railroad bridges over the Calumet River, with the Chicago Skyway in the background.

January 9, 2016 Bill Swislow

Southeast Sider Art

Chicago’s Southeast Side easily looks like a wasteland to drivers taking the Chicago Skyway as the shortest, though most expensive, path to get from the city to Michigan. But of course there are glimpses of a more interesting reality. The most obvious are the dramatic railroad bridges you see as you cross the Calumet River near 95th Street. They are some of Chicago’s finest, and always the best part of a Skyway trip. But if you get off the expressway you can find great examples of the vernacular art that lines most of the Chicago area’s off-the-beaten-track commercial districts.