Thursday, May 6, 2010

Art Chicago

Sculpture (in paper) by Kirstin Hassenfeld



Mixed Media on Cigar Boxes by Ed Masante


I'm a little late in reporting this, but last Sunday found me back again in Chicago for the day -- this time to take in the big annual international art fair hosted there, Art Chicago . It was my second time attending, and what a fabulous show -- it must be one of the most extensive and comprehensive gatherings featuring contemporary paintings and sculpture around. It seemed especially good this year to me -- such variety and diversity in the collections. I went with two friends, and we saw and learned so much. I took the above two photos during the show -- working with paper as I do myself, I was attracted to the paper sculpture of Kirsten Hassenfeld. And being recycling-minded as I am, I also appreciated the alternative canvas used by Ed Masante -- clever use of cigar boxes I thought (not to mention I love the bird paintings rendered upon them)...

In any case, attending the show was so much fun -- I'd recommend it to anyone. And here's looking very much forward to going again next year...

3 comments:

Carrie Joy Byrnes said...

This is so great! Thank you so much for sharing. I would love to go to all art shows but only so much time etc. I got to visit through you! Thank you! I always look at the cigar boxes when I go to Total Wine and am tempted to buy them to work my art out on them. Hmmmmm.....

Marlene said...

I haven't been to an art show in ages. I really need to get out more. The bird pictures on cigar boxes are lovely and that paper sculpture amazing.

Patience said...

Hi, Carrie and Marlene -- thanks so much for the comments. And indeed, I don't think I'll be looking at cigar boxes in quite the same way again (though I admit I don't actually run across any that often-- no one I know smokes cigars (well, that I'm aware of anyway ;-).

As for the paper sculptures -- they really were quite striking -- my first impression was that they were created either of lamp-work glass, or fine porcelain. Pretty neat!