Crain’s Chicago Business, November 7, 2016 — Read about “The 52 Must-Do Events in Chicago This Season,” including my previews of the Tatsu Aoki, Aretha Franklin, Patti Smith, the Chicago Podcast Festival and Henry Darger exhibits.
Category: Art
Burn or fizzle? Public art, economic renewal, and the curious case of the Great Chicago Fire Festival
Belt magazine, November 2014 — The critics were brutal. Headlines called it a “fizzle,” a “fiasco,” and “a total bust.” Some 30,000 people had gathered on the banks of the Chicago River in the city’s downtown on the night of October 4, waiting to see three floating houses set ablaze… Read my story in Belt magazine. Photo by… Continue reading Burn or fizzle? Public art, economic renewal, and the curious case of the Great Chicago Fire Festival
Five reasons to brave crowds for ‘David Bowie Is’ at the MCA
Michael Abramson’s photos of 1970s Chicago nightclubs
Chicago magazine, October 2014 — As a graduate student at the Illinois Institute of Technology in the late 1970s, photographer Michael Abramson spent a lot of time in clubs with names like Perv’s House and Pepper’s Hideout… Read more — and see some of Abramson’s photos — in Chicago magazine. Photo by Michael Abramson
A fresh look at Freedom Wall
Art Shay Q&A
This article by Robert Loerzel originally appeared in Pioneer Press on March 28-29, 2007. Over the last six decades, Art Shay has photographed everything from heroin addicts on Chicago streets to movie stars like Marlon Brando. Shay, a native of the Bronx who has lived in Deerfield for 53 years, captured life’s humorous little moments as… Continue reading Art Shay Q&A
Grace Slick Q&A
This article by Robert Loerzel originally appeared in Pioneer Press on September 6, 2007. Grace Slick hasn’t sung on a stage since 1989. These days, the former vocalist for Jefferson Airplane and Jefferson Starship spends her time drawing and painting. Slick will make appearances Sept. 8 and 9 at the Wentworth Gallery in Schaumburg’s Woodfield… Continue reading Grace Slick Q&A
Ivan Brunetti profile
This article by Robert Loerzel originally appeared in Time Out Chicago’s May 31-June 6, 2007, issue. For more, read my Q&A with Brunetti at Underground Bee. For a collection of comic books, Ivan Brunetti’s Misery Loves Comedy (Fantagraphics, $24.95) looks unusually plain on the outside. No dust jacket. No illustration. Just the title and the… Continue reading Ivan Brunetti profile
The sensational ‘Sower’
This article by Robert Loerzel originally appeared in Pioneer Press on June 23, 2005. A naked man extends his hands, casting seeds. Although it was inspired by a Bible verse, this 7-foot-tall bronze sculpture scandalized Chicago in 1916. After being hidden away in storage for decades, Albin Polásek’s statue has found a new home at… Continue reading The sensational ‘Sower’