Painting in action

Studio Chicago seems to be the result of an unfortunate mistake—or, rather, a happy coincidence. As curator Dominic Molon was preparing for the Museum of Contemporary Art’s (MCA) February 2010 exhibition “Production Site: The Artist’s Studio Inside-Out,” he got a call from Michelle Grabner, chair of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago’s (SAIC) painting and drawing department. Grabner told him she and Annika Marie, a lecturer in art history at Columbia College, were curating their own show about the artist’s studio: “Picturing the Studio,” which opens December 11 at SAIC’s Sullivan Galleries. D’oh.

“After the initial panic was overcome,” Molon told the audience at the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs’ (DCA) monthly Artists at Work Forum on October 29, the MCA and SAIC curators realized they could work together. Soon, encouraged by SAIC director of exhibitions Mary Jane Jacob, five other partners—the DCA, Columbia College, UIC’s Gallery 400, the Hyde Park Art Center (HPAC) and ThreeWalls, a nonprofit gallery in the West Loop—agreed to collaborate on a year-long, citywide initiative devoted to the artist’s studio: Studio Chicago.

Studio Chicago launched in October with Chicago Artists Month 2009, but the Artists at Work Forum represented the first opportunity for the public to learn about it in detail. Based on what we heard that evening, Studio Chicago promises to shatter the myth of the tortured artist working in isolation, as represented by Joe Fig’s sculpture Jackson Pollock 1951 (2002, pictured), which appears in “Picturing the Studio.” Columbia spokeswoman Elizabeth Burke-Dain notes that the studio is “no longer…a bricks-and-mortar phenomenon” for some artists, thanks to technologies that enable them to carry their work anywhere. One of Columbia’s contributions to Studio Chicago will be an online archive of interviews with artists about technology’s effects on their practice.

All of Gallery 400’s shows next year, according to director Lorelei Stewart, focus on artists “who are reconsidering processes of production,” including the New York–based collective Dexter Sinister, which visits in October. This spring at the MCA, Andrea Zittel speaks about her unconventional studio practice, and Kerry James Marshall examines representations of artists’ studios as part of Studio Chicago’s rich lecture series. The initiative also has spawned publications such as the “Artists Run Chicago” Digest released last week by ThreeWalls and Green Lantern Press, and The Studio Reader: On the Space of Artists, a book edited by Grabner and Jacob that University of Chicago Press will publish in 2010. In the summer, artists’ residencies—already a mainstay of ThreeWalls’ mission—will transform the Hyde Park Art Center and Sullivan Galleries from static exhibition spaces into active studios.

The Artists at Work Forum presentations suggest Studio Chicago should help laypeople understand what artists do but probably will have the most significant impact on the city’s creative professionals. The DCA’s Barbara Koenen says her agency will conduct a Web-based space and technical-assistance survey next year—the first such study since 2000—to evaluate Chicago artists’ demand for studio space and their financial constraints. The DCA is already working with the Chicago Department of Community Development to make space available in the Cermak Road Creative Industry District; Koenen hopes to secure artists in other neighborhoods a piece of the TIF (tax increment financing) district pie as well. Educating city bureaucrats about artists’ activities could lead to more sensible policy and legislation, Koenen predicts, citing licensing reforms as well as zoning changes that would create more live/work spaces. Right now, Koenen explains, “A lot of people don’t understand the idea of doing something not for the money.”

In 2009, we saw too many artists’ ventures—including Green Lantern’s gallery—shut down due to misguided city regulations. By the time Studio Chicago ends with Chicago Artists Month in October 2010, we hope it’s laid the foundation for lasting change—by demonstrating artists’ importance to Chicago’s cultural life and economy.

For a schedule of Studio Chicago events, visit studiochicago.org.

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