This Old Palette: November 2015

David Becker and Friends

David Becker has invited two of his colleagues at The Studio, a McHenry art school, to join him in an exhibit: Lucy Tonyan and Gary Wigman

In centuries to come, when people wonder what the American art world was like in our era, Christopher Wool's "Fool" (now showing in the Milwaukee Art Museum) should suffice.

But when they ask what it was like to happily live and work in a bustling 21st C. city like Chicago, Dave Becker's watercolors will be recognized as the masterpieces that they are.

He has a wonderful way of making complexity feel breezy, quick, and easy.

So much stuff -- but it doesn't feel cluttered.

Gary Wigman

This reminds of that slightly ominous, old world setting for that great film, "The Third Man"

Lucy Tonyan

Reminds me of top-notch, Scandinavian fabric design.

Treasures from the Clearance Sale

Barbara K Herring

This tiny gem is one of the great narrative paintings of this, or any, Palette and Chisel show.

Snapped up for $90, it sold for less than a hundredth of a percent of big ticket contemporary art like this

But that's the artworld for you.

Charles Critchelow

It looks pretty good, but I had some difficulty interpreting the object in the lower left corner -- until the label identified the location as Bughouse Square ( Washington Park), a block from the P and C..

Regretfully, this sploshing fountain has now been emptied for the winter.

Charlotte Arnold

Helen Oh

All of the small paintings featured in this post have gorgeous details -- but this piece is so finely done, it would probably look good even under a microscope.

Jayne Bellows

Liz Wall

Misha Livshulz

Painted on-site at the Skokie lagoons - it has that Russian/Jewish anxiety that I enjoy so much from his paintings.

William Schneider

Gentle, charming, slightly melancholy American Scene painting has returned!

Nearly 70 years since it was hooted of the stage by Clement Greenberg et al.

Chicago Plein Air Painters 2015

Errol Jacobson

An astonishing late bloomer, Errol keeps on cranking out really good paintings of urban life that are often my favorites in the PAPC shows.

But aren't paintings called 'plein air' when they have been painted outdoors ? I don't think all of the pieces in this show qualify.

So I'm in a quandary.

I like to look at good paintings - wherever, however they were painted.

But I'd also like to encourage that bizarre discipline of painting outdoors - where so many obstacles must be overcome: changing light, bad weather, annoying onlookers, and the need to finish quickly.