This Old Palette: Faculty Show 2016

Michael Van Zeyl

Not to be too partisan for the home team, but I do think this is currently the best show in any Chicago gallery (and I scour them rather thoroughly)

It's also much more interesting than back when the Palette and Chisel faculty were primarily commercial artists.

It has two outstanding pieces - one of which is shown above - reminding me of the New England Romantic tradition as currently exemplified by Bo Bartlett.

It's haunting.

... and I can't help but flash back to this much earlier depiction of flowers floating through the air.

Helen Oh

This is the other piece that totally slays me.

As strong as the floral painting on any Japanese screen -- even from 400 years ago.

Many beautiful young bodies have been depicted on the walls of the Palette and Chisel.

But this might be the sexiest painting I've ever seen here.

Helen Oh

Andrew Conklin

There is something so weird about this variation on "Nude descending a staircase".

She's not nude -- she's got no head -- and there's a strange perspective, as well as tonal variation, on the stair steps.

Here's my favorite detail.

Steven Assael

His work is always interesting -- but I wish he'd send us new pieces for our faculty shows.

Errol Jacobson

These dark underpasses are the ugliest part of Chicago -- but that doesn't mean that they can't be used to make a fine, dream-like painting.

Somehow, this arrangement feels humorous.

There's a certain emptiness about the grandiose gestures of both the civil war general and the skyscraper.

David Leffel

I also wish that David Leffel would send us a new painting for these shows - and perhaps something a bit less didactic.

This painting seems to say : "here's how to paint a yellow sphere- a red sphere - and a white sphere"