COVID-19
What’s an apartment gallery? It can be anything from a miniature white cube to a curated bathroom, but regardless it is always also someone’s living space. Chicago has loads of them, including Fluffy Crimes, the Lincoln Park condo of Marc Benja, who recently installed his fourth group show in as welcoming, eclectic and jam-packed a way as his first three. Among the items crowded together on the coffee table are stacks of Sean Mac’s mini-comics, gorgeously scrawled artist books by Teresita Carson-Valdez, Sam Hensley’s endearingly creepy animated soft-sculpture of a duck, lots of potted plants, and a lustrously elegant vase by Peter Ronan. Arranged on one wall, salon-style, are two sexy weavings by Melissa Dadourian, a pair of deco paper collages by Marina Timm, a touchable and mysterious painting by Kristin Romberg, homoerotic centaur drawings by Francisco Zarate, and very much more. It’s like the best kind of artsy house party (though, due to pandemic necessities, without all the human guests).
—Lori Waxman 2021-03-30 3:19 PM