Chicago Portrait Project
August 23, 2021 - October 5, 2021
University of St. Francis Art Gallery
25 E. Van Buren Street
Joliet, Illinois, 60432

Most will agree that there’s something rather curious when reflecting on what one is regularly drawn to over time. Now, at middle age I see there are cyclic encounters and interests throughout my experience. There’s been those noise band sets in dank basements and abandoned warehouses, artist studio visits in obscure (off the beaten path) places, random meetings in meadows filled with 100,000+ people, and a flurry of undefinable, yet memorable, moments that prompt pause. This, in part, has been how I have engaged Chicago. Yes, my experience can be defined as cursory, random, even circuitous. Yes, there are strands of tension found in this exhibition delivery. I see the city as a complex character, full of hope and despair, anger and celebration, ebbing and flowing while leading me through its’ grid-like maze, without regard. 

Materials included in the Chicago Portrait Project date back to my arrival in 1993. Shortly after landing in the city I found myself living in a warehouse set along the south branch of the Chicago River near Chinatown. The building was filled with an array of artists, musicians, small businesses, and transients.  I met my wife, Sandy, there at a show of bands from Michigan I struggle to recall. That moment in time was most chaotic at the highest level. This was my entry into documenting and engaging Chicago. Here one encounters drag queens in Union Park, anonymous passengers on the CTA, street notes that present colorful commentary about our country’s leadership, artifacts I see impacting the city and my experience, and a range of characters who have invited me into their practices spaces, studios, and homes.