The Parts and Labor Collective

Changing of the Guard

2009-02-21T15:46:00.000-08:00

So, word on the street is another high profile west side gallery will be closing its doors this spring. Sales have dropped to virtually nothing and the foot traffic is gone. And what is the gallery owner doing while the house burns? Vacation.
Just as public outrage against Wall Street's excesses continues to grow, we in the art world should be equally outraged by the current breed of galleristas, who care very little about supporting the artists who give them fame, but are busy living the high life even in lean times such as these. It's the dirty little secret of the art world, that behind the fancy receptions, wine, and sophistication, most are barely making rent, not paying their artists for their sales, and many, many are being privately funded as pet projects by rich relatives, lovers and benefactors, with no actual money flow of their own.
One River West gallery comes to mind....apparently the owner's wealthy parent's were upset with their daughters binge drinking party lifestyle, so they "gave" her a gallery to straighten her out! And these are the trend setters for our well beings?

ART WORLD RECESSION

2009-01-28T15:58:00.001-08:00

Here's an interesting article about the current state of affairs in the world art market.

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_
entertainment/visual_arts/article5475054.ece

ARTWORLD WOES

2009-01-17T05:45:00.000-08:00

In Chicago where the art market is anemic at best, all it takes is an economic downturn to thin the ranks. Just in the last year a dozen alternative spaces have closed in Chicago. Since most alt spaces are run for love and not for profit, I see this as the proverbial canary in the coalmine, which will soon be spreading to mainstream galleries throughout the city as they struggle to pay rent for their brick and mortar operations. I predict we'll be seeing a great number of our mainstream galleries fold up and close shop in the next two years. Which I think reinstates the importance of the alt space/ apartment gallery model in lean times. If art in Chicago exists at all, it exists in these transitory spaces, 1 bedroom flats, lofts, and garages where friends, co-conspirators, and like-minds pool their resources to reconfigure culture from the bottom up. If there was ever a time to get organized, do something, move the furniture to the back room, that time is now. In the cycle of life and death amongst art spaces, we've just gone through chemotherapy with more struggle to come, and only the sincere, the ones driven by love not money, will survive.

ANOTHER ONE DOWN

2009-01-17T05:42:00.000-08:00

32nd and Urban in Bridgeport is closed. The bloodletting continues.

2 YEAR ANNIVERSARY

2008-11-01T12:39:00.001-07:00

2 YEARS OF LOCAL ART

2008-10-26T17:05:00.000-07:00

Leah Schreiber - Painter
Dorian Allworthy - Painter/Printmaker
Charlie de Leonardis - Painter
Meghan Stran - Mixed Media/Photography
Josh Shelton - Painter
Amelia Kieras - Mixed Media/Photography
Lily Mayfield - Photographer
Daniel Gerdes (Founder) Photography
Cassandra Stadnicki - Photography/Installation
Stephen Eichorn - Sculpture/Mixed Media
Bruce New- photomontage
Alenna Marie Sandy-Painter
Jose Arceo- graffitti/painter
Michael McGovern- mixed media/photographer
Josh Winegar - Painter
Michael Pajon - Mixed Media
Sarah Perez - Photographer
Roxanne McGovern - Printmaker
Joel T. Dugan - Painter/Printmaker
Madeleine LeMieux - Painter
Kim Frieders - Painter
Holly Sabin - Mixed Media / Sculpture
Wayne Bertola - Assemblage
Andrew Ek - Painter
Moni Lewandowski - Painting/Drawing
Jennifer Hines - Sculpture/Installation
Damara Kaminecki - Printmaker
Myles Smutney-Hyde - screenprinting
Maya V Nash - screenprinting
Meghan Dwyer - Photography
Kristen Flemington-Photography/Mixed Media
Nathan Mathews-Photographer
Deva Suckerman - Painter
Gwynne Johnson - Photographer
Danny King-Painter
Christopher Kelly - Painter
Sierra Berquist - Painter
Danny Powell - Painter
Kiet Pham - Painter
Erin Cramer - Paper Artist
Sarah Gillmore - Photographer
Jason Judd - Fiber/Paper Artist
Adrien Perez - Sculpture/Installation
Mary Ellen Croteau - Sculpture/Painting
Emily Cunningham - Paining

IT'S A WRAP!

2008-10-26T10:39:00.001-07:00

UPCOMING SHOW

2008-10-13T05:34:00.000-07:00

3 CHICAGO ART COLLECTIVES, 1 NIGHT, 1 DAY

PROXIMITY #2

2008-09-19T11:04:00.000-07:00

WE'VE GOT A NICE REVIEW IN THE NEW ISSUE, GET YOURSELF A COPY!

ARTISTS FOR OBAMA

2008-09-08T07:33:00.001-07:00

THE GREAT P&L COLLAGE OF ARTISTS

2008-09-02T06:35:00.001-07:00

UPCOMING SHOW

2008-08-20T11:23:00.001-07:00

PARTIAL GROUP PHOTO

2008-07-23T06:11:00.000-07:00

ALT SPACES TAKING A HIT

2008-07-20T13:48:00.000-07:00

The past year has been hard on the alternative art spaces in Chicago.
It's a difficult endeavor. Most spaces fail because they become more about the party and not
enough about the art. Personality clashes. Lack of fcous. Power struggles. FickIeness. I know the nature of these spaces is always a bit ephemeral, but
we've lost some great ones recently.

COMA- Held their final show this spring

Deadtech - long running space closed its doors this summer

POLVO: I can't believe this one....

People Projects; the space we all wanted to succeed

Medicine Park -just opened and already have to move!
(hopefully they'll find a new home)

Here's an excerpt from their blog...

"I have had the pleasure of experiencing so many small moments of grace at MP, as agonizing or pleasureful as it may have been. And maybe MP’s brief life in this neighborhood is a perfect metaphor for life.. that the direction of everything meaningful and larger than ourselves can be lonely, transitive, and cruel at the most inopportune moments.
I am sad that art will not live here, but we will find a new home for it that will embrace it fully."

There are some great new spots opening up recently
in Uki Village and Wicker Park. We'll see if they can float
the hefty rent in those neighborhoods, but it's good to see
some new blood, especially when some of our beloved spots
have left us.

Yikes! This just in The Burkhart Underground is closing its weekly coffeehouse after 12 years! This is a bad year for Chicago

Wow! Just when I thought things were bad...South Union Arts is closing!@#$

Critic's Choice Review

2008-07-07T11:50:00.001-07:00

Of our current show "Summer Meat II: Bodywork" as seen in the Critic's Choice section of the Chicago Reader.

As the title suggests, this show focuses on the human form—and, often, its dismemberment. In T and A, Lily Mayfield positions photos of women's chests atop photos of their butts, creating desexualized pomo fetish Borgs. In an untitled collage series, Wayne Bertola takes 19th-century engravings of fashionable ladies and affixes not-quite-identifiable organic forms to their heads, creating sinister helmets. For Botanical Entrails: Spontaneous Joyful Departure, Jacob C. Hammes crafted realistic innards out of expandable foam and then scattered them around, creating the impression that someone has quietly exploded in a corner of the gallery. Maybe the most telling effort, though, is Erin Cramer's The Russet Apple. Made out of sculptural paper, the piece depicts a crucified baby. Its stomach opens to reveal an apple/heart, which in turn opens to reveal a series of childlike drawings of sheep, pretty houses, and skulls. The same interplay between innocence and defilement animates many of the works on display, connecting them to horror film and pornography—and, inevitably, to the image of Christ on the cross.
Secular age or no, this show is a reminder that the Passion still has a remarkably strong influence on how we think about the body. (Noah Bertlasky)

Local Artist Killed

2008-06-15T21:41:00.001-07:00

Kirk Tobolski, 24, has been charged with first-degree murder in the stabbing of Brendan Scanlon , a well-known local graffiti artist in the Logan Square neighborhood early Saturday.
Tobolski, of the 2600 block of West Iowa Street, was charged with one count of first-degree murder Sunday, according to police News Affairs.

Scanlon was found with multiple stab wounds to the chest at 3032 W. Palmer Blvd. about 2:40 a.m., police News Affair Officer Laura Kubiak said.

Scanlon was leaving a party when he got into a "verbal altercation" and was subsequently stabbed, police said.

Scanlon, of 2846 W. Palmer Blvd., died of a stab wound to the chest, an autopsy determined Saturday. His death was ruled a homicide by the Cook County Medical Examiner.

Scanlon graduated from the Illinois Institute of Art in 2007, and worked as a freelance artist and graphic designer, according to his Web site.

Scanlon is reportedly SOLVE, a local graffiti artist. Many people discussed his death on a Chicago Street Art online discussion forum Saturday.

"The Chicago street art and graffiti community has suffered another devastating blow to our family," one of the forum members posted Saturday. A memorial of Scanlon's work is reportedly in the works.

Scanlon wanted "to be a respected member of the international design community," and thought "art is one of the things that makes life worth it," according to his Myspace profile, where friends posted mournful comments Saturday.

Attack on the Underground

2008-05-12T17:50:00.000-07:00

Leave it to the overpaid, corrupt, sold out City government to go after the last few things that make Chicago a worthwhile place.
This new ordinance, scheduled to be voted into law this week, will attempt to strangle the last bit of life out of small music venues, underground theaters, apartment galleries, and poetry readings, by forcing prohibitive fees on holding small public events. The era of the speakeasy is back!

The “Event Promoters” ordinance requires any event promoter to have a license from the city of Chicago and liability insurance of $300,000, but that’s just the start:
The definition of “event promoter” is so loosely defined it could apply to a band that books its own shows or a theater company that’s in town for a one-week run.
“Event Promoter” must be licensed and will pay $500 - $2000 depending on expected audience size.
To get the license, applicant must be over 21, get fingerprinted, submit to a background check, and jump over several other hurdles.
This ordinance seems targeted towards smaller venues, since those with 500+ permanent seats are exempt.
Police must be notified at least 7 days in advance of event.

NEW SHOW

2008-04-21T11:22:00.001-07:00

NEW SHOW

2008-03-03T19:30:00.000-08:00

Lame Fine Art Photography

2007-12-02T17:40:00.001-08:00

So a few reflections on the state of affairs after browsing the photography section recently....

1. Celebrities : At what point did the sheer act of taking a picture of a famous/pseudo famous person automatically make a photograph worthwhile? Virtually half of the photo monographs currently being published are pointless, slickster fluff pulled from magazines layouts. Seriously, who cares. I propose a new equation for the 21st century: Celebrity=Bad photograph

2. "Erotic" Photography: Alright, so I'm hoping that at some point in a photographers career, they get past the fact that people will often take their clothes off for you if you have a camera. There's nothing wrong with the nude as a subject, but can we stop making naked people into moronic sex icons, and say something meaningful? Swooning women, overly muscled men, body oil, and soft lighting, please, what a joke.

3. Fetish Photography: I realize it sells books, not sure why, but it does. And yes, I know, every woman seems to have a secret desire to be a "Suicide Girl" but god, the photography is terrible.

4. Oh the Witkins: You know the type....death obsessed, morbid, lots of scratchy scratchy on the ol' negative cus it's SCARY! Turn off the NIN album, trade in your copy of Seven and stop wearing leather pants.

Things to Love About Chicago Avenue

2007-12-01T17:46:00.000-08:00

1. It's not North Avenue
2. It's not Division
3. Chicken dinners @ FEED
4. Beers @ The Continental
6. Bacci Pizza by the slice
7. It leads to Humbolt Park

Remembering the Burkhart Underground

2007-12-01T12:11:00.000-08:00

So word on the street is the Burkhart Underground may be resurfacing this year! For those of you who had the good fortune to go there when it was still in operation, it was a great, creative, vibrant place. It was a little converted house right along Halsted,
surrounded by condos and silly chic, everyone knew it was only a matter of time before the place would be demolished to make way for further expensive boredom. I remember making my way into the basement on Sunday nights for coffee, spoken word and dimly lit good times. Oh sure there was always the questionable S&M leanings of Burkharts photography upstairs,
and a strange decidedly goth crowd sometimes, but all in all, a true beauty of a place. Latest word is that Burkhart is busy at work on a new space @ 1228 N. Noble. It'd be a welcome return to the chicago scene and I'll be there with my $5 donation
in hand.

One Year Anniversary

2007-11-27T18:51:00.000-08:00

Selections from E.M. Cioran (1911-1995)

2007-11-27T18:48:00.000-08:00

As art sinks into paralysis, artists multiply. This anomaly ceases to be one if we realize that art, on its way to exhaustion, has become both impossible and easy.

What will be the physiognomy of painting, of poetry, of music ,in a hundred years? No one can tell. As after the fall of Athens, of Rome, a long pause will intervene, caused by the exhaustion of consciousness itself. Humanity, to rejoin the past, must invent a second naiveté, without which the arts can never begin again.

When modes of expression are worn out, art tends toward non-sense, toward a private and incommunicable universe. An intelligble shudder, whether in painting, in music, or in poetry, strikes us, and rightly, as vulgar or out-of-date. The public will soon disappear; art will follow shortly. A civilization which began with the cathedrals has to end with the hermeticism of schizophrenia.

A work is finished when we can no longer improve it, though we know it to be inadequate and incomplete. We are so over taxed by it that we no longer have the power to add a single comma, however indispensable. What determines the degree to which a work is done is not a requirement of art or of truth, it is exhaustion and, even more, disgust.

Only unfinished - because unfinishable - works prompt us to speculate about the essence of art.

What can be said, lacks reality. Only what fails to make its way into words exists and counts.

There is value only in that which bursts forth from inspiration, which springs up from the irrational depths of our being, from the secret center of subjectivity. The fruit of labor, effort, and endeavor has no value, and the offspring of intelligence is sterile and uninteresting. I delight in the barbaric and spontaneous elan of inspiration, effervescent spiritual states, essential lyricism, and inner tension - these things make inspiration the only reality of creation.

I have no ideas, only obsessions. Anybody can have ideas. Ideas have never caused anybody's downfall.

The Great Chicago Lock Out

2007-10-13T18:54:00.001-07:00

Chicago artists are largely ignored by Chicago galleries and museums. Nothing new.
Nibblers aching for artworld fame do so by importing art from New York, LA, etc for
their shows. It's fancy. It's glamorous. If a curator can attach their name to the international
scene, then more granite countertops for their condo. Simple economics.
In a recent Reader article about the MCA's latest imported letdown, a local painter puts
it simply: "The main thing Chicago artists need to ask themselves is, Why is it that artists
here are treated like second class citizens? Why can't our curators create their own canon?
Why must they copy what's going on in LA or New York? LA and New York support their
local artists and here in Chicago we support their local artists too, to the exclusion of ours"
Why? Well perhaps we shouldn't be looking to "curators" for imagination, creativity or insight.
Perhaps we should be taking the reigns from a Chicago art world that has done nothing over the
last century to promote the local scene. The Chicago art scene in the hands of existing galleries
and museums up to this point, is ineffective, impotent, and largely an import
business with ports in every city in America except Chicago. The only way to rescue Chicago
art is to create the scene we want ourselves.

The Death of Wicker Park

2007-10-13T10:11:00.001-07:00

Rule #1: Don't mistake shopping for culture.

It seems only fitting to address this on the weekend of the famed Around the Coyote festival, which may be one of the last few remnants of what used to be a thriving neighborhood of artists and creatives. Well that and perhaps a trip down the claustrophobic aisles of Myopic Books, or an afternoon looking through the racks @ Reckless. But as you may have noticed elsewhere in the neighborhood, Wicker Park is offically dead. Swap out your storefront workspace for an overpriced boutique. Trade your latte at Filter for some mediocrity @ Starbucks. Tear down the vintage for a sleek and lifeless condo, and there you've got it...Real World Chicago, all wrapped up in a nice $150 pair of jeans rolling down Milwaukee Ave in a Hummer.
But don't mistake shopping for culture. It's just more soulless commerce, more lysol, more graphic T's, more hair gel.
Now the only signs of life are the scribbled grafitti messages of kids that can no longer afford to live there.

And coming soon to a neighborhood near you....
The Death of Uki Village
The Death of Logan Square
and gasp! Humbolt Park?

SUMMER MEAT

2007-05-01T16:52:00.000-07:00

What Does It All Mean ?!%$@!

2007-03-12T19:38:00.000-07:00

PARTS AND LABOR COLLECTIVE: Alternative space collective based in Humbolt Park, Chicago.

COLLECTIVE: Not gallery, not non-for-profit, not a rave,
a collective of self representing artists who
work together to curate, promote, set up shows,
and sell their work.

PARTS AND LABOR: We're working class artists

NO COMMISSIONS? : In the existing system of galleries and profiteers,
an artist must take on the cost of making their art,
framing it, matting it, paying people to consider showing
it, and if they are accepted, they must pay to mail it,
or deliver it. If they are so lucky as to sell a piece the
gallery owner takes 50% off the top, and may take months,
even years to pay the artist, and then the artist has to
pay taxes on the remaining amount. It makes no sense.
It helps noone but the gallery owners. It's a lame system.
YOU ARE NOT SUPPORTING ART WHEN YOU BUY FROM A
GALLERY. YOU ARE SUPPORTING THE GALLERY OWNER!

WHAT ?!%$!? : You sell a piece, it's your money. We don't charge you
to consider your work, or to hang it. Save your money for
art supplies and promotion.

NO CONTRACTS ?: Artists come and go as they please. You can show where
you want and when you want. We don't require you to
adopt the sometimes controversial views of Mortimer Jones

WHO THE FUCK IS MORTIMER JONES ? : Wouldn't you like to know.

THE GOAL?: To rewrite the art world structure. A new collective system where
collectors buy art directly from the artists themselves, without the
pretension, commissions, snobbery, elitism, and other artificial
nonsense of the gallery system.

Get Local. Go Under the Radar.

2007-02-24T14:12:00.000-08:00

New show Saturday March 10th from 7-12pm
Artwork from over 15 local/regional artists.

New DJ just arrived from out of state.

PLUS! Live Screenprinting by Myles
from Risky Business. BRING A T-SHIRT!

Check out the Flyer @
www.myspace.com/partsandlaborcollective

Finishing the Art Process

2007-02-10T09:50:00.000-08:00

I'm sure there are quite a few photographers like me....
Lots of finished prints waiting for their frames and mats.
The sheer cost involved with printing to begin with is rather
daunting, not to mention the frames, the mats, the backing boards,
the glass, the hanging hardware. And people wonder why finished
artwork costs so much once it's on display. And frame shops are
the biggest scam going. For the amount of materials and time
it actually takes, the final retail price is so inflated most of the
working artists I know simply can't take on the cost of finishing
a major body of work. And of course there is the size issue, meaning
that if you want to increase the print size you've just increased all
the other costs equally. We need to help each other out as a
community whenever possible, because all our suppliers are
busy gouging us for all we're worth. Let's stop considering
art as our lonely burden to bear, and let's start thinking about
the great impact we would have if we donated our time,
leftover materials, or money saving resources to each other.
Do you have a printer that would make someone's day?
Do you have a roll of canvas, a roll of paint, some
tech pens, an old frame, you'll never use?
I'm starting today.

Leah's Women

2007-02-05T20:49:00.000-08:00

She never looks the same. She doesn't mince words.
She works too much. She drives around with her rescued dog.
The paint builds up in layers, repeating itself, covering it's tracks.
Her images confuse your eye, things get lost.
A torso, a tailor's form, a breast all disappear in the pink.
Fleeting women, never quite defined, never explained.
You chase some random desire with your eye, and
it leaves you just as quickly. You glimpse some piece
of beauty and can't find your way back.

Amelia's Back Pages

2007-02-05T20:28:00.000-08:00

She showed up with a box of handmade books,
some with binding threads hanging to the floor.
She throws mustach parties.
She was an elephant on Halloween
Her characters are fractured people
trapped in their own indistinct dramas.
You have to read them backwards, but the pages won't turn.
The boy who can only look up, the girl who lost her head,
webs and roots, strange chapters out of unwritten novels,
some dialogue that never occurred yet is oddly familar,
intersections that you crossed once but forgot,
like when you go out in the morning with the sun
coming up and the moon is still visible in the sky.

The Sea Change

2007-01-05T11:18:00.000-08:00

This week's Chicago Reader has an interesting article on the future of the arts,"Keynote Bummer" which everyone should check out. It basically states many of the points I have held for awhile now, and some of the reasons I started the Parts and Labor Collective.
First, that the art world model as we now know it, is not only outdated and doesn't serve the art community well, but that even the non-profit art world could soon find itself running out of government funding. Here are some interesting points included in the write up. Private philanthropy for the arts has dropped by 1/3 since 1992. Non-Profits now number more than 40,000 in America. They have continued to exist as an "overbuilt industry with depressed wages, a lack of capital, and defensive, conservative business practices" to quote.
I feel queasy when I think of how much the arts has beome a government funded pursuit. In a world of galleries that can't pay their artists, galleries that continually go out of business, non-profits scrambling for government grants and paying their "volunteers" next to nothing, and an art world that caters almost exclusively to elite and rich society, it is time to start rethinking the art world structure.
To quote one of the final conclusions of the article, "After a century of professionalization, the arts are poised to return to a do-it-yourself model"

Chauncey Brown

2006-12-23T08:34:00.000-08:00

You don't want to mess with Chauncey Brown.
After a stint in federal prison, Chauncey Brown lived on the streets
for a few months, before meeting Mortimer Jones and getting involved
with the Parts and Labor Collective. A difficult relationship to say the least.
Mortimer and Chauncey get in regular shouting matches that occasionally turn
to fisticuffs, however Mortimer always wins. To keep him appeased Mortimer
has made Chauncey Brown the Canine Fitness Director.
A recent quote: "I was a lost cause, but now I teach them Parts and Labor dogs everything I know."

NEW WORDS FOR YOUR ARTIST STATEMENT!

2006-12-14T16:04:00.000-08:00

BEING AN ASS IS JUST A MATTER OF CHOOSING THE RIGHT WORD!

MANIFESTATION: For that special festering in all of us!

PERMEABILITY: And other things too transparent to mention...

CONTEXTUAL: When you need something to rhyme with sexual.

CONCEPTION: Where sperm and bad art meet!

THEMATICALLY: Everyone loves theme parks!

TEMPORALITY: This number is temporarily out of service.

CONTEMPLATIONS: Get off that rock and put some pants on!

QUANTIFICATION: Like quantum mechanics, but fuzzier.

SUBCONSCIOUS: You're getting sleepy...sleepy....

PARTICIPATORY: When Art ATTACKS!

EPHEMERAL: Emeril would be proud!

Parts and Labor Vs. Bigfoot

2006-12-14T14:55:00.000-08:00

Both are equally hard to find.
Both have unusually hairy palms.
Both stand well above eight feet tall
Both have been blamed for the disappearance of valued livestock.
Both have been encountered by frightened tourists.
Both are remnants of a lost species of ape.
Both receive orders from the enigmatic Mortimer Jones.
Both are known for throwing great art openings.

Parts and Labor Vs. Area 51

2006-12-13T15:28:00.000-08:00

Both are equally hard to find.
Both have evidence of recent alien visits.
Both are developing powerful sci fi lasers.
Both are sinister new world goverment braincenters.
Both are run by a mysterious order of mad scientists.
Both employ a team of highly trained robot assassins.
Both are protected by an invisible mind shield.
Both are good places to spend a Saturday Night.

Self Interview of Mortimer Jones

2006-12-10T17:28:00.000-08:00

Mortimer: So you're an alias.
Mortimer: I resent that.
Mortimer: What would you prefer?
Mortimer: Well, nice of you to ask. I'd prefer "alter ego".
Mortimer: So you're an alter ego.
Mortimer: I resent that.
Mortimer: Maybe we should stop this interview.
Mortimer: What seems to be the problem?
Mortimer: Well you're being difficult, all I want are a few questions answered.
Mortimer: Okay, I apologize, what are your questions?
Mortimer: Alright, then, what's the reasoning behind your existence?
Mortimer: I feel like one should change their personality completely, as often as possible, without warning.
Mortimer: That's an unsettling thought.
Mortimer: Maybe personalities are prisons. Next question ....
Mortimer: Prisons.....so your goal is to free yourself of prisons?
Mortimer: Maybe people should question their ideas, especially the ones they have of themselves. Brains can't be trusted. Instincts though....
Mortimer: Instincts are better?
Mortimer: Instincts are your mind ignoring your brain.
Mortimer: What the hell does that mean?
Mortimer: You bore me.
Mortimer: They told me you were a real asshole.
Mortimer: Well "they" must be right.

Encounter With Bruce New

2006-12-10T17:24:00.000-08:00

Mr. Obsolete: So Mr. New, the collective has invited you to show some of your work, but you're not actually from Chicago are you?

Bruce New: No. I currently reside in the wilds of northern Kentucky with a bird.

Mr. Obsolete: What kind of bird?

Bruce New: Why does it matter?

Mr. Obsolete: Well it matters alot. I mean if you're in the woods with a pigeon that's just kind of sad. If you're in the woods with a falcon that's kind of macho. If you're in the woods with a stuffed bird, that's a little creepy.

Bruce New: It's a woodcock, if you must know.

Mr. Obsolete: Excuse me!

Bruce New: A woodcock, what, they don't have woodcocks in Chicago!

Mr. Obsolete: We really have to change the subject......so your art, you do photo montage?

Bruce New: Yes, on a mountaintop next to the sun.

Mr. Obsolete: With your bird...

Bruce New: Right.

Mr. Obsolete: Right....

Catching Up With The Patron Saint of Photography

2006-12-10T17:21:00.000-08:00

So, Joe Ziolkowski was one of the few professors I had in school that left a lasting impression on me.
He was always generous with his art and his knowledge, encouraging of my work, and a constant source of inspiration on how art can be a life and a lifestyle. He even put me up in his loft for a few days when I was homeless during college.
He's taught in Chicago, Detroit, and now at RIT. I tracked him down recently. Check out his website.
He's a great photographer of the male form, and most recently...landscapes, and has published several books.

www.joe-ziolkowski.com

Lily Mayfield Is Not Your Wife

2006-12-10T17:18:00.000-08:00

One of our guest artists in our second show is one Lily Mayfield, photographer.
I find her work compelling because it's intimate but strangely detached.
There are personal issues, relationships, but with a cleanliness that reminds me of Hitchcock.
She is a domestic femme fatale because you can't tell if she is sad in these images, or if she is plotting someone's death.
Either way, there's a great tension in some of these photos that I find intriguing. They bring to mind issues of relationships, the distance between people, how the smallest moment can be a crisis, and a woman's role in a modern household.
I think that if one were a thoughtful person...one would find a great deal to think in her photographs.
Check out some of her work on her myspace page on our friends list and come to our December show to think in person.

Signed, Mortimer Jones
Offensive & Vulgar Idealist
The Parts and Labor Collective

Mortimer Jones Ponders the Void

2006-11-28T17:01:00.000-08:00

Mr. Obsolete: I was supposed to get off at the last stop.

Mortimer Jones: Well, get off at the next one.

Mr. Obsolete: I could do that, but then I'd have to walk back.

Mortimer: So what's the problem? Just walk back.

Mr. Obsolete: Yes, but I hate to retrace my steps.

Mortimer: If you're walking back to where you meant to go then that will be the first time you walk that direction.

Mr. Obsolete: Yes, but I missed my stop yesterday too. And that was the direction I walked.

Mortimer: So walk a different direction to where you meant to go, then the direction you walked yesterday.

Mr. O: I think it's better to walk a direct route then change direction to avoid the same direction to the place I meant to go.

Mortimer: So walk directly in a different direction than the direction you walked to the place you meant to go.

Mr. Obsolete: I can't indirectly choose a direction, directionless as it may seem, in a different direction to the place I meant to go. I'd have to change direction, meaning, direct myself beyond my own directioning.

Mortimer: I see, so why not change your plans altogether then? Go somewhere else.

Mr. Obsolete: I could change my plans, but I don't know what would happen.

Mortimer: You won't know what would happen regardless of your plans.

Mr. Obsolete: I suppose I should just stay on the bus then.

We've Even Got an Imposter Now!

2006-11-22T15:43:00.000-08:00

I'm proud to annouce we have our first imposter! (Kind of like losing one's virginity!)
Apparently when people run out of intelligent arguments, they resort to pretending to be me!
Quite flattering really. There's someone currently posting online claiming to be Mortimer Jones saying The Parts and Labor Collective is a hoax dreamed up by a graduate student. I couldn't ask for a stranger form of support, because it has caused our log-ins to shoot through the roof! So, let's all thank my own personal Unibomber for spreading the word about us even more! If you wish, you can send him a message yourself

@ comm-23862917@craigslist.org

Recent Hate Mail

2006-11-20T19:46:00.000-08:00

Here are some of the highlights:
"Mortimer Jones is a bit naive......I have my pride, perhaps you don't.....ooooo Mr. Raw Loft! Aren't you special, big fucking deal.....as an established artist I have no respect for you or your stupid movement.......Mortimer is fictitious.....delusions of grandeur....ego driven....stereotype of the young male artist.....poor pathetic little bitch....anything is better than a dumbass name like Parts and Labor.....I think if you fix your name, you'll have less people calling you a Communist......go to hell.......Maybe I'll just incorporate under your name, since I'm sure you haven't made it legal.....are you suggesting free art?.......are you suggesting a barter system?......I suggest you get a real space rather than that rat-hole......as for the pinko that runs The Parts and Labor Collective, take all that shit on your wall, douse it in kerosene, and set it aflame......The less art the better."
Ahh yes, all the brilliant minds of Chicago converge in my inbox.
Signed Mortimer Jones
The Dvine Order of the Grease Monkey
Parts and Labor Collective

The Ghost of Malachi Ritscher

2006-11-19T08:06:00.000-08:00

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(Subtitle: The Problems of Martyrdom)
It happened and barely anyone noticed. A few weeks ago, a grown man set himself on fire along the expressway in Chicago to protest the war in Iraq. He did it during the morning rush hour and beneath the Chicago Flame sculpture. On his website, he left an obituary and a suicide letter that rambled on about the injustice in the world, his struggle with alcohol, and some failed relationships in his life. So, to what end? I'm sure he horrified some accountants on their way to work, no doubt some daytraders, some secretaries, some janitors, some highway workers, some soccer moms.
I'm of the bizarre opinion that we are born as pure as we will ever be, and everything we add to that afterwards is just an insult to that life, including belief systems. And yes, I know, people hold dearly to their belief systems because they have convinced themselves that they are what they believe. It seems people live more in their mind during their lives than they do in their bodies. That's why the progression from belief system to suicide bomber, or soldier, or mass-murderer, or man-in-flames can be so easy for some.
The brain is a fragile thing and can be convinced of almost anything with enough repetition and emotion. Brains can turn against other people and against oneself. So....Malachi Ritscher commits an act of unspeakable violence against himself to protest the unspeakable violence in the world, therefore becoming the unspeakable violence himself, and adding one more drop of unspeakable violence to a world overflowing with unspeakable violence all for the fickle, unspoken opinions fluttering through a speechless mind. Brilliant.
It's a terrifying world. Take care of each other out there.

Signed, Mortimer Jones
Disbeliever
The Parts and Labor Collective

Secret Meeting Topics

2006-11-14T16:02:00.000-08:00

This just in from the formica table of Mortimer Jones:

Topics to be discussed at the top secret summit meeting:

1. When to stage the overthrow of the gallery system as we know it.
2. Methods of undermining current artistic sterotypes.
3. How to properly harpoon a cuttlefish
4. Ways of disregarding delicate social traditions
5. What madness does Mathias St. John have in store?
6. Who the fuck is Mortimer Jones?
7. Who will shampoo the crowds at our next event?
8. The Mystery of Lily Mayfield.
9. Amelia's recent expedition to the Amazon.
10. MDF vs. Charlie D.
11. Proper protocol for social revolution.
12. The recent night tremors of Mortimer Jones
13. Fried Egg vs. Scrambled Egg
14. The Void and what to do with it.

Signed Mortimer Jones
Weak Muscled Acrobat of the Void
The Parts and Labor Collective

Must-Have Words For Your Artist Statement!

2006-11-11T12:02:00.000-08:00

BEING AN ASS IS JUST A MATTER OF USING THE RIGHT WORDS

AMBIGUITY -When you really have no idea what you're talking about

REPRESENTATION - Cus you gots to represent. Word.

CHIAROSCURO- Going Italian on yo ass!

STRATUM - Yes, ladies and gentlemen, it's getting deep!

CONTEMPORARY - Kind of like IKEA furniture, but nice!

INTERACTION - The only action that counts!

FIGURATIVE - Just so everyone knows you're still drawing naked people

TECHNOLOGICAL - Sound authoritative and still not understand your VCR!

CULTURAL STEREOTYPES - Yes even phrases can be stereotypical

ABSTRACT - just so everyone knows you're still drawing naked people ( but in secret)

DYSTOPIAN - It's more than a bad mood!

NARRATIVE - So you can tell people that you're telling people when you tell them.

ICONOGRAPHY - Cause things can get so iconoclastic sometimes!

SUBTEXT - When the real text just isn't enough.

GEO-POLITICAL, SOCIO-ECONOMIC, SOCIO-CULTURAL - Sociopath

-Signed Mortimer Jones
An Interactive Socio-Political Narrative on the Distopian Tendencies of the Contemporary Aesthetic
The Parts and Labor Collective
www.myspace.com/partsandlaborcollective
www.laborparts.blogspot.com

Naming Your Chicago Gallery 101!

2006-11-10T17:05:00.000-08:00

1. Use your Name! Yes that's right! It's not just your name, it's an art gallery!
Show off your vanity and narcissism with style! Go with the obvious!
Let everyone know you have absolutely no imagination!
People won't know if you are a perfume brand or a gallery!

(Blake Palmer, Russell Bowman, Roy Boyd, Lisa Boyle, Shane Campbell, Aldo Castillo,
Melanee Cooper, Wendy Cooper, Douglas Dawson, Caro d'Offay, Carl Hammer,
Rhona Hoffman, Gwenda Jay............wow, just too many to list.....but wait....Stephen Daiter,
Kasia Kay, Rowley Kennerk, Gosia Koscielak, David Leonardis, Liz Long, Thomas Masters,
Thomas McCormick, Monique Meloche, Peter Miller, Ann Nathan, Navta Schulz, Thomas Robertello,
Byron Roche, Judy Saslow, Carrie Secrist, Linda Warren, Zolla/Lieberman, Catherine Edelman)

Brilliant and soooooo original!

2. Go futuristic! People have not evolved enough yet to pronouce your gallery's name!

(Ai, Cyt.O, Teti, Zg)

3. Abbreviate! When you can't think of anything....abbreviate!

(ARC, BSD, DVA, ESS, EXP, NAB)

4. Be Clever! That's right everybody let's get cute, let's get wild, let's get clever!

(4Art, Habatat)

5. Use a Stripper's Name! They're not just for lapdances anymore!

(Finestra, Lydon, Madron, Vespine, Prism)

The Smallest Moment Can Be a Crisis

2006-11-09T18:44:00.000-08:00

The smallest moment can be a crisis.
Isn't that what great art captures?
That moment of crisis, that singular moment that
turns everything on end, that decision, that direction,
that darkness in the eye, that dream that is still dissolving
from your memory, that memory that chases your heels
your entire life. The smallest moment can be a crisis.
You pass someone on the street, and inside they're exploding.
Everyone is an deaf explosion. We're all exploding.
People only find the pieces of scrapnel in your wake.

Who the fuck is Mortimer Jones?

2006-11-09T14:03:00.000-08:00

So I started giving myself strange titles in all Parts and Labor correspondence...why?
Not sure really, just wanted to stretch my imagination a little.
Anyway, it has led to some strange and often funny aliases.

Here are a few of my favorites thus far....
Cosmological Orphan
CEO Invalidato
Darwin's Primordial Leg-Fish
Malformed Partial Sputnik (My personal favorite!)
and last but not least...
Seasonal Migratory WaterFowl #56

A Few New Ones:
The Semi-colon, Period, & Apostrophe S (I like it!)
The Improbable Impossibility
Precursory Wristwatch
Toll Booth Operator on Route Zero
Misinformed Accountant of God's Bastard Payroll (wow.)
Purveyor of Fine Meats
Plastic Inflatable Lover
Supposed Southpaw
Weak Muscled Acrobat of the Void
Cuddly Fuzzy Love Nugget
Proud Parent of a Unibomber
Subliminal Staff of Ra
Implausibly Plastic Army Man in the Battle of Synthetic Wits
El Communista Peachy
Smothering Grandma Since 1972
Canine Fitness Club
Post-Communist Fondu
Demoralized Chipotle
Hypothermia, Heartache & Hydroelectrics

Change the Rules.

2006-11-07T10:00:00.000-08:00

Artist goes to overpriced school.
Artist spends all their money.
Artist graduates from college.
Artist has huge student loan.
Artist can't find job as artist.
Artist starts waiting tables.
Artist wants to sell their work.
Artist goes to gallery to show their work.
Gallery charges artist to look at their work.
Gallery takes artist's work and puts it in a flatfile
Artist sells three pieces a year.
Gallery takes half of artist's sales.
Artist lives in ghetto and paints on plywood.
Gallery Owner lives in mansion and drives a Porsche.
People come to gallery and nibble cheese.
Gallery owner is fabulous. Artist eats Raman noodles.

Dec. 16th: We're Putting the Schvitz Back in the Pushke!

2006-11-07T09:28:00.000-08:00

This just in from the folding card table of Mortimer Jones:

The Parts and Labor Collective will be following up our debut with a second remarkable event on Saturday December 16th.
New work from all the Collective artists plus exciting
new members showing for the first time with Parts and Labor. Painting, photography, sculpture. Save the date! Plus, the triumphant return to the turntable of destiny for DJ Brett Sweeney.
Stay tuned for continued bulletins.....

-Mr. Obsolete
Supposed Southpaw
The Parts and Labor Collective

Collective Members

2006-11-07T06:51:00.000-08:00

The Parts and Labor Collective

Founding Members:
Daniel Gerdes : photo, mixed media
Leah Schrieber : painter (www.leahshreiber.com)
Charlie De Leonardis: painter
Josh Shelton: painter
Amelia Kiera: photo, mixed media (www.ameliakieras.com)
Dorian Allworthy: painter (www.dorianallworthy.com)
Meghan Stran: photo, mixed media

Satellite Members:
Stephen Eichhorn: installation, mixed media (www.stepheneichhorn.com)
Bruce New: collage, mixed media
Lily Mayfield: photographer
Mairead Case: words (www.maireadcase.blogspot.com)

Dissecting the Scene.....

2006-11-07T06:20:00.000-08:00

So when you really start dissecting the art scene in Chicago.....you know....

Columbia vs. The Institute, you know the whole 2D vs. installation/performance, but we all end up waiting tables anyway. Seriously....no one should be paying 40 grand a year for the chance to gather change from between the ketchup bottles and the ashtrays. Stop paying art schools...it's just another corporation.....I mean have you driven through University Village?

River North vs. Pilsen, I mean can Pilsen really be that different when they're using the same lame model as River North. God save me from that sterile sophistication all galleries strive for. Can we ever escape the Nibblers? Will there ever be enough cubes of cheese?

Pilsen vs. River West, same thing here....I'm starting to think the same thing that is wrong with politics is what's wrong with art. All the wrong people seek out the power so all you end up with is bad policy.

And then the whole Lumpen crowd where you can't really tell if there is any real work happening beyond the Happenings....and the drugs...and the cartoons.......and the overpriced pretensions at Sonotheque........and the PBR endorsements. Probably not.

I mean making T-shirts has suddenly become a important pursuit?
We'll file that under Bicycle Messenger, and DJ and Graffitti Artist......
Maybe.... but where does commerce end and art begin, or vise versa? If art is just one more form of commerce then how can we defend it as a noble pursuit? We may as well spend our time counterfeiting money.

-Mortimer Jones
Malformed Partial Sputnik
Parts and Labor Collective