bertrand goldberg exhibit: chicago

photo by: —Mike— What: Bertrand Goldberg: Architecture of Invention
When: now thru January 15, 2012
Where: The Art Institute of Chicago

From a post-war suburban community, multi-unit dwellings and single family residences to furniture and trucks, the work of Bertrand Goldberg follows a fairly straight trajectory of experimentation from the Bauhaus in the 30s through Chicago in the 80s.

By maintaining an aesthetic of clean lines while pushing engineering envelopes—none more famous than Marina City and River City in Chicago—Goldberg’s sculptural forms and engineering feats left us with outstanding dramatic effects.

TASS poster exhibit: chicago

photo by: misocrazyWhat: Windows on the War: Soviet TASS Posters at Home and Abroad, 1941-1945
When: now thru October 23, 2011
Where: The Art Institute of Chicago, AIC

Seventy years ago, during the German invasion of the Soviet Union, a group of artists and writers banned together within the TASS News Agency in Moscow to reassure Soviet citizens— and to rouse Allies—via large-scale posters.

Despite the rule of Joseph Stalin, creativity flourished among these diverse artists and writers as they found purpose while working within the totalitarian state.

Committed to the defense of the motherland, artists produced a poster nearly every day of the war with labor-intensive technical virtuosity—some of them 5’ to 10’ tall with upwards of 60 to 70 color divisions.

Featuring 250 posters—155 of which are the large-scale stenciled versions—it’s their first display in the US since WWII.