On Friday December 12th, the Locallective Loft made its' space available for "Focal: A Photo & Film Expo" hosted by Modest... The venue was somewhat hidden, as the only indicator that there was a show being held upstairs was a small slab of wood with "Modest Show - Please Shut Door!" written on it... Once inside, the stairwell led immediately to a beautifully painted graffiti piece with the silhouette of the Chicago skyline seemingly "burning" through the upper right corner of it... That led you past a row of stickers, flyers and business cards of those associated with the shows production, all in front of a studio area, where it looked as if pieces were in the process of being completed... After collecting some memorabilia, we did what any respectable art-show-goer does - We hit the bar!!
At the far end the furthest of three separate rooms, we indulged in a couple cocktails... The "punch" was a style of Jungle Juice, a peachy, flesh colored beverage composed of fresh fruits and gin... And though it seemed there were some High Lifes floating around in the grasp of a few lucky attendees, I was only able to commandeer a PBR... Not that either beer is my "go to" by any means, I just prefer almost any beer over a PBR... Though I'm admittedly somewhat of a beer snob, and have developed an affinity for Hamm's in the past couple years, I can't seem to understand the appeal of PBR or why it's become so trendy in the past few years... Must be a "hipster" thing, which is another trend I haven't been able to grasp... I think you need a beard and some 1970's shoes to be in that clique, but again, I don't know... We tipped the bartender, and ducked outta the bar to the spacey sounds of the DJ... There was a merch table set up next to the DJ where Modest had a small array of apparel items available for sale from their store... Among those items was their collaboration shirt with "COVE" - Who, from what I know of 'em, is a Chicago based graffiti artist... There was one person cruising around on a board doing no-comply 180s with the COVE shirt on, I asked if they were the artist and the answer I got was "I can neither confirm nor deny that..." Maybe I looked like an undercover cop??
Behind the merch table was a wall dedicated to the artist "DANKO..." Their art was composed of a combination of different mediums such as, ink, acrylic, aerosol and pencil... Those mediums expressed on different surfaces as well, examples being cardboard, canvas and wood... Their work seemed to be focused on character work, depicting the human condition as it encounters different emotions... They produced excellent pieces, dope enough that my girl has one of the works on hold for her to purchase once the exhibit is over in early January!!
We made our way out of that room and meandered to where the short film from "teho" was being played on a loop... The room had an eerie atmosphere to it, with vintage furniture amidst soft lighting, empty frames, and other antique-esque items of miscellaneous decor... The film was a compilation of very divergent subject matter... It began with an older commercial of a vinyl cleaner once available at Walgreens and other drugs stores, and also included a PSA from Bill Cosby about knowing your amphetamines, as well as a well produced short on a woman's views on running and the feelings it produces within her... The most notable segment, for neither good nor bad reasons, but simply because of its content; was the very sexual "interview" with an unnamed woman... It began with her using a toy pistol to please herself, then lead to her watching porn, then to being flogged and dominated, as well as a scene of her engaging in intercourse... It wasn't solely depictions of sexual acts, as it also contained insight on her mindset as to why she called someone a "slut," and showed a very vulnerable moment of her insecurities when she disclosed that she doesn't think she's pretty enough to do certain things in life... I'm not entirely sure how everyone else felt about those few minutes, but I noticed the air got quite a bit thicker when we all began watching very sexually explicit video footage in a room full of strangers...
Once the film ended, we strolled over to the photo area and began taking in the moments displayed on the walls around us... One of the most notable scenes was a nighttime fisheye shot of a train painted by TYKE WITNES & OMENS MSK/AWR during a trip to Denver about a year ago... I had first seen the train in an LRG video, but the still shot had me wondering if the filmer-photographer were in the room with us at this exhibit... I never found out... Another wall contained somewhat sinister shots of children that were "freakish" in a sense... Next to those were shots of Hip-Hop artists including Killer Mike and Tyler, The Creator... The parallel wall contained some of my favorite shots, most by photographer 4strs... We were fortunate enough to meet him and he was a kind and humble artist, very willing to discuss his process, and in divulging such information you could sense the true passion for his craft... Check the link to his website to view my favorite photo of his - A shot of a trainyard in front of the Chicago skyline with an OMENS piece hiding on a freeway wall in the bottom left corner...
There was a freestanding wooden structure in the center of the room which held more eye-candy from various photographers, as well as an installation in the corner of the room... The installation was of various older models of videocameras that had been slightly deconstructed and painted entirely white... To me it seemed as if that represented a respectable nod to the predecessors of their craft...
The show was extremely fun, with great works on display as well as a good crowd on hand to enjoy all the pieces from some extremely talented artists... It was my first art show in the Windy City, but I hope any others I'm fortunate enough to attend will be as enjoyable as this one... I must praise the hosts and curators also, as they make it possible for artists to present their craft to those looking to enjoy things of that nature!!
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