There are a number of great art openings and events this weekend in Chicago. So here is a sampler of some of my highlights.  I copied the info from each event’s website. Click on the event’s link for more info.  Enjoy and see you around town!

#1. Javier Chavira, Disparate Images at Union Street Gallery

Friday, August 9

Disparate Images is a collection of works created between 2006 and 2013 that highlight his virtuosity of employing various materials and displays a range of representational and abstract forms. Some early work, the portraits of specific heroic and symbolic personages, are influenced by the iconography of his Catholic upbringing while other work, which could be categorized as organic abstraction, is influenced by nature.

http://www.unionstreetgallery.org/JavierChaviraDisparateImages.htm

#2. Outside In. The Mexican-American Street Art Movement in Chicago at the National Museum of Mexican Art

Friday, August 9

FEATURING: Ruben ‘Like’ Aguirre, John ‘Jonski’ Ayala, Miguel A. Del Real, Mario ‘Zore’ Gonzalez, Ricardo ‘Naco’ Gonzalez, Rafael ‘Rafa’ Almaguer, Vicente Jasso, Victoria Martinez, Rodrigo ‘Solo’ Mireles, KC Ortiz, Jesus ‘Chucho’ Rodriguez, Nino ‘Tsel’ Rodriguez, Angel Silva

This exhibition surveys the aesthetics created (from the 1980s to the present) in Chicago’s public space through a contemporary Mexican-American experience. It investigates graffi ti and street art as a social practice, focusing on agency, mobilization and identity formation.

http://www.nationalmuseumofmexicanart.org/events/outside

#3. Second Fridays at Chicago Art District

Friday, August 9th, 2013 – 6-10pm
Chicago Arts District
at S. Halsted and 18th Streets

The Chicago Arts District hosts 2nd Fridays Gallery Night, the monthly opening receptions at the galleries and artists’ studios centered around South Halsted and 18th Streets in Chicago. The receptions begin at 6:00pm and run until 10:00pm.

http://chicagoartsdistrict.org/events_main.asp

#4. Figment at Garfield Park Conservatory

What:
FIGMENT is an explosion of creative energy. It’s a free, annual celebration of participatory art and culture where everything is possible. For one weekend this summer, it transforms the Garfield Park Conservatory in Chicago into a large-scale collaborative artwork – and then it’s gone.

When:
Saturday, August 10, Noon-9 p.m.
Sunday, August 11, Noon-5 p.m.

Where:
The Garfield Park Conservatory
300 N. Central Park Ave.

http://chicago.figmentproject.org/2013-about/about/

#5. Front & Center at Hyde Park Art Center

Saturday, August 10

Hyde Park Art Center proudly presents the second annual exhibition of work from participants in our flagship artist professional development initiative, The Center Program. The group exhibition Front and Center unveils artwork by the 2013 class of artists in this program that is dedicated to building critical dialogue for professional artists seeking to advance their work. The exhibition features new artworks in various media by twenty-seven artists from emerging to midcareer levels. Multi-media work by artists from the 2013 class of the Center Program.

The Center Program offers a group of artists the unique opportunity to develop a new body of work, receive feedback from professionals in the field, and work towards an exhibition to be held in Hyde Park Art Center’s main gallery. Over the course of six months, a supportive peer network, guest artists, gallerists, critics, and professionals push Center Program artists to answer tough questions, evolve their art, and ultimately produce a strong, new body of work to show.

The 2013 class of Center Program artists include:
Brit Barton, Michael Burmeister, Corinna Button, Elke Claus, Mary Farmilant, Stephen Flemister, Astrid Fuller, Michelle Harris, Rachel Herman, Malika Jackson, Jaclyn Jacunski, Kate McQuillen, Michael Morrison, Jesus Mejia + Ruth, Christine Mitchell, J. Thomas Pallas, Molly Roth, Jesse Seay, Ricardo Serment, Noor Shawaf, Ashley Allen Short, Edra Soto, Kathryn Trumbull Fimreite, Cynthia Weiss, Dolores Wilber, and Amanda Williams.

http://www.hydeparkart.org/exhibitions/front-center

~THE END~