Alinea Restaurant - Food As Art

My husband recently lost his job, so where did we go for dinner? Alinea Restaurant! Woo Hoo! For that 'let's blow it all' feeling, Alinea can't be beat. The reason I am posting my review on ARTseen Chicago is because my experience at Alinea was not just culinary, but also artistic. Grant Achatz, the celebrated chef and molecular gastronomie visionary, is definitely the Marcel Duchamp of the food world. It was the weirdest food I have ever eaten. This is not to say it was bad, but when you eat a rectangular lump of chocolate pudding larded with marinated pork and you know it's costing you about 35 bills, you lean in to see if you can detect a hint of horse shit. Gladly, I was happy to discover that there were only three missteps throughout the twelve courses. My palette is adventuresome. If a chef claims that they are going to blow my mind with weirdness and deliciousness, I am all over it. I say, 'bring it on' and I'll eat just about anything. I've eaten live baby crabs, fish eyes and baby snails that I picked out of their shells with a toothpick without blinking. But, had I found the baby snails on the wet pavement, I probably would have let them live a long and prosperous life. It's all context. Alinea is focused primarily on the visual transformation of food and the creation of a multisensory experience that not only pleases the eye, but also the palette. This is a very difficult thing to do. The second dish that came out was an homage to the tomato. There were several small jellied orbs of tomato essense that were surprising in their tomato-iness. They had great 'mouth feel', but the actual taste was everything that you love about the tomato. Then there was a freeze-dried tomato thing (lump, spoonful?) that had, again, the essential tomato experience without the tomato. I imagine that this was probably what Stanley Kubrick was going for in 2001 Space Odyssey. Over the top of the tomato treats was a frozen cloud of mozarella foam. It looked good, but it was very cold and tasted more like ice than cheese. All was forgiven because it did look really cool. Since there were twelve courses, it was fun to anticipate the next dish as if I were waiting for the next act in a good play. All in all Alinea can only be described as John Cage and Julia Child's love child. But, don't be fooled. This is food for rich people who are looking for the newest food trend and have the money to try it. I'm not saying it wasn't worth it, but I probably should have paid my daughter's school fees and lunches for the year. No, make that two years. Oh well. Burp.

Everybody Loves Busted Amp

Image by John Solimine, Halloween

See the review of Busted Amp in TimeOutChicago by Kiedra Chaney. Also, The Post Family has featured Busted Amp on their blog today. Thanks Posts!

Busted Amp info: Columbia College Chicago's A+D Gallery

Nick Butcher of Sonnenzimmer

Busted Amp in the News plus gallery images

Busted Amp at Columbia College Chicago's Averill and Bernard Leviton A+D Gallery. Opens June 26 and runs through July 23. Opening Reception on June 26 from 5-8pm. A+D Gallery is located at 619 S. Wabash Ave. 312.344.8668.

Listen to curator, James Iannacone of Columbia College's Anchor Graphics interviewed by Blair Chavis of Chicago Public Radio on the 848 show. Click this link to listen. (Note: The interview starts at the 25 minute mark and is about 6 minutes long.)
http://audio.wbez.org/848/2008/06/848_20080623.mp3
Also check Busted Amp out on the Sun-Times Website:
http://www.suntimes.com/entertainment/weekend/1014972,WKP-News-out20dWest.article
Print Magazine's July 08 issue will include a piece about Busted Amp written by Anne Elizabeth Moore who wrote the book Unmarketable: Brandalism, Copyfighting, Mocketing, and the Erosion of Integrity.

Here are a few gallery shots of Busted Amp.


Write a review or comment in the 'comments' section. Thanks!








All of the artists screen-printed their own images on the walls.



It looks very cool. The actual art works will appear above these screen-prints.

Close-ups.

5th International Book & Paper Triennial

Image: Elizabeth Munger, Passerines
Suite of five prints, letterpress
7” x 9” each
2008

Image: Shawn Sheehy, Beyond the Sixth Extinction: A Fifth Millennium Bestiary
Handmade paper, letterpress, collage
8” x 15” x 10.25” (open)
2007

Image: Peggy Johnston, Urchin, antique book, linen thread

5th International Book & Paper Arts Triennial
At Columbia College Chicago’s Center for Book & Paper Arts
June 25 - September 12, 2008

Fifty-nine art works from the papermaking and artists’ book genre will be on view during the 5th International Book & Paper Arts Triennial at Columbia College Chicago’s Center for Book & Paper Arts located at 1104 S. Wabash Avenue on the second floor. A closing reception will be held on Friday, September 12 from 5:30 – 7:30pm This juried exhibition features fine and letterpress printed and bound books, broadsides, artists’ books, book objects, sculptural paper, pulp painting and altered books that have been selected from an international base of some of the most recognized artists working in this medium today. Art works range in size from paper vessels that dangle from ceiling to floor down to sculpture that is 2” tall.

Challenging the traditional definition of the book, the 5th Trienniel features a book that is “written” in broken glass and another that contains the mnemonic bird calls of Midwest songbirds. Also included are etchings of Paris gardens, a taxonomy of urban fowl, illustrated poems, corn stalks made of paper, a photo journey through a car wash and many more wonderful and curious book and paper objects that comprise this triennial exhibition.

The Center for Book & Paper’s gallery hours are Monday through Friday from 10am to 6pm. This exhibition is free and open to the public. For more information, please call 312.344.6630 or go to their website at http://www.bookandpaper.org/. A catalog of the exhibition will be available for purchase during the closing reception on Friday, September 12.

Mapping: Cartographies of Learning

MAPPING: CARTOGRAPHIES OF LEARNING
at Columbia College Chicago's C33 Gallery
June 26 - August 8, 2008


As part of the City of Chicago’s Festival of Maps, Mapping: Cartographies of Learning showcases multi-media arts installations from Columbia College Chicago’s Center for Community Arts Partnerships (CCAP) Project AIM, and the Chicago Arts Partnerships in Education (CAPE). This free exhibition is on view at Columbia College Chicago’s C33 Gallery at 33 East Congress. Mapping is a culmination of curricular and conceptual explorations of mapmaking from students in nine Chicago Public Schools (kindergarten through high school). The installations, directed by professional artists and teachers, feature compelling social and cultural histories as well as visionary images of students’ sense of place in their neighborhoods and the world. An opening reception at the gallery will be held on Thursday, June 25 from 5 – 7pm. For more information, please contact Betsy Odom, [C]Spaces Exhibition Coordinator at 312.344.8177. Gallery hours are Monday – Friday, 9am to 7pm, Friday, 9am to 5pm and Saturdays by appointment.

Participating Schools
A.C.T. Charter School, Crown Community Academy, Hawthorne Scholastic Academy, Edward Jenner Academy of the Arts, John B. Murphy Elementary School, Northside College Prep High School, South Shore High School, and Telpochcalli Elementary School.

Participating Artists and Teachers
Luke Albrecht, Meg Arbeiter, Charles Barbera, Lindsey Caplice, Phillip Cotton, Peter DeLaurentis, Guillermo Delgado, William Estrada, David Jordan, Rebecca Leverenz, Amanda Leigh Lichtenstein, Jorge Lucero, Colby Mecher, Olivia Mulcahy, Walter Ornelas, Mathais “Spider” Schergen, Wendee Shavocky, Eric Silverberg, Margy Stover, Jamie Lou Thome, Joel Wanek, Megan Williamson, and Mirtes Zwierzynski.

Curated by Scott Sikkema and Cynthia Weiss, with Mark Diaz and Shawn Renee Lent.

BUSTED AMP at A+D Gallery - opens June 26

Image: Diana Sudyka, Night Image: Jay Ryan, Sound Opinions

BUSTED AMP
Chicago’s Rock Poster Artists Get a Gallery Gig
June 26 – July 23, 2008

Just in time for the Pitchfork Music Festival, James Iannacone of Anchor Graphics at Columbia College Chicago has brought together a dozen of Chicago’s most sought-after screen printers who work in the music poster, t-shirt and album cover genre for an exhibition of their personal work at Columbia’s Averill and Bernard Leviton A+D Gallery. This free exhibition will have its opening reception on June 26 from 5 to 8pm.

Fine art prints by some of the leading screen printers associated with Chicago music are Jay Ryan’s Bird Machine, Nadine Nakanishi and Nick Butcher’s Sonnenzimmer, Steve Walter’s Screwball Press, just to name a few. These rock mementos are coveted by fans and are highly collectable.

PARTICIPATING ARTISTS: Nick Butcher (Sonnenzimmer),Nadine Nakanishi (Sonnenzimmer), Jay Ryan (the Bird Machine), Mat Daly, Dan Grzeca (Artisan Dan), Steve Walters, Billy Baumann (Delicious Design), Jason Teegarden-Downs (Delicious Design), Diana Sudyka, Kathleen Judge, Dan MacAdam, Rob Doran, John Solimine and Keith Herzik

Please note that a virtual gallery tour video is on its way.

We urge you to review this exhibition below this post in the "comments" section.

Thanks.