• Art Institute of Chicago marketing to children for Picasso show
    What do you think of the CTA ad for the Picasso show at the Art Institute? My brother, Erik, has some excellent points: Overall, I like it. It captures some of the cubist charm of Picasso’s work. Part of me…
  • Picasso’s most impressive artwork in the Art Institute exhibit is Bull
    Over 100 artworks by Picasso grace the new show at the Art Institute of Chicago. Everyone knows Picasso is a genius artist, so I approached the show with high expectations. My first impression after 45 minutes and three walk-arounds is…
  • What is an artwork you love?
    The Museum of Contemporary Art of Chicago asks for an artwork that you love. Happy Valentine’s Day! What are some artworks you love? We’ll be tweeting some of our V day favs, like “The Kiss” mcachicago.org/exhibitions/co‚Ä — MCA Chicago (@mcachicago)…
  • The best way to experience a museum exhibit
    A new museum exhibition is up. You trot on down to the museum to check out the show. When walking through the exhibition, do you walk slowly observing the photos and artwork? Maybe read a couple captions. And then by…
  • My favorite Joseph Beuys quotes
    “Every human being is an artist.” * Beuys’ quote on his art statement: ‘everybody is an artist‚’: I am searching for field character, 1973; as quoted in “Energy Plan for the Western man / Joseph Beuys in America”, by Carin…
  • Famous artist costumes and fashion
    If people dressed up as famous artists when visiting museums, who would you go as? I posted this question on the Spudart Facebook Page and got some fun replies. Dali, Warhol: “Someone distinctive looking like Dali or Warhol,” Tom Saaristo.…
  • If Shakespeare wrote comments on flickr photos
    Who speaks words like a poet? All comment given by bernawi of flickr is like a prance through the drewdrops of morning on the windows of perception. to find the true nature of things, it will break the ice of…
  • Why I offered Sammy Sosa to pay the $24.95 to make his flickr account go pro
    We like to elevate ourselves by looking down on Sammy Sosa, but he’s just a big screw-up. The problem with Sammy is that he has no filter. He just blurts out things in desire for attention. And he does stupid…
  • How many artworks does it take for a series to become epic?
    An art series gets epic when there are 100 items in the series. Do you have any art series that has more than 100 photos? I have one. My HDR photos of Chicago is currently up to 190 photos. Let’s…
  • 16 reasons why free artwork should be given with every art museum ticket
    (artwork by Chicago artists: Erik Maldre, Ginny Gaura, Carissa Rose, Kristina Gosh, Lynda A. Betz) With admission prices rising at the Art Institute, this would be a great time for them to employ an extra incentive for people to come…
  • Art Institute of Chicago raises ticket prices in 2013
    Starting February 1 the Art Institute is raising their admission prices as much as five dollars. With every ticket, a piece of artwork should be given away with every ticket. Snaaaap. $23. I want some artwork! An artist trading card…
  • Dark optimism or bright optimism?
    It’s weird how someone can call the phrase “Together, we’re fucked” to be optimistic. It’s a rather perverted look on optimism. Give Sarah Nardi’s article a read, “Artist Joel Fisher chooses to see the bright side.” The artist claims he’s…
  • Five fun ways to wrap a giant political statue with plastic and masking tape
    The Art Institute is wrapping up Thomas Schütte’s large statue, “Vater Staat.” They should do something creative with the masking tape. Let’s make some suggestions to the Art Institute of Chicago on how to better apply the masking tape. To…
  • Why flickr is better than instagram: Reason 1
    You can search within your favorites on flickr. You can’t do that on Instagram. For instance, I searched for “balloons” in my flickr favs, and I got these fun results. Try that, stupid Instagram! Get a free flickr account now…
  • The 50 most interesting photos of 2012
    2012 saw most of my photos cropped to squares thanks to instagram. I also found that while browsing other people’s photos on the Instagram app, I often didn’t read the caption. I would only look at the photos. I started…
  • Making a living off a website that curates art
    A big congratulations to local Chicago website, thisiscolossal.com. Christopher Jobson announced that his website of “art & visual ingenuity” is able to support his family full-time. The artwork featured on thisiscolossal is truly amazing and inspires me everytime I visit.…
  • Photo technique secrets behind my ten most interesting photos of 2012
    Flickr determines the most interesting images by a combination of views, comments, and favs. Here are my ten most interesting photos from 2012. Along with each photo I give one photo technique that helps make the image interesting. Nostalgia with…
  • Most interesting image of 2013
    My most interesting photo so far in 2013 is an image of Campbell’s chicken soup. Everyone this year is starting their 2013 with the flu. Not a very nice way to kick off the year! So it’s rather fitting that…
  • Your question to the President of the United States
    If you could ask the president anything, what would you ask? I have a few questions: Is there a working telegraph machine in the White House? Does the White House still have Rutherford B. Hayes’ croquet set? Why does the…
  • Backs of famous baseball cards
    Can you guess what famous baseball card this is? [Answer]. It would be fun to take the 45 most iconic baseball cards of all time and show just the backs of the cards. You’ll enjoy more posts about baseball cards:…
  • Pairing: Graffiti and Staircase of Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago
    These two photos sitting next to each other on flickr make an interesting pair. I did a search on flickr for: chicago art. Normally i’m not a fan of boring standard graffiti. But the angles in standard graffiti rather mimic…
  • Critique of Dick Perez’s Grover Alexander painting
    Dick Perez. The official Baseball Hall of Fame artist of the 80s and 90s. I grew up collecting the Donruss cards featuring his “Diamond King” paintings with crazy backgrounds. I did my fair share of baseball portraits in grade school…
  • The crazy backgrounds of Donruss Diamond Kings
    Warning! Crazy backgrounds! All these paintings were done in the 80s and early 90s by the official Baseball Hall of Fame artist, Dick Perez. One has to wonder what was going through Dick’s mind when he created these backgrounds. He…
  • 4 must-see art shows at the Art Institute of Chicago in 2013
    I’m really excited for the Art Institute’s upcoming shows in 2013. The Artist and the Poet February 1, 2013‚ÄìJune 2, 2013 My girlfriend is a writer and I’m an artist. We shall happily go to this exhibit together. Picasso and…
  • Archiving interesting articles via PDF
    I like archiving interesting articles by “printing” them as PDF files. Here’s a cool four-part series “Redeeming Holy Days from Pagan Lies.” All the interesting articles get put into a folder on my computer. When I share the article, I…
  • Where to find the stained glass Makit & Bakit Christmas DIY kits
    You know those really cool stained glass things you can make? You drop little plastic pellets into a wire frame and then throw them into the oven, and the plastic pellets melt. When the entire thing cools down, you take…
  • Kandinsky + Munch + Boss Ross + Yves Klein + a touch of Samurai =
    Paint screams into your brush strokes. Kim Beom teaches us how to capture screaming in yellow paint. It sounds silly, but this is a captivating video to watch. Five reasons why this video of a Korean artist painting screams is…
  • Do a Google image search for your first name
    i like how when i google image “Matt” the three results for me are a Brewster Rockit comic, my bulletin board of baseball cards at work, and some iPad painting that I never knew I posted anywhere online.
  • Gumspots of the sky
    It was quite a challenge trying to re-photograph this pole at the exact same angle. The gumdrops on the sidewalk proved to be a great comparison device. Standing at the pole staring at my iPhone memorizing the exact location of…
  • Can I speak Estonian?
    Ma ei räägi eesti keelt, mida mälu. Ma ei oska eesti keelt läbi Google Translate. Minu murre on Google Translate murre Eesti. Võin rääkida iga töö Eesti Google Translate olemasolu. Minu väga sõnad siin on tõend selle kohta vööri alla,…
  • Art Institute of Chicago’s Annual Sock Sliding Competition
    This photo makes me want to take off my shoes, run across the floor, and sliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiide. The Art Institute’s new modern wing is nice. They should hold annual sock-sliding competitions. Maybe I’ll start an unofficial one with a couple people.…