{"article":{"id":601,"title":"Tony Fitzpatrick's Second Act","excerpt":"","body":"<html><head></head><body><figure class=\"image\"><img src=\"https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418009/gkj3qim8lppidhepkyvi.gif\"></figure><p>&nbsp;</p><p>By GINNY VAN ALYEA</p><p><i>I’ve known artist Tony Fitzpatrick for about 10 years, and I usually see him in person to catch up over lunch somewhere or while taking a break at his studio on Western Ave.</i></p><p><i>Recently my husband and I watched Tony on screen, where he portrays a formidable, brooding character, Jack Birdbath, who opens a surprising first scene of season 2 of </i>Patriot<i>, a quirky crime series on Amazon Prime. I know it is Tony in the scene before I even see him, because I can hear his low, tough guy voice struggling to explain a request to a French bank teller. In English he emphasizes that he needs a bunch of dimes. For what exactly, we find out soon enough.</i></p><p><i>When I next saw Tony off screen, he explained to me that in his real (past) life, he had some first hand experience using dimes to defend himself, back when he had first had a gallery 30 years ago, called World Tattoo, in a dodgy area around 13th and Wabash in Chicago.</i></p><p><i>After more than 30 years of making art, acting, and weathering a number of personal and professional challenges, at 60 years old Fitzpatrick says he is now blessed with a second act, and in part he has the City of Paris to thank for the gift of a new view and for the freedom to let things go.</i></p><p><i>His current exhibition, </i>The Absinthe Birds<i>, on view at </i><a href=\"https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/organizations/the-dime\"><i>The Dime</i></a><i>, an artist incubator space Fitzpatrick founded, features vivid collages of birds threaded with poetry and inspired by the sights, history, and influences of Paris. The pulsating and hallucinogenic green from the show's title also is reminiscent of Chicago's own river at a certain time of year. While Fitzpatrick's roots are always in Chicago, his mind and soul took flight in his temporary Parisian home for a few months.&nbsp;</i></p><p><i>Following is an edited transcript of our conversation from late 2018.</i></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><strong>Ginny Van Alyea: Were the dimes [in Patriot] your idea, or was that just the script?</strong></p><p><strong>Tony Fitzpatrick: </strong>Well, I was carrying hard objects around in a tube sock just to walk home, back when I had World Tattoo at 13th and Wabash.<br><br><strong>GV: What was World Tattoo?</strong><br><br><strong>TF: </strong>It was a gallery –&nbsp;6,000 square feet. And back in 1988/89, that was a pretty shit crack neighborhood. More than once would cars damn near run me over. So with the [tube] sock, I would take their fucking tail light out. Then they'd get out of the car, and I would be holding the sock and say, 'Come on.' They don't like to drive around.</p><p><strong>GV: 30 years later it’s pretty good material on TV.</strong><br><br><strong>TF: </strong>I mean, I'm 60 years-old now, and I have a second act. [<i>Patriot</i>] has put me through almost five months in Paris. I got to take a good long look at one of the cradles of Surrealism and drink all of that in –&nbsp;take into my bones what the essence of that city was.</p><p><strong>GV: What has the influence of that stay been on your art?</strong></p><p><strong>TF: </strong>This next body of work, <i>The Absinthe Birds</i>, is about love, and beauty, and sex, as well as fraudulence and failure, and the pursuit of the invisible.<br><br><strong>GV: The series that you're working on for 2019 – are those the works on the wall in your studio?</strong><br><br><strong>TF: </strong>Those are for my book that will be out in May.</p><p>The show [here at the Dime] opened on December 7 and features 20 of the 24 pieces that will be in the book. The poems are written in English, but what we're doing is working with somebody from Orleans, France to make sure that they flow in French.<br><br>&nbsp;</p><figure class=\"image\"><img src=\"https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418010/xfa2ar7w57n3oms9zsns.jpg\"><figcaption>Works in progress for Fitzpatrick's exhibitions as well as a forthcoming book.</figcaption></figure><p>&nbsp;</p><p><strong>GV: I was just going to ask if you happened to be fluent in French.</strong><br><br><strong>TF: </strong>I’m not. One of the hardest parts is making sure that everything reads right for sentences in French. When this show goes to Paris, I want the people of Paris to know, ‘I made this show for you. I love your city. It breathed new life in me as an artist.’</p><p><strong>GV: Your time in Paris affected you personally.</strong></p><p><strong>TF: </strong>It got me away from Donald Trump's America for four silent months. I was able to shut out the noise, and that's been a big challenge for me – shutting out the grind and the filth of the absolute corrupt soul of what he has inculcated in this country. What he has awoken.</p><p><strong>GV: It's happening here, whether you’re at home or abroad. What was different about being in Paris?</strong><br><br><strong>TF: </strong>I think I was able to take a very long view of how the way we live affects the rest of the world, and how frightening it is for other countries to see that this is a monkey driving a spaceship. This is a shaved ape. It's like they went to the zoo, found an albino gorilla, and they shaved it. Judging by what he says, they did not shave the smartest gorilla.</p><p><strong>GV: Were you in the left bank or right bank in Paris?</strong><br><br><strong>TF: </strong>I was in the [The Place de la]&nbsp;République, right by Marianne, in the gut at the center of Paris. It's like being a poker player. You get to see the whole board –&nbsp;everybody you're playing with. I was amazed at the absolute participatory activism there was in Paris.</p><p><strong>GV: How did you find time in Paris to do your art at the same time you were filming for four months?</strong><br><br><strong>TF: </strong>I did the ink work on a lot of [my collages]. Each one starts with a drawing.<br><br>&nbsp;</p><figure class=\"image\"><img src=\"https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418011/cpvzokzbtcn6ynpa2xuk.jpg\"><figcaption>Tony Fitzpatrick, Sacre Coeur Pigeon, 2018</figcaption></figure><p>&nbsp;</p><p><strong>GV: Were you creating pieces there?</strong></p><p><strong>TF: </strong>I had to do a lot of them in my room. I put more fucking ink stains on that carpet over there.</p><p>But you know what? They love me. So I would say to the guy from housekeeping, ‘I fucked up. I dropped a spot of ink again. Here is a little etching. I'm so sorry.’&nbsp;</p><p>The hotel framed up my etchings and put them in the lobby.</p><p><strong>GV: What was your day to day when you were there?</strong><br><br><strong>TF: </strong>Work. We would go to set –&nbsp;it was all over Paris.</p><p>We spent a couple of days shooting in Luxembourg Gardens, which I absolutely fell in love with. It's kind of a birder's paradise. A couple of times they had to come and get me. I’d wander off and be on a fucking nature walk. I saw kingfishers. I saw herons. I saw lapwings, which I've never seen. They're not over in America much. Plovers. Just incredible.<br><br><strong>GV: So it was a real refresh for you personally to go and be immersed in something else for so long.</strong><br><br><strong>TF: </strong>When we came home, we'd also moved to a new house in East Humboldt Park. In fact, when we got to the airport, we had to call [my wife] Michelle and figure out where the hell we lived.&nbsp;<br><br>So, yeah it was a refresh. It was nice.</p><p><strong>GV: What has changed for your artistic practice?</strong></p><p><strong>TF: </strong>It also gave me some real perspective about going forward with my visual art career. I don't have to do anything I don't want to do anymore.</p><p>I knew the night <i>The Secret Birds </i>opened at the De Paul Art Museum [in 2016] something would change. I looked around and my mom was so glad she was there. I thought to myself, ‘This is the last time this is ever going to happen. My mom got to see a big museum show. After this, I don't ever have to do this again.’</p><p>Then I thought that way about doing gallery exhibitions too.</p><p>What I'm really interested in now is making the work that I absolutely have to make and want to make. I don't give a fiddler's fuck if anybody buys it or not. I couldn't care less. But thankfully they do [buy it].</p><p><strong>GV: You’ve been doing more here at The Dime.</strong><br><br><strong>TF: </strong>What we're building here, this room, it's kind of magical. It's not fancy. We have clamp lights. There's really no money to make this thing fancy, but people can come in here and they can look at art.</p><p>Artists can sell art and they don't give up a dime, you know? This is an incubator. What we're building here isn't an art gallery. We're building a community. I keep telling all the other artists who show here, ‘The best asset that you have in the world is each other. Join together and support each other; act like a community and ignore the bullshit.’</p><p><strong>GV: Now there’s Jack Birdbath's scene with the dimes in Patriot, and here we are sitting in Chicago in The Dime. I've never asked where the name for this space came from.</strong><br><br><strong>TF: </strong>It's an old circus trick. A Dime Museum –&nbsp;which was the original name, we thought –&nbsp;was where you paid at the circus to see the lady with the beard, or the seal boy, &nbsp;or the [vaudeville]. The freaks.<br><br><strong>GV: This is the freak show?</strong><br><br><strong>TF: </strong>Not exactly. This was never supposed to be an open gallery. This was ...<br><br><strong>GV: Not really planned.</strong><br><br><strong>TF: </strong>No. Not really. But we've given lots of artists their first show. It’s what I want to do.</p><p><strong>GV: You've tried to let go of a lot of things you used to worry about having to do.</strong><br><br><strong>TF: </strong>You bet.<br><br>Whenever I get an email or a query from an institution in an email, I don't even read that email. I just delete it.<br><br>People who want to know where to find me? I don't give a shit.<br><br><strong>GV: It's interesting. You've had a long –</strong><br><br><strong>TF: </strong>Career of being an asshole? Yeah!&nbsp;<br><br><strong>GV: I was going to say acting career. You've been on screen and on stage quite a bit. With two seasons of </strong><i><strong>Patriot</strong></i><strong> done, are you going to try to keep balancing film and art? &nbsp;</strong><br><br><strong>TF: </strong><i>Patriot </i>didn't stop me from making art. I just figured, ‘Okay, this is what’s going on now.’ My assistant Yulia&nbsp;[Kuznetsova] was here [at the studio] while I was away. When I came home, I had a bunch of works on paper started, and a lot of them became the <i>Absinthe Birds</i>. I just kept moving, you know? In large part we can also do that because my work's portable.<br><br><strong>GV: I'm still picturing ink on the carpet and how you and Max hauled up all of your crap up the Metro stairs. Did you just bring cases of paper, and materials, and ink?</strong><br><br><strong>TF: </strong>I just did a lot of drawing – the paper and stuff I found there. Also, I found out half of the members of our [film] crew were artists. They pointed me around to stuff. There are good art supply stores of course. Plus I did some garbage digging. I’m sure they said, ‘Who's that large man digging through the French garbage? Why, that's Tony.’<br><br><strong>GV: Did you get a sense of what the art scene is like in Paris?</strong><br><br><strong>TF: </strong>Pretty cool. Street art is huge. I met a bunch of those people. We will get some of them here next year. Our show [at The Dime] on the 9th of February is an amazing husband and wife team: a Brazilian guy, Caetano Azevedo, who has lived in Paris for the last 30 years, and his wife Liza Moura, who's a French photographer. Together they have been following the refugee encampments in Paris.</p><p><strong>GV: Back to </strong><i><strong>Patriot</strong></i><strong>, I want to know more about the evolution of Jack Birdbath. You came up with the idea for the dimes in season two. Did you have more to do with his dialogue and character?&nbsp;</strong></p><p><strong>TF: </strong>I think Steven Conrad obviously wrote the character with me in mind.<br><br>We shot the pilot in 2015. When we went to series, when I saw the writing on the scripts for season one, I went, ‘Oh shit. They're not going to let me do this. They're going to give this to named actor.’ I knew it was a really good part. Those guys hung in there and dug in for me and said, ‘You are who we want to do it.’</p><p>Everyone in the cast –&nbsp;Gil Bellows, Terry O'Quinn, Debra Winger, Mike Dorman, Michael Chernus – they're all so goddamn good. I mean I've always been a lousy employee. But I skip to work every day for Patriot. I couldn't wait to get there. I couldn't wait to be part of that mix.</p><p>It was joyful, you know?</p><p>Well, it's Paris. There isn't a goddamn thing wrong with Paris. I really fucking loved Paris.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><figure class=\"media\"><oembed url=\"https://youtu.be/kD24ytD3O0Q\"></oembed></figure><p>&nbsp;</p></body></html>","published_at":"2019-01-22 12:00:00","state":"published","slug":"6511e2a7-7a9d-4ec2-8a75-2baeb79ce99e","type":"NewsPost","meta_description":"Tony Fitzpatrick on Paris and the Absinthe Birds","text":null,"created_at":"2019-01-22 18:32:36.682678","updated_at":"2019-02-26 15:48:43.056551","category_id":3,"highlighted":false,"searchable":"'000':388B '10':18B '13th':178B,374B '1988/89':394B '2':70B '20':604B '2015':2069B '2016':1282B '2018':333B,988B '2019':569B '24':607B '30':167B,186B,452B,1991B '6':387B '60':202B,467B '7':601B '9th':1968B 'abl':746B,809B 'abroad':796B 'absinth':245B,539B,1799B 'absolut':770B,936B,1100B,1356B 'act':5A,191B,214B,477B,1503B,1716B 'activ':938B 'actor':2107B 'affect':727B,822B 'ago':169B 'airport':1204B 'albino':861B 'almost':483B 'also':286B,1187B,1239B,1812B,1870B 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community are working tirelessly to support artists and bring fresh perspectives to the public. We spoke&nbsp;with five insiders about what excites them now&nbsp;and what they anticipate next.</p><p><br></p><p><em>The following preview is one of five conversations that appear in CGN's Fall 2026 magazine. To receive a copy of the print edition&nbsp;</em><a href=\"https://835ba3.myshopify.com/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\"><em>click here.</em></a></p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p><img src=\"https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1789517637/noxz9olp47gfneafz8xg.jpg\"></p><p><br></p><h4><em>Nikko Washington –&nbsp;</em></h4><h4><em>Artist</em></h4><p><br></p><p>“I’m thrilled to further expand my artistic and design practice by introducing other mediums into the mix. I’m looking forward to watching the seasons change and devoting a lot of time in the studio as well. Fall/winter is my favorite time to create new works.&nbsp;</p><p><br></p><p>I have an upcoming solo show with <a href=\"https://vsgcontemporary.com\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">VSG&nbsp;Contemporary</a> that I am excited about. The work will delve further into the topics of cultural mythology and how these tales and narratives have helped shape my worldview.&nbsp;</p><p><br></p><p>Also, it wouldn’t be right if I left out my&nbsp;excitement for this upcoming season of Chicago sports.”</p><p><br></p><p><a href=\"https://www.nikkowashington.com\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Nikko Washington</a></p><p><br></p>","published_at":"2026-09-11 00:30:00","state":"published","slug":"anticipating-a-season-of-art-five-to-talk-to-nikko-washington","type":null,"meta_description":"","text":null,"created_at":"2026-09-16 00:13:58.216","updated_at":"2026-09-16 00:13:58.216","category_id":3,"highlighted":false,"searchable":"'2026':76B 'across':19B 'also':174B 'anticip':1A,60B 'appear':71B 'art':5A 'artist':39B,90B,98B 'behind':26B 'bring':41B 'cgn':73B 'chang':117B 'chicago':191B 'click':86B 'communiti':33B 'contemporari':146B 'convers':69B 'copi':81B 'creat':135B 'cultur':161B 'delv':155B 'design':100B 'devot':119B 'edit':85B 'excit':54B,150B,185B 'exhibit':18B 'expand':96B 'fall':12B,75B 'fall/winter':129B 'favorit':132B 'five':6A,50B,68B 'follow':63B 'forward':112B 'fresh':42B 'full':15B 'galleri':20B 'help':170B 'insid':51B 'introduc':103B 'left':182B 'look':111B 'lot':121B 'm':92B,110B 'magazin':77B 'mani':29B 'medium':105B 'midwest':25B 'mix':108B 'museum':22B 'mytholog':162B 'narrat':168B 'new':136B 'next':61B 'nikko':10A,88B,193B 'offer':13B 'one':66B 'peopl':30B 'perspect':43B 'practic':101B 'preview':64B 'print':84B 'public':46B 'receiv':79B 'right':179B 'scene':28B 'season':3A,116B,189B 'shape':171B 'show':143B 'slate':16B 'solo':142B 'spoke':48B 'sport':192B 'studio':126B 'support':38B 'tale':166B 'talk':8A 'thrill':93B 'throughout':23B 'time':123B,133B 'tireless':36B 'topic':159B 'upcom':141B,188B 'vsg':145B 'washington':11A,89B,194B 'watch':114B 'well':128B 'work':35B,137B,153B 'worldview':173B 'wouldn':176B","thumbnail":"https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1788406360/ujd84dhihjroxqjs9izj.jpg","editor_pick":true},{"id":13930,"title":"Andi Crist: The Art of The Pun","excerpt":null,"body":"<p><img src=\"https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1788961823/s3lp0uull2s8mvd8funj.jpg\"></p><p><span style=\"color: rgb(136, 136, 136);\">Andi Crist, </span><em style=\"color: rgb(136, 136, 136);\">Extension Cords</em><span style=\"color: rgb(136, 136, 136);\">, Glazed stoneware, chrome, Sizes vary 2021-present. Photo: Mikey Mosher</span></p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p><strong><em>This interview is part of CGN's Fall 2026 issue.&nbsp;</em></strong><strong style=\"color: rgb(51, 51, 51);\"><em style=\"color: rgb(51, 51, 51);\"><a href=\"https://chicagogallerynews.myshopify.com/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" style=\"color: rgb(51, 51, 51);\" target=\"_blank\">Purchase a copy or subscribe</a>.</em></strong></p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p><img src=\"https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1788961824/mghrpnghxd9j9ko2dsjt.jpg\"></p><p><span style=\"color: rgb(136, 136, 136);\">Andi Crist</span></p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p>BY ALISON REILLY</p><p><br></p><p>Andi Crist’s warm, engaging demeanor is evident in the first few minutes of our conversation. Generous with her time and forthcoming in her observations, she cares deeply about building relationships through her art making. Crist grew up in Birmingham, Alabama, devoured art classes, wrote songs and played music in high school, and moved to Chicago to study visual art at Columbia College. In 2024, she received her MFA from the University of Illinois at Chicago. She is a woodworker, sculptor, ceramicist, and conceptual artist, and she teaches at Illinois Institute of Technology. We discussed her multidisciplinary practice, her experience working as an art handler, preparator, and fabricator, and how she thinks about labor, creativity, and value in the art world.&nbsp;</p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p><strong>CGN: You grew up in Birmingham, Alabama. How did that environment shape your point of view as an artist?</strong></p><p><br></p><p><strong>Andi Crist:</strong> That’s such a funny question. Nobody’s ever really asked.</p><p><br></p><p><strong>CGN: Oh, really?</strong></p><p><br></p><p><strong>AC: </strong>Yeah, maybe because I never was super connected with the arts community down in Birmingham. I moved to Chicago in 2007, so it’s been 20 years since I lived in the South. I was definitely one of those art kids—one art credit was required in high school, and I graduated with like seven. I was surrounded by artists who had a big impact on me, because they were working artists. All my art teachers were trained in Alabama and then continued to teach and work in Alabama, which gave me this desire to try to expand my community outside of what I was familiar with.</p><p><br></p><p><strong>CGN: Do you identify as a Chicagoan?</strong></p><p><br></p><p><strong>AC: </strong>My family still lives in Alabama, and I go back every year. I love being in Alabama. Maybe now being in Chicago for almost 20 years, I identify as a southerner living in the city. I carry on the social qualities of a friendly southern person [laughs].&nbsp;</p><p><br></p><p><strong>CGN:</strong> <strong>You have a varied art practice</strong><strong style=\"color: rgb(71, 71, 71);\">—</strong><strong>woodwork, ceramics, mold making. What drew you to those types of fabrication methods and that type of art making?</strong></p><p><br></p><p><strong>AC:</strong> My dad is a carpenter and a hobbyist woodworker, but his career was psychology, and my mom was a professor and an incredible craftswoman. I absorbed my mom’s model of creativity, which is to try a bunch of different things and not necessarily finish them but to try to learn as much as I can by just going for it. My practice over the years has become an exploration of conceptual elements of what makes art art and not just craft. Do you have to be a master craftsperson or a professional artist in order to make something that resonates with people?</p><p><br></p><p>I make a lot of work that references the mode of making and requires a variety of different media. I just finished teaching a ceramics production class where students learned how to produce molds, think about positives and negatives, and get into a level of production rather than just handicraft as a way to multiply their output.</p><p><br></p><p>I got into fabrication because I’ve always liked working with other artists. I have a background in theater and gallery work. I’m a voracious learner, and I like being able to share those skills with my community. Then I end up making work about that. It’s a self-feeding cycle.</p><p><br></p><p><img src=\"https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1788961825/zzejqwibga5f5wk6einh.jpg\"></p><p><span style=\"color: rgb(136, 136, 136);\">Andi Crist,&nbsp;</span><em style=\"color: rgb(136, 136, 136);\">Artist’s Ladder</em><span style=\"color: rgb(136, 136, 136);\">, 2023.&nbsp;Photo: Jeff Perlman</span></p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p><strong>CGN: Thinking about your background as an art handler and preparator</strong><strong style=\"color: rgb(59, 62, 65);\">—</strong><strong>how did you get to the point where you were making work about that experience?</strong></p><p><br></p><p><strong>AC: </strong>In 2010, right before I graduated from Columbia, I was living in a storefront in West Logan Square with my partner at the time. We started a gallery called Autotelic in the space and had to build it out using the worst tools with very minimal resources. Then we started curating shows there and that meant helping other artists figure out how to install their work in our unusual space. Eventually, I gained the reputation for knowing how to do that type of work. I started getting invited to work in museums and galleries.&nbsp;</p><p><br></p><p>The Holocaust Museum was the first museum I worked at, and as difficult as that subject matter is, that experience was really important to me because I was learning more about the larger world of gallery work. As an artist working as a preparator, you’re straddling both sides of that space. You’re really seeing how the sausage is made. You’re hearing all the conversations about artists, curators, the process of exhibition making. There is a lot of information you can gather about the economics of the art world by just being the person that has the know-how to touch and handle artwork. Eventually that started feeding into my art practice because I wanted to make work that was contributing to a conversation around art as a type of job. It fueled a methodology of seeing everything in the world as the result of a long line of processes that required effort and thoughtfulness by many hands.</p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p><img src=\"https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1788961826/uv5bysb5fbne30gr5czh.jpg\"></p><p><span style=\"color: rgb(136, 136, 136);\">Andi Crist, </span><em style=\"color: rgb(136, 136, 136);\">Fair Warning</em><span style=\"color: rgb(136, 136, 136);\">, 2025.</span></p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p><strong>CGN: The title of your recent exhibition at the Cleve Carney Museum—<em>Live, Laugh, Lo</em>—sorry, not <em>Live, Laugh, Love</em>—<em>Live, Laugh, Labor</em>.</strong></p><p><br></p><p><strong>AC:</strong> [Laughs] That’s what everybody does.</p><p><br></p><p><strong>CGN: I love the title—it’s perfect. You incorporate humor along with thoughtful critiques about labor and value in your work. What role does humor play? How does it help you connect with your audience?</strong></p><p><br></p><p><strong>AC:</strong> One of my biggest criticisms of art with a capital A is how easily it can be overly intellectualized. I think that’s why I end up making a lot of work that references things that already exist or have some kind of real purpose. It’s important to give people a foothold so there’s an obvious place to board that train of thought. As an artist—maybe this is me getting into a sweeping argument about what artists should be—but I personally believe in intellectual accessibility. Humor is a swift way to drop defenses and allow people to come in without feeling like they are not getting the joke or not understanding. I like to make work that can hold both of those things at the same time—it’s funny on the surface level, it’s kind of cheeky, but there’s also another way to look at it that is intellectually clever. There is a joy in the attempt to “get it”. Like the satisfaction of grasping how a crossword puzzle actually works.</p><p><br></p><p>It’s also so much a part of my personality. I take myself seriously as an artist, but my ego isn’t at the heart of it. It’s really something that I do because I love to make things, and I love to connect with other people. My parents raised me on puns, creating those language relationships between things and people and space. Understanding a joke is the same way that we understand art, and while neither of my parents would consider themselves artists, they taught me how to think about art.</p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p><img src=\"https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1788961828/gnotyfijabr7e15kb6hm.jpg\"></p><p><span style=\"color: rgb(136, 136, 136);\">Andi Crist,&nbsp;</span><em style=\"color: rgb(136, 136, 136);\">69 Bananas</em></p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p><strong>CGN: Your work, <em>Artist’s Ladder</em>, explores hierarchies, workplace cultures, and institutional values. What experiences shaped your reflections on these themes?</strong></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><strong>AC:</strong> The ladder piece distinctly represents the complicated relationship between front of house, back of house, and the hierarchy of labor. Who is the artist in those relationships? How much does another person’s knowledge and expertise contribute to the success of another artist?</p><p><br></p><p>There are enormous, industrialized art practices out there, warehouses full of people making things, and those people are also artists. When you make work that involves other people, it’s important to acknowledge their contributions. I’ve had complicated interactions with other artists who are like, ‘Hey, do you want to collaborate with me on this thing?’ but really they just want me to make their idea. I made <em>Artist’s Ladder</em> while I was in grad school at UIC, and it really represented my relationship with a lot of other artists, because I could be an actual support structure for them. Then it turned into this absurd physical thing. It’s extremely overbuilt with inlaid racing stripes made of exotic hardwood, and a butcher’s block-style plaid top. It’s not really like an FU as much as it is asking for acknowledgement of my skills and the essential support structures that exist.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><strong>CGN: I want to ask you about another piece, <em>Five O’Clock Somewhere</em>, a wool rug that resembles a children’s play mat. I work at a library, and it reminded me of rugs I see all the time. It’s a peaceful image of an office park with a large fountain surrounded by a parking lot. I’m curious why you chose a rug as the medium to depict that image.</strong></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><strong style=\"color: rgb(38, 38, 38);\">AC: </strong><span style=\"color: rgb(38, 38, 38);\">To me </span>the heart of that joke was that it was a landscape. I wanted it to be physically traversable. And that was, I don’t want to say controversial, but it was something that I had to talk about a lot.<span style=\"color: rgb(38, 38, 38);\"> </span>The critique of that work was the fact that I didn’t want to hang it on the wall and turn it into a tapestry. I really wanted it to be a rug that people could walk on. When I showed that work at Chicago Artists Coalition for the New City Breakout Artists show. There was a lot of pushback about having it on the floor and allowing people to walk on it.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>That, to me, was such an important conversation, because, in my mind, the fact that you could walk across it and traverse it was part of how I was thinking about the object. Rugs are utilitarian–they are floor coverings. When you make art that doesn’t do anything, you don’t get to participate in that part of the conversation.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>I enjoy sparring around art like that. I am totally tickled by the pushback. The critique of display is exciting, and sorting through the politics of utilitarianism in art spaces is fun to me. And then—it was so crazy—we ended up showing it halfway on the wall and halfway on the ground.&nbsp;</p><p><br></p><p><img src=\"https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1788961829/r1zylkwfw9rkw191skdl.jpg\"></p><p><span style=\"color: rgb(136, 136, 136);\">Andi Crist, </span><em style=\"color: rgb(136, 136, 136);\">Five O’Clock Somewhere</em><span style=\"color: rgb(136, 136, 136);\">, on display at </span><em style=\"color: rgb(136, 136, 136);\">Live, Laugh, Labor: Thoughts on Usefulness and Other Myths</em><span style=\"color: rgb(136, 136, 136);\"> at The Cleve Carney Museum of Art, 2025.</span></p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p><strong>CGN: Oh, wow.</strong></p><p><br></p><p><strong>AC: </strong>I was like, this is the epitome of compromise! I had to build a structure so that it could hang that way safely.&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><strong>CGN: I would say just put it on the ground if that’s what you want to do. It’s interesting that there are still very fixed ideas about the way that art should be displayed.</strong></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><strong>AC: </strong>That preparator part of it, that’s what I’m all about. I was having that conversation about what physically supports the work or what conceptually supports it in the way that it’s shown.&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><strong>CGN: Have you always been a writer? How do your art and writing practices work together?&nbsp;</strong></p><p><br></p><p><strong>AC: </strong>I can’t say that I’m a writer, it’s probably the same way that it can feel weird to call yourself an artist. But I feel like I’ve always been relatively good at writing. The first time I ever did any kind of professional writing was contributing,&nbsp;a long time ago, to a website called eHow. The editors would send me a title, and then I would have to research how to do that thing. Then I would write out step-by-step instructions for how to do that.&nbsp;</p><p><br></p><p>I think that’s how I had to make myself think through my conceptual practice—I had to do the research, coagulate that into some kind of document, and then I would have stream-of-consciousness conversations with myself. “Why are we interested in this? Why would we make it this way? What would I want to talk about if someone were to ask me about this?” It’s almost like I was pre-interviewing myself.&nbsp;</p><p><br></p><p>I think the writing is just another way for me to process that idea before I put in all of the time and energy to actually accomplish it.&nbsp;</p><p><br></p><p><strong>CGN: What are you working on right now? What projects do you have coming up?</strong></p><p><br></p><p><strong>AC: </strong>The biggest project that I have right now is my house. My family and I suffered a major house fire on New Year’s Day. We’ve been displaced since then and are navigating rebuilding our house. It was a total loss.&nbsp;</p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p><img src=\"https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1788961830/kekfqzf9f87fq48juogh.jpg\"></p><p><span style=\"color: rgb(136, 136, 136);\">Andi Crist, </span><em style=\"color: rgb(136, 136, 136);\">Single-Use Fireplace</em><span style=\"color: rgb(136, 136, 136);\">, 2025. Photo: Mikey Mosher.</span></p><p><br></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><strong>CGN: I’m so sorry to hear that.&nbsp;</strong></p><p><br></p><p><strong>AC: </strong>Thank you. We’re all okay, but it’s been a really tumultuous year. I moved my studio into a storefront last summer, and so most of my, at least relatively recent, work is safe, and I still have all of my materials, but my home life is starting over. I just had my first full year at this space, and it’s got a little gallery built out in the front called Coming Soon. It’s beautiful with floor-to-ceiling windows on Division and Central Park. I’ve been inviting people into the space to try things out.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>After teaching the ceramics class, I came into a bunch of nice slip casting molds, and I’m making some really playful, weird, ceramic stuff. I want to be open and not put too much pressure on myself. Having a big studio by myself is very expensive, so it’s easy to want to make it feel like it’s worth it. But if for now all I can do is make it a resource for other people, then that will be the thing I do. Be less selfish, but more selfish with my time. Saying I can’t do that, or I don’t want to do that. It’s not my nature to say no—I’m such a yes man. I’m learning how to be a yes man for myself.&nbsp;</p><p><br></p><p><strong>CGN: That makes sense after going through something so traumatic.</strong></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><strong>AC:</strong> I have an amazing support system. Our friends started a GoFundMe. It was incredible. I’m so humbled and floored by how held I felt by Chicago. I can’t help but throw a little shout out to my Chicago people. I can see how people’s lives get totally ruined by this kind of tragedy. I feel so lucky. Chicago definitely showed its love back.&nbsp;</p><p><br></p><p><strong>CGN: For your project Coming Soon, are you bringing in other artists?</strong></p><p><br></p><p><strong>AC: </strong>My philosophy is that I want to be involved as little as possible. I am thinking about it more as a hosted than curated space. I’m actively soliciting proposals or ideas for workshops, meetings, book clubs—I’m down for making it a resource, whatever that means. I don’t want to over-think it, I want it to be an intuitive and organic thing, which is why I call it Coming Soon—it can be a placeholder for anything. It’s exciting. Taking my hands off the reins is a good exercise for me.</p><p><br></p><p><a href=\"https://www.andicrist.com/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">andicrist.com</a></p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p><img src=\"https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1788961831/gno5dhliwfnzpuaim78s.jpg\"></p><p><span style=\"color: rgb(136, 136, 136);\">Andi Crist, </span><em style=\"color: rgb(136, 136, 136);\">Extension Cords</em><span style=\"color: rgb(136, 136, 136);\">, Glazed stoneware, chrome, Sizes vary 2021-present. Photo: Mikey Mosher</span></p><p><br></p><p><br></p>","published_at":"2026-09-10 01:00:00","state":"published","slug":"andi-crist-the-art-of-the-pun","type":null,"meta_description":"","text":null,"created_at":"2026-09-09 13:50:32.441","updated_at":"2026-09-09 13:50:32.441","category_id":3,"highlighted":false,"searchable":"'20':224B,338B '2007':219B '2010':639B '2021':17B,2614B '2023':607B '2024':106B '2025':897B,1789B,2169B '2026':30B '69':1238B 'abl':579B 'absorb':413B 'absurd':1412B 'ac':198B,313B,387B,637B,921B,964B,1261B,1533B,1793B,1853B,1905B,2120B,2181B,2427B,2506B 'access':1053B 'accomplish':2103B 'acknowledg':1337B,1450B 'across':1667B 'activ':2534B 'actual':1141B,1402B,2102B 'ago':1959B 'alabama':82B,169B,278B,287B,319B,330B 'alison':40B 'allow':1063B,1643B 'almost':337B,2069B 'along':939B 'alreadi':1001B 'also':1111B,1145B,1323B 'alway':555B,1892B,1937B 'amaz':2431B 'andi':1A,8B,37B,42B,182B,602B,893B,1236B,1764B,2163B,2605B 'andicrist.com':2604B 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We spoke&nbsp;with five insiders about what excites them now&nbsp;and what they anticipate next.</p><p><br></p><p><em>The following preview is one of five conversations that appear in CGN's Fall 2026 magazine. To receive a copy of the print edition&nbsp;</em><a href=\"https://835ba3.myshopify.com/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\"><em>click here.&nbsp;</em></a></p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p><img src=\"https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1789516769/izokunnmrufdyjbjnypk.jpg\"></p><h4><em>Debra Kerr –&nbsp;</em></h4><h4><em>CEO, Intuit Art Museum</em></h4><p><br></p><p>“Intuit Art Museum’s renovated, expanded spaces give audiences the chance to connect with art through daily art-making, third Thursday Art After Work, group Slow Looks designed to provide a mindful experience with a single work and upcoming conversations with sculptor Bill Brady (Oct. 3) and Dr. Mary Trent (Oct. 15), who curated our current exhibition on the role of scrapbook-making in Henry Darger’s art.&nbsp;</p><p><br></p><p>On view is the thought-provoking <em>Monumental: The Sculpture of Dr. Charles Smith</em>, which encourages guests to consider the lack of historical representation of African Americans and Black people in America. Dr. Smith’s memorials champion Black history and stories of everyday life he sees missing in mainstream narratives.&nbsp;</p><p><br></p><p>This fall we’re opening an exhibition of paintings by Karla Wong, an artist who immigrated from Oaxaca and who explores themes of life and death, gender identity and self-discovery.”</p><p><br></p><p><a href=\"https://art.org\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Intuit Art Museum</a></p>","published_at":"2026-09-09 00:30:00","state":"published","slug":"anticipating-a-season-of-art-five-to-talk-to-debra-kerr","type":null,"meta_description":"","text":null,"created_at":"2026-09-15 23:59:29.662","updated_at":"2026-09-15 23:59:29.662","category_id":3,"highlighted":false,"searchable":"'15':146B '2026':76B '3':140B 'across':19B 'african':189B 'america':195B 'american':190B 'anticip':1A,60B 'appear':71B 'art':5A,92B,95B,108B,112B,116B,163B,247B 'art-mak':111B 'artist':39B,227B 'audienc':102B 'behind':26B 'bill':137B 'black':192B,201B 'bradi':138B 'bring':41B 'ceo':90B 'cgn':73B 'champion':200B 'chanc':104B 'charl':176B 'click':86B 'communiti':33B 'connect':106B 'consid':182B 'convers':69B,134B 'copi':81B 'curat':148B 'current':150B 'daili':110B 'darger':161B 'death':239B 'debra':10A,88B 'design':122B 'discoveri':245B 'dr':142B,175B,196B 'edit':85B 'encourag':179B 'everyday':206B 'excit':54B 'exhibit':18B,151B,220B 'expand':99B 'experi':127B 'explor':234B 'fall':12B,75B,215B 'five':6A,50B,68B 'follow':63B 'fresh':42B 'full':15B 'galleri':20B 'gender':240B 'give':101B 'group':119B 'guest':180B 'henri':160B 'histor':186B 'histori':202B 'ident':241B 'immigr':229B 'insid':51B 'intuit':91B,94B,246B 'karla':224B 'kerr':11A,89B 'lack':184B 'life':207B,237B 'look':121B 'magazin':77B 'mainstream':212B 'make':113B,158B 'mani':29B 'mari':143B 'memori':199B 'midwest':25B 'mind':126B 'miss':210B 'monument':171B 'museum':22B,93B,96B,248B 'narrat':213B 'next':61B 'oaxaca':231B 'oct':139B,145B 'offer':13B 'one':66B 'open':218B 'paint':222B 'peopl':30B,193B 'perspect':43B 'preview':64B 'print':84B 'provid':124B 'provok':170B 'public':46B 're':217B 'receiv':79B 'renov':98B 'represent':187B 'role':154B 'scene':28B 'scrapbook':157B 'scrapbook-mak':156B 'sculptor':136B 'sculptur':173B 'season':3A 'see':209B 'self':244B 'self-discoveri':243B 'singl':130B 'slate':16B 'slow':120B 'smith':177B,197B 'space':100B 'spoke':48B 'stori':204B 'support':38B 'talk':8A 'theme':235B 'third':114B 'thought':169B 'thought-provok':168B 'throughout':23B 'thursday':115B 'tireless':36B 'trent':144B 'upcom':133B 'view':165B 'wong':225B 'work':35B,118B,131B","thumbnail":"https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1788406120/wgkj5rkg0rq42watsxad.jpg","editor_pick":true}]}