{"article":{"id":1616,"title":"A Man Walks Into a Museum: For Tony Fitzpatrick, 2021 is a Return to More Than Before","excerpt":"","body":"<p><img src=\"https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1761315735/avpnqhlkoohtgafvnx2g.png\"></p><p>Tony Fitzpatrick. Photo: Peter Rosenbaum</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><em>Fall 2021 CGN Cover Interview. </em></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>By GINNY VAN ALYEA</p><p>Fresh from a positive report from his cardiologist, artist Tony Fitzpatrick invites me to sit down and indulge in some fried chicken and cake. Following a 2015 heart attack Fitzpatrick, at 63, is full of life and fire. A widely-known creative force in Chicago and well beyond, the artist says he was given a second act (or third, or fourth, if you listen to his stories of previous close calls) in order to keep making art.&nbsp;</p><p><br></p><p>Fitzpatrick’s stories are legend, and he loves a listener. More than that, he loves an audience. He’s sure to get one this October, when he opens <em>Jesus of Western Avenue</em>, an expansive exhibition taking place at the <a rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/jesus-of-western-avenue\" target=\"_blank\">Cleve Carney Museum of Art</a> in suburban Glen Ellyn. The artist will also be publishing <em>Apostles of Humboldt Park</em>, a book featuring a collection of work Fitzpatrick created in isolation: signature drawing collages of birds he’s observed and admired throughout Chicago’s famed west side park.</p><p><br></p><p>As much as Fitzpatrick loves connecting with people and sharing his stories, from Facebook to a theater stage, he seems most at home in his west side studio, working on his latest collages as well as directing deliveries and shipments of art, hosting visitors or introducing artists and collectors through exhibitions at The Dime and T.F. Projects. If Western Avenue is the solar system, Fitzpatrick might be its sun. There is a gravitational pull that keeps everything in orbit around this particular star.&nbsp;</p><p><br></p><p>Fitzpatrick wears his heart (tatooed) on his sleeve. There is no speak softly and carry a big stick. There is if you don’t like what he says, you can see yourself out. What pours from Fitzpatrick’s stream of unselfconsciousness are positions on a multitude of topics. When Fitzpatrick took to Facebook during 2020’s lockdown to encourage fellow citizens to be masked and socially distant, he chose the hashtag #staythefuckhome over the more pedestrian, #StayHomeStaySafe.</p><p><br></p><p>Art, not surprisingly, occupies many of Fitzpatrick’s areas of opinion. For the dozen or so years I’ve known him, Fitzpatrick has frequently shared that he dislikes art fairs. The multi-day, scene-obsessed frenzy they can generate has represented, for him, the apex of all that can be obscenely money-driven, ego-centric and just plain ridiculous about the art world. However, during a recent shared ride to attend the funeral of a friend, Fitzpatrick had the chance to tell Tony Karman, founder of EXPO Chicago, one of the country’s most prominent contemporary <em>art fairs</em>, that he sees fairs in a different light now.&nbsp;</p><p><br></p><p>Where he once ranted at the affront of an art marketplace that seemed to rule at the expense of true creativity and art appreciation, he says he now realizes that when many people gather for fairs there are celebrations of art as well as unparalleled opportunities for idea sharing and artist recognition; not everyone is a self-interested speculator. The professional convergence and standards set at the best art fairs have facilitated timely and productive discussions and projects that benefit a broader public. Fitzpatrick sees Karman, amidst a landscape more challenging than ever, as a man trying to harness the best forces of the market in order to bring people together – to Chicago – in a way that positively moves art and artists forward together.&nbsp;</p><p><br></p><p>“I think Tony’s been a good steward of culture in this city. He’s the most brutal optimist you’ve ever met in your life. It’s infectious,” Fitzpatrick exalts.&nbsp;</p><p><br></p><p>This about face is just one sign that Fitzpatrick continues to be full of surprises. He considers, “I got a new lease on life from heart surgery, and I lead a really different life now. I swim every single morning. I don’t eat fried chicken a lot (just today).” His opinions, as well as his habits, are like the man himself: sometimes stubborn, but never immoveable.&nbsp;</p><p><br></p><p>“In the last five years I realized the glass is half full. I wasn’t looking for the good, but I found it. I learned that even just walking around Humboldt park could do me a world of good. I’ve gotten into birding in a big way and also become kind of an activist on behalf of birds and the environment.”&nbsp;</p><p><br></p><p>With more time to himself in 2020, except for socially distanced jigsaw puzzle deliveries via pizza peel to friends and clients, Fitzpatrick says he had the chance to care more about the local and global environment and how change relates to weather as well as his much loved local birds. “That’s one issue I think we really have to face as a culture and as artists – being better stewards of our planet. Everything’s changed. I think COVID kind of made us somebody else.”&nbsp;</p><p><br></p><p>Fitzpatrick has also been a sort of activist on behalf of emerging artists who need mentoring support and exhibition exposure and has launched several gallery spaces in Chicago, from partnering on AdventureLand, to founding The Dime, and the newer T.F. Projects. In each case he has sought to adjust the traditional gallery model from an even split between dealer and artist to one that favors the artist. Fitzpatrick recently appointed a new full-time director, Rachael Raab-Wasaff, to manage the galleries and lead from a female vantage point, while also managing Fitzpatrick’s career, freeing him up to work on his art.&nbsp;</p><p><br></p><p><img src=\"https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1761315736/r35o7oqd6exebe4dkbta.png\"></p><p><em>Blackhawk, Illinois Indigo Bunting (Dreaming of Stars)</em>, 2021</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Of course, Fitzpatrick is really never just making art. He’s also designing puzzles, publishing books, collaborating on public art–he unveiled a large-scale mural for Steppenwolf Theater Company this summer–and preparing for what he says will be his final museum show this fall, at the Cleve Carney Museum of Art.</p><p><br></p><p>“I feel really good about the exhibition,” says Fitzpatrick. “Right now we have at least 75 pieces in it, so far. We may have to cut, but we’re working with a lot at this point.”&nbsp;</p><p><br></p><p>The Cleve Carney Museum of Art, formerly the Cleve Carney Art Gallery, part of the College of DuPage and the McAninch Art Center, underwent a renovation and expansion of its galleries as well as a name change in 2019, in anticipation of <em>Frida Kahlo: Timeless</em>, which, along with Fitzpatrick’s show, was delayed for a year due to the pandemic.&nbsp;</p><p><br></p><p>When I ask about Fitzpatrick’s connection to the museum, he reveals, “I started caddying for Cleve Carney’s father, Marv Carney, in the 70s when I was about 12.” Looking across the table at Fitzpatrick, wearing his favorite White Sox hat and with gray in his beard, his fair skin mostly obscured by colorful tattoos, I am trying to picture him as a country club caddy, let alone a pre-teen. Fitzpatrick confirms he was never a golfer. “Why would I wear funny pants and chase a little ball around?” he asks me. He explains, however, that he was particularly good at reading greens, a skill he possessed because his drawing acumen helped him understand planes and trajectories.&nbsp;</p><p><br></p><p>Fitzpatrick emphasizes that he learned a lot from that time. “You wouldn’t think it would be the job that most formed me, but it did. I learned how to win graciously, and how to lose gracefully.” Fitzpatrick also got to practice the art of listening (to more than a few dirty jokes), as well as getting, and holding, someone’s attention – skills that would all be put to use when he would later perform and tell stories in theaters and on film.&nbsp;</p><p><br></p><p>He says, “I had a remarkably bad attitude, but Marv liked me because I read his putts, and they played for money.” Following some remarks on the course one day–Carney let Fitzpatrick know he needed a haircut as well as an attitude adjustment–when asked what he was going to do with himself in life, Fitzpatrick responded, “I wanna be an artist.” To which Carney exclaimed, “Fuck. You’re not going to make any money. My kid’s into that. He just got out of law school. Every damn dime he makes, he spends on art.” Carney offered to introduce Fitzpatrick and his son the next time he was out golfing.&nbsp;</p><p><br></p><p>However stern Marv was, Fitzpatrick says, Cleve was a lot of fun. “If I were to liken him to something in nature, it would be a pond full of otters.” When he did get to know Cleve, eventually Fitzpatrick showed him some drawings, and Cleve, in his late 20s at that point, responded by telling the young artist about many others, such as the German expressionists, and the artists of the Weimar Republic. When Fitzpatrick shared that he wanted to learn how to make etchings, Cleve pointed him to study Hogarth, and Picasso. “He really came to me with the right things at the exact right time [in the 70s.] When I started making a name for myself in the 80s, Cleve was the first guy to come to my studio, and every time he came, he would buy something. He was just unbelievably kind and supportive of me.”&nbsp;</p><p><br></p><p>Cleve Carney built a major art collection over the years and championed a wide range of nonprofits and causes throughout Chicago. His 2012 donation of $1 million in cash and art to the college helped establish the Cleve Carney Arts Gallery which became the Cleve Carney Museum of Art in 2019. Fitzpatrick knew he had to do this exhibition, the one he says will be his last museum show, because he credits the support of this one man with making him an artist.&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>*</p><p><br></p><p><img src=\"https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1761315737/vscybt9k2moxbjs2elgp.jpg\"></p><p>Left: <em>Western Avenue (Street of Crocodiles), </em>2021; Right: <em>The Emerald Bird (Absinthe Bird for Lenora Carrington) </em>drawing collage, 2018</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>I’ve heard Fitzpatrick talk about lasts before, so knowing he’s looking to keep going, following his heart attack, rather than call it quits, I press him if he really means it. Does he wonder what new, impossible to pass up offer could still come along?&nbsp;</p><p><br></p><p>“The museum thing, for sure it’s the last,” he responds. “It’s time to get out of the way for people who don’t look like me. If I deal myself out of that equation, then some institutional wall space becomes available for somebody else. I think it’s important for us to create some equity, and it starts with every single artist.”&nbsp;</p><p><br></p><p>He emphasizes the significance in artists recognizing that they are each other’s advocates as well as worthy of accepting each other’s support. “The one thing the community has to realize is the most valuable assets we have are each other. Most things one artist cannot do by themselves. You put four or five of them together, and you can move mountains.”</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>*</p><p><br></p><p><img src=\"https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1761315738/oeufjhadvmcevvbjqezm.webp\"></p><p>Art work for Fitzpatrick's mural,<em> Night and Day in the Garden of All Other Ecstasies.</em></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Fitzpatrick’s new Steppenwolf Theater mural, titled <em>Night and Day in the Garden of All Other Ecstasies</em> and completed this spring, may also be his last mural in Chicago. Created in honor of the theater’s former artistic director, and Fitzpatrick’s friend, Martha Lavey, it represents the evolution of the storied company. At 12 feet high by 76 feet long, the mural hits some firsts for Fitzpatrick–his first outdoor mural and his largest work to date. Artist Danny Torres is credited with the laborious process of digitizing Fitzpatrick’s images for the mural inch by inch, which took him six weeks before they could be transferred to tile by a company in Italy. The quality and durability of the images on tile means that the mural won’t be as vulnerable to degradation by sun or weather. Says Fitzpatrick, “I think it’s a future of public art. I love the romance of painting onto something, like Michelangelo, but how often is most of that covered up?”&nbsp;</p><p><br></p><p>Coming off of the Steppenwolf mural, Fitzpatrick and Torres started their own company–Fitzpatrick, Torres, Humboldt, Caballo–and are now looking for opportunities around the country and the world. Though this is supposed to be the last one they do in Chicago, time will tell. Either way, their work will not end.&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>*</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Whereas some people become more stubborn with age, swearing off new things, and people, Fitzpatrick thrives on fresh energy. His friendship and business partnership with Torres, who is about half Fitzpatrick’s age, was also borne from what followed Fitzpatrick’s heart attack. Torres’s aunt, a cardio rehabilitation nurse at St Mary’s Hospital where Fitzpatrick received care, called Fitzpatrick. He recalls, “She just says, ‘This is Rosa, who restored you to life. I want you to meet my nephew, who is a marvelous artist.’ The minute we started talking, it was like we knew each other. We were already kind of the same.”&nbsp;</p><p><br></p><p>Fitzpatrick liked Torres and wanted to support him, so they talked about taking 18 months to get enough work ready to hang at AdventureLand, the gallery which used to be where T.F. Projects is now. Torres sold out his first show on the opening night. Not long after that was when Steppenwolf approached Fitzpatrick about the mural for their new building. He knew he could make the maquettes but he would need a top crew of artists to work with to execute it on a grand scale. Torres was his first choice. And once COVID altered the project’s entire timeline and prospects, just the two of them were mainly left to see it through.&nbsp;</p><p><br></p><p>“No one could say they knew what [COVID-19] was yet,” Fitzpatrick recalls, “We were kind of lost for a while, until Mike Tobin, the head of Steppenwolf’s board, introduced us to the guys at Imola Ceramica.” Around for centuries, the company became known for fabricating decorative porcelain and ceramic tea sets before delving into cutting edge imaging about 30–35 years ago. That connection made the Steppenwolf mural’s production possible, and it also revealed new collaborations for Fitzpatrick and Torres, as well as any future players who come into their orbit.&nbsp;</p><p><br></p><p>The mural commission was obviously a significant artistic and business win for Fitzpatrick and his team, but what he says he finds most valuable is the work as public art in Chicago that will last long after he is gone.&nbsp;</p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p>“To do this in a public way, where people don’t have to pay a dime to see it? I love that.”</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><em>Jesus of Western Avenue</em> is on view at the <a rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/jesus-of-western-avenue\" target=\"_blank\">Cleve Carney Museum of Art</a>: October 16–Jan 31, 2022</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><img src=\"https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1761315739/yya9ayqnlsfbmbsiyrug.png\"></p><p>Tony signing limited edition posters for Steve Earle's tribune album to his son Justin Townes Earle</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>","published_at":"2021-08-23 06:00:00","state":"published","slug":"a-man-walks-into-a-museum-for-tony-fitzpatrick-2021-is-a-return-to-more-than-before","type":"NewsPost","meta_description":"","text":null,"created_at":"2025-10-24 14:22:19.407","updated_at":"2025-10-24 14:22:19.407","category_id":3,"highlighted":true,"searchable":"'-19':2301B '1':1585B '12':1125B,1906B '16':2464B '18':2191B '2012':1582B '2015':54B '2018':1661B '2019':1074B,1610B '2020':329B,754B 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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.</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. 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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}]}