Modern Movement, 2009, marker on paper, 24 x 18 inches

Author's Note: These drawngs are true to their actual appearance. They are airy and subtle, and in/… Read full post »

Around # 5 (small), 2011, oil on canvas, 19 x 39”     (larger image)

Shona Macdonald’s landscapes offer the simplicity and affirmation of knowing our imaginary wanderings through, around and beyond her images are not thwarted by any limitations. Our ey… Read full post »

I was thinking about how images sometimes take our minds to a place that transcends the very substance that makes up the content of the picture we are looking at. As an addendum to memory, photographs offer a priceless role in helping us to… Read full post »

That’s me talking to the photographer, Steven Gross, over one of the many breakfasts we shared at Chin’s Diner, at Canal and 18^th Street, on the south side of Chicago  

© 1982 Steven E. Gross   Chicago

 I… Read full post »

  

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These gazes are real, as visual fiction goes, and they serve us with plausible anecdotes for placing synthetic figures in an American landscape. Many have been cast out of their original situations, and are most likely victims, each with an… Read full post »

In a small midwestern community of the late 1950’s, there was a pattern in the divination of space and opportunity. There were jobs…good ones.  Characters were welcome, taking up the spaces between success and the commonplace.  We were coming off of the e/… Read full post »

 _{George V Justis    1943     Senior Medical Corpsman}

_{serving primarily in the Pacific Theater} 

In the times I have stood and thought of this marvelous man, a stoic provider of safety and light, of reassurance…of beginnings, of time and… Read full post »

 Dimmitt’s Grove, Bloomington, IL    October 2011

My camera is protection against the agents of the unseen worlds, an instrument held snugly between my eye and images that startle the imagination.

At this time of year, in the month of October, w… Read full post »

For some people in our age, solitude can be luxury, and during intense activities with the mind or hand, deep emersion makes time irrelevant, at least for the… Read full post »

Homage to Tom Selleck (jokingly referencing his famous mustache, but this form could be easily interpreted as something… Read full post »

(mid 20^th Century) Good friends are thrilled to figure out a placement for a newly stuffed chum.

I first heard about Partial Taxidermy (PT) when I was an art student in college. My actor friends used the term to describe people who… Read full post »

The exciting activities of Heavy Brow Gallery are a welcome addition to our historic town, and the levels of interest this small space generates are extraordinary. When you compare the non-profit, independent exhibition space to other venues in Chicago (The Suburban comes to mind)… Read full post »

 Carin, a stunning installation in 2009 by Emily Smith, in its first iteration, fabric,paper, batting, dimensions variable

Dysfunction in the realm of a child’s activities is usually seen as the byproduct of immature thinking, and indistinct actions. The inverse perceptio… Read full post »

A Visual Artist’s material production ultimately finds itself in the complex, audacious and risky business of mounting a public exhibition. Historically, exhibitions are repositories of ideas that are… Read full post »

The window light of a house resembles honey when you are viewing both with some physical and intellectual distance. Window light and honey have fluidity, and a golden character. They describe a dense, and slightly distorted space, through which objects pass, float, or… Read full post »

Our beloved studio mate, Rupie the 23 year-old Eurasian Collared Dove 

Sculptors are generally interested in two-dimensional images as a tool for thinking and conceptualizing ideas in three dimensions. We are builders of objects, and managers of the seemingly unyielding processes for c… Read full post »

Distressed barn in Logan County, near Lincoln, Illinois, February 1, 2011 photo by GaryJustis 

(Larger Image) 

The warnings from the car radio always seem to interrupt photography. With rumors of an unparalleled storm approaching, I was nonetheless reluctant to tur… Read full post »

 _{anonymous snapshot Champaign, Illinois Airport October 24, 1960}

Fifty years ago, I was seven years old. Kennedy had been elected president, and I was fascinated that a guy who looked like some of my high school teachers could be living in the White House.… Read full post »

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Along College Avenue in Bloomington-Normal Illinois, an anonymous family has assembled an army. The soldiers have been gathered together around a small property, where the only signs of life are scores of illuminated characters.

The troop is represented by many factions… Read full post »

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 _{courtesy of Studio Magazine}

_{© 2010 Gary Justis and Steve Arney}
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_{That’s me around the time I was trying to make nice with the street gang in our South Side Chicago neighborhood.              © 1982 Steven E. Gross   Chicago}

On the streets and sidewalks of Old… Read full post »