Chasing Landscapes

This month, Vertical Gallery, an art gallery in Chicago focused on urban, contemporary & street art, is presenting an exhibition called Pizza In The Rain ‘Landscapes’, commemorating “the conclusion of a 13-month-long collaborative public art project celebrating the architecture of the Windy City.” 

I documented the first Pizza In The Rain piece I obtained when it slid off the wall— Paris—  in my recent book, Arte Agora: Art made, sold, or placed in the public way. Buy!

I consider Pizza In The Rain (PITR) to be one of the best purveyors of Arte Agora. That’s in part because he’s accomplished as an artist—  a precise, expert renderer of street, architecture, and emotion— but also because he is consciously devoted to the placement of his work in the public way. 

As Vertical Gallery puts it, Pizza In The Rain “has long drawn inspiration from creating and displaying work in non-traditional environments… PITR continues to work almost exclusively in public spaces, with an emphasis on creating art that harmoniously interacts with its surrounding environs.”

Vertical Gallery founder and owner Patrick Hull said: “Because they’re wheat-paste, these pieces can last as little as a day. Others have lasted two years. You just don’t know. It’s a true street art experience.”  The installation of pieces in the series was masterfully documented by photographer Jeremy Mercado.

This is my kinetic contemporary art criticism. For each item I’ve removed, I note location, method of removal, and other notes that indicate the joy of documenting, collecting, indexing, and archiving some of the finest art being published today. I show the piece in situ, and in conservation. 

Where the Landscapes project has discipline and rigor, my own criticism is based on idiosyncrasy and chance. Where they place for consumption, I seek to remove and conserve. They plan their spots, and mine are chosen for me as I walk.

With provenance comes accountability. See below three pieces I’ve removed from the public way. I wear no neon, I have no CDOT bib, I’ve got my hat, my feet, and my fingers, and this is my record.