Review of Howard Brown's Art Exhibits

Howard Brown is not an art gallery. It is an organization dedicated to providing service to Gay, Lesbian,Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer folks in the Lakeview neighborhood. It is a stunning building, tall and majestic and made of glass. Walking in is in itself a little intimidating, especially considering the reasons why a friend and I were there, we were looking for sculptures. The confused look on the man at the front desk and a suggestion to check the third floor made it clear that looking for art galleries on Metromix was a grave mistake. We started at the "sculpture" installation, a series of life perservers mounted on the wall in different types of fabric. I suppose the concept was interesting enough, highlighting the diverse ways in which people are treated and saved from the various issues confronting the GLBTQ community. However, if I may be frank, it was boring. The initial "wow"factor of the symbolism was soon lost and there was left simply a row of life preservers stapled on the wall.
We then moved on to what was probably not considered a gallery, it was simply a wall full of the clients artwork. Some of it was impressive to be sure, a board with nails with a pair of wax lips in the middle that resembled Mick Jagger, a flamboyant coat made entirely of rooster feathers and red velvet, an ethereal distorted picture of an African-American woman singing into a microphone. However, its proximity to the bathroom and the lack of proper lighting and general ambiance made it decidedly not worth the time.
We were about to leave, dissapointed and panic stricken about our assignment, when the wall in a little common area caught our eye. There was an entire wall filled with huge horizontal photographs of what looked like neighborhoods. At further glance, it was clear that there were digitally enhanced and were actually painted over. The result was striking, it was a perfect cross between painting and photography.The images were familiar enough, but the colors brighter, the familiar landmarks crisper and slightly manipulated. One of the pictures was on the el, with random people photographed and put into the picture so that the result was a mix of familiarity and fantasy. It looked almost real, save the slightly cartoonish quality of the man dressed in all black carrying a bright pink gift or the child wearing winter clothes on what seemed to be a summer day. There was also a picture of the corner of Belmont and Clark, and only if you really looked was it obvious that there were random dogs running around, or that the store names were switched so that the Pink Frog became the Frog Pink, or that there was three pictures of the same person in the Starbucks. It seemed that it was a slight tweaking of reality, in which the playful and odd spirit of Chicago was highlighted through this not quite but almost upside down world.
The artist Archer Coe, has lived in Chicago for over eight years, and his inspiration grew from the diversity of Chicago's inhabitants. It is said that he used over 400 images in one composite and mixes photography, illustration, and graphic design to produce his work. The result is breathtaking, as if you are seeing the Chicago you love through someobody else's and falling in love with it all over again.