Stop in the name of

I got interviewed by Fstoppers about my iPhone 5s photography!

Thank you to writer Ali Choudhry for this feature article!

In case you missed it in May: PetaPixel interviewed me as well, and here’s when I launched my new online gallery of my mobile photography.

Also viewable, of course, is DECAHEDRON: 74 artists, over 350 works of art across all media, celebrating the 10th anniversary of Artists on the Lam. View the virtual exhibition here.

Continue staying safe, everyone.

Decked Out

It’s here! DECAHEDRON is now live!

June 2021 marks the 10th anniversary of Artists on the Lam. Celebrate with us!

It was a decade ago yesterday that I published my first post on what would later be voted “Best Arts Blog” in the Chicago Reader’s Best of Chicago issue (read more about that in the previous post). As part of the celebration, I’ve curated an international exhibition (read more about this in the artist announcement post).

More about the curatorial process for this show that I didn’t mention in those posts: I’m likening it to an episodic TV series where you wander the land embarking on different adventures and meeting different characters, and then in the end you go back and revisit all your old friends and ask them to be part of your heist. Past, present, and future are all intertwined.

The result? 74 artists, with over 350 works of art.

View the exhibition at the following links: the main page and the artists page (click on each artist to enjoy their art and their words). Most of the pieces are available for purchase (and I was literally in the middle of formatting this post when a painting was already sold).

Celebrating 10 years of:

interaction; collaboration; making art as accessible as possible; proving that art is for everyone; championing local artists while channeling global perspectives; shenanigans; worldwide adventures; saying things everyone thinks but doesn’t say out loud; making messes; winging it; figuring it out; the same pair of sneakers; irreverence; puns; so many puns; open calls; giving emerging artists their first ever shows; refusing to use artspeak; not taking ourselves too seriously; troublemaking; optimism / earnestness / hope; leaving pretension at the door; getting people to actually look at the art; getting people to have fun with art and with each other; getting people to see the world anew; building relationships between artists and viewers; building relationships; building community; bringing people joy; a breath of fresh air; being able to touch the art; people coming into a gallery and not feeling intimidated; teaching; assuring people that they do, in fact, “get” art; showing that there’s nothing to “get”; invoking childlike wonder; connection, and not the schmoozing kind; making sure everyone feels welcome; rejecting cliques; breaking the rules; breaking barriers; bridging the spaces between us; standing out; not paying attention to trends; making our own; substance over style; quality over popularity; quantity; cramming an entire biennial’s worth of artists into one room; cramming as many viewers as possible into one room; helping visitors “hone their art appreciation skills”; giving visitors the “opportunity to explore their own interests and gain a better understanding of the kind of art they enjoy and why”; being worth the wait; being down-to-earth; showing there’s an abundance of culture in the Midwest; every medium you can think of; every art form you can think of; artists spanning the widest range of backgrounds, ages, and experience levels; talent; the best people you’ve never heard of yet; exploring and showcasing the underground; “shaking things up” / “rocking the art world” / “making waves”; changing the game; truly new experiences; being truly independent; perhaps being too DIY [but]; knowing no one is an island; using word of mouth; being unconventional; play; passion; constant growth; and art.

Again, thank you.

Here’s to the next 10 years!

(Pictured: A few photos from the opening reception of 2012’s acclaimed I CAN DO THAT, voted “Best Art Exhibit” in the 20th anniversary edition of NewCity’s Best of Chicago issue)

Leave a birthday message!

What’s your favorite Artists on the Lam memory? Perhaps you had a moment of transcendence at one of our interactive shows, or shared a spontaneous experience with a fellow visitor, or simply had fun. Perhaps a particular blog post moved you. Perhaps you’ve been inspired in some way. Your story could be featured on the site as part of the virtual celebration!

You can also send a photo, a doodle, or any other supplemental material. Email artists.on.the.lam {at} gmail {dot} com.

What Is Time

Today is the 10th anniversary of Artists on the Lam!

It was on Monday, June 6, 2011, that I published my first blog post here.  

(Looking at that post, which is incredibly embarrassing, it’s funny how I’m much further removed from my 2011 self now than my 2011 self was to my teen self I kept referring to in it. (What a sentence.) I was so young but was writing like I was so jaded and world-weary. (Which isn’t surprising considering I already felt old and that time was passing too quickly when I was only 7.) But that was part of the charm of those early posts, of course.)

Thank you, everyone, for being a part of this extraordinary journey.

To celebrate, DECAHEDRON is virtually opening tomorrow! Save the date. (One day from now. But still.)

Until then: Now that I’m fully vaccinated, I’ve been going on a few art outings (artings?)*, and you can treat your eyes with my photos on Instagram (or your other social media of choice: Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Tumblr).

*(My first one (in over 14 months) was last week, and it was a Special Preview of Frida Kahlo: Timeless at Cleve Carney Museum of Art inside McAninch Arts Center at College of DuPage. Featuring 26 original works on loan from Museo Dolores Olmedo, alongside a multimedia timeline and replicas of objects from Frida’s life, plus other special programming, it’s the largest Frida Kahlo exhibition in the Chicago area in more than 40 years, and it’s now open to the public. (Among my photos I naturally included one of her revolutionary politics; it was an integral part of her identity.) Afterwards my family and I visited the Morton Arboretum (only a few minutes away from the CCMA), where a new exhibition of sculptures by Daniel Popper called Human+Nature just opened and will run for at least a year. And yesterday we went to Immersive Van Gogh Chicago. Vincent is a reminder: Support us artists when we’re still alive.)

Red Letter

As of yesterday I’m fully vaccinated! First thing I did? Went to my P.O. box for the first time since March 2020! (And afterwards I went to buy socks with more support. Really wildin’ out here.) And what a pleasant surprise to see so many Dreams of a City postcards! Which means: even though I left these postcards throughout Chicago before the pandemic (I stopped once it was time to lock down), all of these dreams were mailed during the pandemic.

Fitting that my first activity was gathering hope. After I scan these, I’ll be sharing them daily to @dreamsofacity. Follow along!

(For those of you who aren’t familiar with my labor of love: From 2008-2009 in Manhattan, and then from 2012-early 2020 in Chicago, I made thousands of pre-stamped self-addressed postcards, each with the prompt, “Tell me one thing you dream of doing before you die. Use this card as your canvas,” and each—this is the most important part—with a different code on the bottom. I left these postcards in public places all over the city, using the codes to record where I left each one. So, when a card returned to me, I was able to match its code with its location and was able to tell where each one was found, and have been gradually creating a map of the city from all your dreams. It’s a 13-year-old love letter and a message of hope.

View all 100 mapped Manhattan dreams 2008-2009 on Flickr, all 600+ mapped Chicago dreams 2012-2020 on Instagram, and more information on this page.)

Another momentous occasion: On this day 10 years ago, I thought of the concept for the first art show I independently curated, Exquisite Corpse!
 

I assigned artists who didn’t know each other beforehand into pairs/groups and had them collaborate on creating new artwork for the exhibition. The late great Paul Klein came to preview it, and he gave me my first real review. It was glorious.

Next up / 10 years later / virtually opening this June: DECAHEDRON!

P.S. In case you missed the previous post, PetaPixel interviewed me about my new online gallery for my iPhone 5s photography. Check it out!

Full Deck

As you know, this June is the 10th anniversary of Artists on the Lam, and as part of the celebration, I’m curating an international exhibition called DECAHEDRON. Today, I’m thrilled to announce the show’s participating artists! Hailing from all over Chicago, the country, and the world, they include:

Adrienne L. Glover, Adrienne Powers, Agnieszka Ligendza, Alba Margarita, Alex Kostiw, Alix Anne Shaw, Allen Vandever, Angie Redmond, Brianna Lynn Hernández Baurichter, Bruce Riley, Caroline Walser, Carrie McGath, Céline Browning, Chad Kouri, Charlene Moy, CHema Skandal!, Chris Silva, Christine Nicklos, Claire Ashley, Clarisse Perrette, Corinne Halbert, Cristy Corso, Czr Prz, Dan Castranova, Danielle Pontarelli, Diane Ponder, Emily Calvo, English Prevo, Glenn Wexler, Hazel R. Magnolia, Heidi Jensen, InsomniaBird, James Gu, James Jankowiak, James Mosher, Juliann Wang, Julius Dizon-Cruz Bautista, Justin Suico, Karen I. Hirsch, Kathy Halper, KC Winter, Keelan McMorrow, Kristin Cass, Kurt Kreissl, Laura Catherwood, Lee Eun Young, Lisa Goesling, Mac Blackout, Mairin Hartt, Mark Pol, Mary Porterfield, Mazon, Megan M. Rivera, Melissa Wang, MelonJames, My Linh Mac, Nancy Bechtol, Nathan Stanton, Nik Burkhart, Olivia Shih, Patricia Biesen, Patrick Earl Hammie, Peyton Rack, Priscilla Huang, Ramiro Silva-Cortés, Rialin José, Richard Gessert, Robert Apolinar, Robin Monique Rios, Sam Riesmeyer, Stafford Hiroshi Smith, Tiffany Gholar, Toby zur Loye, Yuqing Zhu, and you.

What an amazing group, right? And, yes, massive; knowing from the start that this would be virtual, I wanted to involve more artists than I would for any physical show, as a way to truly take advantage of having an online platform (when getting interviewed about SLAYSIAN last year, one point that kept coming up was the silver lining of being able to exhibit bonus pieces as digital exclusives), and to truly fit a milestone anniversary.

Go big at home.

Shots, everybody

On Monday Illinois finally expanded vaccination eligibility to everyone 16 and older, so I got my 1st dose of the vaccine! Dolly Parton one / Moderna, at Walgreens.

 
I was so anxious and nervous on the way there (mostly because I haven’t set foot inside a store in over a year (thank you, curbside pickup) (as you know, I’ve been super strict with staying home since March 2020)), but once there I felt like I was in good hands. And what a gorgeous day it was to have a dose of hope.

More to be grateful for: Thank you, Art Design Chicago!

(March 30 marked exactly 1 year since SLAYSIAN—art show I curated of Chicago and the Midwest’s Asian artists—has been online. It’s still up and will remain up for as long as artistsonthelam.com exists. If you missed it in 2020, take a look now. (And for interviews and articles about the show, visit this page.))

Speaking of shows, thank you to everyone who applied to Artists on the Lam’s virtual 10th anniversary international art exhibition, DECAHEDRON! Keep your eyes peeled for the artist list announcement!

Speaking of hope, my labor of love, Dreams of a City (can you believe it’s been 13 years since I started it as Manhattan Map // Postcard Project and 9 years since I launched the Chicago edition?), has inspired a writer in Finger Lakes, New York, to start his own version, and here’s his post about me, my mission, and more.

And I’ll leave you with some nostalgia as random as it is potent: Who else used to watch a show called Yan Can Cook back in the day? When I was little, this was my thought process during reruns. (And I’m loving all the love in the comments!)

Free Agent

Two weeks ago I was invited to speak at the Leonardo LASER Talk “Resilience: From Cells to the Human Experience” via Zoom, and the video is up! If you were unable to attend, you can watch the full talk here. Thank you to organizer Pamela Winfrey and the ASU Leonardo LASER folks and to fellow speakers Carlo Maley and Chris Johnson for a wonderful panel discussion!

The full video is an hour long, so if you don’t have time for that at the moment, here’s a 1-minute clip in which Pam made an insightful observation that one of the unique ways in which I build community is through agency (and my response).

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Jenny Lam (@artistsonthelam)

And in case you missed the previous post, I have an open call for artists for my next [virtual!] group show!

Call for Artists: DECAHEDRON

This year, Artists on the Lam (named “Best Arts Blog” in the Chicago Reader’s Best of Chicago issue) is celebrating its 10th anniversary! As part of the celebration, founder Jenny Lam (creator of such shows as 2016’s acclaimed LEXICON and 2012’s acclaimed I CAN DO THAT, which was named “Best Art Exhibit” in the 20th anniversary edition of NewCity’s Best of Chicago issue) is curating an international exhibition called DECAHEDRON. Many incredible artists will be participating (we invited artists from our past shows, as well as other artists we admire—get excited for the artist list announcement this spring!), but it wouldn’t really be an Artists on the Lam group show without an open call too:

All artists working in all mediums are welcome to submit art!

Because of the pandemic, the exhibition will be online. (To get an idea of how it might look like, in March 2020, the digital version of SLAYSIAN was launched, and it garnered quite a bit of press.)

To apply, complete the steps here.

Steam

This year, I’m celebrating the 10th anniversary of Artists on the Lam! (It was on June 6, 2011, that I published my first blog post here!) Get excited for all sorts of fun stuff (online, of course). Including… DECAHEDRON. Stay tuned!

This week: I’m proud to announce that I’ve been invited to speak at the Leonardo LASER Talk “Resilience: From Cells to the Human Experience” this Friday (February 26), 6-7pm CST, on Zoom. A program that combines art and science—my kind of event. Attend if you’re free!

Another announcement: The launch of my Shop! Purchase original handmade drawings and paintings by yours truly. (In the past I handled art sales via email, which I can still do. Choose whichever method is more convenient for you!) I also have a Redbubble shop where you can purchase prints (and tons of other products like stickers, mugs, and more) of my original photography (all taken on my iPhone 5s, which has been hanging on for dear life).

Fun stuff in the form of short clips: In addition to other social media channels, I’m on TikTok now too; say hello if you’re over there! And here’s a voicemail message I left Sixty Inches from Center that they turned into an entire animated video; it’s amazing and I love it.

And if you’d like to hear a magical little story: Here’s a short thread about a coyote at my door.