Every editor I've ever worked for has taken pitches in a different form. Some are detailed, some are lists. What I came up with for my undefined assignment, seem like a series of ledes. I was taken to task for inserting too much opinion in my review pitches, but I'll take care of that at some point.

-Once loosely organized through the Wicker Park/Bucktown Arts Association, the eight affiliated galleries banded together amidst difficult economic times. Leaving all involved to fend for themselves as a result of this problematic patch in our economy, the organization has gone on hiatus. A number of galleries have closed, or been turned into bakeries. It’s a bummer for that part of town for a number of reasons. Mostly, though, North Ave. just doesn’t need another restaurant. (News)

-A series of echoing shapes and splashes of color gleaned from watching rotted fruit or other circular objects over time defines James Kao’s work. That sounds pretty boring, but the series of circles within circles within circles apes past abstract artists while inadvertently creating images that look like worlds on fire. (Review)

-One can no longer gain entrance into the David Leonardis Gallery – physically. Emotionally and intellectually, the gallery owner invites visitors in via his enormous letter pasted over two of the store front’s four windows. Being an artist is a job and a life style, Leonardis opines in the blown-up writings. Maybe he’s disappeared on a bender, but after reading the entirety of his well written outcry it’s clear that he’s endeavoring to work in television and print, thus disallowing focus on his art space. (Feature)

-Toys, plush and pins aren’t what comes to mind when on thinks of a gallery. Rotofugi, though, maintains a store specifically devoted to these consumer wants. It’s possible to spend two grand on a vinyl vagina, buy a pin for ninety-one cents, walk outside, open the door to a shop one address west and take a look at a series of paintings from emerging Chicago artists. The gallery functions as a fine arts foil to the store front, but both provide innumerable visual feats for any consumer’s eyes. (Feature)

-Best known for his poster art, Frank Kozik has moved beyond the constraints of working in two dimensions. He still dabbles in silk screened posters, but concentrating on vinyl toys, designing sun glasses and crafting busts of his favorite baseball players Kozik dominates as many areas of mass consumed art as many of his peers. While residing in Minnesota, it’s still possible to snag a few of his creations for under a hundred dollars over on W. Chicago Ave. (Feature)

-Margaret Keane isn’t the most recognizable name in art. Her stylized, enormous eyed children are. The Thr3e Birds Gallery doesn’t display her work, but that of Brett Manning. A Chicago artist owing a debt to Keane, his work is displayed alongside other locals in a surprisingly discordant fashion. The graffiti appropriations of Jori Foreman aren’t a sensible match to Manning’s work. Refusing to adhere to stylistic limitations when concocting shows, Thr3e Birds Gallery focuses on newer, unknown Chicagoans. (Review)

-The paintbrush is not a friend of Brett Manning. He should only be allowed to own pens, but pens of every color. While his devotion to a number of disciplines is admirable, the Dungeons and Dragons quality of his portraits in ink comes off a far sight better than his wistful throwbacks on canvas. (Review)