If you spend much of your weekend combing through thrift stores for that unusual find, you owe it to yourself to check out Caro d'Offay's Wicker Park exhibit space. D'Offay hangs her own creations in the rear "Gallery B" next to works by the rising talent she helps discover, a collection that incorporates cast-off objects lost to our rapidly innovating society and exhibited, appropriately enough, in a neighborhood where rapid condo development routinely displaces stylish detritus.
The artists featured here capture that sense of nostalgia through the Lumetype, a printmaking technique that substitutes light-emitting paint for ink. D'Offay patented this technique in 2005 and continues to recruit, through weekly classes and occasional Craigslist ads, artists to produce the haunted-looking prints.
The gallery owner and her invention take a modest backseat to the artists featured in the front Gallery "A," a rehabbed storefront space that primarily houses rotating exhibits ranging from group shows that explore natural and urban moments to Chris Miller's creepy-crawly organic sculptures. Musicians and sound artists are occasionally invited for special engagements. Uniting all of this work is the desire to challenge an audience to engage, interpret and ultimately make an impact on their own surroundings.
Centerstage Reviewer: Justin Sondak