August 2012: Chicago

Roy Lichtenstein retrospective at the Art Institute of Chicago

Now this is what retrospectives are supposed to be about! A huge collection of works covering every aspect of an artist's career with all of his most famous works on display. While not a huge fan of his work (Warhol is THE Pop Artist to me!), this outstanding exhibit enlightened me to appreciate Lichtenstein more. Though I was unaware of how much he changed (for the better) the composition of his source material, I still find his technique and subject matter so limiting. However, the paintings representing his first foray into "Pop" are exciting and one can easily imagine just how shocking they were when first displayed. They aren't shocking today, but many still remain objects of post-modern beauty.

 Lollapalooza!

A beautiful day equals a great Lollapalooza (even if the lineup isn't all that exciting)! I only attended  Friday by choice (though storms closed the festival for part of the day on Saturday-yikes!), but that was fine since The Black Keys was the only band I really wanted to see even though a reunited Black Sabbath was interesting for me in a novel sort of way. Lollapalooza these days is so much more than just music. There's great people watching (I even spotted a celebrity: the actor who plays Grayson on Cougar Town) plus the best street food to be had (lobster corndogs and truffle parmesan popcorn were two of my favorites and both from the same vendor, who's name I sadly forgot). Regardless, the Black Keys rocked the park, totally worth making the trip for alone! Another musical highlight though was the Perry stage (no longer confined to a tent!) for DJ's to spin (Nero was awesome!). The light shows for the Perry stage were pretty amazing, even in the daylight, allowing many of the techno-heads to take a trip of another kind. Definitely want to make it back next year, but here's hoping for a lineup that will make me want to stay all weekend!