These pieces are from Museum Works Galleries. They did not need to travel far for Art Chicago/Next 2011. Their gallery is in Chicago's Merchandise Mart.

The flowers above and horse below are by artist Danielle Procaccio. Procaccio uses different medium in her work. She has been featured in exhibitions since the mid 1990s. She is originally from New York.

I walked past this painting, by Peter Keizer, on Friday several times saying "I need to go in and ask them about this artist."

But I didn't.

Then I went back Sunday and walked past it three times thinking; "boy I need to ask someone about this one."

But I didn't.

Wish I had because he has a wonderful website and is a painter, sculptor, filmmaker and more.  This painting, in English, is titled At the Apple Dyke. It is very impressionistic and you think his work will be a wonderful backward look at Impressionism. It isn't. He does many different things in his art which I hesitate to approach after seeing one painting and a website.  His work, or at least this painting, was part of Envie D'Art's booth at Art Chicago.

Susan Hall has had numerous solo exhibitions going back into the early 1990s. Recently , in 2009, she had one at Thomas Masters Gallery in Chicago. Thomas Masters is the gallery that had two of her pieces on display (conveniently across from where you could get coffee…so I sat and considered them as my coffee cooled). They have very different  “looks” up close and far away with a texture up close that gives an almost ethereal feel from a distance.

Hall lives in Chicago...as I noted.

Among the artists shown at Art Chicago by Walter Wickiser Gallery were pieces by Finnish painter, Soile Yli-Mayry. Wickiser, son of notable abstract artist (among other styles) Ralph L. Wickiser, says that Yli-Mayry is Finland's most prominent artist.

“She is Finland’s most famous painter with over 250 shows worldwide. Her parents were deaf mute and she learned sign language at a young age and was always interested in painting people and a lot of figuration of sign language in her paintings.” says Wickiser.

She left home to study at the age of 16 and wound up at the Arts Academy in Stuttgart, Germany. Wickiser Galleries recently published a book on her—the gallery is also a publisher of art books—Soile Yli-Mayry 40 years of painting 1968 to 2008.  Wickiser catalogs are in over 1200 libraries in the United States, including the works of Yli-Mayry.

“She is a great artist and there is nothing like it you would see. She is like the modern Miro--Scandinavian style, Vicking-esque,” he says. “People really love it and when you look at it people know it is her. She has continued classic style into the 21st Century.”

But her work is not a copy of Miro or anyone else. It is less precise for one.

“It is very palette knife-oriented passion oriented. Collectors have always been supportive of the work.  It never fails to amaze me. Everyone's taste is different but people into Soile Yli really love her work a lot. She is a great artist.” says Wickiser.

As usual the photo does not do the paintings justice. The video below gives a bit more of an idea of what they are truly like but again, do not really do them justice.

There will be more postings on Wickiser Gallery and its artists shortly--especially on the elder Wickiser who I now regret not discussing at more length with Walter Wickiser.

I didn't stop to chat with anyone about this painting, Toutes a l'envers IV (2010), an acrylic on canvas work by Danielle Lanteigne. This was part of the Canadian Pavilion at Art Chicago.

You can find out more about the work at Roberts Gallery in Toronto. I am going to toss out a few small ones like this now and again.

Galerie Olivier Waltman had a number of fascinating pieces at Art Chicago 2011 but one of those that caught my eye from across the crowded room (a phrase I may use again) is Dog Running in the Snow by CR. CR is not one person but two—Christian Volkmann and Raphael Thierry.  The two artists work together on pieces that have a unique basis.

Dog Running in the Snow is lacquer paint on canvas. And the concept of working together came from an animated piece, The Hunt. Animated pieces inform the paintings and the artists work together. In individual pieces no one knows who does, precisely, what.

Years ago I wrote a guidebook on African-American films. In researching this I found some interesting references to poster made by local artists for Western movies. In many cases these movies would be VHS tapes shown sans permission by a local entrepreneur. There were no examples of the art.

I just happened by the booth of Primitive and there they were, in all their glory. These posters sometimes only tangentially have anything to do with the movie. In most cases they are far, far more entertaining than the films. They are brilliant. There is an exhibit, Movie Mojo: Hand-Painted Posters from Ghana, running now and ending September 4, 2011 at the Chicago Cultural Center Exhibit Hall,, 76 E Washington Street in Chicago. Go to see them. The pieces exhibited at Art Chicago/Next (notice how I always say the exhibits together? I was never sure which one I was in) are fabulous but there are even more. There is also an exhibit of these pieces at Primitive, 130 North Jefferson St, Chicago.

There are other events, film screenings and artists talks associated with the exhibit (mostly over the summer). Go HERE for more information. Make an effort to go see these. They are remarkable.