Artropolis Now
Chicago will be hopping this weekend with three major art and antique fairs, consolidated for your convenience in the stately confines of the Merchandise Mart. It can be confusing, indeed—pull up a chair in the lobby and see if you can guess who’s going to which show based on their eyeglasses—a fun, if not very productive, pastime. We have the 30th incarnation of Art Chicago, featuring about 150 international modern and contemporary galleries (Slick ic! berlin rimless lenses? 12th floor!); NEXT, an edgier invitational exhibition of cutting-edge culturistas(Chunky oversized Harry Caray/hipster frames, see you on seven); and the stately Merchandise Mart International Antiques Fair (Tortoiseshell Ben Franklins, the eighth floor is to die for). The trio of shows, appropriately and heroically called Artropolis, runs from April 30 to May 3, and admission is $20 daily or $25 for a multi-day pass (although you can go to this link to register for free tickets.) The landscape pictured is by one of the artists Packer Schopf Gallery will be showing at Art Chicago, Louise LeBourgeois.
Chinese Checkout
After eight years in business, Bucktown’s Wow & Zen is closing shop at the end of May, and has already begun discounting the inventory of rural Asian decorative objects and furnishings by 30 percent. The discount drops deeper each progressive week (40, 50, then 75 percent), so get while the gettin’s good.
Adler Subtracts
I’d defy anyone to walk into the Jonathan Adler boutique and not crack a smile at the cheeky, retro, preppy home accessories and furniture this popular potter has designed and corralled for his 15 eponymous emporiums. (Check out Barri’s fun interview with J.A. here.) To chase away the April showers, Saturday, May 1, from 4–8 p.m. the company is throwing a Spring Awakening event with drinks, food, and a 15 percent discount off everything except custom orders, vintage items, and books. I’ve long harbored a hankering for one of those leather hippo footstools Edie Sedgwick posed with for a 1965 Vogue feature, and Adler has this version of it as well as other low-maintenance house pets included in the sale. You can also get the discount online Saturday, from 4:00 p.m. till midnight, if you use the code AWAKE.
Blinds Sighted
Lincoln Park’s Vertical Blinds Factory, Inc., and Horizontals Too is shaking things up and simplifying its nomenclature in the process. As of May 1, the well-established window-treatment company will have sashayed across the street from its previous Clybourn location and thrown the shutters open for business at 1451 West Webster Avenue, in the former Kozy’s bike shop space by the Webster Place Theatre strip mall. And just call them Blinds Factory now, if you don’t mind. The firm manufactures, fits, and sells all sorts of blinds (they can hook you up with the full Hunter Douglas line), as well as curtains, bedding, and upholstery, and also provides in-home consultations and window tinting.
Ghostly Golden Triangle
Timed to coincide with all the art events going on this weekend (and there are lots of lectures, openings, parties, and other hullabaloos going on—the Chicago Gallery News is a good place to explore arty options), Douglas and Chauwarin, the Asian-art agents of The Golden Triangle, are having an opening reception Friday night, 5:30–8:30 p.m., for new paintings by Chicago artist Andrew Ek. “Phantasmagoria” is the theme, and figurative oil painting the scheme. Show’s up until Saturday, May 15.
Cinco de Urban Source
To celebrate five years in the business of retailing high-end fabrics, wallpapers, and window treatments (many of which you’d previously have needed a Mart pass to procure) and providing down-to-earth, friendly interior design services, Urban Source is giving away ten rolls of luxe wallpaper from five of their exclusive designers (Aimée Wilder’s Analog Nights Thunder pattern pictured here; Tres Tintas, Madison & Grow, SUM Design, and Interiors Europe are also participating). Stop by the store to wish Jenny and Rose a happy-happy and enter the raffle before 5 p.m. this Friday, and you might be one of five people to win two rolls of pricey pretty paper for yourself.