Today from the archives we bring you Steve Ruiz’s review of Evan Gruzis’s Shell Game at the Suburban, Michelle Grabner and husband Brad Killam’s backyard gallery in Oak Park that pioneered the suburb’s role as a hub of Chicago alternative art spaces. Grabner’s gingham soccer ball, currently Issue 27 of THE THING Quarterly, offers up a playful rejoinder to Ken Johnson’s famous criticism of Grabner’s work as “soccer mom” art. The second[…..]

Located more than nine miles west of Chicago’s city center, The Suburban is one of a number of alternative spaces that have caught on in the bordering village of Oak Park. It’s quiet, affluent, and easily accessed by public transit, yet Oak Park is an unlikely host to such alternative spaces as Terrain Exhibitions, The Franklin, and The Suburban, all of which locate innovative art[…..]