A shuttered branch of MB Financial Bank sits on the northeast corner of Fullerton and Halsted. It’s a bland, corporate, auburn brick building with rectangular aquamarine glass windows that’s unmistakably a dispiriting white-collar business. But maybe I’ve been looking at this edifice the wrong way—whereas I see bureaucracy and the uneasy motion of small-stakes capitalism, someone else saw a space to assemble a monumental art show.
Though “Art AIDS America” was initially organized by the Tacoma Art Museum and first shown there, the Chicago edition boasts a number of works that weren’t part of the original exhibit. Among these are Gerard Gaskin’s photographs of the ball scene and its house system in New York City during the 1980s, which depict LGBTQ people of color happily embracing each other.
Through Sun 4/2: Wed and Thu 11 AM-8 PM, Fri-Sun 11 AM-6 PM Alphawood Gallery 2401 N. Halsted 773-687-7676artaidsamericachicago.org Free
