Alibi Fine Art

WHAT: Alibi Fine Art (Art Gallery)
WHERE: 1966 W. Montrose Ave.

OUR RATING: Do It! (If you’re near)

(alibifineart.com)

Storefront City traveled to North Center to attend the opening reception of Burkhart’s Underground, a gallery showing by Fred Burkhart at the Alibi Fine Art Gallery. Alibi Fine Art is a free contemporary gallery in Chicago intended to support new, mid-career and overlooked artists. While Alibi’s exhibition choices tend to focus on photography, they sometimes also represent other media. The Burkhart opening was our first foray into their space.

Alibi has a great location on Montrose, but as with many privately owned galleries in town, it is super tiny, and can only comfortably fit up to about two dozen people. This made the Burkhart opening claustrophobic, as the attendance was much higher, but nonetheless very exciting!

“Old Red Eye” (burkhartstudios.com)

Fred Burkhart doesn’t fit the “new” or “mid-career” categories, but rather that of “overlooked”, as he has been part of the art scene in the city for almost three decades. Burkharts Underground, which will be up at Alibi until March 23, highlights Burkhart’s black and white photography documenting a vast array of subjects. From the Klu Klux Klan to the Gay Pride Movement, diverse and polarising topics that pulse through the modern American discourse are the focus of his work, which captures moments, rather than stories, allowing the viewer to appreciate the humanity that lies beneath his subjects.

(burkhartstudios.com)

Mr. Burkhart’s work has never been displayed in a solo gallery show before, which is tragic given the important nature of his photographs. Even more tragic is the photographer’s recent diagnosis of terminal cancer, making this possibly his last exhibition. However, his work lives afresh at Alibi and will certainly allow him to be remembered as an artist and social commentator in the years to come.

This exhibition is not recommended for children.