The Places, the People

A small group of students including myself started off on our gallery excursion in River North. We walked into a good number of the many galleries in the area. It slowly but surely became apparent that the less popular the art, the better the food and wine. For the first hour the aim of the trip morphed into the search for the least commercially viable work. We even found ourselves in a yoga studio turned "gallery". Of course, the food there was top notch.  Food aside, it was extremely interesting to watch the variety of people flowing in and out of the galleries.  We even witnessed a couple buying a set of what appeared to be doll clothes made out of newspaper for approximately 8,000 dollars. The woman who requested the doll piece was tall, entirely clad in black and wore a substantial furry vest. The man wore a clean grey suit and a yellow tie. In another gallery, a glass statue of a homeless boy was priced at 30,000 dollars. 

 We also had an opportunity to visit the west loop galleries, which boasted a very different crowd; art students, plaid shirts and gage earrings seemed to be the standard dress. There was very little food in the west-loop galleries, a hint to the quality and popularity of the work.