THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

The High Risk Gallery is located at 1115 W. Belmont, first floor, in a gorgeous, wheelchair-accessible 2,500-square-foot space. A portion of the proceeds will be divided between four Chicago non-profit agencies: Horizons Community Services, Lesbian Community Cancer Project, Affinity, and Chicago 2006.

Curators Tracy Baim, Bob Klunk and Salem Collo-Julin have brought together a wide mix of Chicago-area artists working in a variety of mediums, from oil and pastel paintings, to photography, stained glass, candles, illustrations, and sculpture.

The more than 40 artists come from diverse backgrounds, including gay, lesbian, bisexual and heterosexual, Asian, Latino, African-American and white. They range in age from 19 to over 60. The goal was to have a variety of styles to make the work accessible to many people. Two of the artists died several years ago, and their work still resonates today. The pieces include paintings from a Vietnam veteran and photos from the first trip allowing Westerners to become tourists in that country. There are images of some of the 400 Chernobyl children who went to Cuba for medical treatment, as well as editorial illustrations by a fiery Chicago AIDS activist who eventually died of complications from the disease.

"The goal was to approach this short-term gallery with diversity, to allow many artists to participate in a gallery that not only allows them to display their work, but also gives back to the community," said Tracy Baim, publisher of Windy City Times and BLACKlines. Baim and the owners of Triangle Building Group decided that since the space was available for a few months, it would be a shame to waste it—so why not benefit community groups and artists.

Baim's inspiration to start the gallery was her late mother, Joy Darrow. Darrow for many years ran a ground-breaking gallery on the city's Near South Side, the Prairie Avenue Gallery, before the area became the "next big thing" in real estate. From the early 1980s until her death in 1996, Darrow ran Prairie Avenue Gallery with the goal of inclusion and diversity, opening the gallery to emerging artists, especially photographers. Darrow herself was an accomplished photographer, and Baim saw this new gallery as a way to honor her mother by showing some of Darrow's images, especially of children from Cuba, India, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and China. None of them have been shown in a gallery setting.

The gallery will be open Thursday and Friday evenings from 4-7 p.m., and Saturdays and Sundays noon-4 p.m. During weekdays, from 9-5 p.m., the gallery is available by going to the Windy City Times office directly above the space, in Suite 2-D. The gallery will remain open at least through June 30, 2001.

Call ( 773 ) 871-7610

ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES in alphabetical order below.

The work of gay artist Rob Bondgren ( top left ) , Danny Sotomayor ( below left ) and Ned Broderick ( right ) is among more than 100 pieces of art by 40+ artists in the High Risk show.

Mia Aigotti was born Emilia Marie Aigotti in 1977 in South Bend, Ind. She moved to Chicago in 1995 to attend Loyola University as a Sociology/Anthropology and Women's Studies major. She graduated with honors in 1999 and went into social work. She soon decided art and photography were her passions, and she began work at a retail professional photography store. She also dove headfirst into social and ethnic activities in the city. She has been published in newspapers including Street Wise and Inside Publications.

Hana Anderson is a freelance writer who began working with her business partner Otis Richardson on a comic strip called THEME, which appeared in BLACKlines for a year. Currently, she is co-owner of Hantis Ideas/Black PoP Greeting Cards with Otis Richardson, and they are working on a new hip-hop magazine coming out this summer. Hana's personal goals are to travel, complete a novel, write a compilation of Black erotica, and produce movies.

Toni Armstrong Jr. is a long-time writer, editor, musician and activist in the Chicago community. She published Hot Wire: The Journal of Women's Music and Culture for many years, and helped document a generation of women's cultural pioneers. She is a teacher and is also active with the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network.

Alison Bechdel has been drawing comics since 1983. The pieces in the gallery are originals. Part soap-opera, part soap box, her strip "Dykes To Watch Out For" has become a cultural institution for lesbians and discerning non-lesbians all over the planet. Her work appears biweekly in 70 publications in the U.S. ( including WCT ) and Canada. She lives in Vermont.

Jeanette Bezazian is currently showing in a Northwest Area Arts Council Exhibition and showed at Gerber/Hart Library in 2000. She paints in her studio without external reference, from her love for favorite parts of the Chicago landscape.

Rob Bondgren's work has always revolved and evolved around interpretations of the figure. He states: "I use the figure, portraiture, and representations of birds and animals as vehicles to explore the personal and social issues of my identity as an artist and a gay man. This intense personal introspection dominates, dictates and involves the personal figurative, landscape, and still life references in each of my paintings. My compositions become one-act plays or vignettes in which the canvas serves as a stage, which I populate with figures and objects that tell the story of who I am in relation to the world in which I live. In this respect, the figures, birds and the combinations of the two, are the principle actors, the still-life elements are the props and the landscape is often simply a backdrop which gives the viewer a sense of place. Although I do employ techniques of direct observational painting, I am not interested in serving as a makeshift camera. My work often draws on theatrical drama and invention rather than observation, and fantasy rather than reality. Although it is obvious that the surreal and fantastic compositions in my paintings are not logical, or even physically possible, I hope to present a vision that the eye, with a little help from the imagination, can accept as reality. It is the interpretation of what is 'seen' and the struggle to convince the viewer of the fidelity of the scenario that is being presented, that I find to be another very important aspect of my work. My attention to texture, light, and the sensual qualities of my figures ( including animals ) and the objects with which they are involved, serves as a tool with which I attempt to create an illusion of dramatic reality."

Simone Bouyer is a 39-year-old African-American woman with knotty hair living and creating in Chicago. She is a commercial artist as well as a fine artist using her expertise to produce websites, ads, logos, maps, charts, programs, guidebooks, and more. Bouyer has been drawing and painting for more than 20 years. Her current works are part of an ongoing series, One World, started in 1986 and encompassing more than 60 portraits of well-known activists, performers, athletes, street musicians, and more. She has exhibited at Wood Street Gallery, Woman Made Gallery, the Museum of Science Industry and more. In the 1980s, Bouyer published, edited and designed Planet Roc Alternative Arts Journal, which began as the newsletter of the Wholesome Roc Gallery, Museum & Cafe, which Bouyer owned and operated for more than five years.

Therese R. Burton is a Chicago-area artist and mother, active with women's arts organizations.

Ned Broderick spent five years at the American Academy of Art, mostly painting. After leaving school in 1976, he rented a storefront and started painting. In 1978 he co-founded the Vietnam Veterans Art Group along with Dale Samuelson and Mike Peterson. A collection of art on the subject of the Vietnam War done by Vietnam veterans, they had their first show in 1981 at the N.A.M.E. Gallery in Chicago. In the early 1990s, Broderick taught painting for a few years at Ray Vogue College of Design. Drawn to the subject of people in trouble, people with their lives turned inside out, people under pressure have always fascinated him. Now he is the president of the National Vietnam Veterans Art Museum, a permanent collection of 131 artists at 1801 S. Indiana in Chicago.

Aldo Castillo, born in Nicaragua in 1957 in the midst of a civil war, is director and curator of the city's renowned Aldo Castillo Gallery in the River North area. He is also an artist in his own right, and High Risk Gallery is honored to have his work exhibited in this space. In his struggle for recognition in the U.S., Castillo discovered a general lack of knowledge, appreciation and understanding of the integrity and importance of Latin American art and culture. Based on his experiences, he dedicated himself to change this perception and in 1993 he founded the Aldo Castillo Gallery, to promote, educate and create awareness of significant cultural contributions of artists from around the world, focusing on those from Latin America. Castillo has been honored for his human-rights work and his art—his gallery was named No. 2 among the 100 fastest-growing Latino institutions in the U.S. by Hispanic Magazine, 2000. Castillo arrived in the U.S. in 1985 and was granted a scholarship to study at the School of the Art Institute. He was granted political asylum in 1986 and he has curated more than 150 exhibitions. His human-rights work includes helping dozens of organizations in the Latino, gay and AIDS communities. As a gay man living with HIV, he has also been a brave role model in Chicago and beyond.

Mercedes Corona and Candy Johnson are artists and signmakers in Chicago. They are partners in life and business and use their many talents to support numerous community groups. Mercedes has been honing her artistic abilities since receiving her 1978 art and design degree from Illinois State University. She is a journeyman fine artist with the Fine and Pictorial Artists Local Union 830. She is co-owner of Signs To U. Candy is a commercial sign designer, realtor and co-owner of Signs To U. She is pursuing an art education degree.

Cuca, born and raised in Puerto Rico, is Afro-Caribbean, and she celebrates this in her works of art. She pays homage to the spirit, culture and diversity of the people of the Caribbean and Africa. Her craft is further inspired by her passion for the drum and the music of her people. Cuca's unique works originated in sculpture from applying the technique of papier mache using recycled paper and Cuca's own Mixta Especial.

Joy Darrow was a woman of many passions, from writing and photography to human-rights activism. She worked on racial justice issues starting in the 1960s, photographing some of the movement's key events in Chicago and the American South. She photographed well-known figures including Martin Luther King Jr. and Fidel Castro, police riots and the Democratic National Convention in 1968. She travelled the world to document human-rights issues, from South Africa to Cuba, Russia to India, and all over Asia. She told the stories of people often through the eyes of the children, and in this exhibit many of the children's faces speak to both their pain and joy. She wrote features for newspapers including the Chicago Defender ( where she was managing editor for many years ) , the Tribune and Sun-Times. In early 1996, Darrow travelled to both Haiti and the Dominican Republic to monitor human-rights issues, and in her last years she had also travelled frequently to Cuba. These were her last trips abroad—a few months after her trip to monitor elections in Central America, she died of unknown causes.

Jan Dee attended the Chicago Art Institute 1979-1980. Her main focus was photography. She photographed the 1993 March on Washington and continues her portrait work in her studio at 1425 W. Diversey ( the same location as the popular Jan Dee Jewelry ) . In 1993, Jan took an interest in what she calls "Free Art," otherwise known as "Graffiti." The Belmont Rocks were her first excursion. While photographing, she would silently thank the artist who selflessly took the time to share his or her art with us. Some of these treasures have been vandalized by spray paint, others have just faded away.

Sukie de la Croix is the Senior Features Writer for Windy City Times. When he's not working he hangs upside down in caves with the other creatures of the night.

Lisa Ebright has been a photographer for more than 20 years. Her work has been exhibited in Illinois and Washington. She is also a photographer of theater, special events, news, sports and more for a variety of newspapers, including Windy City Times.

Terry Gaskins is a fine art photographer with a BA in Fine Art Photography from Columbia College Chicago. For the past 10 years, she has worked as the staff photographer for Gay Chicago Magazine. Gaskins' work has also been published in almost every gay paper in the city, as well as Chicago Social, the Chicago Tribune, The Advocate, Women Who Love Women Calendar, as well as book covers, CD's, safe-sex brochures, and websites. Gaskins has also won three awards as Best of College Photographer.

Paula Gee is a Chicagoan with a flair for making candles and conversation. She started out making bath crystals but soon moved to candles. A romantic person, Gee specially scents all of her candles. She is also a performer who loves to read erotic poems in front of crowds, and she also loves photography. Her candles are hand-made with love.

Rosalind Glanton has been photographing people, places, and things for as long as she can remember. Her preference is black-and-white because it forces the viewer to concentrate on the image rather than the colors. Most recently, she produced a calendar called Images of Ourselves, which consists of black-and-white photos of women. She is currently treasurer of Affinity Community Services on the South Side of Chicago. She has been on the board for six years.

Steven E. Gross, born in Oak Park, Mich., takes a radical approach to traditional nuptials. He shoots in a real-life style, capturing the day in black-and-white photos. Gross graduated with a BA in photography from Columbia in 1982. An avid biker and sea kayaker, Gross has a similar energy for his work. His keen eye captures subtle gestures and reveals passion and irony underlying the wedding ritual: a stolen kiss between bride and groom, a young boy ogling a bride, and a little girl enveloped in a bride's veil. Gross' unique approach to wedding photography has caught the eye of Good Morning America, Fox TV, Esquire and numerous other publications nationally and abroad. Most recently you can see the work of Gross introducing the characters on the NBC sitcom Three Sisters. He lives in Chicago with his wife and two children.

Jorjet Harper says: "Back in my hippie/student years ( i.e., a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away ) I studied at the Art Students' League and Parsons School of Design in New York, and I received my BA in Fine Art from SUNY Stony Brook. I studied painting with Malcolm Morley and Sylvia Sleigh, jewelrymaking and design with Marci Zelmanoff, art history with Albert Boime, and art theory with Allan Kaprow ( originator of 'Happenings,' the forerunner of performance art ) and Laurence Alloway ( the British art critic famous for coining the phrase 'Pop Art' ) . In my 20s, I had several moderately successful one-woman shows. Then I began working as a writer. This was a good thing—but the more I wrote, the less I painted, until finally I felt that my visual inspiration had dried up on me, and I stopped painting altogether. Several years ago, somewhat to my own surprise, I had a recurring idea for a painting and decided to go for it. After I dug out my old art tools, and bought some new paint, brushes, and canvas, I had a great time reacquainting myself with the magic of transforming little gobs and smudges of color into meaningful imagery. Since then, I've continued to paint, and now I'm attempting to maintain a balance in creative focus between my writing and my art work."

Juarez Hawkins is a native of Chicago. Her mother, Florence Hawkins, was one of the painters of Chicago's Wall of Respect mural in 1967. In 1985, Juarez founded Metropolis Card Company to market her signature African-American greeting cards. She received her BA from Northwestern, and will receive her Master's in Interdisciplinary Arts from Columbia College this year. Hawkins began teaching in 1991, and worked as an instructor in Gallery 37, Little Black Pearl Workshop and others. Her paintings infuse traditional techniques with an emotional flavor, an aesthetic that combines raw energy with a disciplined approach to form. Hawkins has exhibited widely throughout the city, including the Museum of Science and Industry, Ann Nathan Gallery, Woman Made Gallery, Gallery 1633, Wood Street Gallery, Daley Center, and more. She is a member of the Sapphire and Crystals art collective, whose latest exhibition, Reconnections, will open at Union Street Gallery in Chicago Heights April 28, 2001.

Vern Hester is a music-loving photographer who likes to discover new Chicago talents with his well-focused eye for unique and energetic performers. His first love is to photograph musicians up-close-and-personal, and his camera has been trained on a wide variety of legends, including Tina Turner and Diana Ross, Pet Shop Boys, Patti Smith, and hundreds more over the past 20 years.

Linda Horn received her MFA from the Art Institute of Chicago and has shown her work at dozens of galleries. She works in a variety of mediums, and has been in both one-person and group exhibitions, from Chicago to Oregon, Germany to Texas, Atlanta to Evanston. She had a one-person show, Biophilia Perversa, at the Fassbender Gallery in 1998, and in 1996 her Points of View show was at the Chicago Cultural Center. Her work has been reviewed in the New Art Examiner, Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago Artists' News, Chicago Reader, New City, Art in America, Dialogue, and other publications.

Cecilia E. Hunt has attended numerous colleges and arts institutions as part of her quest to learn about transforming and creating objects, adornments, clothing and environments through using/reusing and manipulating all of the techniques and materials she can find or make and learn. She has worked in oils, chinese brush painting and Sumi-E, and many other arts techniques. She has also worked with the Krasl Museum, Uptown Hull House, Lakeside Gallery and New Moon Gallery.

Kiya L. Immergluck, Ph.D. is a psychotherapist and self-taught watercolor artist who has shown her work at coffeehouses, restaurants, libraries and hospitals in Chicago, Los Angeles and Oklahoma City. She agrees with the quotation from Julia Cameron's book, The Artist's Way that "creativity is our gift back to God." Greatly inspired by Georgia O'Keeffe and the landscapes of New Mexico, Kiya travels to the Santa Fe area to paint whenever she can. Equally fascinated by mountains and the beauty of the human face, Kiya sees her portraits as "landscapes of the soul."

Carol James is an artist given a gift to create paintings and drawings deducted from her life experiences. Her artwork visually tells stories of emotions, desires, and concerns experienced in her life's journey. Each series of paintings and drawings, in their own way, mirrors each individual stage. This "Vision of Oneness" shadows the complete and unbroken bond between each body of work. Carol's use of color is bold, intense, and captivating. As she creates an art piece, she captures the spirit of her subject and transfers it into images, using just the right shapes and colors. Her subject matters often depict the side of life very few are willing to observe with truth, reality, and acceptance. Carol has attended classes at the Art Institute and Columbia College, and started her business "Just For You Artwork" in 1998, designing controversial art pieces such as portraits of alternative lifestyles, substance abuse, and life on the edge. She has exhibited as part of the Black Creativity Show at the Museum of Science and Industry, First Chicago Bank, Bagit Gallery, Wood Street, and Bertoncini.

Samantha R. Kirk, 19, was born and raised on the South Side of Chicago, Nov, 3, 1981. She is Hispanic American, currently attending The International Academy of Merchandising and Design in Chicago focusing on obtaining a Bachelors degree in Interior Design. As an adolescent, she attended Maria Catholic High School, where she studied Fine Arts until graduation in 1999. In that time period, she took three studios and an AP Art class, which helped her to earn first place in an all-school art competition for her painting titled "Hell." She says, "As a child I loved the arts, and practiced many different styles such as graffiti sketching, portraits, sculpture, and building models, but I found that my talent was in the arms of Surrealism and abstract images. My eye was instantly drawn to arts that were often left unexplained. ... Many of my paintings reflect the hardships of life and tell a story of the journeys we must take. I work in all sorts of media, some being acrylics, oil, craypa, charcoal, color pencil, household objects, and objects of all descriptions."

Bob Klunk grew up in a Catholic family on the Southwest Side of Chicago, the first of his family to attend college. Academically, school was a disaster, but creatively his life was beginning. Says Klunk: "During this time I went back to the Art Institute, to work as a figure model. I decided to leave school when I received the chance to move to Manhattan. In my first year, I worked at the Rhonda Sande Art Gallery on East 60th. It was there I met muralist Russ Elliot, who I assisted for a year. I then became an assistant to Bill Cahill, a teacher at Visual Arts and a fashion photographer. This lead to my new career as a model with Zoli agency and my life took on a new, out-of-control direction. I decided to return to Chicago and refocus my attention to art. I studied sculpture and graduated from the University of Illinois at Chicago. I was greatly influenced by Bob Nickle and Gerald Jaquard. I went to Lincoln Park and met local artist Susan Hunt-Wulkowicz. Etching and prints were her medium which would soon become mine. I discovered Pilsen East, my art haven where I have lived and worked for 28 years." Klunk is also in his second year of graduate school at the Art lnstitute of Chicago, for Historic Preservation. At school, he was commissioned to do an etching of the ground by Christy Maclear, the Director of the Museum Campus. It has become a signature piece of the site; the first proof is owned by Mayor Daley. His water color rendering of Chicago, commissioned by the of Illinois Republican Party, was presented at the Gala 2000 Party at Navy Pier.

Jim Newberry has been taking pictures for most of his life, learning photography from his father at a young age. He has been working as a freelance photographer since graduating from Columbia College Chicago in 1986. He has shot for such publications as The New York Times, Rolling Stone, Chicago Reader, Metropolis, and Spin, and record labels including American, Atlantic, Drag City, Thrill Jockey, Touch and Go, and Sub-Pop.

Rainbow Glass Designs: Karen Sanders and Ximena Alban Rainbow Glass Designs, Inc., is breaking down the barriers of the traditional stained glass market by creating stained glass designs "family style." They incorporate the colors of the rainbow in numerous ways. They offer windows, sun-catchers, and miscellaneous items. They also have traditional stained glass styles, and do custom design work.

Nancy A. Reiff's creativity began to flow at a young age, and she won awards citywide as a teenager. She believes creativity and spirituality are one. During the 1970s and early 1980s, her spark was extinguished by her addictions, only to rekindle in 1985 when she began her journey of recovery from substance abuse. In 1992 she opened Mambo Mambo Espresso Bar and Gallery, a cafe and venue for emerging artists. While employed as Cook County Juvenile Detention Center, she created and facilitated an art program for inmates. Her art is an expression of her spiritual journey and it is the journal of her soul.

Marc Rubin attended the University of Illinois from 1968-1972. What occurred during those years in America and the influence of great art teachers and mentors birthed this diverse Fine Artist. The totality of Rubin's body of works is defined by the artist and his curator as "SYNCHRONISM": Intentional art which synthesizes two or more genres of Modernism and/or genres from any previous age into harmonious balance. His work has been exhibited at the Art Institute of Chicago 1976; in the first openly gay exhibition Chicago, Crystal's Blinkers, ( North Broadway ) Lakeview 1976; the Clinton Whitehouse; and many more places. At the request of friends, Rubin created a symbolic painting of Hope for the cure to HIV/AIDS. 'The Day' was unveiled to the Chicago gay community at Sidetrack, and now a lithograph of The Day is included in The Chicago Historical Society, art archives. Last year, Rubin gave his 61st one-man exhibition, in Southbeach, Miami.

Otis Richardson, an artist and video maker, holds an MFA in media studies from Northern Illinois University. Originally from South Carolina, he has lived in Chicago for 11 years. Otis' artwork has graced the covers of several Lambda Publications periodicals including; Clout!, BLACKlines, Nightlines, Outlines, the Black queer 'zine Thing, and Blackfire, a publication of Black gay erotica. As a videomaker, Otis' work has been screened in numerous film and video festivals nationally and internationally ( Hong Kong, Hungary, and London ) . BLACKPoP Greeting Cards premiered in the Chicagoland market in May of 2000. Otis and co-creator Hana Anderson saw a need for culturally realistic cards that reflect the diversity of the African-American community. The BLACKPoP card line includes: Happy Birthday, Christmas, Kwanzaa, Valentine's Day, Graduation, and Mother's Day. Otis and Hana's previous collaboration was a cartoon strip published in BLACKlines.

Raven Rodriguez was born the oldest of six daughters and was raised in the Humboldt Park area of Chicago. Of Central American Mayan descent, the importance of family structure and hierarchical divinity was imposed at all times. Being the oldest, Rodriguez was often the disciplinary guinea pig and so it was that she learned to escape the autocratic machismo of family life through art. Clearly influenced by the specificity in her family life, Rodriguez takes a very literal approach in her artwork. Mainly focusing on the human form, she renders as precise an emulation as possible. Her attention to detail and exactness is almost obsessive, therapeutic, so that the process is as much an art form as the completed project itself.

Aaron Schoolcraft is exhibited at the Marc Rubin Gallery on Halsted. His "Nature" sculpture is a steel construction in the cubism genre. The work depicts man as created from the earth to serve and care for her..

Danny Sotomayor was an impassioned and provocative member of Chicago's ACT UP movement, forcing government to address the issue of AIDS. He was a street activist not afraid to get arrested, and he was also a talented artist who channeled his rage through editorial cartoons which appeared in Gay Chicago, Windy City Times and Outlines newspapers in Chicago, and other gay papers around the U.S. The pieces exhibited in the gallery are copies of original editorial cartoons.

Gary Ward is a commercial photographer working in the Chicago market since 1992. Having received his BFA in Photography from the University of Illinois in 1987, he has had three solo photography shows, received a grant from the Mary C. McClellan Scholarship for artistic excellence, and has worked for a variety of high-profile clients, in and out of Chicago's gay community, including Roscoe's, the Chicago Gay Men's Chorus, Pride magazine, and Cheetah Gym. He specializes in people photography of any sort.

Sharon White is exhibiting black-and-white hand-painted work. She has been shooting for about 20 years, 15 of those in Chicago, prior to that in Spain. She lived on the island of Menorca, and that is where she started her hand-painted work. White came to Chicago 15 years ago and she has had a studio for 12 years. White concentrates on events, commitment ceremonies, portraits, and black-and-white handpainted work. She has exhibited in Milwaukee, Barcelona, Mahon ( the capitol of Meroca ) , and in Chicago.

Kirk Williamson has been an active poetry performer for many years, but this is the first public showing of what he likes to call his "concrete art." His fascination with pastels began in art class in seventh grade and has been evolving ever since. Not formally schooled in art, he has always chosen to pursue his art in an organic, undisturbed fashion. His "Boxes of Light" series has been described as "vibrant pop-art dioramas" and were particularly fun to create. In addition to his bohemian existence, Kirk is currently a sales rep at Windy City Times and a security dude at Cocktail.

Israel Wright is a widely published news and features photographer whose work recently appeared in the Museum of Contemporary Art's Black Photographers exhibit. He is both an activist and photographer, and he uses his access into many communities—Black, gay, disabled, etc.—to show the diversity of everyday people. Wright, who lost his left arm in a work-related accident many years ago, has been able to overcome this adversity to create wonderful and exciting images, especially of Black gay men.