Digging for a bone.

During my stay in Chicago, I have grown to enjoy a small D.I.Y. publication known as The Skeleton News.
A newspaper thingie that comes out monthly. It's covered topics from my favorite doomed folkie of the 60's, Karen Dalton to a Loren Coleman, who is one of the leaders in the field of cryptozoology
For the price of free, it's a steal.
The current issue, I guess is their "art issue", which means they have also opened up a gallery in the Wicker Park area. A place where this sort of stuff once thrived, but has now turned into a stinky, yuppie hell on earth.

A few hours before checking the joint out, I sat with a friend, whom I would consider one of my more heavy artist pal's. I extended the invite to check out the gallery his way. He declined. His reason was he liked what they were trying to do, but felt they were trying to be "too Rhode Island".
Funny.
I went off on my way, and made it to Happy Dog, only to be greeted by, nobody.
The entire gallery was abandoned, but very much "open to the public".
There were can's filled with cigarette butt's next to stacks of leftover copies of past Skeleton issues.
As far as a gallery, this felt more like a thrown together affair of recent artists, some good, some not so good.
I took it all in in 20 minutes, and walked out into the cold, scratching my head.

Maybe I'm the asshole? Maybe I'm getting too old? The idea of putting together a gallery with pieces that seem totally out sync with each other, for what feels like the sake of putting a gallery show together seems a bit pointless.
My friend who accompanied me pointed out "I think they think they are Dada".
We began to laugh, until later while reflecting on the experience did I begin to realize how awful that comment was, and how it was true.
Maybe the real "meaning" behind the gallery was to test what most of us have began to consider to be an "art showing".
Labeling them as wanna-be this and that only helps fuel debate, and make me curious to go back and re-think everything being shown off.
Okay, so I am the asshole. Sue me.
If you want to check it out for yourself, that would mean leaving your apartment/house in Chicago, which means you will get cold, go to Happy Dog, 1542 N. Milwaukee.