Hey All, so I just got back from a weekend in Chicago with a bunch of fellow artists... We weren't there for a long time, we were there for a good time, and we had a blast. The whole thing was organized by Annie and Billy my gallery Billy Shire Fine Arts, and it was for a book signing/art show at DvA Gallery.

We hopped on a much delayed plane on Friday, and looked forward to meeting up with some great artists in the Windy City - Scheduled to come out for the show were Bob Dob, Nathan Ota, Glenn Barr, Martha Rich, Daniel Martin Diaz, Ana Bagayan, Scott G. Brooks, Jason Houchen and Dave Cooper. It was a fun bunch from all over the place so I was looking forward to it.

After a delayed flight, a taxi line that was just a little longer than the Great Wall of China, a detoured subway containing a raving lunatic, and a bus across town, we finally made it to the awesome Palmer House Hilton about 2 in the morning. The hotel was amazing, with high decorated ceilings, Tiffanny angels, and general old school awesomeness.


it was late, but we were all kind of wired from the travels, so we ordered some late night Chicago style deep dish stuffed cheese pizza and gave ourselves indigestion just in time to fall asleep. Dreams of dancing mozzerella balls can-canning through my colon drifted through my dreams all night.

In the morning I got up form what was probably the most comfortable bed i have ever slept in and got ready for the day. The Chicago Art fair was going on that weekend, so Annie and I decided to go check it out. For anyone who doesn't know (I didn't before I got there) The Chicago Art Fair is this big fair or convention type of thing where galleries and artist from all over come to show their latest works, or in the case of the Antiques section, their oldest works. There were 8 or 9 floors of art to look at, and I only regret that I had so little time to see the stuff...

Like I said, we rushed through it pretty good, so I don't have the names of the pieces or artists or galleries that I saw this stuff at (I know, I'm lame!) But if you know who they are, let me know for sure!

Some stuff I saw:
A sequin black panther



A Smiley Girl



some cool prison-style art

this demon guy in an old poster

this really cool painting


The fair was fun, but we had to get ready for the book signing, so we headed back to the brown line (yeah, i know - BROWN line? I'm no city planner, but cmon! There were NO other colors they could come up with? "Fuschia" Line was taken? BROWN?!?! - anyway) and headed back to the hotel.

The book sigining was at DvA Gallery and was a lot of fun. I signed some copies of my book "Everything That Creeps" and met some nice people.
We ate dinner at a bar next door to the gallery called Prost. It was a German Bar and was probably the loudest place I had ever been. there were a couple of beer pong teams drinking to their victory or defeat or to just keep it all going, and they were going apeshit. The bar served this thing called a boot of beer that looked like a glass prosthetic leg full of lager. the beer pongers were guzzling these like some sort of limb devouring monsters. over the course of our meal, they went from shouting to cheering to wrestling to crying to hugging to sleeping on the table, and back to the boot again. it was a sight to behold.

We went back to the gallery for the opening, and talked and drank some beers while the place filled up. it was a good time, and some really great people came by from as far as Columbus ohio. I was glad my two pieces sold and I even bought a small piece called "Canadian Legion" by Vancouver artist Ryan Heshka

After that we headed out to a bar and had some more fun, ending in a couple security guard warnings back at our rooms at the hotel. But that's a different story...

It was my first time to Chicago, and all in all I really liked the city, even though I didnt have much time to spend in it. It was great to meet/see again all the great artists in the show, and I hope I will see them soon! You can check out a link to the show here!

In the morning I suffered a little battle fatigue, and we piled in a white limo and headed for the airport. Glad to be at home with the dogs, and need to catch up on some sleep... Thanks a lot, thats all for now!!!!



XxLIz