Ratko Ikic

On Saturday morning I had breakfast with Nick and Nadine of Sonnenzimmer. Afterward, on the way South to CAKE we were distracted by a row of huge, colorful paintings leaning up against a wrought iron fence on Ashland avenue. We immediately pulled over for a better look and ended up talking to the artist, Ratko Ikic. He didn't have much English and none of us speak... Bosnian? So very little was really communicated (he has a book of English Castles that he references... and that's about all I got). These are a few of the paintings. They are kind of stunning.

Clearly he's self taught, I'm guessing he came to painting late in life. But they really had a pretty amazing, idiosyncratic sense of mood and light and color. And the guy is ambitious. They were big. And there were a lot of them. It was pretty amazing in about six different ways at once.

That's him in the cowboy hat. He's got a gallery/studio at 4036 N Ashland. Go knock on his door if you're curious. He might actually try to give you one.

CAKE satellite show?

Cut Fold Crumple Paste is up through CAKE. And four of the artists are cartoonists. Is there really such a thing as coincidence? Come check it out because after that its gone forever. Work by Emilie Plateau, Sara Drake, Kayla Risko, Cheryl Weaver, Lilli Carre, and Marijpol (all pictured) as well as Stephen Eichhorn and Diana Guerrero-Maciá. Lula Cafe, 2537 N Kedzie Blvd, Chicago.

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I just did the cover for the first publication of student writing from the Mid-continent Oceanographic Institute – the new 826 chapter here in the twin cities (formerly the Rock Star Supply co.).

Here's a sample. Order a copy and support the MOI. They're doing great work.

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Had a little strip in the NYT today, illustrating an essay about a scientist, some mice, and a syringe full of HIV. This is the one that appeared in the paper:

Here's an alternate version in color:

New Findings