My favorite way to learn about Chicago art is to follow Paul Germanos' photo stream on Flickr.

Many of us often look to others for advice on what art to check out in Chicago. Friends can give great insight, after seeing any shows they can probably recommend good shows for you to see, mostly because they know you.

Bloggers can be rich sources as well, if you're into following their words and keeping up with the posts. However in my opinion you have to regularly follow bloggers to make sense of their posts. After reading a few posts one can often figure out who any writer knows, what types of art they are into and whether or not they have an agenda with things like commercial galleries, old boy clubs (or new girl ones), certain collectors, young art, old art, street art, contemporary art, etc...Armed with even a modest understanding of your blogger's background you can decide if and when you want to take their advice.

Local websites like Chicagoist, NewCity, Time Out, Gaper's Block, and the Reader, offer comprehensive listings and articles that do a good job of covering artists in Chicago. But after looking at Paul's set of images, it's easy to feel like he has some portion of the Chicago art market cornered. Not sure what corner that would be, but regardless, he's carved out a nice little place for himself and his photography.

A few months ago I had a show in town and having never met Paul I dropped him a line. I really thought that like others in Chicago's large art scene, Paul would never show up because he already had a circle of folks that he rolled with. However the night of the opening I turned around and he was there in the background, alone. After talking for a while, he asked if he could take some pictures. It was refreshing to see someone driven by art conversations and not pushed by anything other than a seemingly passionate connection to art, photography, and exhibitions. SO if you have a show and would like to see Paul there, reach out to him!

If you check out his work on Flickr, know that it's copywritten and you won't be able to highjack his images for your blog.  Smart.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/73059802@N00/

This post is tagged Flickr Feature, Paul Germanos