A sculpture by Tony Tasset outside the Merchandise Mart. (All photos by Tripp Chamberlain)

Chicago may be better known for NeoCon–that’s the design show, not right-wing political philosophy–but the contemporary and modern art equivalent, Artropolis, appears to be holding ground with another solid run at the Merchandise Mart over the last weekend. Artropolis, the Midwest‘s answer to Art Basel, is comprised of three fairs: Art Chicago; NEXT, an invitational exhibition of emerging art; and the International Antiques Fair. AN’s Midwest Eavesdrop took a spin around the preview party to peep who turned out for the free booze and what was showing at the fairs.  

Kavi Gupta and friend.

Kavi Gupta and his namesake gallery were positioned front and center with work by a sampling of his artists, including Susan Giles’ contorted-architecture-as-sculptures and Tony Tasset. Both artists were included in the large-scale works displayed inside and out of the Mart’s first floor.

Liz Neilsen

Liz Nielsen, director of the Swimming Pool Project Space curated the Goffo section of NEXT, including an interesting architectural model of the International Space Station. Daniel Baird’s model depicts the Station rebuilt to scale on Earth and left to decay.

A sculpture by Daniel Baird.

Back at the bar, Eavesdrop spotted Justin Cooper, who is included in the current show Production Site at the Museum of Contemporary Art and David Csicsko the artist and designer who created the mosaics installed at the recently renovated Belmont L station.

Justin Cooper and beer.

David Csicsko

Was it performance art or hipster desperation? But the unexpected highlight of the evening was the distribution of leftover Dominoes pizza outside of the Mart at the end of the party. Free booze, drunken art students, and garbage bag pizza nicely juxtaposed with the well-heeled climbing into their limos.