Editorial
Veritable Vagaries for Variety
by Alberto Aguilar, Alexander Bradley Cohen, and Jesse Malmed
In advance of their variety show at the MCA tomorrow evening, MCA (Malmed, Cohen, and Aguilar) of Worldplay presents three musings and 30 images to prepare show goers for the spirit of the event.
Malmed
Hot Dog Bottle Blog: sunny, tiny littles, cash freak undividended like boggled logs in feldsnickles. Call down the aisles, alleys, siriusly: sallow, mustered, choppt white operettas, broadside green swimming pierce remittance, a dill pierce speckle, tonic slipways or weirdos, pickled sprayer perfects and a daze of celery sampler: dragged through; by garter, by Ina Garten.
Cohen
The world is a variety store. Options are overbearing. Heavy on our minds. Come take a load off. Come for a variety you don’t have to choose.
Have variety given to you. 24 hours of variety condensed into 2. Come help Jesse, Alex, and Alberto find the 22 missing hours of variety.
Aguilar
Welcome all, all are welcomed; free and open to the public if you enter through the back door. Just pour yourself a drink from the bottle and lift your glass to this place, this space. A space where anything goes and everyone knows. Welcome to the all-knowing bottle that calls to be rubbed.
Related Exhibition
About the Authors
I will write this biography using 132 words but I won’t discover this number until I’m finished writing it. From this point forward he will speak in third person. Alberto Aguilar is a Chicago-based aartist that uses whatever material is at hand to commemorate his exchanges and interactions. Aguilar’s work has been exhibited at the National Museum of Mexican AArt, Museum of Contemporary AArt Chicago, Crystal Bridges Museum of American AArt, the Queens Museum, Nelson-Atkins Museum of AArt, Minneapolis Institute of AArt, and the AArt Institute of Chicago. He currently teaches at Harold Washington College where he also coordinates Pedestrian Project, a program dedicated to making aart more accessible and available. In order to create slight confusion, he added an extra “A” wherever the word aart appears in this bio.
Alex Bradley Cohen lives and works in Chicago, IL. Recent solo and two-person exhibitions include Flat Tops at Nicelle Beauchene Gallery in New York City (2017); and Five Works: Alex Bradley Cohen at Mana Contemporary in Chicago, Illinois (2017). Selected group exhibitions include The Window and the Breaking of the Window at The Studio Museum of Harlem in Harlem, New York (2016); This Room is a Work Made Up of People at Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago, Illinois (2016); Artifacts of a Life Lived by the Living (to Live) at Craft and Folk Art Museum in Los Angeles, California (2013); and Skowhegan Performs at Socrates Sculpture Park in Long Island City, New York (2013). Cohen received a BFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (2014) and was a resident at Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture (2014).
Jesse Malmed is an artist and curator living and working in Chicago. He regularly incorporates moving images, performance, text, and occasional objects into his installations and performances. His art is often presented at museums, cinemas, and galleries, as well as less traditional spaces, such as bars and barns. In addition to creating art, he curates exhibitions, screenings and performance events.