Art on Track

For those trying to make their living as artists, creating brilliant work is just the beginning. From there, it's an endless loop of seeking representation, securing a gallery show and getting the work sold. It's no wonder that artists, like workaday commuters, often feel as if they're going around in circles. One brave new creative collective has come up with a unique way to turn that circular shape from a source of frustration into a celebration of creativity.

On August 30, Art on Track (www.chicagoartontrack.com) will turn eight CTA orange line train cars into a moving gallery. Paintings, photographs, video stills and uncategorizables will hang by wires strung from the length of the train and secured by industrial suction cups stuck to the walls and ceiling.

Patrons will be able to reach out and touch some of the work (such as punching bags hung from the ceiling containing the faces of some public figures you'll surely want to slug). One car will be dedicated to a performance piece that uses rainy day craft materials to continually construct and deconstruct a visual representation Chicago's best-known landmarks and historical events.

The special charter train that contains Art on Track will circle the loop from 6 to 10 p.m. Saturday, on August 30. To hitch a ride, enter at the Adams and Wabash L platforms (handicap entrance at Washington and Wells). The cost is $5; but those drawn to a particular work can further express their support for the arts by securing a promissory note that allows them to purchase it at a later date.

This unusual triangulation of art, commerce and transportation is meant to provide artists with "a means to exhibit their work unconventionally" while "redefining the public's role in the arts irreversibly." That's just one of the provocative promises from Salvo, a think tank of artists whose inaugural project seeks to bridge "the gap between the broader public body and the artistic community." To do so, they've chosen to display their art in that most democratic form of travel known as public transportation.

The work on display comes from emerging artists represented by members of Salvo as well as the Aldo Castillo Contemporary Gallery, Flatiron artists group, Quennect 4, The Silver Room, The Colibri Gallery and The Peter Jones Gallery.

By showcasing their work in this unconventional manner, Salvo hopes to "create a new market for the arts. We want to get people used to seeing art in their everyday lives. Once it becomes almost too convenient, it will start to be integrated more fully." That's the goal of Salvo's Tristan Hummel (creator and executive producer of Art on Track). Hummel envisions a day where the antiquated gallery system is supplemented by technology that makes art mobile -- so "you'll see people looking at a Monet or van Gogh the way people listen to songs on their iPod."

Art on Track is the starting point of such an effort: "We tried to find a very public space in which people could make the logical leap from the gallery. The train has this museum quality to it." But unlike the traditional gallery or museum, "We have a very exposed, very raw space. As the train sways, people will grab onto poles and pull themselves closer into the art work; they'll have to be mindful of it."

Hummel indicates that Art on Track will become an annual event whose second incarnation will "represent more of the Chicago neighborhoods, artists, galleries and communities." One surefire way to ensure the return of a good idea is to throw a lively after party once the train executes its final loop at 10 p.m. Hummel invites Art on Track patrons, and art lovers in general, to the downtown bar The Joynt 650 N. Dearborn. From at 11 p.m. to 2 a.m. you can meet and greet the participating artists and Salvo think tankers -- while getting tanked. It'll be a fitting end to Art on Track's noble goal of "providing alternative means to present art while increasing the market for those arts."

For details: [email protected] or 516-512-0712