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Scott Speh
@scottspeh.bsky.social
120 followers 260 following 150 posts
Owner and proprietor of Western Exhibitions, a contemporary art gallery in Chicago

http://westernexhibitions.com/
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scottspeh.bsky.social
Tonight and tmrw, Oct 3 and 4 is the 15th year of the West Town Art Walk. Western Exhibitions and the galleries at 1709 W Chicago Ave (David Salkin Creative, Document and Volume Gallery) will be open until 8pm tonight and 11am to 6pm on Saturday.

Check out @westtownchicago (on Insta) for more info
October 3, 2025 at 3:07 PM
scottspeh.bsky.social
OPENING this Friday, 5-8pm, at Western Exhibitions (Gallery 2)

Simone Mantellassi
Carpeting In the Kitchen Incorporated

westernexhibitions.com/exhibition/c...
Simone Mantellassi The Status Of Things As They Have Been, 2022 Plaster, wood, cardboard, wire, acrylic paint, plexiglass 18 3/4h x 12w x 13 1/4d in Simone Mantellassi Little Jimmy On Big Jimmy (The Jimmies), 2022 Acrylic on paper 30h x 22w in
September 9, 2025 at 10:07 PM
scottspeh.bsky.social
OPENING this Friday, 5-8pm, at Western Exhibitions

Journie Cirdain
The Gloaming

Cirdain’s large allegorical drawings exist at the intersection of the human and animal, internal and external, magic and reality, and ultimately, life and death.

westernexhibitions.com/exhibition/t...
September 9, 2025 at 10:01 PM
scottspeh.bsky.social
Three new titles at WesternXeditions! Available NOW, in-person only, at the WesternXeditions shelves at Western Exhibitions

Dutes Miller
“Eat the Rich”
“Silence = Death”
color xerox zines

Deb Sokolow
“A Deb Sokolow Sampler: 20 Years of Speculative Drawing”
catalog for survey at NIU Art Museum
July 15, 2025 at 8:55 PM
scottspeh.bsky.social
Opening tonight in Chicago at Western Exhibitions:

In Gallery 1, Folk Methods with Spatial Problems, curated by Shannon Rae Stratton

In Gallery 2, Nanako Kono // Doublespeak

Public reception from 5-8pm, alongside openings at Volume Gallery and Document, at 1709 W Chicago Ave
June 13, 2025 at 7:54 PM
scottspeh.bsky.social
More here www.doorcountycontemporary.com
May 31, 2025 at 10:06 PM
scottspeh.bsky.social
Opening tonight at Western Exhibitions:
Jessica Campbell // Dogman Lives on the Ground
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Sukaina Kubba // Textile Museum

5-8pm
1709 W Chicago Ave

Document and Volume galleries will also be opening shows with Faheem Majeed and Robell Awake, respectively
April 18, 2025 at 6:47 PM
scottspeh.bsky.social
You may crush our bodies and our ponchos, but you'll never silence our song of protest!
March 16, 2025 at 9:16 PM
scottspeh.bsky.social
Check out the sculptures in Alana Ferguson’s show at Patient Info — an artist-run gallery at 902 N Western Ave, Chicago — weird, and a little unsettling, in all the best ways
March 8, 2025 at 3:50 PM
scottspeh.bsky.social
In "Head in the Clouds" from 1969-1970, Julia Schmitt Healy removed her face from 16 different photographic self-portraits and replaced them with images of clouds on a blue sky taken from cut-up postcards. Her show at Western Exhibitions closes this Saturday!

#imagist
#chicagoimagist
Framed view of Julia Schmitt Healy Head in the Clouds, 1969-70 Yearbook collage and gouache on paper 8h x 6 1/2w in Framed: 15 1/2h x 12w in Julia Schmitt Healy Head in the Clouds, 1969-70 Yearbook collage and gouache on paper 8h x 6 1/2w in Framed: 15 1/2h x 12w in
February 20, 2025 at 7:03 PM
scottspeh.bsky.social
Saturday is the last day to see Julia Schmitt Healy's show at Western Exhibitions, "Looking Back: Work by Julia Schmitt Healy from 1970-1981"

Open today thru Saturday, 11am to 6pm

1709 W Chicago Ave in the great united state of Chicago
Julia Schmitt Healy Empty People Series: Talking Shit, 1970 Gouache on paper 8 1/2h x 8w in Framed: 12 1/4h x 12 1/4w in Julia Schmitt Healy Back View, 1979 Acrylic on canvas 36h x 30w in Installation view of Julia Schmitt Healy Head in the Clouds, 1969-70 Yearbook collage and gouache on paper 8h x 6 1/2w in Framed: 15 1/2h x 12w in Yearbook Set-up of Current People Clouded, 1969 Watercolour and graphite on paper 14h x 11w in Framed: 16 3/4h x 15w in Empty People Series: Talking Shit, 1970 Gouache on paper 8 1/2h x 8w in Framed: 12 1/4h x 12 1/4w in Empty People Series: Hairstyles, 1970 Gouache on paper Paper size: 9h x 11x in.; Image size: 4 1/2h x 4 w in. Framed: 12 1/2h x 15 1/2w in Empty People Series: Backviews #1, 1970 Gouache on paper 7 1/2h x 7 1/2w in Framed: 15 1/4h x 15 1/4w in Empty People Series: Backviews #2, 1970 Gouache on paper 8 1/2h x 8w in Framed: 14h x 14w in Installation view of Julia Schmitt Healy Laminated Lady Parts, 1979 Acrylic on canvas 28h x 22w in Back View, 1979 Acrylic on canvas 36h x 30w in Cat Hair Lady, 1981 Acrylic on canvas 36h x 30w in Dog Owner, 1981 Acrylic on canvas 36h x 30w in
February 19, 2025 at 6:03 PM
scottspeh.bsky.social
From Julia Schmitt Healy’s solo show up now at Western Exhibitions, through Feb 22

Totem Pole #2
1976
Colored pencil on rag paper, 30h x 22w in. 34h x 26w in. framed

See the ALT TEXT on the first image for a statement form the artist

#juliaschmitthealy
#imagist
#chicagoimagist
From the artist: The woodgrain drawings came out of my situation, in 1976 in Nova Scotia. I was newly-married and the housework was 100% mine to do. Feminism was raising its head in women’s consciousnesses at the time and housework is a feminist issue. So my usual approach to making art--working in visual metaphors--was what was needed, and that is what I did. At the time, I noticed women around me who absolutely “became” their houses. It was their identity. I realized it was so easy to become overly-invested in one’s domicile—how it looked outside and in, what kind of style it had, how it was kept. It was an extension of self. I made women wearing tea cozies covering their heads (being suffocated) …women wearing masks (hiding)… women made of bathroom tiles… women made of stainless steel who “became their kitchen sinks,” and women made of woodwork... women as furniture. They were “wooden,” immutable, fixed. There is a wooden bride in a bridal veil…wooden bodies…wooden portraits. Women who seem to be pulled in many directions. I then took the idea of wooden figures to depict icons of the day--male and female. I feel they have an almost totemic presence. Eventually, I made a series of drawn totemic images where heads of people and animals are stacked totem-pole style, but that’s a whole other show! Installation view of Julia Schmitt Healy’s solo show, LOOKING BACK: WORK BY JULIA SCHMITT HEALY FROM 1970-1981, up now in Gallery 1 at Western Exhibitions, through February 22 Installation view of Julia Schmitt Healy’s solo show, LOOKING BACK: WORK BY JULIA SCHMITT HEALY FROM 1970-1981, up now in Gallery 1 at Western Exhibitions, through February 22
February 6, 2025 at 9:09 PM
scottspeh.bsky.social
And the final ten...
41. Backyard Lover by Merce Lemon 42. Say It Like You Mean It by Sleater-Kinney 43. head empty blues by Elko Astral 44. piano instrumental by julie 45. It’s Inside You by CANDY 46. Docket by Blondshell with Bully 47. The Serpent and the King by Judas Priest 48. One Last Dance by Baby Rose with BADBADNOTGOOD 49. Crystallized by Poppy 50. I’m All Fucked Up by This is Lorelei
February 2, 2025 at 9:52 PM
scottspeh.bsky.social
FINALLY, on the occasion of MUSIC’s BIGGEST NIGHT, The Spehway Guide to Modern Culture: 2024 Edition: Best 50 Songs is HERE. #girdyourloins

open.spotify.com/playlist/5oy...
1. Good Luck, Babe! by Chappell Roan 2. Salty by Pouty 3. She’s Leaving You by MJ Lenderman 4. Happy for You by Dua Lipa 5. Calling You Out by Charly Bliss 6. Juno by Sabrina Carpenter 7. Like I Say (I Runaway) by 8. Sick Sweet by Wishy 9. I Never Loved You by Halsey 10. Von Dutch by Charli XCX 11. Dreamstate by Kelly Lee Owens 12. Soup by Remi Wolf 13. Cardinal by Kacey Musgraves 14. Alone by The Cure 15. But Daddy I Love Him by Taylor Swift 16. Birds of a Feather by Billie Eilish 17. Next Time by Bacchae 18. Starburster by Fontaines D.C. 19. Bored by Waxahatchee 20. Alibi by Hurray for the Riff Raff 21. The Great Divide by Wussy 22. Death & Romance by Magdalena Bay 23. II Most Wanted by Beyoncé with Miley Cyrus 24. Bleeding the Night by Mean Mistreater 25. Dirty Mirror Selfie by Origami Angel 26. I Am Dog Now by Chat Pile 27. The Stargate (Tablet II) by Blood Incantation 28. Eat It and Beat It by Sheer Mag 29. Old Tape by Lucious 30. Joyride by Kesha 31. One for the Road by Johnny Blue Skies 32. Smile by Wand 33. Pure Bread by JiLLi 34. Killer Not a Lover by Illiterate Light 35. boys, bugs and men by Paris Paloma 36. Beat the Machine by Cosmoliner 37. Mood Ring by Joan Shelley 38. Counting Sheep by Anxious 39. Driver by Soccer Mommy 40. Lego Ring by Faye Webster with Lil Yachty
February 2, 2025 at 9:51 PM
scottspeh.bsky.social
From Julia Schmitt Healy’s show, in Gallery 1 at Western Exhibitions, through Feb 22

Baggy People, 1970
Acrylic on Canvas
59h x 59w in

Empty Conversation, 1970
Acrylic on 1969 Linen Tea Towel
16h x 14w in

Turned Away, 1970
Acrylic on Linen 1967 Calendar Tea Towel
16h x 14w in

#chicagoimagist
Julia Schmitt Healy Baggy People, 1970 Acrylic on Canvas 59h x 59w in Julia Schmitt Healy Empty Conversation, 1970 Acrylic on 1969 Linen Tea Towel 16h x 14w in Julia Schmitt Healy Turned Away, 1970 Acrylic on Linen 1967 Calendar Tea Towel 16h x 14w in Installation view of LOOKING BACK: WORK BY JULIA SCHMITT HEALY FROM 1970-1981, up now in Gallery 1 at Western Exhibitions, through February 22
January 31, 2025 at 8:48 PM
scottspeh.bsky.social
Empty People Series: Hairstyles, 1970
Gouache on vellum, Substrate size: 9h x 11x in.; Image size: 4 1/2h x 4 w in., framed: 12 1/2h x 15 1/2w in
January 28, 2025 at 9:03 PM
scottspeh.bsky.social
From Julia Schmitt Healy’s solo show, LOOKING BACK: WORK BY JULIA SCHMITT HEALY FROM 1970-1981, up now in Gallery 1 at Western Exhibitions, through February 22

#juliaschmitthealy
#imagist
#chicagoimagist
Julia Schmitt Healy's 1970 series of paintings and watercolors, "Empty People" Empty People Series: Talking Shit, 1970 Gouache on paper, 8 1/2h x 8w in., framed: 12 1/4h x 12 1/4w in Empty People Series: Backviews #1, 1970 Gouache on paper, 7 1/2h x 7 1/2w in., framed: 15 1/4h x 15 1/4w in Empty People Series: Backviews #2, 1970 Gouache on paper, 8 1/2h x 8w in., framed: 14h x 14w in
January 28, 2025 at 9:01 PM
scottspeh.bsky.social
Opening tonight at Western Exhibitions Chicago:
Julia Schmitt Healy + Ella Weber
5-8pm

1709 W Chicago Ave, Chicago, IL 60622

+ opening receptions for Document and Volume, both at 1709, and Andrew Rafacz, down the street at 1749 W Chicago Ave
January 10, 2025 at 8:46 PM
scottspeh.bsky.social
This Saturday from 12 to 4pm at the gallery, as part of ongoing programming related to our 20th Year Anniversary show, Miller & Shellabarger will be crocheting at both ends of a long pink tube, a performance piece that is one year older than the gallery!
December 14, 2024 at 8:28 PM
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Listen to me yuck it up about our 20 years in the art biz on the Bad at Sports podcast

badatsports.com/2024/episode...
November 30, 2024 at 10:11 PM
scottspeh.bsky.social
Western Exhibitions Fall Newsletter:

Western Exhibitions in the news!
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Zhi Ding installation views
+
Elijah Burgher installation views
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Holiday Hours
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Upcoming events and shows

conta.cc/4g7ePva
HOLIDAY HOURS WESTERN EXHIBITIONS Chicago OPEN Saturday, Nov. 30, 11am to 6pm (northern) Western Exhibitions SKOKIE OPEN Saturday, Nov. 30, 11am to 6pm OPEN Sunday, Dec. 1, 12-4pm.
November 29, 2024 at 4:12 PM
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Installation views of Deb Sokolow "Visualizing" are on our site here:

westernexhibitions.com/exhibition/d...
December 8, 2023 at 5:30 PM
scottspeh.bsky.social
THIS SATURDAY at Western Exhibitions in Chicago, at 2pm, Deb Sokolow gives a walk-through of her current show at the gallery, "Visualizing." Free and open to all!

westernexhibitions.com/exhibition/d...
November 30, 2023 at 10:34 PM