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Erik Wenzel helps to fill the art criticism gap in Chicago "and beyond."

Tuesday Jan 23, 2007.     By Jessica Herman

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Despite Chicago's few attempts at fueling conversation about art—the weekly podcast Bad at Sports, Bridge Magazine and the now-folded TENbyTEN and New Art Examiner—25-year-old Erik Wenzel thinks there isn't enough serious writing about art on a local level. His blog Art or Idiocy? is his way of filling the gap. The School of the Art Institute alum started thinking analytically about art as a teenager in a rigorous art education program at Homewood-Flossmoor High School. Since then he's gone on to pursue art criticism for publications such as Time Out Chicago as well as painting and drawing, occasionally showing his works at local galleries.

Wenzel's posts range from news blurbs, opinion statements and shout-outs to artists and galleries he'd like to promote to longer critiques that still retain a conversational, if not smarmy tone. Just don't call them snarky. He hates that word.

What's the gist of your blog?
Art in Chicago and beyond, even though everyone says "whatever and beyond." It focuses on Chicago because that's where I am, but I'm paying attention to the rest of the world, too.

If I read your blog today, gimme me one thing I'd learn.
About all the good art in Chicago that no one else is talking about. I'm working on a piece on Bob Jones who's an artist who shows at 65Grand. He's an awesome artist, and its awesome gallery and they need to have more attention. It's a difficult show...and [this is] kind of like an apology for it—I really like that show and it's meant a lot to me also in my [artistic] process and also sparked me to try different things since I've seen it.

How do you pay the bills?
I currently work at the Art Institute museum in development.

Your computer is surrounded by…
I guess tons of pieces of paper and cute objects like two Chinese luck cats.

When you aren't loving blogging, you're loving BLANK in Chicago.
My friends and family. I like when I'm riding the Madison bus west and the part where you can see all the way down the street to the Board of Trade building. You look up and it's like 'wow.' That's probably my favorite view in the city.

Name a local blogger extraordinaire.
That's me. I'm the artist extraodinarie. Ok, Lauren Burke. She's a friend of mine that's definitely snarky and she's not afraid to use that word. She puts out good little things. The URL is hautepopcouture.blogspot.com.

Jessica Herman likes peeking into other folks' lives, which sure helps when she's grilling hip Chicago bloggers. If you'd like to shower a little love on a local blogger whose antics and anecdotes are your favorite flavor of procrastination, shoot her an email.