J.A.W. Cooper is awesome and her newest series, “Laid Bare,” explores vulnerability as both a source of strength and discomfort. Flaws are authentic and humanizing, and when we allow others to see our flaws, when we accept vulnerability as necessary, we open ourselves up to truly authentic experiences and relationships. This series is about the struggle to release anxiety and fear and an exploration of the constructive and destructive power of vulnerability.

Click here for an in-depth interview with J.A.W. Cooper by Keith Dugas  on CARTWHEEL.

Here’s what curator Tony Fitzpatrick has to say about the crazed Chicagoan art show he’s curating at La Luz de Jesus, opening April 5, featuring 29 artists:

This show was originally supposed to ride the Bus– all of us –and our work were going to take a Bus out to sunny LA and show Angelinos what 29 hooligans from Chicago bring to the big all-u-can-eat Art Buffet.

Nobody liked the idea of 29 of us crammed onto a bus for 3 days–except me. I, of course loved the idea. I thought we’d see the Painted Desert, The Petrified Forest, and (on the way back), get some ‘shrooms and hang out at Joshua Tree. I did this over 30 years ago and remember it fondly.

“You see; we come from a big, gray, wintry city that is full of Wonder, Poetry, and sadly immeasurable cruelty, as well as luminous Grace. Chicago is one place and a thousand others. The artists I’ve chosen for this typify this idea in spades. There is no one kind of Chicago artist–no monolithic , over reaching thematic narrative. We are a city populated by individuals. Poets. Dreamers. Square-Pegs. Knuckle-Heads, and necessary Angels. While New York has it’s schools, and LA its proud and varied scenes and movements. What we have is ourselves–One Man, One Woman, One step at a time taking the only journeys that mean anything to us– our own.

Expect some great art, and some attitude (LOL) since Tony comments:

>We are only like ourselves. Thank You for having us.