YES IT IS!

But, isn't it obvious why? I work for several River North galleries where the trend is even more about selling something that'll match someone's fancy sofa on the Gold Coast then it ever was! The shitty economy is really making the art world suffer. The MCA keeps laying off more and more people in the preparator's department. In the local gallery world, it is most definitely a buyer's market so you better start painting some flowers. The galleries that try to really do things (like Heaven, Buddy and High School) have become way too political and muddied by admittedly clinically insane administration. Remember the golden days of Randolph Street, NAME and all the meaty non-for-profits that put us on the map? These Wicker Park loft galleries are never going to be that prestigious and a big reason for that is that the River North commercial spaces are never going togive them the time of day.