While few venues have been able to transcend the bricks and mortar, the Metro has become engrained in Chicago’s art community. So much more than a rock club, Metro has provided music fans with a multidimensional concert experience since 1982. So when it came time for the Metro to celebrate the Metro’s 30 years as a Chicago venue and landmark, it didn’t stop at the music.
A year in the making, Metrospective resulted from collaboration between Metro and the Chicago Loop Alliance. The exhibit showcases Metro’s rich artistic history through gig posters, photographs and rare artifacts, including a cassette tape of the venue’s very first show with R.E.M.
Given Shanahan’s background in the visual arts, a multimedia approach to chronicling Metro’s rise in Chicago’s art community was assumed, and seeing a pop-up gallery in a London storefront was all the inspiration he needed. It was then left to Philip Barash, Director of Marketing and Development at Chicago Loop Alliance to provide the Metro with the perfect venue so Shanahan’s vision could be realized.
Once plans for the pop-up gallery were set in motion, it was left to Sponsorship Director Stacy Marquardt and Art Director Ryne Estwing to by rifle through a seemingly endless archive of gig posters housed in Shanahan’s office. Estwing arranged the prints in a manner that the stylistic evolution of the posters was clear. From the bright splashes of neon indicative of 90s punk sentiments or the modern shadowing indicative of the glossy 2000s, each decade’s nuances were evident. The origin of each print varies from in-house artists to commissioned screen printers. While the posters’ artists are scattered all over the United States, Shanahan maintains a proclivity for local art; following the artistic mantra, “think
global; act local.”
Steve Riedell was a heavily featured artist at Metrospective, boasting a staggering 27 posters on display. Riedell joined the Metro team as a screen printer in 2005, during a time when gig posters began to claim a central role in the Metro concert experience. For the first time, bands began responding to artists’ work and the designs became heavily tied to the concert experience itself. Riedell and Shanahan both agree that poster art has played a central role in the Metro’s multimedia approach to the concert experience and that the poster archives were simply too monumental to collect dust in the darkness of a filing cabinet.
Housed in the sleek, stainless framing of the Inland Steel building on Dearborn and Monroe, the exhibit seems to reflect the mature side of the Metro, a quality that is often subdued beneath the static haze of guitar riffs and the deafening screams of die-hard fans. Each poster, with colors as vivid and vibrant as the Metro’s colorful history, contrasts against the minimalist gleam of the black lighting rigs serving as frames.
Every style of art-from black-and-white pen sketches drawn by the Metro’s first art director to severe, geometric spectacles-is displayed. The exhibit also includes photographs of the building, crowd, performers, and autographed albums, capturing every facet of the musical experiences that Metro has shared with Chicago.
The exhibit includes an eclectic array of posters, showcasing legendary acts to modern gems, along with some of Shanahan’s favorites. Among these include the Smashing Pumpkins New Years Eve hand-drawn poster, during a time when “they were no longer a band of Chicago, but a band of the world,” Shanahan said. Another piece that holds a special place of honor is the Sonic Youth poster created to commemorate the Metro’s 20 th anniversary, a celebration that signified to Shanahan that he was “doing something right.”
The purpose of the exhibit was not only to celebrate the Metro’s milestone anniversary, but also its unique approach to the concert-going experience. Shanahan modeled Metro’s atmosphere off of Andy Warhol’s “happenings,” which were social gatherings that revolved around art of all mediums, from film to paintings to music. Shanahan’s professional goal was to provide a place for all of these artistic mediums to co-exist and be seen by the masses, to provide a “marketplace for the disenfranchised.”
But most importantly, Shanahan aimed to create an experience, rather than just an event, from his concerts. During the exhibit’s arrangement, curious passers-by would share their memories of the Metro with the gregarious owner. “I started hearing these stories and I think that is my job. I love to bring people together, to inspire them talk about something that was possibly a milepost or a signpost in their life along the way. It could’ve been a first date; it could’ve been a breakup. It could be something that was very compelling for that person.”
To music fans and art enthusiasts, the Metro is more of an experience than a building. It’s easy to forget the significance of places like the Metro-cryptic lyrics echo down the sprawling hallways, streams of stale tears seep from the dulled walls, faded footprints scuff the hard tile floor-and the only reminder comes with time, a poster, a new perspective.
Metrospective is free and open to the public at the Inland Steel Building (30 W. Monroe) from July 13 to August 3. More information can be found at http://metrochicago.com/