I If Vogue is the fashion bible then Diana Vreeland is the high priestess. She preached style as a way of life and the importance of living beautifully, she said “a new dress doesn’t get you anywhere; it’s the life you’re living in the dress.” The divinely quotable Vreeland was a magazine editor, fashion curator and life enthusiast. She was fashion advisor and lifetime friend to first lady Jacqueline Kennedy. Truman Capote described her “as one of the great Americans who had, more than anyone, improved the level of taste in American women” and former assistant Andre Leon Talley regards her as one of the most important women in his entire life. Her impeccable appearance and grand manner was bewitching to all who knew her. Diana's was from a world of regalia, custom shoes, and fittings at courtier houses. This was a woman whose elegance extended to having the soles of her shoes polished and her dollar bills pressed. Today, her signature epigrammatic style, her strong art direction, and attention to detail continues to inspire. At a time when costume was regarded by academics as too frivolous for serious examination, Vreeland said “Fashion is part of the daily air and it changes all the time, with all the events. You can even see the approaching of a revolution in clothes. You can see and feel everything in clothes.” Diana, recalling a Balenciaga show in the early 1960s: “One simply fainted. It was possible to blow up and die.” Although she was known to embellish, mixing truth with fiction, a term she coined as “faction.” The world she created was one of fantasy and splendor. She wasn't a typical beauty but in the 1930's her style caught the attention of Carmel Snow, the editor and chief of Harpers Bazaar, beginning Vreeland's 26 year tenure at the magazine. She wrote a column, “Why Don’t You…” featuring style and fashion suggestions for the rich. The column was a personal credo: Why don't you be original? By the 60's, Diana would become editor and chief of Vogue, bringing the magazine to the fashion powerhouse it is today. Famous for her memos to models and photographers shooting on location, she directed fashion into fantasy to fill the pages of Vogue. She reigned there for almost a decade until she was fired in 1971, accused of being out of touch and having too expensive of an editorial style. At age 69, Vreeland began the most successful act of her career as a Special Consultant at the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum. She curated 15 costume exhibitions including The World of Balenciaga, The 10's The 20's and The 30's, and Hollywood Costume. Her openings attracted celebrities, with lines out the door and turning the MET into a scene out of Studio 54. “Give'em What They Never Knew They Wanted” tells the inspiring story of Diana Vreeland. Beyond the lacquered exterior and perfectly manicured talons lies the power to channel personal style and own it. The collection reflects Diana's love for Chanel, Balenciaga and Halston in luxury sportswear and exaggerated silhouettes. Presenting articulate clothes with alluring personality, Renovar captures Diana's sense of adventure with wildly chic animal prints, theatrical snuggies and a over-the-top kaftan jumpsuit that thrill to pure madness. Renovar Fall 2014 8pm $15

Over the past 13 years Heaven's has had many incarnations. There was the prepubescent party years with Ed Mar's "Buddy," described by many as the best years of their lives. There was the video and film era with Doug Lussenhop and Eric Fensler's GI Joe video's that went viral before the age of youtube, there was the pre-fence years with movie screened on the back porch, the Pooper art years and the Harold Arts/Joe Jeffers years that helped to define the Heaven style. The gallery's protest improv jazz series started by Jason Ajemian from Highlife that's still going strong. Once in the Heaven/Harold booth at NEXT art fair David Moire performed by playing a squeaky drawer from the gallery's flat file. Heaven hosted raw performances by Anni Rossi who played the fiddle and stomped her feet and Angel Olsen performed bringing a crowded room to silence, there was even free piano lessons for kids. Happy Birthday Heaven Heaven Gallery's 13 year anniversary party will include a silent art auction and art raffle in the main gallery featuring work by over 30 artists. Best of Heaven, an annual curated show will be in the front gallery. Music by Soul DJ Ayana Contreras and Joe Jeffers Best of Heaven show with work by: Cody Hudson Aron Gent/ Betsy O'Brien Ilene Godofsky Josue Pellot Daniel Shea Marissa Lee Benedict Soo Shin Joe Jeffers Jessica Taylor Caponigro Alex Gartelmann Art donated by: Easton Miller Ron Ewert Robert Chase Heishman Lyle Perdak Soo Shin Morgan Sims Bea Fremderman Aron Gent Emily Green Jessica Taylor Caponigro Marissa Lee Benedict Glenn Wexler Jesse Butcher Sarah and Joseph Belknap Josue Pellot Ilene Godofsky Kristina Paabus Caroline Carlsmith Chris Hammes Mike Kloss Eric Fleischauer Michelle Harris Besty O'Brien Laura Mackin Chelsea Culp and Ben Foch Leo Kaplan Cayetano Ferrer Kyle Bravo Johnathan Stein Annie Bielski Rob Mazurek Robin Kang Rose Nestler Jamie Solock Michael Merck Justin B Williams Kate Bowen Alvero llizarbe by Easton Miller up for auction

“No Stairway to Heaven” Josué Pellot, Josh Reames, Morgan Sims and Ron Ewert May 10– June 9 The ubiquity of Led Zeppelin’s 1971 song “Stairway to Heaven” is both impressive and nauseating. Forty years after its release, it continues to receive near constant airplay on terrestrial radio, providing nostalgic affirmation for older generations and a virtuosic canonical reference point for newer audiences. Musically the song is structurally convincing enough to support whimsical and campy lyrics that fetishize a diluted and confused understanding of Anglo folklore, with a few self-referential lines about the genre of rock music and the gestalt of a rock band sprinkled in. A form of low-grade populist poetry, when combined with emotional crescendo, the song becomes legitimate. With the right mix of media saturation, consistency, and myth, the piece becomes legendary, clichéd and parodied. The title of this exhibition comes from a minor scene in “Wayne’s World” (1992), in which Wayne is prohibited from playing the classic rock anthem when purchasing a guitar. A sight gag; the printed sign on the wall that says “No Stairway to Heaven” indicates the scale and absurdity of the problem. The works address topicality and anachronism, in a dialectic between concrete reality and nostalgia. Platonic form, ascetic irony, and sublimated associations allow for this conversation to exist as conflated singular images and objects.  Josué Pellot received his MFA from Northwestern University, Evanston Illinois (2006) and BFA from the University of Illinois, at Chicago, 2003. He is a conceptual artist who engages social critique, politics and humor. He works in various mediums such as painting, video and sculpture. In 2007 Pellot completed a residency with the Fundament Foundation in Tilburg, NL. His work has been shown locally and abroad, including the Chicago Cultural Center, the Contemporary Art Society (London, UK), and the Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Caguas, Puerto Rico. www.josuepellot.com Josh Reames received his MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. His work has recently been shown at Circuit 12 Contemporary (Dallas), Devening Projects (Chicago), Dittrich & Schlechtreim (Berlin), Monya Rowe Gallery (NYC), and Andrew Rafacz Gallery (Chicago). www.joshreames.com Morgan Sims received his MFA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2010 and his BFA from the University of Washington, Seattle in 2004.  His works in painting, print, and neon create contextual and formal reinterpretations of visual culture.  He lives in Chicago and teaches at Harold Washington College.  More of his work can be viewed at www.morgan-sims.com. Ron Ewert received his MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2012.  Recent exhibitions include: The Green Gallery and American Fantasy Classics (Milwaukee), The Freies Museum (Berlin), Andrew Rafacz Gallery, Autumn Space and Peregrine Program (Chicago), as well as Monya Rowe Gallery and Launch F18 (NY).  Ron Ewert is Co-Director of The Hills Esthetic Center, an exhibition space in Chicago dedicated to emerging local and international artists. www.ronewert.com www.thehillseshteticcenter.com

It's not me, It's you> the couple show Relationships are a natural element of life, and a romantic bond between two artists can lead to fulfilling and complex collaborations. Work, love and creativity are closely interwoven in these intense relationships. Communication and trust are necessary for both the creation of art and love. Art, like love, opens new and inspiring worlds. Ultimately, a couples’ alliance proves to be the ideal alchemy for love and creativity. “It’s Not Me It’s You” explores romance in art, presenting collaborations by 11 pairs of talented art makers. By creating an amalgam of practice and approach, the archetype of the artist-couple is investigated. This show reveals the cross-fertilisation of concepts and techniques between separate art makers, to make a unified piece of art. Each piece demonstrates collaborative compatibility and addresses the role of compromise in the complex balance of partnership. New work by: Aron Gent and Betsy O'Brien Emily Green and Michael Kloss Ben Foch and Chelsea Culp Lucas Blair and Montgomery Perry Smith Sarah and Joseph Belknap Alex Chitty and Daniel Baird Scott and Katy Cowan Chris Hammes and Michelle Harris Sean Gallero and Petra Bachmaier Katherine Porter and Eddie Peters Kate Bowen and T.J. Proechel Drinks by The Hornswagglers Pastries donated by Red Hen