Small and Xoco

Amy and I went downtown late this morning to see an exhibit at the Nicole Gallery on Huron and East Illinois. We had seen the artist Willard Wigan showcased on CBS Sunday Morning. He's an Englishman who makes sculpture so small you have to use microscopes to see his work. Far from being a silly novelty, the effect is fantastical. My two favorites were Charlie Chaplin balancing on the end of a human eyelash and the church.

Please stop to consider how the church was constructed. He pulverized a single grain of sand and rebuilt it as a replica of a church near Gloucester on a dare from his girlfriend. He then placed it in the eye of a needle. It's not just a shtick. We both were delighted with his works and with the gallery itself and its operator.

A cynic would probably ask why Wigan makes these tiny pieces that can't be seen with the naked eye. The same cynic would probably ask why Philippe Petit walked a tightrope between the Twin Trade towers in 1974. I'm no esoteric artist, but it seems to me that if you have to ask...Anyway, I felt as if I were playfully taken to the edge of a mystery, playfully.

We then went down to Clark and ate at Rick Bayless' new fast food place, Xoco. Two sandwiches, three churros, some chips and guac, two Mexican cocoas later and $43 lighter, we could barely walk. No complaints. There was the expected hour wait to get in and and another 20 minutes to order and sit down, but Xoco's is a well run place, and I'd go back. Though I prefer Frontera Grill.