Starting in 1980, or was it 81, I moved to Chicago to study art at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. As luck would have it I fell in with a bad crowd and started to work in the medium of Performance Art. At the time it seemed like a happy, friendly art scene, lots of places to perform, lots of interesting work. In hindsight it seems like the Renaissance. In 1990, or was it '91, I moved to New York to find something else. I didn't find it and I surely missed the close knit scene that I had come to know in Chicago in the 80's.

There is a story here about a place and time that congealed in backroom art spaces and studios of a very talented group of artists in Chicago during the 80's and into the 90's that I am interested in documenting. Of course the fact that I am placing myself in this group may seem self serving but like my involvement with P-Form magazine I want to get this info down in type before I forget what day it is.

Looking through my records and racking my brain I have come up with a list of artists, places and other items. This list is, of course, incomplete and at best just a drop in the bucket. Were you there? Do you remember something or know about something that was left out? E-mail it to me and I'll put it up here. Things, Places and the Artists are listed below, follow the yellow brick links to the ramblings of your desire.

—Brendan deVallance