I spend many a weekend afternoon at coffee shops, biting my nails and contemplating the flexibility of deadlines. I always choose the art-drenched coffeehouse over the conveniently-located yet sterile Starbucks, but you need not be an arts writer to appreciate the double whammy of the art-devoted coffee shop: For every shot of energizing espresso there is a shot of inspiring beauty. Should you have a deadline approaching, lug your laptop to one of these havens of hot lattes and hot artwork.
Get inspired at Muse Cafe
Color me impressed every time I arrive at this River West hang. Owner/curator Dave Marsalek's devotion to abstract expressionist painting takes on a different, yet always wonderfully colorful, form each month. Most recently Peter van Brabon's creamy oil and acrylic works have been on display (through April 14). Abstracted views of landscapes delight via rich swirls of blue, green, pink and yellow. The red walls are a pleasant switch from the typical white, and dimly lit paper lanterns hanging from the ceiling and blonde wood tables create a space that's more the living room you wish you had than public coffee shop. Perfect set up for pondering!
Big ideas and big bags of beans await at Metropolis Coffee Co.
Sort of like Andy Warhol's installation of Brillo pad boxes, massive burlap bags of coffee beans are stacked around Metropolis. That's where the comparison with the Factory ends, however. Edgewater's oasis for the caffeine-addicted shows mind-expanding art exhibits that rotate every four to seven weeks. The artwork often echoes the coffeehouse's commitment to community and activism. Most recently Nathan Arly's paintings stapled to wood boards, which showed men in suits and people in pensive situations, provided food for thought as I scribbled in my notepad (through April).
Imbibe and imagine Away at Filter
Turn-of-century artists and writers living in Paris had the Lapin Agile. Contemporary Wicker Parkians have Filter. Replete with vintage lamps, eclectic thrift shop furniture and the most colorful chalk board menu in town, Filter is an artful experience in and of itself. Throw a consistently avant-garde art exhibit into this mix and the result is the hippest damn art-meets-coffee-shop in the city. Large-scale paintings are often on display, but most recently Allison Rae Butkus' intimate mixed-media works graced the green walls (through April). A favorite among these was a glass covered box containing suspended feathers and an ominous landscaped backdrop.
See fantastic art work at Uncommon Ground Coffeehouse and Cafe
Alice DuBois sold seven paintings on her opening night at Uncommon Ground this month. Her explosive kaleidoscopic paintings are that great, and well, that affordable (pricing between $100-$250). Part-owner Helen Cameron has long been championing local artists here, and her interest in art that deals with nature, landscapes and abstraction only adds to the charm of this down-to-earth Wrigleyille coffee haven and restaurant. Not for sale: the front room light installation, whose landscape changes appropriately from season to season, and the portrait of Jeff Buckley in the far west room.
Fine art meets barista at Rubin's Chicago Room Gallery Cafe
Whereas the rest of the spots on this list are cafes that have artwork, Rubin's is primarily an art gallery that happens to have a cafe. Having only opened in January of this year, I have yet to indulge in the free wi-fi here. But with Intelligensia brewing in a room full of wildly colorful paintings and giclee prints done in the Pointillist and Impressionist styles by Marc Rubin himself, I'll be settling in with laptop sometime soon.
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