Multimedia artist Frank Garvey makes music with robots to satirize late capitalism
The creator of the long-running OmniCircus also recorded two brilliantly unclassifiable albums in Chicago in the late 70s.
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Since 2004 Plastic Crimewave (aka Steve Krakow) has used the Secret History of Chicago Music to shine a light on worthy artists with Chicago ties who've been forgotten, underrated, or never noticed in the first place.
Some artists are so far ahead of the curve—or so far up their own tree—that it's hard to even contextualize and assess their work. Frank Garvey is just such a creator. He hasn't lived in Chicago in almost 40 years, but his sonic and visual art is so idiosyncratic and brilliant that I'd claim him for Secret History even if he'd only spent an airport layover here.