Raw Party at Vertigo Sky Lounge; New City, New Artists

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Last Thursday night, your loyal Racked reporters traveled to the RAW:Natural Born Artists April 2011 collective show "Unearthed" at the Vertigo Sky Lounge inside the Dana Hotel. RAW is an independent arts organization whose mission is to spotlight independent emerging artists in a variety of fields, including photography, music, film, fashion, and visual art.

Executive Director April Bocchieri told us that the organization recently expanded to Chicago after first making a name for itself in Los Angeles and New York. The soaring venue of Vertigo, perched high atop the city, provided the perfect environment to appreciate art. SLH Design presented a collection of free buttons emblazoned with a creepy chainsaw bunny that many attendees found very popular. Other artists who were selected to show their work included Ariya Sasaki, Chaos Rose, Jesse Andrew Golfis, and Tsel One. Sasaki, who is artistic director of the University of Chicago’s fashion organization MODA, was selling shirts to support Tsunami victims in her native Japan. Also spotted at the even were Laundry Magazine editors Samm Mackin and Courtney Gary. We are looking forward to seeing more work from this very talented group of artists and are excited RAW chose Chicago as its next city for expansion. -Amy Creyer
· Raw: Natural Born Artists [Official Site]