Sometimes, and perhaps most especially when the temperature has just crawled back up to 16°F, it’s nice to have a reminder of why I live in a city like Chicago. And this morning that reminder was getting on the Red Line and having the woman next to me ask, “Would you like to visit Clutch Gallery?”

Clutch Gallery is a wooden purse with just enough room for a single art installation, an artist’s statement, and a guest book.

The actual moment of visiting the gallery kind of befuddled me. I think my answer to the question was something like “oh, sure, ok.” And the current occupant of Clutch Gallery, a work called Microcosmic Orbit, is cute: a desert oasis on one side of the clutch is mirrored by a small island on the top. But the lingering take-away has been powerful. There is art and oddness in this city, and it might just come right to you, in the midst of your workaday travels.

Photo courtesy Clutch Gallery