Visit Mexico

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Well not really, but If you go to the National Museum of Mexican Art, then you already know how amazing this place is. If you don¿t, go. Thanks to corporate sponsorship, museum admission is free, which gives you the opportunity to visit this lovely resource that will help you understand the people who make up an immense swath of Chicago¿s population. The name change (it used to be the Mexican Fine Arts Museum) also raised the game for this institution that gives you one more reason to go to Pilsen.

The NMMA is probably best known for its annual Day of the Dead (Dia de los Muertos) exhibition. And despite all of the imagery that would lead one to think that the homages to the dead are about loss, they are in fact about life. Kind of like the people who, instead of a funeral, specify that a party be held to celebrate their life and remember them with joy, rather than sadness. The little installations are beautiful, heartfelt and as real as any art you will ever see. In addition, the NMMA has a rotating series of exhibitions by Latino artists. Up right now is ¿Neptuno,¿ a large-scale installation made from found materials. The artist will have his own interpretation of what it all means, but we¿ll just let folks at veganskateblog.com give us their reading of it: "It sort of reminds me of the behind the scene stuff from the Ninja Turtles movie, and got me stoked on skating a full pipe."

Also up at NMMA is "Claro y Obscura," works by Elsa Munoz that rely heavily on shadow and the sense that you've just missed something that¿s happened. The works are lovely, though we make no guarantees that they will stay with you in that art with a capital "A" way, but you won¿t be sorry you went. Who¿s ever sorry that they made time for beauty?

Hours vary, 1852 W. 19th St. Free; 312-738-1503 or nationalmuseumofmexicanart.org