Pilsen's affordable art

A necklace by Lulu ($60) at Golden Age

Golden Age
SAIC grads Martine Syms and Marco Kane Braunschweiler opened the boutique in fall 2007 and moved to their current 635-square-foot storefront in 2008. Recent renovations yielded a gleaming, uncluttered space with funky lighting and a curtained dressing room for trying on Elizabeth Jaeger sweatshirts decorated with hand-sewn illustrations of animals, as well as other clothes, which Syms says usually range from $25 to $150. Shelves and tables hold an impressive range of what Braunschweiler calls “conceptually based” products, including a $50 songbook (complete with CD) by goofy Canadian art star Rodney Graham.

Golden Age’s prices range from $5 to $300, but most items hover near the lower end: A lovely illustrated version of Pilsen artist Dewayne Slightweight’s one-act multimedia opera The Kinship Structure of Ferns is only $15. Braunschweiler and Syms love such interdisciplinary projects. They’ve filled the store with music made or compiled by artists, including $6 cassettes on Chicagoan Peter Friel’s Young Tapes label and almost every back issue of the gorgeously packaged Journal of Popular Noise ($30, includes three limited-edition 7" records). DVDs by experimental Pilsen filmmaker Ben Russell for $20 and accessories for $10 to $60 by LULU Jewelry (a.k.a. local artists Stephen Eichhorn and Jessica Paulson) demonstrate how diverse Golden Age’s stock is: How many other stores would set up booths at both Art Chicago and Pitchfork? 1744 W 18th St (312-850-2574). Thu–Sun noon–6pm.