I recommend that you read the other reviews about Primitive. Although each of us might have our own axe to grind about such a business as Primitive, as a visitor or potential customer, you can only benefit from taking in many opinions about it. I guess it's much too late for the unfortunate name to be something different, something that doesn't belittle the ancient cultures represented in this place. Many of these cultures are older and richer than our own, so you wouldn't expect to find them in a place called "Primitive."
My first connection with the gallery was through their Fall sale in an old warehouse building on 35th Street at Racine (http://www.yelp.com/biz/primitive-warehouse-chicago). The objects there were quite impressive; very much like being in the back room of some museum. And a few objects were museum worthy. If you get a chance to visit there (it's by appointment when there's no sale on) don't miss it.
Our visit to this "home base" of Primitive imparts a much more commercial feeling than that from their warehouse some 4 months earlier. Here there is a formal grand lobby from where you walk up a few steps to the main display floor, where the staff awaits you. That will have to wait for next time. Today, we are here just to view the exhibit mounted on the fourth floor, about 100 magazine-quality photos of modern Wuhan, China (a city on the Yangtze River, west of Hangzhou). For that purpose, it is a loft space for an art exhibit as fine as any in the River North area. And with the roughly finished floors, robust support timbers, elegant new walls, and thoughtful rest/conferring areas, you might think that's where you are. The gallery is to be lauded for leaving us to view the photo exhibit undisturbed the whole time we were there.
I'm intrigued enough to visit again to see what's on those other three floors. I will keep in mind the caveats of the other reviews here. One indicator I can pass along involves that impressive front lobby. High overhead is a massive sculpture composed of multiple (over 100) blown glass organic shapes, all connected together (see my photo). This form of glass sculpture, a "chandelier," is well known as being created by the famous glass artist, Dale Chilhuly. So, of course I inquired of the Primitive staffer if it was indeed a Chilhuly. She told me, "No," that instead it was done by a Chinese sculptor, with full knowledge of what he was copying. Compare theirs with a bonafide Chilhuly chandelier at the Milwaukee Art Museum: http://tinyurl.com/6taoyyd read more