Fall offers a full slate of exhibitions across galleries and museums throughout the Midwest.&nbsp;Behind the scenes, many people in the community are working tirelessly to support artists and bring fresh perspectives to the public. We spoke&nbsp;with five insiders about what excites them now&nbsp;and what they anticipate next. The following preview is one of five conversations that appear in CGN's Fall 2026 magazine. To receive a copy of the print edition&nbsp;<a href="https://835ba3.myshopify.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">click here.</a> <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1788406386/nq4xx2c2tsa2og1kfgkz.jpg"> <h4>Nikko Washington –&nbsp;</h4><h4>Artist</h4> “I’m thrilled to further expand my artistic and design practice by introducing other mediums into the mix. I’m looking forward to watching the seasons change and devoting a lot of time in the studio as well. Fall/winter is my favorite time to create new works.&nbsp; I have an upcoming solo show with <a href="https://vsgcontemporary.com" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">VSG&nbsp;Contemporary</a> that I am excited about. The work will delve further into the topics of cultural mythology and how these tales and narratives have helped shape my worldview.&nbsp; Also, it wouldn’t be right if I left out my&nbsp;excitement for this upcoming season of Chicago sports.” <a href="https://www.nikkowashington.com" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Nikko Washington</a>

Anticipating a Season of Art: Five to Talk to – Nikko Washington

<img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1789100262/zyjzsjooddklp8aljtdd.jpg"> By GINNY VAN ALYEA Over the years, CGN has covered many chapters of artist and Chicagoan Tony Fitzpatrick’s life and work. Following his <a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/articles/artist-tony-fitzpatrick-has-died-at-age-66" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">death</a> in October 2025, his wife, Michelle, and children, Max and Gaby, have been working to preserve Fitzpatrick's legacy. One of their efforts offers an accessible way to bring an early Fitzpatrick image home—and support the work his family is carrying forward. The family is issuing a limited-edition poster featuring Houdini, an image Fitzpatrick originally created for the inaugural exhibition at World Tattoo Gallery in 1989. Priced at $100, the edition is limited to 500 prints, each accompanied by a certificate of authenticity. All proceeds support projects dedicated to preserving and protecting his life’s work. The image comes from a formative period. Fitzpatrick left Chicago for New York in 1987 to pursue his career as an artist. When he returned, he wanted to build the kind of rebellious, vibrant artistic community he had encountered there. With help from friends, he opened World Tattoo Gallery in the South Loop in 1989. According to Tony's family, Houdini held particular significance for Fitzpatrick during those years: an escape artist who could accomplish the seemingly impossible. His appearance on the gallery’s first exhibition poster connects the image to Fitzpatrick’s ambitions for both his own work and a community of artists in Chicago. For longtime followers and those just discovering his art, the release offers a connection to that early chapter while helping his family care for what comes next. In 1988, Tony left Chicago to find a career as an artist in NY. In NY he experienced something he often described as “unimagined possibilities” of creativity, supported by a rebellious artcommunity. When he returned to Chicago in 1989, he was determined to create the “art community” he experienced in NY. In 1989 and with the help of several friends, he opened The World Tattoo Gallery in the crumbling area of the South Loop. The space was a 6000 square foot loft at the corner of 13th and Wabash dedicated to emerging visual artists and performance art. Among the many heroes Tony idealized in his work, Houdini was the most relevant to him during this period of his career. Houdini represented “escape” and a man who would achievethe impossible challenge. The legendary Friday night openings at World Tattoo would see an average of a 1000 people attending. The gallery was described by many as a phenomenon and a testimony to Tony’sboundless energy and dedication his city, Chicago. He created this poster to honor the grand opening of World Tattoo Gallery. “Houdini” is a limited edition of 500 prints and will come with a certificate of authenticity. The World Tattoo Poster measures 12.5 × 18 inches and is available for $100 at&nbsp;<a href="https://tonyfitzpatrick.co/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">tonyfitzpatrick.co</a>.

A Poster from Tony Fitzpatrick’s Early Years Supports His Legacy

<img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1788960659/k3hbrysz1ljww0wtivwg.jpg"> By CGN Staff There is no shortage of art to see at home in Chicago but fall also offers chances to venture elsewhere for the day or for a weekend. In Milwaukee right now, and through October 6, is a new Milwaukee initiative that brings together museums, galleries and public art with a free passport to help visitors explore the city’s cultural offerings easily. Organized by Sculpture Milwaukee,&nbsp;Milwaukee Art Escape runs through October 6, 2026, with participants including the Milwaukee Art Museum, Saint Kate – The Arts Hotel, Villa Terrace Decorative Arts Museum, Lynden Sculpture Garden, Haggerty Museum of Art and Milwaukee Institute of Art &amp; Design Galleries. Sample itineraries are available. The free Milwaukee Art Escape Passport offers a starting point for building a day trip or weekend itinerary, connecting art destinations with dining, hospitality and other local partners. Participating locations offer a range of visitor incentives, including special experiences and, at some stops, prize giveaways. The specially created Welcome Packet includes participating partner offers, transportation tips, and your Milwaukee Art Escape Passport. Organizers say that as you explore, you can take advantage of exclusive offers and visit participating partners, using the Passport as a guide and tool to access exclusive offers by visiting in person. Examples are a Lion’s Tooth bookstore 10% discount, and 15% off general admission or $10 off the annual membership at Villa Terrace Museum &amp; Gardens. There is even a free streetcar that connects several destinations. “There are so many great cultural institutions in Milwaukee, and collectively we are building a culture of collaboration,” said John Riepenhoff, Executive Director of Sculpture Milwaukee. “By working together, we are increasing the visibility of the arts and sharing our Milwaukee art experience with visitors from Chicago, Madison, and beyond.” Launched August 21 with a few days left of summer, the initiative has received support from Travel Wisconsin and Baird, as the campaign also encourages Milwaukee residents to explore their own city. For returning visitors, the roster offers a reason to pair a familiar museum stop with a sculpture garden, gallery or historic site they have yet to visit. Find participating destinations and register for the free passport at&nbsp;<a href="https://www.milwaukeeartescape.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">milwaukeeartescape.com</a>.

Milwaukee Art Escape Connects Museums, Public Art and More This Fall

<img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1788961823/s3lp0uull2s8mvd8funj.jpg">Andi Crist, Extension Cords, Glazed stoneware, chrome, Sizes vary 2021-present. Photo: Mikey Mosher This interview is part of CGN's Fall 2026 issue.&nbsp;<a href="https://chicagogallerynews.myshopify.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" target="_blank">Purchase a copy or subscribe</a>. <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1788961824/mghrpnghxd9j9ko2dsjt.jpg">Andi Crist BY ALISON REILLY Andi Crist’s warm, engaging demeanor is evident in the first few minutes of our conversation. Generous with her time and forthcoming in her observations, she cares deeply about building relationships through her art making. Crist grew up in Birmingham, Alabama, devoured art classes, wrote songs and played music in high school, and moved to Chicago to study visual art at Columbia College. In 2024, she received her MFA from the University of Illinois at Chicago. She is a woodworker, sculptor, ceramicist, and conceptual artist, and she teaches at Illinois Institute of Technology. We discussed her multidisciplinary practice, her experience working as an art handler, preparator, and fabricator, and how she thinks about labor, creativity, and value in the art world.&nbsp; CGN: You grew up in Birmingham, Alabama. How did that environment shape your point of view as an artist? Andi Crist: That’s such a funny question. Nobody’s ever really asked. CGN: Oh, really? AC: Yeah, maybe because I never was super connected with the arts community down in Birmingham. I moved to Chicago in 2007, so it’s been 20 years since I lived in the South. I was definitely one of those art kids—one art credit was required in high school, and I graduated with like seven. I was surrounded by artists who had a big impact on me, because they were working artists. All my art teachers were trained in Alabama and then continued to teach and work in Alabama, which gave me this desire to try to expand my community outside of what I was familiar with. CGN: Do you identify as a Chicagoan? AC: My family still lives in Alabama, and I go back every year. I love being in Alabama. Maybe now being in Chicago for almost 20 years, I identify as a southerner living in the city. I carry on the social qualities of a friendly southern person [laughs].&nbsp; CGN: You have a varied art practice—woodwork, ceramics, mold making. What drew you to those types of fabrication methods and that type of art making? AC: My dad is a carpenter and a hobbyist woodworker, but his career was psychology, and my mom was a professor and an incredible craftswoman. I absorbed my mom’s model of creativity, which is to try a bunch of different things and not necessarily finish them but to try to learn as much as I can by just going for it. My practice over the years has become an exploration of conceptual elements of what makes art art and not just craft. Do you have to be a master craftsperson or a professional artist in order to make something that resonates with people? I make a lot of work that references the mode of making and requires a variety of different media. I just finished teaching a ceramics production class where students learned how to produce molds, think about positives and negatives, and get into a level of production rather than just handicraft as a way to multiply their output. I got into fabrication because I’ve always liked working with other artists. I have a background in theater and gallery work. I’m a voracious learner, and I like being able to share those skills with my community. Then I end up making work about that. It’s a self-feeding cycle. <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1788961825/zzejqwibga5f5wk6einh.jpg">Andi Crist,&nbsp;Artist’s Ladder, 2023.&nbsp;Photo: Jeff Perlman CGN: Thinking about your background as an art handler and preparator—how did you get to the point where you were making work about that experience? AC: In 2010, right before I graduated from Columbia, I was living in a storefront in West Logan Square with my partner at the time. We started a gallery called Autotelic in the space and had to build it out using the worst tools with very minimal resources. Then we started curating shows there and that meant helping other artists figure out how to install their work in our unusual space. Eventually, I gained the reputation for knowing how to do that type of work. I started getting invited to work in museums and galleries.&nbsp; The Holocaust Museum was the first museum I worked at, and as difficult as that subject matter is, that experience was really important to me because I was learning more about the larger world of gallery work. As an artist working as a preparator, you’re straddling both sides of that space. You’re really seeing how the sausage is made. You’re hearing all the conversations about artists, curators, the process of exhibition making. There is a lot of information you can gather about the economics of the art world by just being the person that has the know-how to touch and handle artwork. Eventually that started feeding into my art practice because I wanted to make work that was contributing to a conversation around art as a type of job. It fueled a methodology of seeing everything in the world as the result of a long line of processes that required effort and thoughtfulness by many hands. <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1788961826/uv5bysb5fbne30gr5czh.jpg">Andi Crist, Fair Warning, 2025. CGN: The title of your recent exhibition at the Cleve Carney Museum—Live, Laugh, Lo—sorry, not Live, Laugh, Love—Live, Laugh, Labor. AC: [Laughs] That’s what everybody does. CGN: I love the title—it’s perfect. You incorporate humor along with thoughtful critiques about labor and value in your work. What role does humor play? How does it help you connect with your audience? AC: One of my biggest criticisms of art with a capital A is how easily it can be overly intellectualized. I think that’s why I end up making a lot of work that references things that already exist or have some kind of real purpose. It’s important to give people a foothold so there’s an obvious place to board that train of thought. As an artist—maybe this is me getting into a sweeping argument about what artists should be—but I personally believe in intellectual accessibility. Humor is a swift way to drop defenses and allow people to come in without feeling like they are not getting the joke or not understanding. I like to make work that can hold both of those things at the same time—it’s funny on the surface level, it’s kind of cheeky, but there’s also another way to look at it that is intellectually clever. There is a joy in the attempt to “get it”. Like the satisfaction of grasping how a crossword puzzle actually works. It’s also so much a part of my personality. I take myself seriously as an artist, but my ego isn’t at the heart of it. It’s really something that I do because I love to make things, and I love to connect with other people. My parents raised me on puns, creating those language relationships between things and people and space. Understanding a joke is the same way that we understand art, and while neither of my parents would consider themselves artists, they taught me how to think about art. <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1788961828/gnotyfijabr7e15kb6hm.jpg">Andi Crist,&nbsp;69 Bananas CGN: Your work, Artist’s Ladder, explores hierarchies, workplace cultures, and institutional values. What experiences shaped your reflections on these themes?&nbsp;AC: The ladder piece distinctly represents the complicated relationship between front of house, back of house, and the hierarchy of labor. Who is the artist in those relationships? How much does another person’s knowledge and expertise contribute to the success of another artist? There are enormous, industrialized art practices out there, warehouses full of people making things, and those people are also artists. When you make work that involves other people, it’s important to acknowledge their contributions. I’ve had complicated interactions with other artists who are like, ‘Hey, do you want to collaborate with me on this thing?’ but really they just want me to make their idea. I made Artist’s Ladder while I was in grad school at UIC, and it really represented my relationship with a lot of other artists, because I could be an actual support structure for them. Then it turned into this absurd physical thing. It’s extremely overbuilt with inlaid racing stripes made of exotic hardwood, and a butcher’s block-style plaid top. It’s not really like an FU as much as it is asking for acknowledgement of my skills and the essential support structures that exist.&nbsp;CGN: I want to ask you about another piece, Five O’Clock Somewhere, a wool rug that resembles a children’s play mat. I work at a library, and it reminded me of rugs I see all the time. It’s a peaceful image of an office park with a large fountain surrounded by a parking lot. I’m curious why you chose a rug as the medium to depict that image.&nbsp;AC: To me the heart of that joke was that it was a landscape. I wanted it to be physically traversable. And that was, I don’t want to say controversial, but it was something that I had to talk about a lot. The critique of that work was the fact that I didn’t want to hang it on the wall and turn it into a tapestry. I really wanted it to be a rug that people could walk on. When I showed that work at Chicago Artists Coalition for the New City Breakout Artists show. There was a lot of pushback about having it on the floor and allowing people to walk on it.&nbsp;That, to me, was such an important conversation, because, in my mind, the fact that you could walk across it and traverse it was part of how I was thinking about the object. Rugs are utilitarian–they are floor coverings. When you make art that doesn’t do anything, you don’t get to participate in that part of the conversation.&nbsp;I enjoy sparring around art like that. I am totally tickled by the pushback. The critique of display is exciting, and sorting through the politics of utilitarianism in art spaces is fun to me. And then—it was so crazy—we ended up showing it halfway on the wall and halfway on the ground.&nbsp; <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1788961829/r1zylkwfw9rkw191skdl.jpg">Andi Crist, Five O’Clock Somewhere, on display at Live, Laugh, Labor: Thoughts on Usefulness and Other Myths at The Cleve Carney Museum of Art, 2025. CGN: Oh, wow. AC: I was like, this is the epitome of compromise! I had to build a structure so that it could hang that way safely.&nbsp;&nbsp;CGN: I would say just put it on the ground if that’s what you want to do. It’s interesting that there are still very fixed ideas about the way that art should be displayed.&nbsp;AC: That preparator part of it, that’s what I’m all about. I was having that conversation about what physically supports the work or what conceptually supports it in the way that it’s shown.&nbsp;&nbsp;CGN: Have you always been a writer? How do your art and writing practices work together?&nbsp; AC: I can’t say that I’m a writer, it’s probably the same way that it can feel weird to call yourself an artist. But I feel like I’ve always been relatively good at writing. The first time I ever did any kind of professional writing was contributing,&nbsp;a long time ago, to a website called eHow. The editors would send me a title, and then I would have to research how to do that thing. Then I would write out step-by-step instructions for how to do that.&nbsp; I think that’s how I had to make myself think through my conceptual practice—I had to do the research, coagulate that into some kind of document, and then I would have stream-of-consciousness conversations with myself. “Why are we interested in this? Why would we make it this way? What would I want to talk about if someone were to ask me about this?” It’s almost like I was pre-interviewing myself.&nbsp; I think the writing is just another way for me to process that idea before I put in all of the time and energy to actually accomplish it.&nbsp; CGN: What are you working on right now? What projects do you have coming up? AC: The biggest project that I have right now is my house. My family and I suffered a major house fire on New Year’s Day. We’ve been displaced since then and are navigating rebuilding our house. It was a total loss.&nbsp; <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1788961830/kekfqzf9f87fq48juogh.jpg">Andi Crist, Single-Use Fireplace, 2025. Photo: Mikey Mosher. &nbsp;CGN: I’m so sorry to hear that.&nbsp; AC: Thank you. We’re all okay, but it’s been a really tumultuous year. I moved my studio into a storefront last summer, and so most of my, at least relatively recent, work is safe, and I still have all of my materials, but my home life is starting over. I just had my first full year at this space, and it’s got a little gallery built out in the front called Coming Soon. It’s beautiful with floor-to-ceiling windows on Division and Central Park. I’ve been inviting people into the space to try things out.&nbsp;After teaching the ceramics class, I came into a bunch of nice slip casting molds, and I’m making some really playful, weird, ceramic stuff. I want to be open and not put too much pressure on myself. Having a big studio by myself is very expensive, so it’s easy to want to make it feel like it’s worth it. But if for now all I can do is make it a resource for other people, then that will be the thing I do. Be less selfish, but more selfish with my time. Saying I can’t do that, or I don’t want to do that. It’s not my nature to say no—I’m such a yes man. I’m learning how to be a yes man for myself.&nbsp; CGN: That makes sense after going through something so traumatic.&nbsp;AC: I have an amazing support system. Our friends started a GoFundMe. It was incredible. I’m so humbled and floored by how held I felt by Chicago. I can’t help but throw a little shout out to my Chicago people. I can see how people’s lives get totally ruined by this kind of tragedy. I feel so lucky. Chicago definitely showed its love back.&nbsp; CGN: For your project Coming Soon, are you bringing in other artists? AC: My philosophy is that I want to be involved as little as possible. I am thinking about it more as a hosted than curated space. I’m actively soliciting proposals or ideas for workshops, meetings, book clubs—I’m down for making it a resource, whatever that means. I don’t want to over-think it, I want it to be an intuitive and organic thing, which is why I call it Coming Soon—it can be a placeholder for anything. It’s exciting. Taking my hands off the reins is a good exercise for me. <a href="https://www.andicrist.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">andicrist.com</a> <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1788961831/gno5dhliwfnzpuaim78s.jpg">Andi Crist, Extension Cords, Glazed stoneware, chrome, Sizes vary 2021-present. Photo: Mikey Mosher

Andi Crist: The Art of The Pun

<h3>Building a collection that reflects you</h3> <h3>CGN’s Spring/Summer 2026 issue featured&nbsp;<a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/articles/cgn-collecting-101" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="color: rgb(136, 136, 136);" target="_blank">Collecting 101</a>, and now we are pleased to continue sharing some tips and advice about starting and building an art collection that is one you want to take care of and nurture because it is a reflection of your own passions and tastes.&nbsp;</h3><h3> </h3><h3>We’re also sharing a few words of wisdom from collectors we have profiled over the years.&nbsp;</h3><h3> </h3><h3>Our most recent profile of collectors Macol and José Cerda in our fall issue features a collection built over many years and which is a very personal reflection of taste that has evolved through generations.&nbsp;</h3><h3> </h3><h3>– CGN</h3> <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1789134190/zx31f0fxjcpzheouaue1.jpg">CGN has interviewed dozens of art collectors over the years. Some images from collections are pictured above: Top left: William Lieberman; top right: Christopher Craft; Lower right: Michelle Edwards; Lower left: Melissa Weber and Jay Dandy. <h3 class="ql-indent-1">Collector Wisdom:&nbsp;</h3> “Don’t buy anything for six months. If you’re really into art, start by going to as many gallery and museum exhibitions as you can. See what curators are interested in...See what artists and dealers are excited about. You need to learn as much as possible and develop your own taste.”– Zach Smith, CGN 2023 “It is always a thrill when a piece by an artist in&nbsp;our collection is borrowed for a major exhibition... Attending the openings is enormously gratifying&nbsp;and is a great way to meet other curators, collectors, and arts patrons from around the country.”&nbsp;– Michael Robertson and Christopher Slapak,&nbsp;CGN 2025 <h4>1. Don’t Be Afraid to Let Your Collection Evolve</h4> Your first purchases don’t have to define your collection forever. As you visit more exhibitions and meet more artists, your tastes will naturally grow and change.&nbsp; Some collectors keep their early purchases as a reminder of where they started, while others may resell or pass certain works of art on to new owners in order to clarify a new focus or simply to make wall space. <h4>2. Buy with Intention</h4> Instead of asking, “Does this match what I already own?” ask, “Does this add something new?” Great collections are built through curiosity, not perfection. This isn’t to say impulse purchases are bad, since sometimes you just have to buy what you love and make it work. That’s the heart of a personal collection, but serious collectors tend to want to enrich a body of work by filling in gaps or deepening the range of art by a particular artist.&nbsp; <h4>3. There’s No Right Way to Collect</h4> Some collectors focus on one artist. Others collect across mediums or themes. The best collections reflect the people who build them. Buying art comes with a lot of information. It’s OK to filter the noise and just look, listen and decide for yourself.&nbsp; <h4>4. Build Relationships</h4> Collectors don’t just collect art—they become part of an arts community. Get to know galleries, attend openings, ask questions, and stay connected with artists whose work resonates with you. Touring galleries and exhibitions with fellow collectors is collegial, not competitive. A social life connected to art undoubtedly makes engagement with the art market more fun and more personal, as you get to know the artists working today while also making friends with other collectors as well as gallery owners and curators.&nbsp; Fall is an ideal time to attend benefits and art walks that put you in social settings around art while also supporting institutions that need resources and an engaged audience.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events?filter=upcoming&amp;page=1" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">CGN’s calendar</a> offers a lineup of the season’s most fun events.&nbsp; <h4>5. Practice Self-Care for Your Collection</h4> Keep records of your purchases, frame works properly, avoid direct sunlight, and don’t hesitate to ask galleries for advice about installation and conservation. Once you have purchased a work of art, treat it well so it can live a long life. Light, water and temperature can each wreak a lot of havoc on delicate works of art.

A short guide to art collecting from CGN, fall 2026

CGN Collecting 102

<img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1788959909/vnl5fgims5f2btm5w41x.jpg">© 2026, Angela Campbell, Yampa Valley Cloudburst, 18 x 28, Oil on canvas By GINNY VAN ALYEA Following two West Loop art fairs in 2025, the organizer behind those events is heading north this fall with a newly named fair in Evanston. The inaugural North Shore Fine Art Expo will take place November 13–15, 2026, at The Orrington Hotel, near Northwestern University. The three-day event will begin with a Friday evening First Look preview, followed by public hours Saturday and Sunday. Unlike a gallery-centered fair, the North Shore Expo will feature artists presenting and selling their work directly. More than 40 participating artists from Chicago and around the country are expected to be on site throughout the weekend, giving visitors an opportunity to meet them and learn more about their work. Work represented at the fair will range from painting, drawing and mixed media to fiber art, encaustic, watercolor and sculpture. The new event follows the Spring and Fall West Loop Contemporary Fine Art Expos, which debuted at Plumbers Hall in 2025. Its move to Evanston gives the organizer, Gourmet Expos, a different setting and potential audience, while adding another independently produced fair to the Chicago area’s increasingly full fall art calendar. Supporting organizations currently listed by the fair include the Evanston Art Center, Chicago Alliance of Visual Artists, Chicago Women’s Caucus for Art and North Shore Art League. North Shore Fine Art Expo First Look Preview: Friday, November 13, 6:30–9:30pmSaturday, November 14, 11am–7pmSunday, November 15, 11am–6pm The Orrington Hotel1710 Orrington Avenue, Evanston Daily admission is $20; multiple-day tickets are also available. Visit&nbsp;<a href="https://www.northshorefineartexpo.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">northshorefineartexpo.com</a>&nbsp;for the complete artist roster and ticket information.

Inaugural North Shore Fine Art Expo Planned for Evanston in November

Fall offers a full slate of exhibitions across galleries and museums throughout the Midwest.&nbsp;Behind the scenes, many people in the community are working tirelessly to support artists and bring fresh perspectives to the public. We spoke&nbsp;with five insiders about what excites them now&nbsp;and what they anticipate next. The following preview is one of five conversations that appear in CGN's Fall 2026 magazine. To receive a copy of the print edition&nbsp;<a href="https://835ba3.myshopify.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">click here.&nbsp;</a> <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1788406156/qqmps2pxxrcbtrnnc9lo.jpg"><h4>Debra Kerr –&nbsp;</h4><h4>CEO, Intuit Art Museum</h4> “Fall is busy at Chicago Artists Coalition, since we will have Resident Exhibition openings on Friday, September 4 and October 30. We’re also hosting our annual <a href="https://chicagoartistscoalition.betterworld.org/events/neon-90s-night" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">fundraiser</a> at Ignite Glass Studio on Thursday, October 1, where we want&nbsp;everyone to have the opportunity to support artists as much as they support art. The National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures hosts a regional convening here in Chicago November 12–14, and there will be activities across the city, open to the&nbsp;public, and CAC will be hosting at least one. My favorite public event of the year, Grabadolandia, is the 3rd weekend in November at the National Museum of Mexican Art. In its 14th year, it’s full of family-friendly, hands-on printmaking, social activism and gorgeous art for purchase. You’ll also meet some amazing gente!”&nbsp; <a href="https://art.org" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Intuit Art Museum</a>

Anticipating a Season of Art: Five to Talk to – Debra Kerr

<img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1788961898/skkuau3by2vcm5kzmgkx.jpg">Jobe Gemmell-Hughes, Towards Passage, 2026, oil on canvas, 10” x 15” This interview is part of CGN's Fall 2026 issue.&nbsp;<a href="https://chicagogallerynews.myshopify.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" target="_blank">Purchase a copy or subscribe.</a> By Curtis Anthony Bozif Upon learning that Dan Devening and Elizabeth Lalley&nbsp;would be co-curating a three-person exhibition at Devening Projects this fall, and that the show would explore inwardness, privacy, and the domestic, I was eager to find out more and get both of their thoughts on curation and collaboration, as well as to hear from Lalley about what it’s been like to return to the art world after stepping away from it for a while. Curtis Anthony Bozif: Dan and Elizabeth, can you tell me what the impetus for this exhibition was and how it came together? Dan, can you talk specifically about your decision to collaborate with another curator?&nbsp; Dan Devening: For the opening exhibition of our fall 2026 season at Devening Projects, I had planned a solo show of recent paintings by Jobe Gemmell-Hughes, a young artist recently graduated with his BFA from SAIC. His paintings from this year seem acutely relevant to our times: dark, impressionistic, densely textured canvases that seem preoccupied with trying to capture a delicate balance between apprehension and euphoria. These paintings really resonate with me, more so because so much of what they express comes through his touch and sensitivity to his medium. I looked forward to debuting this work but had not yet considered an artist with whom to pair him.&nbsp; With two spaces in the gallery, I typically feature a pair of solo projects for each show. I had recently connected again with Elizabeth, as she and her husband Billy James Joyce moved into a studio space in the same building as the gallery. Elizabeth was talking about how she was looking forward to relaunching Slow Dance Projects now that she had returned to Chicago after living in Michigan for a year. I always loved Elizabeth’s curation at Slow Dance, particularly her focus on strong emerging artists. We’re also both deeply committed to the material integrity of the work. In her shows at Slow Dance it was the delicate atmospheres evident in the paintings of Noelle Africh as well as the visceral and primordial sculpture of Travis Morehead. I knew she would have a particularly interesting way to build a show with Jobe’s paintings as a starting point. With my invitation to contribute ideas to how this show might evolve, we agreed that co-curating Road to the Farthest Room would lead to something fantastic. We considered several propositions that resulted in adding the Detroit-based painter Julia Firestone Callis and the Chicago sculptor Ben Driggs to the mix. There were threads in the work of each artist that suggested interiority, domestic spaces and uneasiness. From a curatorial standpoint, we began with the idea that each of the two painters would be showcased in a solo show, one in each of the two galleries. We asked Ben to consider making small installations for both spaces that would reveal something even more mysterious in the paintings of the other artists. Through the witchy, wonderfully eccentric constructions and castings he makes, we knew Ben would add a layer of depth and mystery to a show already thick with emotional and psychological undercurrents.&nbsp; <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1788961898/gitabcxvgoepbz3i1tj4.jpg">Left: Julia Callis, A Chair in the room upstairs Pt. 1, 2024,&nbsp;Acrylic, colored pencil, on board, 31.5 x 15.5”Right: Julia Callis, Pedestrian Equestrian, 2026, Acrylic on board,&nbsp;36.75 x 26.6” CAB: Elizabeth, your curatorial project, Slow Dance, is currently on hiatus. In different periods of my life, I too have stepped away from the art world, and my return to it, if I’m being honest, hasn’t always been easy. I wonder what this experience has been like for you. Did it clarify anything? How do you think your time away has influenced this exhibition?&nbsp; Elizabeth Lalley: The hiatus was really a hiatus from urban life, to which the art world was sort of inextricably linked. We moved to rural Michigan for a year, a bit impulsively, after fantasizing about it for a while. I think I was in a place, in terms of my relationship with the art world, where I was just moving through things a little robotically. I wasn’t seeking things out or exploring or being driven by my own curiosity the way I had been before. I was feeling too impressionable, feeling in a little bit of an echo chamber, and I was working at SAIC in Graduate Admissions, so I was also tired from juggling a creative practice and an intense arts administrator role.&nbsp; As soon as we moved, we found out we were having a baby, so that intensified the hiatus too. We were living with so much space around us—big skies, fields—and I spent a lot of time writing and just remembering my influences, the things I return to, the art I love. We came back to Chicago when our son was 3 months old and I felt immense renewed excitement and love for the city and the art scene here.&nbsp; I’ve respected Dan and his program for a long time, and the opportunity for this show had me spending a lot of time thinking about who I would want to work with, after this break from curation and after such a personal shift.&nbsp; Julia is someone whose work I looked at a lot over the past few years, and there’s a deeply personal resonance I feel with her practice, in terms of connection to Detroit, love for food and for home. And Ben, who is also a dear friend of mine and my husband’s, is one of the most creative, incredible makers I know and he doesn’t operate in a traditional gallery context. So there was also a vulnerability in inviting him to be part of this that felt very real and true to me, especially when feeling a vulnerability myself of coming back to something as a new mother, which can be such an isolating time. I feel more invested in developing true relationships and making things without affect or pretense than ever before. <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1788961899/mrcyq3urjxkrl27y2sy6.jpg">Left: Ben Driggs, Cell Cage, 2026, steel, wood, cloth, 8 x 7 x 13”. Right: Ben Driggs, Bath Light, 2026, copper, 41 x 16 x 16” CAB: Could you tell me a little bit more about each of the artists and their practices? Dan has already alluded to how their work might suggest “interiority, domestic spaces and uneasiness.” What other ideas, states of mind, or feelings do you hope to explore or elicit in this exhibition? DD:&nbsp; As I said, Jobe’s paintings reflect a young painter’s desire to tease out the emotional and psychological states of searching and discovery through the process of making. It’s as if he’s mapping the inside of his own mind, looking closely at the circuits and neurons that interconnect to form what then reads as physical space. To me, his paintings suggest landscape, but rarely does a horizon appear. Instead, what he conjures are expansive chambers that feel both vast and claustrophobic—environments with so much surface activation that the air itself feels close, the space encroaching. That pressure could only come through the patient accumulation of his surfaces. Mark by mark, pigment layered and scraped onto an already heavily worked canvas.&nbsp; We love how Ben’s work suggests a different kind of intense focus—that of a hermetic tinkerer who takes what material is most readily available and breathes life into it with delicate craftsmanship and delightful whimsy. Everything is functional. Everything has specific domestic use. The work is clearly sculpture, but as Ben says, each object has a specific place in his home and functions with purpose. Although often highly peculiar, each sculpture has a reference and use that becomes more apparent as the work is experienced. EL: And to echo this, there’s something about the intense specificity of Ben’s pieces that I think makes them even more mysterious, as they’re sort of “unhomed” and brought into the gallery. It makes me think a little about how, when you isolate a single word and poke at it, it can expand and expand the more you look at and investigate it. Ben is so deeply focused in his making, yet so expansive—he seems to hold so much at once. He’s also deeply invested and interested in outsider artists and artists’ homes and art environments. He and his wife, Ash, are intensely curious about the way people live with objects and put objects into the world. Something he said recently to me was that Ash showed him a picture of a door Ruth Asawa carved from redwood for her home in San Francisco, and how Ben was more drawn to it than to any of her better-known artworks. This interest in the sort of “non-professional” parts of an artist’s life—the parts that don’t seem to fit a prescribed space or arch—are important to Ben. DD: For me, Julia’s paintings have a surreal lightness that’s less present in the work of the other two artists. Her paintings are graceful and open—there’s room to move, room to breathe. That sense comes through in how her characters seem to freely populate the work: they float and hover, not always in control of their own trajectory, but clearly active, buoyant, alive. That lightness carries through in her palette too, which ranges from colors grounded in nature to more richly saturated hues, bringing a wonderfully joyful energy to the work. Her paintings are important to this project because they offer a lyricism and cadence less present in the other two artists’ work. Together, these three artists reveal how each might dig deep into their own inner states to tune into the frequency the times demand. <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1788961900/b5toe9klgcf2ut3bdntf.jpg">Jobe Gemmell–Hughes, Gulf, 2026, oil on canvas, 74 x 46” CAB: Collaboration of any kind involves giving up some control and putting your trust in the people you work with. I’m thinking of your collaboration as co-curators, but I’m also thinking about how you’re working with artists, much of whose work I understand is still in progress. What is it like for both of you, giving up some control and trusting each other and your artists? DD: From my experience running a gallery, collaboration has always offered more opportunities for positive gain than any real loss of control. Working with other curators and artists on projects and shows lets my ideas expand beyond my own limitations. There are always new angles from which to see a concept; I rely on my collaborators and co-curators to lead me in unexpected directions that make a show better, more rigorous, and more interesting. This is especially true when working with artists showing at the gallery. When I begin working on an exhibition, I know the artist will already have ideas about what they’d like to show and how. My role is to offer thoughts on how that vision can be realized within the spaces of the gallery—that’s where I think my contributions are most useful. I know the possibilities and limitations of the rooms, how full or empty a show should feel based on the work, and how visitors tend to move through and around the installations. I share that with the artists, and together we arrive at a strategy that most successfully and accurately reflects their intent. For this show, we’re in close contact with the artists as they fine-tune the work they’d like to feature in their installations. In most cases, we’ll have more work than we can show, which allows for flexibility and gives real collaboration room to happen. Each of the three artists, along with Elizabeth and I, will spend a good amount of time with the work in the galleries. For me, this is a chance to get to know the artists and their most recent work better—which is the greatest pleasure of collaborating: meeting the artists and growing closer to both them and their work. EL: I love collaboration. Sometimes I forget how much I love it until I’m working on something with others, and then I realize how much I miss it when I’m working in solitude. Being together with artists in a space, watching how the space and the work are responding to each other, all of that is, to me, the very best part of the process. There can be real surprises, and the different perspectives that everyone brings make the space and the work feel really alive. Working on this with Dan as a co-curator has been such a wonderful opportunity for me because I have such respect for his program. He has an exquisite and incisive eye, and his tastes feel varied while also running deep and feeling very honest.&nbsp; Road to the Farthest Room is a three-person exhibition featuring the work of Julia Callis, Ben Driggs and Jobe Gemmell–Hughes, co-curated by&nbsp;Elizabeth Lalley and Dan Devening <a href="http://deveningprojects.com" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Devening Projects</a>September 13–October 24, 2026Reception September 13, 3 – 5 pm3039 W. CarrollChicago, IL 60612 #

Road to the Farthest Room: Elizabeth Lalley + Dan Devening Collaborate

Fall offers a full slate of exhibitions across galleries and museums throughout the Midwest.&nbsp;Behind the scenes, many people in the community are working tirelessly to support artists and bring fresh perspectives to the public. We spoke&nbsp;with five insiders about what excites them now&nbsp;and what they anticipate next. The following preview is one of five conversations that appear in CGN's Fall 2026 magazine. To receive a copy of the print edition&nbsp;<a href="https://835ba3.myshopify.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">click here.</a> <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1788406185/ufuadbvbeybjwsvzr4qz.jpg">Photo by Travis Roozée <h4>William Gross –&nbsp;</h4><h4>65GRAND</h4> “Ever since my school days, I’ve looked forward to fall—a season of reconnecting with friends, embarking on new adventures, and sharing an enthusiasm for art. In that spirit, I’m excited to announce our fall lineup at 65GRAND. The gallery presents solo exhibitions by William Staples, Holly Murkerson and Shane Huffman. Staples debuts paintings that both reflect and incorporate materials from the landscape surrounding his home along the Esopus Creek in the Catskills, exploring formal conventions of painting while challenging how we perceive pictorial space. Murkerson makes photographic work that seeks to visualize embodiment and the porousness between body and environment, grounded in the materiality (liquid, mineral, animal, light), apparatuses (eye, room, womb, chamber) and slow metabolism of analog photography. Huffman continues ‘swimming to the moon,’ investigating the unified phenomena of “lightmotionspace” through photographic experiments at the intersection of lab work and alchemical sorcery. We have also extended Jenal Dolson’s installation, Interrobang, which inaugurated our project space.&nbsp; We look forward to welcoming you for artist talks and special events at the gallery this season!” <a href="https://www.65grand.com" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">65GRAND</a>

Anticipating a Season of Art: Five to Talk to – William Gross

A Family Home for Stories: Collectors Macol and José Cerda

<img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1788961856/l0eezimwds7hltrezbjd.jpg"> This interview is part of CGN's Fall 2026 issue.&nbsp;<a href="https://chicagogallerynews.myshopify.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" target="_blank">Purchase a copy or subscribe.</a> By SUSAN GESCHEIDLE Launched in 2005 by Duncan MacKenzie, Richard Holland, and Amanda Browder, the legendary art podcast <a href="https://badatsports.com" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Bad at Sports</a> is turning 21. If you were around the scene back then, you remember this trio of brilliant, sharp, and irreverent creatives who added dynamic intellectual energy to the city’s art dialogue. I spoke with Duncan to revisit the podcast’s early days, trace its evolution, and understand its impact today. Susan Gescheidle: Let’s go back to 2005. How did the idea for Bad at Sports come together, and who named it? Duncan MacKenzie: Friendship and building lives around contemporary art is the real story of how Bad at Sports became a thing. The origin starts with Richard Holland, a marriage proposal, the Suburban, and a few drinks. Richard and I became friends at the 2003 Stray Show. While drinking, I accidentally blurted out that I was going to ask my girlfriend to marry me—and immediately tried to take it back. He demanded a quarter, explaining that it meant I had him on retainer and, as a lawyer and an artist, he was legally obligated to keep quiet. Realizing we worked in the same building, we resolved to meet after work to discuss exhibitions. While working on an exhibition at Michelle Grabner’s Suburban, we learned a handful of people were making “radio show-like” audio programs distributed as large MP3s. Of the 3,000 or so of these existing on Earth (per Adam Carolla’s early distribution numbers), none addressed contemporary art. It was a whimsical thing to do: make an audio program about things we are supposed to experience visually and bodily. It removed the most obvious thing in the content to address it through artistic intent, humor, philosophy, viewer reception, system status, and curatorial context. In doing it that way, the conversation becomes the thing, the artists become central, and the artwork bears fruit as a subject of contemplation, narrative, and experience. As we walked to Richard’s attic to record Episode 4, we ran into Amanda Browder and “press-ganged” her into joining us. It was a massive moment of serendipity that crystallized Bad at Sports. A few weeks later, Brian Andrews formed the “San Francisco Bureau,” setting our format for the first several years. The name is another story. In our first graduate seminar with legendary curator Mark Pascal, he asked SAIC’s first-year print grads why they were there. It was an obvious feint to disabuse us of our naivety, so nobody answered. I looked around theatrically and said, “I don’t know, Mark, maybe we are all just bad at sports?” It wasn’t the answer he was looking for, but five years later it was exactly the name Richard and I were looking for to set a tone—light, a little real, a lot confusing, and just repellent enough that folks would have to be interested to figure out what we were about. We wanted to embrace contemporary art pretension and skewer it (and ourselves) at the same time. <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1788961858/jgs1hhheczm1i78n7lvr.jpg">The one where Bad at Sports interviewed David Hockney. SG: Whose brainchild was the audio format? Did you foresee a 21-year commitment? DM: The impulse was twofold. Richard and I were trying to find something to listen to that would enrich our studio time. We came from practices requiring repetitive tasks, and we also wanted to document a scene getting less attention than it deserved. We had no idea what we were doing. There were no models. We borrowed from radio, bar and studio talk, magazines, and graduate seminars…but really, it was an adventure. We still lack infrastructure because we have never been planning a future; we have just been trying to do “a now”. So many projects get hung up on the things that can make the “work” work for them and forget that the “work” is the thing that must work before it can work for you. We approached the thing we make like an artist approaches their studio: we started and kept letting the project lead us. SG: Was the goal simply to review gallery shows or to capture the art world’s wider, raw conversations? DM: When Amanda joined the show we figured it out. We thought we would pull an artist in to talk “smack” about what we had seen that weekend. But we had so much fun with Amanda that we started to see how we could engage the whole art world through the concerns of individual artists. It allowed us to constantly learn and grow while tracing the curves of the art world’s discourse. It completely reshaped our original notion. Brian and the SF crew expanded it to partnering with organizations like Art Practical. SG: Where did that very first episode take place? Was it with Chris Cook, curator from the Sioux City Art Center? DM: Yes. We did it a couple of days before it dropped, on what felt like the hottest day ever, in the hottest attic. Chris Cook was an outstanding guest, but it was hot, beer was involved, and I kept trying to bait him into arguments about modern art. We recorded for 90 minutes, and the episode was cut to something like 35. Richard claims he only cut my hectoring and pointed jokes about minimalism. Chris was a good sport—he is now the ED at the Bemis Center—but he is reluctant to get back on mic. The second episode needs to be reissued. It is an interview with Chris Sperandio about a pilot show he made for Fox. They were unhappy that it had not gone through their lawyers first. I think we should put it out as a limited-release vinyl record. SG: Was the project easier to manage when it was a small core group, or do you prefer this mesh, “well-oiled machine”? DM: That is funny to think about. It always feels like being in a band—but one where you never really know who will show up for practice… or the gig. We only meant to have an independent voice in the art world and be beholden to the artwork itself. That has sometimes been a blessing and sometimes a curse. I think everyone who has ever worked with us has been mad at everyone else who has ever worked with us; but like any good band, we are just as much family as friends. We are always there to pick up the phone for one another, and the ethic of the project is about showing up and contributing. Everyone connected is still welcome where we are. No one would call us a “well-oiled machine,” but we are a bunch of folks who are serious and care about what we do. <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1788961858/gwxdh2vnkmvykbni6sxa.jpg">Tony Lewis and Baddie on the Terrace of the MCA during a recording session in 2025. SG: In 2006, you added Christopher Hudgens for the website and Mark Staff-Brandl for a footprint in Europe. Did that expansion happen naturally? DM: Like natural growth, we didn’t know how to control or dictate it; we learned along the way. Christopher Hudgens has been an incredible bedrock for the website. Mark joined us for a while because he loved what we were doing and wanted to contribute. Because of what Brian was doing in SF, what Amanda did in NYC, and the work of a few others, we actively tried to court a network model where we could share a different kind of art world than you get in Artforum or Frieze. In lots of ways, it worked amazingly for many years, but the core was always Chicago and the Midwest. SG: Looking at the local ecosystem—the galleries, art schools, fairs, non-profit and public spaces, curators, and critics—what has gotten better, what has gotten worse, and what is completely different? DM: This could be a whole interview, but there is a catch-22 here. Everything that has gotten better has also changed or taken away something great. The best thing is that we have more access to art than we could have imagined in 2005. The downside is that there is so much of it, and it is often overwhelming and underfunded. In 2005, we had a broken but stable model of the art “business.” In 2026, we have a lot of legacy models that need to be reassessed, but we are all afraid the sky is falling, so we stick with what we know. We need to rethink the value arguments contemporary art makes to its audience. For me, it is always the same: this is a space of experimental culture. A safe space to ask questions, take unpopular stands, and “fuck around and find out.” It’s the space in which we expose ourselves to the unknown and the unknown exposes itself to us. It shouldn’t be—but can’t help but be—a place where we build ourselves as idea brands that “co-lab” with institutions to cross-expose our audiences. What artists do for humans is too important for that. SG: What does Chicago’s art scene do exceptionally well that outsiders—especially in New York, LA, and global art hubs—still don’t understand? DM: I always think that this is a byproduct of Chicago-based collectors wanting their NYC friends to recognize and admire their newly acquired works without having to justify their tastes. In general, I think we do a decent job of supporting our scene, but I would love to see us have the confidence that LA does and just say, “What NYC doesn’t know won’t hurt them.” We incubate and train the country’s best talent; we need to give them more to stay for than part-time teaching jobs and an incredible scene. Sales would help. SG: Has your episode length changed over the years to keep up with how people consume digital media today? DM: We always try to keep it to about an hour, but that is totally flexible. If the conversation is going somewhere, I never want it to stop, but you also want to be conscious of the audience. That said, it seems almost impossible to do what we did 21 years ago. The social media requirements, the need for constant engagement, video, editing—it would have been too much to wrangle at one time. SG: Did you ever anticipate that Bad at Sports would step in front of the camera? DM: We never mean to. There is something magical about a voice going out and finding someone. I don’t know that we need a face; the works we talk about are the face. We are “Muppets” that exist to get ideas out. Plus, I have learned that if you make a mean joke, criticize someone’s artwork, or get something wrong, those folks’ friends never forget. Artists themselves are fairly forgiving. SG: In 2007, you dedicated Episode 79 to the West Loop—including the Chris Verene show at my gallery, gescheidle. The show notes explicitly tease you for repeatedly butchering his name on air.&nbsp; DM: Yes, and I am sorry. I remember and feel shame for every single incorrect moment of the last 21 years. I am fortunate to live in a community that has been accepting of my—and our—quirks. It has been a delight. Hopefully, we made some friends and some enemies. Either way, we loved you and all of it. SG: You’ve evolved from irreverent commentators into trusted mainstays. How has that journey shifted your approach to honesty? DM: In the early days, we got a lot of hate mail. Our value then was honesty: we weren’t in anyone’s pocket, and we said what we meant. It didn’t mean we weren’t wrong sometimes, but we were giving a raw and real reaction. It was quite different from writing reviews. When reviewing, you sit with the work, balance internal and external concerns, measure the venue, consider the gallery’s reputation, consult other writers, and look at precedents. But when you are in the space, you react to a work like it is another creature. You react viscerally, bringing reason and experience to the object to vibe-check it. It is messy but honest, and a product of direct engagement. I think that is rare, and the audience and artists understood. That said, a number of partners and friends threatened us with bodily violence—but it is art, so that seemed bonkers. To date, only two of us have been punched over reviews. <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1788961859/vmmwkk6ubgy2zvflichy.jpg">BAS atop the MCA SG: If you were forced to pick just one single episode as the most important or culturally significant conversation you’ve ever hosted, what would it be? DM: Interesting question, and hard to answer. The interviews with Tony Fitzpatrick were important because we got a slightly different Tony than we got most of the time. Our interview with Kerry James Marshall was also important and incredibly revealing. Actually, everything in the first five years is amazing because no one was savvy enough to know what we were doing, so we got more honesty. I remember chatting with people from NYC where it felt like an hour-long pitch. A great interview is a conversation that is hard to leave, and that is what we chase now. SG: Where is the most unique, bizarre, or flat-out fun space you have ever recorded an episode? DM: We did a series with apexart in NYC where we would do interviews in destabilizing or transitory places. Amanda did one between two stalls in a decommissioned NYC school bathroom. I flew an artist to Chicago, met him for two hours of beer pong, and sent him back to the airport. His experience of Chicago was two taxis and one room. They were bizarre and fun. For VOLTA NY, we installed a bed and did 24 interviews over three days, John-and-Yoko style. Mat Gleason was super fun. SG: What is the most unexpected geographic location where someone is downloading the podcast? DM: I maintain a strict rule against checking metrics. We want the work to be the thing. That said, it has been fascinating to see the global reach of the show and just how many folks have spent time with us over the last 21 years. SG: What platforms do you personally turn to? DM: Obviously, Chicago Gallery News. But The Visualist is a longtime collaborator and an invaluable artist-run resource. I completely trust Mike and Meg to point us all toward an interesting future. I am hopeful about the impact Gertie will have, or Motley as an art-first PR firm. One of the things I hope for with the next generation is that they see ways to help existing projects—and, where there is not a thing, that they go ahead and make the thing that should be there.&nbsp; SG: How did your relationship with Ed Marszewski and Lumpen Radio come about? DM: Ed is a fellow traveler. We grew up in this art scene together, alongside Andrew Rafacz, Western Exhibitions, threewalls, Roots &amp; Culture, a generation of artists, and a score of projects no longer with us. Ed and BAS have been vital parts of this artist-run community, and we remain deeply connected and supportive of one another. More directly, when Ed started WLPN, we had coffee and he explained that he was opening a radio station for us. Then Logan said if we did it live, there was no expectation to edit. We will do anything Ed asks because he is one of us, and he has never let us down. SG: Keeping an arts project alive for 21 years is a miracle. How is the podcast funded, and has an angel donor ever dropped a massive bag of cash? DM: We are super open to an angel donor. We have lofty ideas for Season Two. Season One was held together with duct tape, goodwill, and glue. You can find our merch at badatsports.threadless.com SG: Did King LeBron actually fund the podcast, or is this just elite clickbait? DM: We are attempting to preserve the anonymity of our donors. I am horrified to hear that this has leaked. SG: Have you ever had to issue a genuine apology to someone for an episode that went too far or was just plain mean? DM: I like to think we are never mean and that, when we punch, we punch up. That said, in retrospect, “up” is a matter of perspective, and maybe it wasn’t what we thought it was. We were a little hard on Sterling Ruby and Rashid Johnson. I remember apologizing to Rashid in a Miami bar one night. He got it. Sterling, on the other hand, went out of his way to upset one of us and be dramatically uncool about it. It was disappointing, given his compound in LA. SG: What’s the next milestone? DM: I can’t speak for everyone—maybe for our current team: Ryan Peter Miller, Brian Andrews, and permanent guest host Jesse Malmed—but I love it. This has been one of the greatest trips ever. SG: Richard Holland traded BAS for real estate, and Amanda Browder has an art practice and studio in Brooklyn. Do you three still stay in touch? DM: Richard is my real estate agent and neighbor. Amanda exploded out of Bad at Sports and has gone on to fortune and glory through building-sized installations and spectacularly colorful artworks. We all hang out every time we can track her down, and Richard and I get together whenever time allows. I am sure both will be present on October 3 at the MCA when we record the last six episodes of Season One. Episodes 999, 998, 997, 996, 995, 994… Not that I am counting. I fucking love Chicago. There is no better art city—or city city—in North America. I can’t imagine anyone wanting to be anywhere but here. #

Bad at Sports at 21: Before Everyone Had a Podcast, Chicago had This

Fall offers a full slate of exhibitions across galleries and museums throughout the Midwest.&nbsp;Behind the scenes, many people in the community are working tirelessly to support artists and bring fresh perspectives to the public. We spoke&nbsp;with five insiders about what excites them now&nbsp;and what they anticipate next. The following preview is one of five conversations that appear in CGN's Fall 2026 magazine. To receive a copy of the print edition&nbsp;<a href="https://835ba3.myshopify.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">click here.&nbsp;</a> <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1788405779/eqa3we3n7ojlwakfnvjq.jpg"> <h4>Brookes Ebetsch –&nbsp;</h4><h4>Director, Chicago Artists Coalition</h4> “Fall is busy at Chicago Artists Coalition, since we will have Resident Exhibition openings on Friday, September 4 and October 30. We’re also hosting our annual <a href="https://chicagoartistscoalition.betterworld.org/events/neon-90s-night" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">fundraiser</a> at Ignite Glass Studio on Thursday, October 1, where we want&nbsp;everyone to have the opportunity to support artists as much as they support art. The National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures hosts a regional convening here in Chicago November 12–14, and there will be activities across the city, open to the&nbsp;public, and CAC will be hosting at least one. My favorite public event of the year, Grabadolandia, is the 3rd weekend in November at the National Museum of Mexican Art. In its 14th year, it’s full of family-friendly, hands-on printmaking, social activism and gorgeous art for purchase. You’ll also meet some amazing gente!”&nbsp; <a href="https://www.chicagoartistscoalition.org" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Chicago Artists Coalition</a>

Anticipating a Season of Art: Five to Talk to – Brookes Ebetsch

<h3>We saw several personnel and programatic changes announced this week and are excited to share them below. -CGN</h3> <h3><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1788568531/apwzgkx2v1bjjzqdau1k.png"></h3><h3> </h3><h3>Sibylle Friche is named Director of Anthony Gallery</h3> Sibylle Friche has been named Director of Anthony Gallery as of September. Sibylle previously was a Director at DOCUMENT (2015–22) and then Partner until earlier this year. She also held roles at the MCA Chicago, the Guggenheim in New York and at Rhona Hoffman Gallery in Chicago (2011-2013). In an announcement, Isimeme “Easy” Otabor, founder of Anthony Gallery, says: “I’ve always admired Sibylle’s work ethic and the respect she’s earned from everyone she’s worked with. We are excited and honored to have her on the team.” Friche shared: “I am incredibly honored to start this new chapter alongside someone like Easy whose trajectory in design, fashion, and art is exemplary. I look forward to playing a part in advancing the gallery’s growth on a global stage.” Image Courtesy of Ian Vecchiotti <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1788568531/bw9xqpa7if5ya5sjnvff.jpg"> <h3>Joffrey Ballet President-CEO Greg Cameron Departing Next Year</h3> Greg Cameron is stepping down as President &amp; CEO of the Joffrey Ballet in 2027. He has held the role since 2013. The organizations' website says Cameron's 2013 appointment was the culmination of three decades of work in arts administration and philanthropy. “I always loved art, but I wasn’t a great artist,” he says. “I could paint by numbers, or I could connect the dots. I realized early on I was a good dot connector. I could connect people to each other and help them get involved with the things they believe in.” Cameron has held leadership roles at the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs; the Art Institute of Chicago; the Museum of Contemporary Art and WTTW/WFMT. Cameron told the Sun Times that this plan to step down has been in the works for three years, and that he is not retiring nor moving on to lead another organization. Cameron intends to stay connected to Chicago's cultural community. <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1788568532/oznlr5gcqbqpqieoo9ku.png"> <h3>Jennifer Murray is Named Executive Director at FACETS</h3> Established in 1975, FACETS curates cinematic experiences that deepen human connections. Jennifer Murray has more than two decades of experience in Chicago's arts and culture community, having served as the museum manager at the now-closed 21c Hotel, as well as the Exec. Dir. of Filter Photo in Chicago for 8 years before that. She has also been a director at Columbia College's A+D Gallery, and she is the founder and Director of Staple + Stitch Art Book and Print Fair, which was launched in 2024. <h3><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1788568533/ajhahvi6eamkcyxuupdx.jpg"></h3> <h3>Process/Process Announces New Edition for Gertie's Inaugural Print Edition</h3> Join us for a launch to celebrate Gertie's inaugural print edition by Leonardo Kaplan. Process/Process are proud collaborators with the artist and&nbsp;Gertie. At Gertie's Hub, Kaplan will be in conversation with curator Jack Schneider &amp; artist Ben Foch, two longstanding interlocutors in his life and work. Their dialogue will explore the varying facets in the life of artists who have continued to work in Chicago across generations and exhibition models, tracing the symbiotic relationship between artist run projects, the commercial ecosystem, and institutional affiliation. Schneider's recent exhibition&nbsp;City In a Garden: Queer Art &amp; Activism in Chicago&nbsp;featured paintings by Kaplan. "Auspicious Arrival,"&nbsp;an edition of 50, is borne out of Gertie's longstanding relationship with Process/Process, and our shared commitment to artists who live and work in Chicago. The print will be for sale at the event and&nbsp;<a href="http://link.artlogicmailings.com/ss/c/u001.oWK2ISRNMOkgqqM9UNObrgCkOaFaxb_EyJj_JhCt3-PWs1BSMSvmTJEPhafdWu7Z/4tp/dziOl-f2SEiiiZ52uE7Vxw/h5/h001.qDCwu6Y1p7d-BxoPoSWF-QMdNWt-5abcW2_Pgyg_7Gw" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" target="_blank">online</a>.&nbsp; There will be a print launch event on September 10. Gertie, 400 N Peoria StThu, Sep 10, 6 - 8 PM<a href="http://link.artlogicmailings.com/ss/c/u001.oWK2ISRNMOkgqqM9UNObrtVE_4Ff5IDnRA5Bjop_4YeMulTJM2cJuF-6ngCpmYdgYpDwyBfm6vKrMkhMfOnDBctldC-8uVQc8jMVpLXQU4UgUJ6H4qeZEtsA0S9FEUYOZz6HG2Rjy5Vd9JC56vTZ1ugZ0vdqPis6zZbnvt3sOO8SGyZi1nlHjLegpSH2ZiT1BrlUIp_Mmt7uFkuDBIvfLQ/4tp/dziOl-f2SEiiiZ52uE7Vxw/h3/h001.0SUAUV5acs5jkG0DpwC6Fxa-4wdcjFKis5DvNAaDTGc" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" target="_blank">RSVP</a> <h3>Kavi Gupta Announces New Public Art and Advisory Service</h3> On LinkedIn Gupta shared an announcement about a new addition to the gallery's program that has an international reach. "[Here is a] sneak peek at our new public art and experiential Art Advisory services! Building on a 25 year legacy of producing and placing substantial large scale and experiential artworks from corporate headquarters to the centers of Asia’s capital cities." The gallery's <a href="https://kavigupta.com/public-works/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">website</a> says they aim to realize ambitious public-facing projects that advance underrepresented artists on a global stage.

CGN Art World Recap: September 3, 2026

<h3><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1788557361/pwdhfh8edrmlcfg06foj.jpg"></h3><h3> </h3><h3>By CGN Staff</h3> Intuit Art Museum announced it is accepting applications for its first year-long Intuiteens program, running October 2026 through August 2027. The deadline is this Sunday, September 6 so motivated teens may want to work over the holiday weekend. The paid program invites Chicago teens ages 15–19 to meet weekly, explore self-taught art and help shape museum programming. Participants will work with museum staff, develop leadership skills, create work for an exhibition and help plan Intuit’s first Teen Convening.No previous art experience is required. Applicants should bring curiosity, varied interests and a willingness to participate. Applications are due Sunday, September 6, 2026.&nbsp;<a href="https://qjxtjxbbb.cc.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001nAIZ-KMiam2OpI8hS2Bd0Nhy8lSL7FMNN1UATmQ0pRUkVywPaObBRjHJUNwbsImNEirbfC2_9U0TgPH8EBUrxWfc0shJUb6rYLfhLuUhQUphhWwE_-YOCiM6PRNN0cwX4Ujr3qm8tKUeMpe4EPRDIvqT6HgNulRG&amp;c=4Q-fZ_8tWuBqZs6su9ripqUSRmVfYp3tSPOuBnICkBerqjSK6p-8JA==&amp;ch=EZs2hgl8M_oS5zH5F8Z3oQ5jipfyJAjbgUUSHnasG3c4NGDZ2alqRw==" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Learn more and apply</a>. Image credit: 2026 Summer Intuiteens Cohort field-trip selfie during a West Town gallery walk.&nbsp;

Intuit Art Museum Seeks Teens for Paid, Year-Long Program

Fall offers a full slate of exhibitions across galleries and museums throughout the Midwest.&nbsp;Behind the scenes, many people in the community are working tirelessly to support artists and bring fresh perspectives to the public. We spoke&nbsp;with five insiders about what excites them now&nbsp;and what they anticipate next. The following preview is one of five conversations that appear in CGN's Fall 2026 magazine. To receive a copy of the print edition&nbsp;<a href="https://835ba3.myshopify.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">click here.&nbsp;</a> <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1788405399/tkadnn5aubk7zzcd6w3o.jpg">Photo by Maria Ponce <h4>Ionit Behar –&nbsp;</h4><h4>MCA Curator</h4> “Although summer is my favorite season in Chicago, September feels like the city’s true new year. At the MCA, I’m especially excited about Slow Dance, opening September 12 and curated by my colleague Jadine Colingwood. The exhibition explores slowness as a form of resistance, inviting us to pause in a culture of constant performance. Later in the season, we’ll present Rashid Johnson: A Poem for Deep Thinkers, a major retrospective curated by Jack Schneider, that marks the artist’s return to the MCA more than two decades after his first exhibition here. I’m also looking forward to Maria Gaspar’s live performance We Lit the Fire and Trusted the Heat (After Angela Davis), which transforms materials from the former Cook County Jail into a powerful space for music, memory, and community. Beyond the museum, Chicago Exhibition Week is when the city’s museums, galleries, and spaces open their doors with exhibitions, performances, and conversations, reminding us why Chicago remains one of the most exciting and generous contemporary art communities anywhere.” <a href="https://mcachicago.org" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago</a>

Anticipating a Season of Art: Five to Talk to – Ionit Behar

<img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1788234909/jaxlqvisaonmohweln4u.jpg">Rashid Johnson at his studio in Brooklyn, New York, 2024. Credit: Sabrina Santiago. This interview is CGN's Fall 2026 cover interview. <a href="https://chicagogallerynews.myshopify.com" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" target="_blank">Purchase a copy or subscribe.</a> By SUSAN GESCHEIDLE Chicago native Rashid Johnson brings his 30-year survey, <a href="https://mcachicago.org/whats-on/exhibitions/rashid-johnson-a-poem-for-deep-thinkers/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">A Poem for Deep Thinkers</a>, home this November. Opening November 7, 2026, the exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago follows stops at New York’s Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. Susan Gescheidle: You move fluidly between photography, painting, sculpture, and large-scale architecture. What is the underlying anchor connecting these mediums across this 30-year trajectory? Rashid Johnson: That’s a big question. The lack of medium specificity in my project is born of curiosity and an ambition for problem-solving, but simultaneously recognizing that art is a horrible vehicle for that. Art is intended to allow space for exploration. It’s dynamic and unspecific. Shifting, exploring, and different outlets provide me opportunity. That’s why my work doesn’t fit easily into a simple diagnosis. SG: The architecture of the MCA Chicago, the Guggenheim, and the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth shapes visitor movement differently. How will this spatial shift affect your early Columbia College work compared to your massive current installations? RJ: The MCA is a great facilitator for what happens in the later work. The Guggenheim is an interesting space because the lower parts of the rotunda are built for smaller works, which allowed my earlier Columbia College photography to shine. Contemporary spaces like Fort Worth and the MCA make you face different obstacles around smaller objects. They make you gather them, build structures and narratives, and sometimes use salons to occupy the space effectively. It presents different challenges, but also opportunities. <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1788234911/yvlialmz7lqbsuducbd8.jpg">Rashid Johnson, Sanguine, 2025. Installation view: Rashid Johnson: A Poem for Deep Thinkers; April 18, 2025–January 18, 2026;&nbsp;Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York. Photograph by David Heald. © Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New York. Courtesy of the artist.&nbsp; SG: Materials like black soap, shea butter, books, and plants became central to your mid-career shift. Do these elements change in meaning over time, or do they serve as a growing vocabulary for new spaces? RJ: I think a bit of both. Materials have a vocabulary unto themselves and a way they become legible to each individual viewer. Your relationship with plants, or whether materials are familiar or foreign, is going to dictate how you read my project. For example, if you grew up with shea butter—applying it or seeing it sold on the streets—you may have a different sense of it than someone coming to it for the first time. The language belonging to the material continues to inform how an audience engages with it. I love that aspect; it’s quite rewarding. The other opportunity is looking at the materials through my biography. You recognize them as foreign to you, but familiar to me, allowing you to read the work as both an insider and outsider. I’m excited by the way people translate the materials through their own experiences, but simultaneously imagine my relationship to them. <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1788234912/z9vxzejf628vaiol97hp.jpg">Installation view: Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, ‘12x12: New Artist/New Work,’ 2002, Chicago, IL. Courtesy of the artist.&nbsp; SG: How has your core group of early Chicago benefactors and collectors sustained your work over the last 30 years? RJ: My early benefactors and collectors in Chicago played an enormous role in creating space for me to make work, and they continue to give me hope in how patronage can be an effective partnership. When I was leaving Chicago, I approached supporters Paul Gray, Evan Boris and Monique Meloche, Dan Berger, and others to ask for a loan to be paid off with future artwork in order to help me transition to New York. They facilitated that. The patronage and enthusiasm for local artists is enormous in Chicago; it’s an important part of the city’s character. The way those early patrons imagined their relationship with me is the criterion I use to judge the quality of people who acquire my work today. SG: What do you hope a new generation of collectors discovers in your art today? RJ: I hope a new generation feels energized, entertained, and curious about how my project translates personal experience into illustrated objects, material investigations, and a way of imagining the world. I hope they use my practice as a launchpad to explore their own enthusiasm for art and feel open to the curious opportunities it provides. <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1788234913/h9wolwcvfrp1bkivmlgk.jpg">Installation view: Rashid Johnson: ‘The Rise and Fall of the Proper Negro,’&nbsp;2003, Chicago, IL. Courtesy of the artist and Monique Meloche Gallery.&nbsp; SG: You and your former partner, fellow artist Sheree Hovsepian, launched the residency at Casa Gracia on Menorca with no required deliverables or exhibition. What kind of creatives are you hoping to attract to this pressure-free environment? And is this yet another way of giving back to the artistic community? RJ: We’re hoping to attract good ones. We want people who share our enthusiasm for art, who contribute to discourse, and who are modern—the kinds of people who don’t avert their eyes and who understand the challenges of being a maker in a complicated world. We want thinkers and writers. I’ve been so widely supported and nourished by a community of practitioners, collectors, and curators that I see this as an opportunity to pay it forward. I want to continue to provide opportunities—mirroring the ones I had, while having the ambition to provide the kinds of opportunities I wish I’d had. <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1788234914/kyf26lsp3vekmpkt2hqh.jpg">Rashid Johnson during his childhood in Chicago, IL. Courtesy of the artist. SG: You are from Evanston and went to Evanston Township High School, just like my kids did. Raised by a mother who was an African history scholar in a home steeped in Du Bois and Baraka, how did that deep Afrocentric grounding and Evanston’s activist community shape your worldview? RJ: It shaped it dramatically. Growing up as a child of academics in a family that prioritized critical engagement keeps that history at the forefront of my work. It drives my references and the questions my projects ask. Evanston is a special town. Its diversity, complexity, and proximity to Chicago force you to ask deep questions. More recently, its push to be at the forefront of reparations aligns perfectly with the values I associate with the community—values like restorative justice and making wrongs right. Evanston shaped me in ways that were vital to my development, and I’m incredibly proud to be from there. SG: Second part of that question, and most important: Do you still agree “It’s a great day to be a Wildkit”? RJ: Every day is “a great day to be a Wildkit!” The high school was so important to my development and my understanding of the world, and so I’m still proud to be an Evanstonian. <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1788234916/hf874fw4v3body0kueyl.png">Rashid Johnson, Untitled Escape Collage, 2018 (detail). Ceramic tile, mirror tile, branded red oak flooring, vinyl, spray enamel, oil stick, black soap, wax, 97 × 121 × 2.25 in. (246.38 × 307.34 × 5.72 cm). Collection of Kathy and Mitchell Jacobson X.2025.88 © Rashid Johnson, 2025. Photo: Martin Parsekian SG: You were only 23 when Thelma Golden curated your work into Freestyle at the Studio Museum in Harlem. You’ve been open about the anxiety that followed the sudden spotlight. What words of wisdom do you have for young artists experiencing a sudden breakout? RJ: I was always dealing with some anxiety, but the spotlight gave me space to reflect. It’s something I’m proud of, happy to have experienced, and I’m even happier to have navigated things that, at a certain stage, I wasn’t even ready for.&nbsp; What I would say is keep your eye on the prize. Don’t believe the hype. Continue to fight, work, and focus on the qualities of your project. Think about it as a long-term opportunity, not a short one. SG: That Harlem breakout proved the power of institutional backing. Today, you aggressively champion younger artists to galleries and collectors. How did your own path shape your approach to mentoring the next generation? RJ: I came up at a time when a number of important people developing their positions in the cultural landscape provided opportunities for me. They educated me through their words, teaching, and action—people like Thelma Golden. Watching how she navigated the landscape of contemporary art, I paid attention. I tried to be present, and wanted to be a vehicle. If you continue to prioritize what matters most to you as a practitioner, you’ll be served by it long term. <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1788234917/dbbunbn6mtx3iyf1kryj.jpg">Rashid Johnson, ‘Broken Crowd “The President’s Audience,”’ 2026, at The Obama Presidential Center, Chicago, IL. Credit: The Obama Foundation.&nbsp; SG: Your commission for the new Obama Presidential Center here in Chicago is a massive milestone. Tying your work to the civic legacy of the first Black president must be an incredible honor. Did you get a personal phone call from President Obama? What did this request for art mean to you emotionally? RJ: I did not get a personal call from the president, but I know that he is aware of my work, and we’ve had several discussions in the past. I was also able to walk through my Guggenheim retrospective with the first lady, Michelle. They have shown themselves to be such incredible, thoughtful patrons in the way they relate to and platform artists. So, I was extremely proud to be included, especially as a native son. Of the presidents I’ve witnessed, he is the most sincere, thoughtful, engaged, and sophisticated leader I can think of in my years paying attention to political life. I’m just proud to be part of something that I think has a lot of integrity. SG: Your mosaic, Broken Crowd, lives inside the Center’s teaching kitchen rather than on a traditional museum wall. Since these commissions are site-specific, how did you choose this space, and what does a community hub add to the meaning of the artwork? RJ: I love the utility of the space, and I love the idea that it’s going to be employed by people who live nearby and visitors who have the ambition to explore and learn. My project is so committed to intellectual and actionable curiosity. The fact that my installation lives in a space that creates room for learning, exploration, and development—and even thinking of it colloquially, the idea of cooking, like how do you cook up something, how do you conjure something? For it to share space with those ideas is fundamentally in line with how my practice aspires to engage an audience. So, for me, that was the spot. SG: Personal question here: You and your son, Julius, share a birthday, which inspired your artwork, Soul Painting “Birthday Boys.” He’s 15 now—does a 30-year museum survey buy you any “cool dad” currency with him? RJ: Zero. He is the person least impressed with me that I’ve come across. I may be some people’s favorite artist, but I’m not even sure I’m his. <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1788234918/qpc383z36efexjzyzlbg.jpg">Rashid Johnson, God Painting “The Spirit”, 2025 (detail). Oil on linen. Private Collection. © Rashid Johnson, 2025. Courtesy of the artist and Hauser &amp; Wirth. Photography by: Stephanie Powell SG: Before we wrap up, if you could show your work anywhere in the world, where would it be and why? RJ: If I could show my work anywhere in the world, it would be—real answer—the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. And I’ll tell you why. It’s the museum that opened its arms to me first. It’s the one that not only brought me in as a practitioner, but brought me in as a student and as a young person—giving me space to think about what art could be, introducing me to things that I now love that I wasn’t sure what they were, and giving my curiosity space and opportunity to be challenged, to explore, and to see things with different eyes. On top of that, it continues to be such a special place. I’m a boy from Chicago, and it gives me an opportunity to welcome in people who followed my journey from start to finish. In the vein of Woody Allen’s film Deconstructing Harry, I get to see everybody. When I’m there and everybody gets to see me, that’s enough reward. SG: Looking ahead, where do you see your practice evolving next? RJ: As a practitioner who’s also a sober man, I try to take it one day at a time, so I don’t look too far ahead. If I knew where my practice was going, I’m probably going in the wrong direction. I’ll know more tomorrow, so you can ask me then. # <a href="https://mcachicago.org/whats-on/exhibitions/rashid-johnson-a-poem-for-deep-thinkers/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Rashid Johnson: A Poem for Deep Thinkers</a>Museum of Contemporary Art ChicagoSaturday, Nov 07, 2026–Sunday, Apr 25, 2027

CGN interview with artist Rashid Johnson MCA exhibition November 2026

A Poem for Deep Thinkers: Rashid Johnson Returns to Chicago

<img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1788238456/xroecudurih9tjnwsjjb.png">CAC's annual event always has a fun theme. 2025's disco-themed event honored Tony Karman, founder of EXPO CHICAGO. By GINNY VAN ALYEA For more than 50 years, Chicago Artists Coalition has supported Chicago’s artists and curators through exhibitions, residencies, professional development, and other vital resources. I’m very touched to be this year's honoree as CAC honors CGN's nearly 45 years of championing art and artists in Chicago. I'm especially happy for the chance to celebrate CAC, the many creatives it has also championed, and the hardworking team behind it all. They also throw a great party! Tickets include bites and beverages, plus a performance and music by CAC alum Jacquelyn Guerrero (AKA Disc Jacqui). Early bird tickets are $50 for artists, arts workers and students and $100 for individuals. CAC has thrown many fun openings and parties, with each a chance to engage with artists, meet new friends and gather in the name of art and creativity – it will be a night you won't find anywhere else AND your ticket purchase is 100% for a good cause. It's a party with a purpose. September 1, is the last day for early bird tickets this year's ’90s &amp; Neon Fundraiser, taking place in just one month on Thursday, October 1 at Ignite Glass Studios in West Town. CGN will be there—in neon and in the '90s spirit! Come celebrate CAC, its artists, and the people who make its work possible, while helping support what comes next. Happy fall art season! # <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1788238457/lnbyokuzlrfz4sqtg7go.jpg">Ignite Glass - the site of CAC's fundraiser this year <a href="https://chicagoartistscoalition.betterworld.org/events/neon-90s-night" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Tickets and party details here</a> CAC Annual FundraiserThursday, October 1st, 2026 | 6 - 9pm CDTIgnite Glass Studio401 North Armour Street Chicago, Illinois 60642

CAC annual fundraiser honors CGN Publisher Ginny Van Alyea with a Neon 90s theme

Chicago Artists Coalition Annual Fundraiser Goes '90s – A Party with a Purpose

<img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1788240358/f6y8xpvz5bwbl9qzyypw.jpg"> By GINNY VAN ALYEA This summer, an old camp song came back to me: “Make new friends, but keep the old; one is silver and the other’s gold.”&nbsp; I consider that perspective one of the privileges of publishing Chicago Gallery News. Year after year, CGN connects our audience to new artists, exhibitions, and ideas while honoring the history, relationships, and city that have made us a resource since 1982. After nearly 25 years with CGN, I’m especially aware of how much there is to appreciate around us—both what is new and what has endured. We are proud of our new fall edition and hope you will pick up a copy in a gallery or <a href="https://chicagogallerynews.myshopify.com" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">subscribe</a>. This issue’s cover artist, <a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/articles/a-poem-for-deep-thinkers-rashid-johnson-returns-to-chicago" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Rashid Johnson</a>, returns to his hometown for a 30-year career retrospective at the MCA that traces the importance of where he got his start alongside what his art explores today. Johnson counts many local supporters as key to his success, and he advises young artists to keep their eye on the prize and to think about creativity as a long-term opportunity, not a short one. We look back to 2005, when Bad at Sports got its start—the podcast before we all listened to podcasts—after co-founder Duncan Mackenzie saw a need to discuss contemporary art in Chicago with other artists. CGN regularly offers a look inside private art collections in Chicago. A collection built over time bears witness to artists’ careers, as well as how local galleries adapt to the market. Collectors like Macol and José Cerda refine their tastes and collect because of a shared passion and love of creative and intellectual engagement.&nbsp; We also examine how artists and architects, from Andi Crist to Scotland’s Charles Rennie Mackintosh, take creative risks without knowing what challenges the future may bring. Both benefited from meaningful support at important moments, even as circumstances beyond their control tested what they created. Their stories offer perspective on why supporting artists and their ideas in the present can have an impact far into the future. All these stories, and more, are in our printed edition and will be posted online in the coming days and weeks. For almost four and a half decades, CGN has connected artists, galleries, museums, and collectors while documenting the remarkable creativity that defines Chicago’s place in the art world. As you enjoy this fall art season, I encourage you to appreciate what has come before—and to consider how your engagement today helps shape what comes next. # Also make sure to follow <a href="https://www.instagram.com/chigallerynews/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">CGN on Instagram</a> to see what we're seeing this fall! <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1788240358/uxemsni8bmwyl8ccrikg.jpg">On the cover:&nbsp;RASHID JOHNSON. Pictured: ‘Broken Crowd “The President’s Audience,”’ 2026, at The Obama Presidential Center, Chicago, IL. Credit: The Obama Foundation.&nbsp;Feature interview by Susan Gescheidle. CGN's Fall 2026 edition is out now and celebrates all there is to see this fall in Chicago and beyond. Featured stories include: – Cover Interview: <a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/articles/a-poem-for-deep-thinkers-rashid-johnson-returns-to-chicago" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Artist Rashid Johnson</a>– The Collection of Macol and José Cerda– Andi Crist: The Art of the Pun&nbsp;– Hyde Park Art Center’s Not Just Another Pretty Face Returns– West Town: The Development of an Arts District– R. Justin Stewart at VSG Contemporary– The Restoration of a Masterpiece:&nbsp;Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s Scottish Hill House– The Invisible Journey of Public Art– Bad at Sports Turns 21– Dan Devening and Elizabeth Lalley Collaborate– Artful Holidays in Chicago

CGN Publisher's Letter: Fall 2026

<h3><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1787932671/aucjileeh3rg0jzotdss.jpg"></h3><h3> </h3><h3><a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/emmy-star-brown-and-danym-kwon" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Peace of Wild Things: Emmy Star Brown and Danym Kwon</a></h3> Aug 28, 2026 - Oct 17, 2026Opening: Friday, Aug 28, 2026 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM <a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/organizations/joy-machine" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Joy Machine</a> Drawing its title from&nbsp;<a href="https://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poem/peace-wild-things-0/" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" target="_blank">Wendell Berry’s often-quoted poem</a>,&nbsp;The Peace of Wild Things&nbsp;is a return to wonder through disparate yet complementary practices. For both Brown and Kwon, color and layering become a means of self-discovery and a way to tap into the emotions, dreams, and memories that might not surface otherwise. Their practices diverge in notable ways–Brown works abstractly, while Kwon turns to surreal representations of care and domestic life–but when presented together, they enter into a harmonic dialogue about the ways experiences linger long after a moment has passed. <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1787932672/xkdtkkey2xuzundwy9ng.jpg"><h3><a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/k-pop" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">K-POP! A Mini Exhibition Featuring iri5</a></h3> Saturday, Aug 29, 2026 12:00 PM – 5:00 PMOpening: Saturday, Aug 29, 2026 12:00 PM – 5:00 PM <a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/organizations/jackson-junge-gallery" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Jackson Junge Gallery</a> Jackson Junge Gallery presents K-POP!, a mini exhibition featuring Chicago-based artist iri5, celebrated for her unexpected mixed-media artworks created from cassette tape. In celebration of the exhibition, Jackson Junge Gallery is teaming up with Purple Court to bring fellow BTS fans together for a special BTS-inspired cupsleeve event on Saturday, August 29, from 12:00–5:00 PM. NO TICKET NECESSARY - this event is free and open to the public! Stop by to see the art, stay to argue about your bias! <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1787932672/euvya4zkhotmrb9zclaq.jpg"><h3><a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/terra-machina" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Terra Machina: Lefty OUT There</a></h3> Aug 29, 2026 - Oct 10, 2026Opening: Saturday, Aug 29, 2026 12:00 PM – 4:00 PM <a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/organizations/vsg-contemporary" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">VSG Contemporary</a> Using exceptional materials sourced from around the world, Lefty OUT There combines modern machinery with handcrafted techniques to reveal their natural beauty. The result honors each material's origins while celebrating fine art and contemporary craftsmanship. Running through every piece is Lefty's signature polymorph pattern, inspired by vibration, frequency, and the interconnected systems found throughout nature. The pattern reflects the rhythms that exist at every scale, from microscopic cellular structures to the landscapes of our terrain. It serves as a reminder that the same forces shaping the natural world are constantly at work around and within us. <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1787932673/iqt7ggdrmxcyt2wnnqfs.jpg"> <h3><a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/anthony-lewellen-various-work" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Anthony Lewellen: Various Work</a>&nbsp;</h3> Aug 29, 2026 - Sep 26, 2026Opening: Saturday, Aug 29, 2026 2:00 PM – 6:00 PM <a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/organizations/chicago-truborn" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Chicago Truborn</a> ANTCK will take over the gallery with a new body of work created specifically for this exhibition.&nbsp;Two site specific murals will be painted and a new, limited edition, print drop will be released!&nbsp;It's also the gallery's 13th anniversary / Bat Mitzvah! <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1787932673/aj0poewyvjgkpiwaomn4.jpg"> <h3><a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/ioto-artist-talk-and-walkthrough" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">IOTO Artist Talk and Walkthrough</a></h3> Saturday, Aug 29, 2026 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM <a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/organizations/sona-chicago-contemporary-art" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">SoNa Chicago Contemporary Art</a> SoNa Chicago Contemporary Art is proud to host&nbsp;World Without Promises,&nbsp;the culminating exhibition of the&nbsp;Industry of the Ordinary (IOTO) 2026 Summer Residency. The one-day&nbsp;full activation of the exhibition with 16 artists took place on&nbsp;Aug. 22. The non-performative elements of the exhibition will be on view at the gallery through&nbsp;Sat., August 29. An&nbsp;Artist Walkthrough will take place on Sat., Aug. 29 from 5-7 pm&nbsp;where the artists will discuss their work and offer deeper insights into their processes and the evolution of their practice. <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1787932674/rl6cwtanyan22xltltrn.jpg"> <h3><a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/closing-reception-for-deborah-maris-lader-we-become-birds" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Closing Reception for Deborah Maris Lader: We Become Birds</a></h3> Sunday, Aug 30, 2026 4:00 PM – 6:00 PM <a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/organizations/bert-green-fine-art" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Bert Green Fine Art</a> A skilled artist and printmaker who constantly explores experimentation with a vast array of other materials,&nbsp;Deborah Maris Lader’s newest work extends the printed image off the page via animations, sculptural techniques, and automata. Using mechanistic props, light and space, she devises a diverse menagerie of beings, creatures from the inner workings of Lader's creative brain.

New Exhibitions and Events: August 28–30

<img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1788754384/e2iqxsigaocmssjl041e.jpg">A rendering of the exterior of the main building of CAMi This interview is from CGN's Spring/Summer 2026 issue.&nbsp;<a href="https://chicagogallerynews.myshopify.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" target="_blank">Purchase a print copy or subscribe.</a> By BIANCA BOVA More than 20 years in the making, the Contemporary Art Museum Indianapolis is finally preparing to open its doors, just as the festivities of May get underway in the city.&nbsp; “We didn’t intend on becoming a museum when we started out,” says Shauta Marsh, CAMI’s Director and Chief Curator. She is also the museum’s co-founder, along with her husband Jim Walker, a longtime journalist and teacher who serves as its Executive Director. “We were just working as part of a group of artists living in Indianapolis, and there were certain things that weren’t happening here that we wanted to see happen. So we tried to make them happen.”&nbsp; To say that the couple has made them happen is an understatement. In 2004, they started Big Car Collaborative as an artist-led nonprofit focused on active programming in public spaces, creative placemaking for communities, and socially engaged art. They operated in the city’s Fountain Square neighborhood for nearly a decade, before expanding to neighboring Lafayette Square, where they opened Service Center. Their first major adaptive-reuse project site, it was situated in the former automotive tire service center of a defunct Sears department store.&nbsp; “The tire center had been empty for several years,” notes Marsh. “We talked to the landlord and were able to use the space in exchange for covering operating expenses like lights and trash removal, and fixing the space up. Of course, it was still a tire center, so it was less about white box shows, and more about social practice art projects. Being in Lafayette Square–which is less residential than where we were in Fountain Square, more of a business district–we became kind of a destination space. So we naturally became more event-driven, though we did continue to have exhibitions. We did a show with Found magazine, we had more music and performance-related events, we had, at one point, a bunch of skateboarders who came in and built all these ramps and did their thing, all at Service Center. We also built what we called the Pizza Garden. We installed a pizza oven, and built this big raised-bed garden where we grew everything you would need to make a pizza. We held this end-of-the-year harvest, where we made the pizza from scratch, ground our own wheat for the crust and everything.”&nbsp; <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1788754384/exkqht23ps34mtokstu8.jpg">CAMI co-founder Jim Walker In 2014, as Big Car Collaborative reached the milestone of a decade in operations, Service Center closed its doors. The property was to be returned to use as a commercial business unit. Around the same time, Marsh and Walker moved their family to the Garfield Park neighborhood, a historic residential community situated along a 150-acre park south of downtown Indianapolis. “We started thinking about a new place that we could have the organization again, this time in our own neighborhood, because that was the other thing–if you’re working with community, it goes better if you’re working in the neighborhood you live in, and if a majority of the artists that work with the organization are living in the neighborhood you’re working in. When we started looking, we came across this building that was boarded up and we were like, ‘What’s going on with this? It doesn’t look too bad. We could do something like we did at Service Center with this, it needs only a moderate amount of work to be usable,’” Marsh continues, conceding “We were also tired of moving Big Car around. We really wanted our own space.” They found it on Cruft Street, in what would become Tube Factory Art Space. With the support of noted cultural philanthropist George Seybert, President and CEO of Tube Processing Corporation, a manufacturer in the aerospace and energy sectors, and his wife Diane, Big Car was able to realize their vision of a new kind of art space, opening the following year with a series of commissioned exhibitions.&nbsp; <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1788754385/mzogz9j1dlu60xtgohwq.jpg">CAMI co-founder Shauta Marsh during site construction “George and Diane, they are long time supporters of art in the city, they had helped build the Indianapolis Art Center. George had grown up in the neighborhood, and he was excited to see what we would do at the space. We had a proven track record at that point, and they had faith in what we were doing.”&nbsp; After getting Tube Factory up and running came Big Car’s first long-term and short-term artist residency homes, which made use of vacant properties that neighbored the building along Cruft Street.&nbsp; “Artists are, a lot of times, blamed for gentrification, but they’re also victims of it,” acknowledges Marsh, “They’re really just looking for somewhere affordable. Other people see what they’re doing and say, ‘These people are really cool. I want to live around these cool people, too.’ and then the cycle starts all over. We saw that happen a few times, and we were a part of it. We don’t have the ability–or the money–to fix those problems, we can’t stop or solve gentrification ourselves. But we felt we could do a little bit of something, which is how we ended up developing the artist housing. Artists fill out a survey–we don’t do income or credit checks–and we gauge if they’re a good fit based off of their answers about working in the community. Part of participating is committing sixteen hours a month to the community. That 16 hours can be almost anything: reading a book about social practice art, researching the history of the area, volunteering, attending neighborhood meetings. This helps, as we really want to demystify contemporary art. A lot of the general public have this idea about artists, that they’re standoffish, that they’re unapproachable, that they’re moody and all these things. That’s not always true. So we also wanted to help ensure the public, when they’re in contact with artists, have this experience that’s positive. People are more open to art than each other a lot of times. When you have an artist out there sharing their work, people become curious, and they’ll talk to each other. Then they start to see each other as a person, and it can help reduce the polarization that we’re seeing in society. It makes them more open to the idea of people that they might have thought they don’t like.” Tube Factory also became the home of WQRT 99.1FM, a low-watt radio station.&nbsp; “The opportunity actually came along for us to have the station when we were between physical spaces,” recalls Marsh, “We were always interested in sound art and in experimental radio, and we think of the radio station as another type of space, as another means of exhibition.” <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1788754386/rjibif7ymm9963ixhgxb.jpg">Chicken Chapel of Love, window view From there, Marsh and Walker continued to develop their vision for a holistic arts campus on the property. Finally, in 2023, construction began on the 40,000 square-foot main building that would become the Contemporary Art Museum Indianapolis. Accompanying it on the surrounding five acres are the original Tube Factory Space; the radio station’s headquarters; eighteen new artists’ studios; six new exhibition galleries; a suite of five storefronts available to owners of creative small businesses; eighteen affordable homes for long-term and visiting artist residents; a performing arts space; a culinary arts area; a sculpture park; and The Chicken Chapel of Love, “a sacred art project” initiated by Marsh that includes works by Nasreen Khan, Julie Xiao, Justin Cooper, Jason Gray, and, Rachel Leah Cohn, with its own commissions of art, performance, music, and poems on-going. Taken as a whole, the campus represents thirteen million dollars in total investment on Cruft Street, making it one of the the most significant culturally-driven adaptive reuse projects in the city. With this dramatic increase in space, programming, and financial commitment came the decision to formalize a name change, and establish the campus as a museum.&nbsp; “I’m a lover of museums, first of all, I want to say that,” acknowledges Marsh, “but museums have problems, they’re imperfect, they always need improvement. We are–we have always been–artist-run. To this day, our staff are artists and we try to ensure that they have opportunities to exhibit and continue to be artists. We don’t want artists to have to take jobs to make a living and then give up what maybe they went to school for, or what they wanted to do initially, what gives meaning to them. We are an artist-run space, but one that’s decided it’s time to institutionalize.”&nbsp; With that institutionalization, the Contemporary Art Museum Indianapolis takes its rightful place in a legacy that has been establishing itself in the city for years. It is a legacy of generous attitudes towards defining what a museum space can be; and one that has yielded sprawling, highly activated institutional campuses throughout the entire city.&nbsp; Newfields, perhaps the best known of these campus museums, on the North side of the city, is home, most prominently, to the Indianapolis Museum of Art, a well-respected one hundred forty-two year old collecting institution. Also situated on its one hundred fifty-two acre compound is Fairbanks Park, which encompasses a thirty-five acre lake, woodlands, wetlands, and the largest native pollinator meadow in the region; The Garden, a fifty-two acre horticultural park; the historic Lilly House; and the Elder Greenhouse, an active conservatory dating from the 1920’s.&nbsp; <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1788754386/lp3irixuhpsrz6v2z255.jpg">Yvette Mayorga's work installed at CAMI In the city’s Broad Ripple neighborhood, the Indy Art Center sits along the White River. Founded in 1934 as the Indianapolis Art League through funds from the Works Project Administration, it has long been an access point to both art and nature in the heart of the city. Today its campus is anchored by a Michael Graves-designed building, which houses the Marilyn K. Glick School of Art, complete with an auditorium, classrooms and studios for adult and childhood education programs, exhibition galleries, a library, and a sculpture garden that follows the river trail.&nbsp; Meanwhile on the near eastside, the city’s younger and more experimental artists find purchase in the Factory Arts District, the onetime home of legendary automotive engineering and manufacturing giant Schwitzer, sited on a sixteen acre industrial complex. The complex contains commercial galleries, artist studios, private car collections, restaurants, event spaces, and vintage shops, oriented contiguously in a labyrinthine series of open-ended industrial corridors that themselves play host to monthly parties and social events.&nbsp; Even the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum, fresh off of a 60 million dollar renovation (and as much if not more of destination for visitors to the city than all of the aforementioned institutions combined) is, in its own right, not just an archival repository for the sport that made the city famous, but a kind of campus museum, sitting as it does in the shadow of the track’s pagoda control tower.&nbsp; This context, when lent to CAMI on the eve of its grand opening, leaves the new museum poised to cement itself as a cornerstone of this uniquely Hoosier model for the placement of modern cultural institutions in civic life. It is a model that draws on a natural tendency towards granting the broadest possible latitude to defining the scope of an institution; a nimbleness that allows for adaptation to the resources at hand, itself born of a kind of Midwestern pragmatism; and a legacy of labor, with that labor itself rooted in a legacy of love for work worth doing.&nbsp; “You know,” reflects Marsh, “everybody here always says, ‘We don’t have the ocean, we don’t have the mountains,’ you know, all that stuff. But we have this cultural landscape, and maybe that’s the thing we have that sets us apart–regionally–in this world.”&nbsp; <a href="https://camindy.org" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">camindy.org</a>

A New Kind of Museum: A Stand-Out Space Opens in Indianapolis

<h3>A few highlights from CGN's fall calendar include several not-to-be-missed gallery openings, performances, talks and more filling this season's calendar. There is plenty to enjoy, see and support this fall. We have prepared a list of a few happening this September in galleries throughout the city and into the suburbs and near midwest.</h3><h3> </h3><h3>The schedule of gallery and museum openings changes frequently, so please check CGN's online calendar for weekly updates and consider subscribing to CGN in print&nbsp;here and follow @ChiGalleryNews on Instagram.</h3> <h3> </h3><h3>– CGN</h3><h3> </h3> <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1787840326/ojowzydj1mkurs4c725d.jpg"> <h3><a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/witness-to-bedlam-with-olivia-petrides-and-lynn-basa" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Witness to Bedlam with Olivia Petrides and Lynn Basa</a></h3> Oliva GallerySept. 4–Oct. 3 Bringing Petrides’s fractured works on paper into proximity with Basa’s ceramic forms, the exhibition examines disorder through its physical traces.&nbsp; Through ruptured structures, obscured language, unstable surfaces, cavities, and accretions, Witness to Bedlam considers what remains after coherence has broken down. Rather than treating disorder as spectacle, Petrides and Basa work across paper and clay with rupture, compression, and residue, creating forms that are unsettled but deliberate, marked by seams, collisions, fissures, and the suggestion of an unnamed aftermath. <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1787840326/hlklexihjwtda0yuimpo.jpg"> <h3><a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/honoring-resilience" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Bruno Surdo:&nbsp;Honoring Resilience</a></h3> Gallery VICTORSept. 11–Oct. 25 Gallery VICTOR presents&nbsp;Honoring Resilience, commemorating the 25th anniversary of 9/11 through Chicago artist Bruno Surdo’s monumental&nbsp;Tragedy, Memory and Honor. The exhibition pairs the five-panel painting with Ground Zero artifacts, preparatory drawings, photography, testimonials, historical materials, and video, creating a powerful meditation on loss, courage, remembrance, and resilience.&nbsp; The exhibition will premiere during the&nbsp;10th Annual River North Design District Fall Gallery Walk&nbsp;on&nbsp;Friday, September 11, 2026, from 5 to 8 PM. This special evening will offer the public its first opportunity to experience Surdo’s monumental work at Gallery VICTOR on the 25th anniversary of 9/11. <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1787840327/wcd9dbuzp5ncqt9uev1b.jpg">Pope.L, Well (Redistribution Version),&nbsp;2019, 9 drinking glasses, water, dimensions variable, installation <h3><a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/popel-no-thing-skin-sets" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Pope.L:&nbsp;No Thing Skin Sets</a></h3> Corbett vs. DempseySept. 15–Oct. 31 In the first gallery exhibition since Pope.L's untimely death in 2023,&nbsp;No Thing Skin Sets&nbsp;presents a precisely gathered selection of recent work, including the major installation&nbsp;I Machine&nbsp;(2014–2020), on which the artist worked during most of the time he was based in Chicago. In the McPhee, CvsD presents a tribute to Pope.L's little known post-punk band Jon Waine, with historical artifacts and the release of a double CD of previously unheard music, 1975–1983. <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1787840327/wtjjclivq4ctag8yygv8.jpg"> <h3><a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/clotilde-jimnez-eramos-silencios" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Clotilde Jiménez:&nbsp;Éramos Silencios</a></h3> Mariane IbrahimSept. 15–Oct. 31 Marking his fifth presentation with the gallery and his second solo exhibition in Chicago, Jiménez (b. 1990 in Hawaii; lives and works in Mexico City, Mexico) turns to a personal narrative rooted in Puerto Rico, tracing the histories, memories, and inherited silences that have shaped his understanding of family and identity. Through painting, collage, drawing, and sculpture, the orange emerges as a recurring motif and metaphor. It evokes the sweetness and abundance of family histories, but also the omissions, secrets, and unresolved tensions that pass from one generation to the next. Like the fruit itself, lineage carries both nourishment and decay. Beneath its vibrant skin lies stories that shape a family's character and flavor, revealing how memory—and the spaces where memories falter—becomes embedded within the narratives we inherit. <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1787840328/sp3mr21rfk2cpuelx3vx.jpg"> <h3><a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/jaume-plensa-beyond-silence" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Jaume Plensa: Beyond Silence</a></h3> GRAYSept. 17–Dec. 19 Jaume Plensa: Beyond Silence, opening at GRAY Chicago September 17, marks the artist’s tenth solo exhibition with the gallery. Bringing together monumental carved-wood reliefs, vertical sculptures in cast iron and granite, and intimate bronze works, the exhibition explores scale and material through representations of the human figure. At its center are two 28-foot carved-wood reliefs,&nbsp;Beyond Silence (Julia)&nbsp;and&nbsp;Beyond Silence (Maria), which transform the figure into an architectural presence. Works from Plensa’s new&nbsp;Clouds&nbsp;series and smaller bronzes from the&nbsp;Twilight&nbsp;series offer contrasting encounters with material and scale. <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1787840328/g8dg3zign7hbe9zorqz4.jpg"> <h3><a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/brendan-fernandes" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Brendan Fernandes:&nbsp;The Noise Will Sound</a></h3> Monique MelocheSept. 19–Oct. 31 Brendan Fernandes&nbsp;is an internationally recognized,&nbsp;multidisciplinary artist&nbsp;who&nbsp;examines issues of cultural displacement, migration, labor, and queer subjectivity through installation, video, sculpture, and dance. He is invested in confronting the complexities of transitional and transnational identities, with a particular interest in incorporating elements of cultural performance into contemporary art, arising from his unique cultural background as a Queer, Kenyan Indian Canadian.&nbsp;Fernandes’&nbsp;projects address issues of race, queer culture, migration, protest, and other forms of collective movement. Always looking to create new spaces and new forms of agency,&nbsp;his&nbsp;projects take on hybrid forms: part Ballet, part queer dance party, part political protest...&nbsp;always rooted in collaboration and fostering solidarity. &nbsp; <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1787840329/zjrch7gcd8jeyna1pbzk.jpg"> <h3><a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/inner-worlds-visions-from-the-hirshhorn-collection" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Inner Worlds: Visions from the Hirshhorn Collection</a></h3> Sep 25, 2026 - Dec 19, 2026Wrightwood 659 Inner Worlds: Visions from the Hirshhorn Collection&nbsp;features the work of three trailblazing women artists who rose to international acclaim for their distinct approaches to perception and embodiment:&nbsp;Yayoi Kusama&nbsp;(b. 1929),&nbsp;Niki de Saint Phalle&nbsp;(1930–2002), and&nbsp;Mary Bauermeister&nbsp;(1934–2023). Born in Japan, France, and Germany, respectively, within five years from 1929 to 1934, all three artists rejected cultural archetypes traditionally imposed on women and made their way to New York by the early 1960s.&nbsp;These artists came of age in a period defined by economic instability and the rise of fascism. They lived through the devastation of the Second World War in their respective countries, leading them to engage with the fragments of buildings, culture and spirit left behind. Amid the destruction they constructed something new. The focused exhibition presents two of Kusama’s Infinity Mirror Rooms—her first and one of her more recent—and the large sculpture&nbsp;Pumpkin&nbsp;(2016); three of Bauermeister’s intricate optical and stone-laden assemblages; and a large-scale mixed-media collage and works on paper by Saint Phalle. Together, these artworks illustrate how ways of artmaking can overlap and converge by exploring the possibilities of pattern and tapping into the latent expressiveness of repetition. # <h3>View CGN's full calendar <a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events?filter=upcoming&amp;page=1" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">here</a>.</h3>

This Season’s Highlights: Fall 2026, Part II – September Exhibitions

<h3>Fall is always a busy&nbsp;season in Chicago’s art world, with new&nbsp;exhibitions across galleries and museums opening every week.&nbsp;Right after Labor Day many new exhibition will be open, often through October and beyond. Listed here are a few highlights we are looking forward to seeing.</h3> <h3>Significant exhibitions begin right after Labor Day with If Emmett Till Lived at the Museum of Contemporary Photography, followed by the 10th anniversary of River North Design District's Gallery Walk. </h3><h3> </h3><h3>The 4th edition of Chicago Exhibition Weekend, which is now a full week, begins September 14. </h3><h3> </h3><h3>Throughout the fall there are many notable exhibitions taking place, from the Art Institute downtown, to the Smart Museum in Hyde Park and the Block Museum in suburban Evanston. </h3><h3> </h3><h3>Please check CGN's online calendar for weekly updates and consider subscribing to CGN in print <a href="https://chicagogallerynews.myshopify.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">here</a>.</h3><h3> </h3><h3>– CGN</h3> <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1787840414/yzclia7hovorykmgk9m8.jpg">Stephen Marc, Untitled, from Changing Chicago Project, 1988. Gelatin silver print.&nbsp;Courtesy: Museum of Contemporary Photography at Columbia College Chicago. <h3>If Emmett Till Lived: Freedom on American Ground –</h3><h3>Museum of Contemporary Photography</h3> What if Emmett Till lived? What if he had returned home still a child, alive and free? If Emmett Till Lived… is an exhibition and a civic invitation. The very statement invites a range of questions, a reckoning with the past, and a probing investigation of the current state of American life. This exhibition, and the invitation it offers to viewers, creates a collective arena to consider how freedom has been secured on American ground. If Emmett Till Lived… honors Till and the history born of his sacrifice. The show—drawn entirely on work in the collection of the Museum of Contemporary Photography at Columbia College Chicago—imagines what could have come in his life: photographs of different restaurants pay homage to the last meal Till’s mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, packed for him before he left Chicago; others show his favorite pastimes, meditate on the love he might have experienced, on days spent enjoying life in Chicago, on the playground, at the beach, attending prom, living free.&nbsp; September 10–December 19, 2026&nbsp;Columbia College Chicago600 S. Michigan, Chicago, IL 60605 <a href="https://www.mocp.org" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">mocp.org</a> <h3><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1787840414/rzma9rxa6vmdbddkanjf.jpg"></h3> <h3>River North Design District 10th Annual Fall Gallery Walk –&nbsp;</h3> This year’s walk, free and open to the public, takes place throughout River North in 17 locations featuring 31 artists and 16 designer vignettes. Showrooms will have extended hours on September 11, from 5–8 p.m., with food and libations. Vignettes are on display through October 9. A closing event takes place October 10. Light after Dark, the official after party on September 11, 8:00–10:30 p.m. at the BSH Experience Center in THE MART commemorates the 25th anniversary of 9/11 while celebrating a decade of RNDD. Art is Living Fashion, a 6’ × 30’ immersive installation presented by Brizo, is a monumental textile uniting art, fashion, and design through 20 artist-created panels that will be sold by the square foot to benefit Tunnel to Towers.&nbsp;September 11-October 10, 2026Various locations <a href="https://rivernorthdesigndistrict.com" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">rivernorthdesigndistrict.com</a> <h3><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1787840415/yfrcvknf5s6pte1uzzq8.jpg"></h3>Image courtesy of Gertie <h3>Chicago Exhibition Week –&nbsp;</h3> Chicago Exhibition Week (CXW) returns September 14–20, 2026, bringing together more than 50 galleries, cultural institutions, and programming partners across the city. Presented by Gertie, the week celebrates Chicago’s vibrant arts community through exhibitions, events, and opportunities to explore the city. Highlights include the inaugural CXW Launch Party at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago on September 15, hosted and headlined by Vic Mensa; new collector-led cocktail gatherings; and the Annual CXW aDinner on September 18, presented in partnership with EXPO CHICAGO.&nbsp; CXW’s Wayfinding Routes by prominent Chicagoans offer curated themed guides to galleries, restaurants, bars, cultural venues, and local businesses, giving visitors an insider’s perspective on Chicago’s art, culture, neighborhoods, and creative community. September 14–20, 2026Various locations <a href="https://www.chicagoexhibitionweek.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">chicagoexhibitionweek.com</a> <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1787840416/fayp0qiobkrpqbdgsjgr.jpg"> <h3>Lee Miller: Fearless –&nbsp;</h3><h3>The Art Institute of Chicago</h3> “It was a matter of getting out on a damn limb and sawing it off behind you.” That is how Lee Miller—fashion model, magazine photographer, studio operator, Surrealist innovator, international adventurer, and battlefield correspondent—summed up her approach to life and creativity. Lee Miller: Fearless is the first comprehensive survey of her photographs in more than 25 years and gathers together the major episodes of her singular career.&nbsp; Thru Dec 7111 S. Michigan Ave.&nbsp; <a href="https://www.artic.edu" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">artic.edu</a> <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1787840416/ngoghvgcdmm7vdxxfmve.jpg">Amanda Browder, Power Plant Beloit <h3>In/Between Arts Festival –</h3><h3>Racine, WI</h3> Racine Art Museum presents In/Between, a mostly free visual and performing arts festival running September 18–27, 2026. Exploring craft aacross disciplines, the biennial activates Racine County through exhibitions, performances, and participatory projects. Highlights include installations by Amanda Browder and Eric Rieger (HOTTEA), plus the U.S. premiere of Look-Up Aerial Arts’ Éolia. Six interconnected series encompass exhibitions, performances, talks, wellness programs, workshops, and social events, inviting visitors to experience Racine through art, movement, and community engagement. September 18–27, 2026Various locationsRacine, WI <a href="https://www.ramart.org" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">ramart.org</a> <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1787840417/qiwc64odwgna7oecge4k.jpg">Nick DrNaso, painted glass <h3>Linework: Chicago Comics and Community –&nbsp;</h3><h3>Cleve Carney Museum of Art</h3> This exhibition explores Linework, a publication guided by acclaimed cartoonist, designer, and educator Ivan Brunetti that became a gathering point for Chicago’s contemporary comics scene. Bringing together emerging and established artists, Linework fostered creative exchange and strengthened the city’s reputation as a hub for alternative comics. The exhibition revisits the publication, its collaborative community, and the paths its contributors have taken since, including Chicago-based cartoonist Nick DrNaso, whose Sabrina became the first graphic novel longlisted for the Booker Prize. Sept 19–Nov 21, 2026Glen Ellyn, IL <a href="https://www.theccma.org" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">theccma.org</a> <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1787840418/mevt5tvblphr9orgd4gm.jpg"> <h3>teamLab: Everything Exists in Infinite Continuity –&nbsp;</h3><h3>Smart Museum of Art</h3> The Smart Museum of Art presents teamLab: Everything Exists in Infinite Continuity, the Tokyo-based international art collective’s first major institutional exhibition in the Midwest.&nbsp; Founded in 2001 by Toshiyuki Inoko, teamLab brings together hundreds of artists, scientists, programmers, mathematicians, architects, and other specialists to create immersive digital installations exploring perception, consciousness, and the relationship between the self and the world.&nbsp; Spanning 25 years of the collective’s practice, the exhibition features iconic works alongside new pieces created specifically for the Smart Museum. Together, the works trace teamLab’s evolving experimentation with digital technology and its creation of immersive environments that blur boundaries between viewer and artwork, emphasizing individual perception within a shared, collective experience. Sept 22–Feb 21, 20275550 S. Greenwood, Chicago <a href="https://smartmuseum.uchicago.edu" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">smartmuseum.uchicago.edu</a> <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1787840418/vjqtgdcl8zcxehl7cyuj.jpg">Yuan Goang-Ming, still from Everyday War, 2024, single-channel video with sound. © Yuan Goang-Ming. Courtesy of the artist. <h3>Everyday War: Yuan Goang-Ming –&nbsp;</h3><h3>Wrightwood 659</h3> Taiwanese new media pioneer Yuan Goang-Ming explores the fragmented, surreal nature of contemporary life through poetic video and installation. Based on his acclaimed 2024 Venice Biennale exhibition, Everyday War at Wrightwood 659 immerses visitors in layered soundscapes and installations examining the unsettling intrusion of war into everyday life. Sept 25–Dec 19, 2026659 W. Wrightwood <a href="https://wrightwood659.org" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">wrightwood659.org</a> <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1787840419/xtzmognwb5s2x9jndbnc.jpg"> <h3>Picturing the Modern Metropolis: Prints and Photographs from The Block’s Collection – </h3><h3>The Block Museum of Art</h3> Featuring over 100 prints and photographs, this exhibition explores how 20th-century artists captured and reimagined urban life. Works by Edward Steichen, Vivian Maier, Ed Ruscha, Andy Warhol, and Chicago-based artists examine the city’s energy, diversity, mobility, belonging, and possibilities for creative expression. Sept 9–Dec 6, 2026Evanston, IL <a href="https://www.blockmuseum.northwestern.edu" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">blockmuseum.northwestern.edu</a> # <h3>View CGN's full calendar <a href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events?filter=upcoming&amp;page=1" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">here</a></h3>

This Season’s Highlights: Fall 2026, Part I - Museums and Events

<img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1787757404/hkbsaldrjkni6lzhcm3o.jpg"> By CGN STAFF Chicago’s already busy fall art season is getting a new addition this October.&nbsp;Announced earlier this summer, Chicago Art Fair, an independently organized contemporary and modern art fair, will debut October 7–10, 2026, at&nbsp;THE MART, with a mix of Chicago and out-of-town exhibitors. The fair's October dates put it on the opposite side of EXPO CHICAGO, which takes place in the spring, giving collectors and art supporters another fair to explore during the traditional fall rush of gallery openings, exhibitions, museum events and other programs across the city. The location also recalls an earlier chapter in Chicago’s art-fair history. Art fairs have taken place at the Merchandise Mart before, making the arrival of a new fine art fair at the building a familiar concept for longtime Chicago collectors. Today, THE MART remains closely associated with the city’s design and architecture communities, audiences the organizers also hope to reach. The inaugural exhibitor list reflects the fair’s combination of local and national participation. Announced galleries include&nbsp;Echo Fine Arts, Hilton Contemporary, Jerald Melberg Gallery, McCormick Gallery, Melissa Morgan Fine Art, Nancy Hoffman Gallery&nbsp;and&nbsp;Vallarino Fine Art, with additional exhibitors expected to be announced. Presentations will include contemporary and modern painting, sculpture, photography, mixed media and more. <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1787757406/zrxpmwxoquug4xjbfexp.jpg">Pooja Pittie, From Within, 2022 acrylic on canvas 48 x 36 inches signed, dated and titled verso. McCormick Gallery. “Chicago has long been home to an extraordinary community of artists, galleries, collectors and cultural institutions,” said George Billis, Exhibition Manager for Chicago Art Fair. Billis said the fair is intended to build on that foundation while creating opportunities for galleries, collectors and the broader creative community to connect. The fair hopes to reach a Midwestern collector market while offering an approachable event for new as well as experienced collectors. For Chicago, the arrival of another independently organized fair helps build out an increasingly active fall art season, while offering collectors and supporters a new opportunity to encounter galleries and artists from both Chicago and elsewhere. Billis runs his own namesake galleries in Connecticut, New York City and Los Angeles. To date the exhibitor list is as follows: +GALLERYLABSCAROUSEL FINE ARTCHRISTOPHER MARTIN GALLERYECHO FINE ARTSHABATATHAVEN GALLERYHILTON CONTEMPORARYJ. RUEL MARTIN GALLERY&nbsp;JERALD MELBERG GALLERYJONATHAN COOPERLAWRENCE FINE ARTMARLOE GALLERYMCCORMICK GALLERYMELISSA MORGAN FINE ART GALLERYMICHAEL FINE ARTMOBERG GALLERYNANCY HOFFMAN GALLERYOKAY SPARK FINE ARTRICHARD NORTON GALLERYSAB GALLERYSPENCE GALLERYSPONDER GALLERYSTEPHEN DAITER GALLERYTIMOTHY YARGER FINE ARTTREAT GALLERYTRIFECTATSEKH GALLERYVALLARINO FINE ARTVERSE GALLERYWALTER WICKISER GALLERYYVEL # Single-day tickets start at $25 and are on sale now. Chicago Art FairOctober 7–10, 2026THE MART, Chicago<a href="https://www.chicagoartfair.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">chicagoartfair.com</a> <h1> </h1>

Coming in October to THE MART: the new Chicago Art Fair

<img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1787625935/wioyscvmte9xf4z6xqed.jpg">RAM Exterior, Jon Bolton By CGN STAFF Racine Art Museum is making a series of changes aimed at making its two Racine campuses more accessible to visitors, including free admission for Racine County residents, expanded hours, new programming, and a refreshed visual identity. Beginning&nbsp;August 26, when&nbsp;RAM Downtown&nbsp;reopens following roof installation and other facility improvements, Racine County residents will receive free general admission with valid proof of residency. The program, supported by the Osborne &amp; Scekic Family Foundation, builds on the free admission already offered to all visitors at&nbsp;RAM Wustum. Special ticketed exhibitions and events are not included. RAM Downtown will also expand its schedule. In addition to Wednesday–Saturday hours from 10am–4pm, the museum will stay open until&nbsp;8pm on Thursdays&nbsp;and add&nbsp;Sunday hours from noon–4pm. The changes come as RAM broadens programming across its two campuses. This fall the museum will debut&nbsp;In/Between, a new multi-arts biennial taking place&nbsp;September 18–27&nbsp;throughout Racine County. The mostly free festival will bring together visual art, performance, and participatory projects at cultural sites and public spaces. RAM is also expanding its longstanding studio art program. Visitors will notice another change when they return: a new institutional identity developed with Midwest-based Phire Group. The refreshed branding distinguishes the museum’s two locations—RAM Downtown, its contemporary waterfront museum, and RAM Wustum, its historic farmhouse setting with studios, galleries, and gardens—while presenting them as parts of a connected institution. A new tagline,&nbsp;“Make it yours.”, accompanies the refresh. For Chicago-area art audiences, RAM has long been a worthwhile trip north along Lake Michigan. The museum grew out of the&nbsp;Charles A. Wustum Museum of Fine Arts, which opened in 1941, and RAM Downtown opened in 2003. Today the museum holds the&nbsp;largest contemporary craft collection in North America, with particular strengths in ceramics, fibers, glass, metals, jewelry, and wood. Its approach to craft has also had a playful side: RAM gained plenty of attention over the years for its&nbsp;International PEEPS Art Exhibition, which invited artists to turn the familiar marshmallow candy into surprisingly inventive works of art. The latest changes build on that history while making it easier for more visitors to experience the museum. And don't forget to grab a Racine Kringle while you're there! Learn more about exhibitions, programs, hours, and admission at&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ramart.org" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">ramart.org</a>.