West Town, Wicker Park, Ukrainian Village, Kinzie Corridor, Humboldt Park

West Town

Wisconsin

IL • MI • IN

West Loop, Fulton Market, East Garfield Park

West Loop and West Side

Evanston, The North Shore, Northern, Western and Southern Suburbs

Suburbs

Old Town, Lincoln Park, Lakeview, Roscoe Village, Bucktown, Wicker Park, Logan Square, Lincoln Square, Ravenswood, Uptown, Edgewater, Andersonville, Rogers Park

North Side

Michigan Avenue, Streeterville, The Gold Coast, The Loop, and South Loop

Michigan Avenue

Pilsen, Bridgeport, Chinatown, plus Hyde Park, Jackson Park/Dorchester, and Bronzeville

South Side

Superior and Franklin streets, West Chicago Ave, and down to Merchandise Mart and the River

River North

Artist Talk: Saturday, July 19 beginning at 1PM (Gallery Day)Kim Storage Gallery is thrilled to present "Mind Games," a solo exhibition by Chicago-based artist April Behnke. This captivating show features a new body of work showcasing Behnke's exploration of perceptual play through paintings and drawings. The exhibition delves into the ways we use vision to perceive patterns and make sense of the world. Behnke skillfully interrupts these patterns, mixing up foreground and background to create a visual experience that is both familiar and disorienting. Visitors will be intrigued by the dynamic interplay of colors and shapes, which challenge and engage the viewer's perception. "Mind Games" not only references the show's main theme but also invites viewers to participate in a playful and interactive experience. Behnke's work draws inspiration from both board games and early video games, incorporating structured patterns and visual interruptions that evoke a sense of nostalgia and curiosity. This exhibition marks Behnke's first solo show at Kim Storage Gallery, and it promises to be a thought-provoking and visually stimulating event. Join us for the opening reception and artist talk, where Behnke will provide deeper insights into her creative process and the conceptual underpinnings of her work.Electric Dreams, Flashe on canvas, 48 x 60"

April Behnke: Mind Games

Guest curated by Wendy Ewald, Susan Meiselas, and Laura Wexler, along with Kristin Taylor, MoCP Curator of Academic Programs and CollectionsThis exhibition will feature works in the MoCP permanent collection that are included in the recent and groundbreaking publication titled&nbsp;Collaboration: A Potential History of Photography.&nbsp;The book&nbsp;was created by a group of artists, art historians, activists, and scholars—Ariella Aïsha Azoulay, Wendy Ewald, Susan Meiselas, Leigh Raiford, and Laura Wexler—and published by Thames and Hudson in 2024. It is an extension of a project that these five authors have collaborated on for over ten years, in which they reassess a range of photographs and projects that portray stories of humanity and social movements to decenter the photographer as the only author of the image, and to emphasize the act of photographing as an inherently collaborative process in which many parties are involved. By sharing both artists’ statements and excerpts from interviews with people depicted in photographs, they question whether memories align: Did both sides remember the moment in the same way? How did the photographed feel about the photograph’s life after it circulated through art markets, print media, and online? And what role might the photograph have played in perpetuating harmful or liberatory narratives about specific histories, places, or individuals?The works—both historical and contemporary—are presented in clusters focused on topics,&nbsp;to highlight and propose questions about photographed moments of coercion, friendship, exploitation, community, and violence.&nbsp;The exhibition will also feature a reflection space for the audience engagement, as part of the project’s ongoing effort to consider the history of photography as a living and evolving entity that is unfixed and expanding as we learn more about the people, communities, and histories that images depict.MoCP is supported by Columbia College Chicago, MoCP Advisory Board, Museum Council, individuals, private and corporate foundations, and government grants.The 2024–2025 exhibition season is sponsored in part by the Efroymson Family Fund, Henry Nias Foundation, The Rowan Foundation, Phillip and Edith Leonian Foundation, Pritzker Traubert Foundation, Comer Family Foundation, and Venable Foundation. It is partially supported by a CityArts grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events and 21c Museum Hotel, Chicago. MoCP acknowledges support from the Illinois Arts Council.This project is generously supported through the David C. and Sarajean Ruttenberg Impact Fund for Photography and the Westridge Foundation.&nbsp;

Collaboration: A Potential History of Photography in Dialogue with the MoCP Collection

Oliva Gallery presents LUMINOSITY: The Ocean Between VIIIA group exhibition curated by Marianna Buchwald and Tamara WassermanLUMINOSITY:&nbsp;The Ocean Between VIII&nbsp;brings together a dynamic roster of international and Chicago-based artists whose work reflects the fluid intersections of culture, imagination, and personal mythology. The exhibition explores light, not only as a visual phenomenon, but as a metaphor for transformation, connection, and creative vision.Through diverse media including painting, sculpture, mixed media, and installation, the featured artists illuminate the conceptual distance between places, people, and identities, transforming it into a shared space of artistic inquiry.Participating artists include:&nbsp;Betty Kirk Chernansky, Bishal Manandhar, Bonnie Katz, Dale Pesmen, Franz Betz, Harro D.B Schmidt, Jenny Chernansky, Judith Meyer, Kao Ra Zen, Kathryn Hempel, Kevin B.Chatham, Lars Schumacher, Lori Kaplan, Marianna Buchwald, Michaela Hanemann, and Tamara Wasserman.<a style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/programming-for-luminosity-the-ocean-between-viii-4348793" target="_blank">Browse Event Programming</a>

LUMINOSITY: The Ocean Between VIII

PATRON is proud to announce our second solo exhibition with conceptual photo-based artist Carmen Winant.&nbsp;Manuals for Living&nbsp;brings together two long standing tenants of Winant's practice: instructional pictures as an educative&nbsp;genre, and studio practice as the site of material transformation and inquiry. Throughout the exhibition, Winant adopts strategies of repetition, procedural memory, and intuition to enact strategies of what it means to "practice".&nbsp;﻿

Carmen Winant: Manuals for Living

JUNE 21 - AUGUST 16, 2025OPENING RECEPTION | Saturday, June 21, 5:00&nbsp;–&nbsp;7:30pm The word ‘mine’ is both a declaration of ownership, and a verb that describes acts of<a style="color: rgb(0, 124, 137);" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://patrongallery.us10.list-manage.com/track/click?u=fe9966abed200e47655a01bab&amp;id=8144e1bb02&amp;e=9e3563b61b" target="_blank">&nbsp;</a>excavation and extraction. Alex Chitty’s solo exhibition,&nbsp;Mine,&nbsp;is an assembly of new works situated within a former theater. Each artwork leans on borrowed histories, past lives, and accumulative actions, all toying with the notion of how ‘mine’ is, perhaps, an impossibility. # ALEX CHITTY&nbsp;(b. 1979, Miami, FL) lives and works in Chicago. Chitty received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Smith College with a combined major in fine art, biology and education. She received a Master of Fine Arts from the Printmedia department at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.&nbsp; Recent exhibitions include:&nbsp;Entirely opposite, with moments of overlap&nbsp;(2025)&nbsp;Abroms-Engel Institute for Visual Arts, Birmingham, AL;&nbsp;Dialogues&nbsp;(2023),&nbsp;PATRON, Chicago, IL;&nbsp;Bright day will turn to night, my love&nbsp;(2023),&nbsp;Tiny&nbsp;Table Gallery, Chicago, IL;&nbsp;Amuleto&nbsp;(2023),&nbsp;Mayfield, Forest Park, IL&nbsp;Figs break open of themselves&nbsp;(2022),&nbsp;PATRON, Chicago, IL;&nbsp;Both And&nbsp;(2021),&nbsp;Tiger Strikes Asteroid, Chicago, IL;&nbsp;State of the Art II&nbsp;(2020),&nbsp;Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, AK;&nbsp;Becoming the Breeze: Alex Chitty with Alexander Calder&nbsp;(2019),&nbsp;Museum of Contemporary Art,&nbsp;Chicago, IL;&nbsp;In the Hot Seat,&nbsp;KMAC Museum&nbsp;(2019) Louisville KY;&nbsp;pulling flavor from the dirt (2018),&nbsp;PATRON, Chicago, IL;&nbsp;After (the sun-drenched neutral that goes with everything)&nbsp;(2018),The Anderson Gallery, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA;&nbsp;Living Architecture&nbsp;(2020),&nbsp;6018 North, Chicago, IL;&nbsp;They will bloom without you&nbsp;(2017),&nbsp;Elmhurst Art Museum,&nbsp;Elmhurst IL;&nbsp;Small Sculpture&nbsp;(2017),&nbsp;Corbett Vs. Dempsey,&nbsp;Chicago, IL;&nbsp;Stranger Things&nbsp;(2017),&nbsp;DePaul Art Museum, Chicago, IL;&nbsp;Objectifying the Photograph&nbsp;(2017),&nbsp;NIU Art Museum, DeKalb, IL;&nbsp;slight pitch&nbsp;(2016),&nbsp;LUCE&nbsp;Turin, Italy,&nbsp;the sun-drenched neutral that goes with everything&nbsp;(2016),&nbsp;PATRON&nbsp;Chicago, IL;&nbsp;Turning Spoons into Forks&nbsp;(2016),&nbsp;Hyde Park Art CenterChicago, IL;&nbsp;&nbsp;Theory of Forms&nbsp;(2015),&nbsp;&nbsp;PATRON, Chicago, IL;&nbsp;Orchid&nbsp;(2014),&nbsp;ADDS DONNA, Chicago, IL;&nbsp;Almost Ergonomic&nbsp;(2014),&nbsp;Studio 424, Chicago, IL;&nbsp;Codification&nbsp;(2014)&nbsp;LVL3, Chicago, IL;&nbsp;Alex Chitty: Recent Work&nbsp;(2013),&nbsp;Corbett vs. Dempsey, Chicago, IL and&nbsp;Ella Hatchet&nbsp;(2013) at&nbsp;Roots and Culture, Chicago, IL. Chitty is the recipient of a Illinois Arts Council Agency&nbsp;Artist Fellowship Award (2022); DCASE Individual Arts Program Grant (2021);&nbsp;The Nancy Graves Grant for Visual Artists (2017);&nbsp;has been an artist in residence at&nbsp;Writing Space, Chicago (2023);&nbsp;Warburg Library, London (2019);&nbsp;Wright Auction House&nbsp;(2019);&nbsp;Fundación Casa Wabi; Oaxaca (2018);&nbsp;Bemis Center for Contemporary Art, Omaha (2017);&nbsp;Fountainhead Residency, Miami (2015);&nbsp;Cargo Space, Milwaukee (2014);&nbsp;Latitude, Chicago (2014), among others.

Alex Chitty : Mine

CROSSINGS&nbsp;traverses the Museum’s campus and features several dynamic vehicle sculptures by Bernard Williams in Wilder Park, Hostetler Gallery and large paintings in the McCormick House. Through the artworks on view, the artist addresses the concept of mobility as both the physical movement forward and the human aspiration to rise to better circumstances.The Chicago-based artist has been making public murals and sculptures for over thirty years. Bold thick lines and generalized, flat shapes common in graphic illustration define his unique and playful sculptural style. Williams often researches and highlights little known or forgotten narratives in history to make his sculptures, paintings and murals, which offer new perspectives on the engineering innovations of the past and how they impact contemporary culture. The works are also a tribute to Black achievement in transportation and agriculture throughout American history. Pilot Bessie Coleman, NASCAR driver Wendell Scott, and the recent Black Farmers’ Settlement are some of the histories being honored in this exhibition. For Elmhurst, Williams also recognizes the lifetime achievements of the local NASCAR winner, Fred Lorenzen (1934-2024).CROSSINGS&nbsp;runs concurrently with the exhibition&nbsp;Legacies: New Views of the Elmhurst Art Collection, which features Williams’ small sculptures from the collection of Cleve Carney, along with dozens of other artists in the Museum’s collection.Curated by Allison Peters Quinn. Image: Bernard Williams, Route 27, painted plywood, aluminum, 6 x 6 x 20 feet. Photography by Michelle W.C. Anderson&nbsp;

CROSSINGS by Bernard Williams

The&nbsp;Driehaus Museum&nbsp;is proud to announce&nbsp;Rory McEwen: A New Perspective on Nature, an exhibition exploring the trailblazing career and legacy of Scottish artist Rory McEwen, whose work is considered one of the major turning points in the development of contemporary botanical art. Presenting over one hundred works, including sculpture and manuscripts, the exhibition reveals how McEwen forged his own personal interpretation of 20th century modernism, portraying flowers, leaves, and vegetables as individual subjects worthy of their own portraits. Establishing McEwen’s role in shaping new generations of artists, the exhibition also features the work of contemporary botanical artists who&nbsp;continue to&nbsp;shape&nbsp;McEwen’s&nbsp;artistic&nbsp;legacy today.&nbsp;Rory McEwen: A New Perspective on Nature&nbsp;will be on view at the Driehaus Museum,&nbsp;50 E. Erie Street&nbsp;from&nbsp;May 16 to August 17, 2025.&nbsp;McEwen’s vibrant paintings balance the scientific detail of traditional botanical art with a modernist perspective influenced by other visual artists of his time. A student of the Old Masters as well as his contemporaries, McEwen developed a distinctive style over the course of his career, painting on vellum and using large empty backgrounds on which his plant portraits seem to float. In his paintings, he forged his own personal interpretation of twentieth-century modernism, portraying individual flowers, leaves, and vegetables as subject matter, “as a way of getting as close as possible to what I perceive as the truth, my truth of the time in which I live.” By encompassing a rare ability to see a plant as more than “just” a plant—to imbue his paintings with a sense of his subject’s “soul”—his techniques have had a lasting impact on botanical artists today. McEwen was a modern-day Renaissance man, whose artistry extended to sculpture, poetry, and most notably, music, where he was a successful folk revival musician and host of the popular 1960’s music show, “Hullabaloo!”“We are pleased to welcome audiences to the Museum this summer with an exhibition that invites us to approach our natural surroundings with curiosity and wonder and to feature an artist who is lesser known on these shores but who embodies the kind of excellence the Museum celebrates,” says&nbsp;Driehaus Museum Executive Director&nbsp;Lisa M. Key. She continues, “McEwen’s&nbsp;naturalistic paintings will echo the organic forms and ornamentation throughout our historic interiors.At the Driehaus Museum, we are committed to special exhibitions that bring visitors new perspectives and this exhibition hits that mark.”“The ability to give&nbsp;life and luminosity to a spectrum of emotions is what gives Rory McEwen’s art those qualities that distinguish it from the ordinary,” says&nbsp;Ruth L. A. Stiff, guest curator. “As Rory McEwen conceded to Wilfrid Blunt, his drawing master at Eton, ‘I have never really been interested in botanical illustration per se, but rather in that moment when painting starts to breathe poetry.’ “Rory McEwen: A New Perspective on Nature&nbsp;offers viewers&nbsp;an&nbsp;unparalleled&nbsp;context&nbsp;to&nbsp;explore McEwen’s pioneering artistic vision. The exhibition presents works by McEwen alongside works by the 17th&nbsp;and 18th&nbsp;century painters whom he studied—such as Nicolas Robert, Pierre Joseph Redouté, Georg Dionysius Ehret, and Claude Aubriet—as well as early illuminated manuscripts and folio volumes drawn from the Mellon Collection, Oak Spring Garden Foundation, and the RoyalBotanic&nbsp;Gardens,&nbsp;Kew.&nbsp;It includes works on loan from McEwen’s family as well as works drawn from numerous private collections, most of which have never been seen by the American public. Loans&nbsp;from&nbsp;the&nbsp;extensive&nbsp;contemporary&nbsp;botanical collection of British botanist and philanthropist, Dr. Shirley Sherwood, showcase contemporary artists following in McEwen’s techniques and styles.As part of&nbsp;Rory McEwen: A New Perspective on Nature, the Driehaus Museum will partner with local institutions across exhibits and programs, including Brushwood Center at Ryerson Woods, Chicago Botanic Garden, the Morton Arboretum, the Old Town School of Folk Music, and the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum. The Driehaus Museum will also be participating in the Magnificent Mile Association’s annual Tulip festival with a special presentation of tulips and a tulip sculpture in the Museum’s garden.Rory McEwen: A New Perspective on Nature&nbsp;is&nbsp;generously supported by the&nbsp;Driehaus Trust Company, LLC., the Kovler Family Foundation, and Barbi and Tom Donnelley. Additional support provided by&nbsp;Friends of&nbsp;Rory McEwen.The exhibition is curated by Ruth L. A. Stiff, Curator of International Exhibitions, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (London) and accompanied by a full-color catalogue produced by the Oak Spring Garden Foundation. It is presented in association with the Oak Spring Garden Foundation (Virginia) and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew with tour management by Landau Traveling Exhibitions, Los Angeles, CA. Major support is provided by the Gerard B. Lambert Foundation. The Driehaus Museum is the final U.S. institution to host the exhibition, which included the Gibbes Museum of Art in Charleston, South Carolina; the Davis Museum at Wellesley College, Massachusetts; and the Society of Four Arts in Palm Beach, Florida.&nbsp; ABOUT THE ARTISTRory McEwen (1932-1982) grew up in Scotland as the third of seven children at Marchmont House, the family’s Palladian stately home, where he learned to draw flowers from an early age encouraged by his French governess, who instructed him in drawing from nature. He was influenced by 17th&nbsp;and 18th-century French flower painters throughout his education at Eton, including visits to the Royal Library at Windsor Castle, and his continued studies at Trinity College, Cambridge. After serving with the British Army, he discovered his passion for art. Initially a blues musician, McEwen toured the U.S. in 1956 with his brother Alexander, recording an LP for Smithsonian Folkways Records and appearing twice on the Ed Sullivan show. Back in Britain, he became known as a guitarist and singer, appearing nightly on the BBC’s&nbsp;Tonight&nbsp;show and produced, presented, and performed on the seminal music program,&nbsp;Hullabaloo. However, from 1964 until his death in 1982, McEwen focused solely on his work as a visual artist, known for his detailed work on vellum with watercolors. His posthumous 1988 exhibition at the Serpentine Gallery in London is considered one of the pivotal turning points in the development of contemporary botanical art, and his techniques have had a lasting impact on botanical artists today. McEwen’s&nbsp;work&nbsp;can&nbsp;be&nbsp;found&nbsp;in&nbsp;private&nbsp;and&nbsp;public&nbsp;collections&nbsp;across&nbsp;the&nbsp;globe,&nbsp;including&nbsp;the British&nbsp;Museum;&nbsp;Victoria&nbsp;and&nbsp;Albert&nbsp;Museum;&nbsp;Tate;&nbsp;National&nbsp;Gallery&nbsp;of&nbsp;Modern&nbsp;Art,&nbsp;Scotland; Fitzwilliam&nbsp;Museum,&nbsp;Cambridge;&nbsp;Hunt&nbsp;Institute,&nbsp;Pittsburgh;&nbsp;andMuseum&nbsp;of&nbsp;Modern&nbsp;Art,&nbsp;New&nbsp;York. ABOUT THE DRIEHAUS MUSEUMThe Driehaus Museum engages and inspires the global community through exploration and ongoing conversations in art, architecture, and design of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Its permanent collection and temporary exhibitions are presented in an immersive experience within the restored Nickerson Mansion, completed in 1883, at the height of the Gilded Age, and the Murphy Auditorium, built in 1926. The Museum’s collection reflects and is inspired by the collecting interests, vision, and focus of its founder, the late Richard H. Driehaus. For more information, visit&nbsp;<a style="color: windowtext;" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://www.driehausmuseum.org/" target="_blank">driehausmuseum.org</a>&nbsp;and connect with the Museum on&nbsp;<a style="color: windowtext;" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Driehaus-Museum/362867207176025" target="_blank">Facebook</a>,&nbsp;<a style="color: windowtext;" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://twitter.com/DriehausMuseum" target="_blank">Twitter</a>, and&nbsp;<a style="color: windowtext;" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.instagram.com/driehausmuseum/" target="_blank">Instagram</a>.

Rory McEwen: A New Perspective on Nature

Legacies: Selections from the Elmhurst Art Museum Permanent Collection&nbsp;features dozens of artists from Salvador Dali and Mies van der Rohe to Kay Rosen and Michiko Itatani drawn from the Elmhurst Art Museum’s permanent collection. The exhibition explores the relationships between artists, collectors, and museums that lead to larger, ongoing narratives connecting people across time and place.A regional center of 20th&nbsp;century American Art and Midcentury Design, the Elmhurst Art Museum Collection began in the 1990s and now includes approximately 1,000 works drawn from over 200 collections or donors, with a focus on modern and contemporary art works by Midwestern artists, architects, and designers that have exhibited at the museum, and furniture design items related to McCormick House.The exhibition will feature micro installations of paintings, drawings, prints, and sculptures from over a dozen collections donated to the Museum, and includes local, regional, national, and international artists.

Legacies: New Views of the Elmhurst Art Museum's Permanent Collection

Woven Worlds&nbsp;brings together a dynamic and diverse group of contemporary artists who are redefining the boundaries of fiber art. Once considered a niche or domestic craft, fiber has emerged as a powerful medium for innovation, social commentary, and storytelling in the 21st&nbsp;century. This survey showcases works that span weaving, quilting, embroidery, soft sculpture, and textile installation, emphasizing the tactile and conceptual richness of fiber-based practices.&nbsp;

Woven Worlds

On April 17 from 6-8pm The Poetry Foundation will host a poetry reading, artist talk, and reception to celebrate the opening of the exhibition Escaramuza, the Poetics of Home. Free and open to all. The opening will feature an artist talk by Jaeggi, followed by readings by Sáenz and Silva, and closing with a celebratory reception featuring music by Sones de México Ensemble.&nbsp; A window into the subculture of Mexican American women’s equestrian performance, presented through poetry and photography, Escaramuza is a collaborative work by photographer Constance Jaeggi and poets Angelina Sáenz and ire’ne lara silva. The exhibition explores escaramuza, the team sport of women’s precision horse riding, addressing complex themes of identity, family, and gender with a lush combination of poetry and photography.&nbsp; Escaramuza, translated from Spanish as “skirmish,” is the team sport of women’s precision horse riding within charrería—the Mexican national sport of roping, equestrian activities, and working with cattle. Inspired by the soldaderas (women soldiers) of the Mexican Revolution, teams ride sidesaddle during intricately choreographed dances set to music while wearing vivid, traditional Mexican dresses. Image: Photograph by Constance Jaeggi, courtesy of the Poetry Foundation&nbsp;

Escaramuza, the Poetics of Home

Mariane Ibrahim is pleased to present&nbsp;Thus masked, the world has a language, a group exhibition exploring the masquerade and mask traditions across the African diasporas in Mexico, the Caribbean, and the United States.&nbsp;Across the exhibition, masks are activated forms—a vessel through which truths can be expressed, history can be questioned, and memory can be reactivated. The exhibition will feature works by gallery artists Raphaël&nbsp;Barontini&nbsp;and Lorraine O’Grady, alongside invited artists Nick Cave, Ebony G. Patterson, Darryl Richardson, and Tavares Strachan.&nbsp;Through lens-based practices, collage, and sculpture, the artists engage the performative, political, and intergenerational dimensions of masks that bridge geographies and social histories. As a threshold between the visible and the invisible, the archival and the contemporary,&nbsp;African diasporic&nbsp;masquerades are rituals that summon the essence of nature, from the bush and swamp to animals, spirits, foreigners, witches, the past itself, or ancestors —to allow spiritual presence&nbsp;to be embodied for communal and social transformation.&nbsp;&nbsp;As masquerade culture spans between and beyond ritual, carnival, and street processions; ceremoniously the mask becomes a conduit: a threshold to the divine, a channel for the ancestral realm, or a vessel for collective memory. Darryl Richardson and Raphaël&nbsp;Barontini&nbsp;focus on the intersection of communal erasure and recovery, using partial concealment as a strategy to counter erasure and assert diasporic lineage. Their meditations on systemic erasure&nbsp;lead&nbsp;to&nbsp;Encourage from the&nbsp;Fambily&nbsp;series&nbsp;(2010) by Ebony G. Patterson,&nbsp;and&nbsp;sculpture&nbsp;by Nick Cave,&nbsp;that&nbsp;adorn figures&nbsp;whom&nbsp;transform the masked body into a site of reemergence and historical agency. Like&nbsp;Barontini, Tavares Strachan reclaims the archive through collage—but where&nbsp;Barontini&nbsp;gestures&nbsp;toward partial visibility, Strachan leans toward total concealment.&nbsp;Self Portrait: Loyalty to the Past (Blue Guro Mask)&nbsp;2023, emphasizes loyalty to ancestral heritage while addressing the metaphysical complexities of identity and memory, making the mask a statement on resilience and continuity within the African diaspora.&nbsp;Similar to&nbsp;traditional masks, Cave’s&nbsp;Soundsuits&nbsp;are constructed with everyday materials—twigs, sequins, fur, wire. These suits conceal the body entirely, freeing the wearer from assumptions tied to race, class, or gender. Within the context of masquerade, O’Grady’s concealment in&nbsp;Announcement&nbsp;(2020) becomes a vessel of deflection and power—resisting legibility while confronting the demands of visibility and representation. Both Cave and O’Grady activate concealment as a choreography of refusal and renewal.&nbsp;In&nbsp;Thus masked, the world has a language, concealment is not absence—it is redirection, resistance, and transformation. From object to action, the mask’s power lies in its ability to be worn, danced, and inhabited—activating knowledge that is both embodied and inherited. As Lorraine O’Grady posits, through&nbsp;Announcement&nbsp;(2020),&nbsp;what truths&nbsp;emerge&nbsp;through concealment?&nbsp;Thus masked, the world has a language, will be on view at Mariane Ibrahim Chicago until August 23, 2025.Image: Tavares Strachan, Self Portrait: Loyalty to the Past (Blue Guro Mask), 2023. Photo by Miho Suzuki.

Thus masked, the world has a language

Fine Arts Building: Impressions: Works From Chicago Sculpture International

Forms of Flesh: Contemplating Embodiment&nbsp;is a group exhibition exploring the strange, intimate, and often absurd experience of living in a body. Through sculpture, drawing, performance, video, and installation, the artists in this show consider flesh not as a neutral container but as a charged site of memory, identity, vulnerability, and transformation.Drawing from dance, trauma studies, queer aesthetics, speculative fiction, body horror, and decorative traditions, the exhibition invites viewers to examine how bodies hold sensation, gesture, history, and meaning. Ceramic figures defy function with flamboyant flair; otherworldly creatures pulse in chaotic ecosystems; projected bodies dissolve into light and architecture; improvised movements echo physical memory and emotional landscapes.Viewers are invited to reflect on their own embodiment: to see, to be seen, to feel, to question.&nbsp;Forms of Flesh&nbsp;sets the stage for curiosity, intimacy, and transformation.&nbsp;Featured artists:Jeremy Plotkin WongGeroge Mosher&nbsp;Kat BawdinPerformance:Hannah Marcus&nbsp; Curated by Alicja Seledec Email:&nbsp;<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="mailto:chicagograndgallery@gmail.com" target="_blank">chicagograndgallery@gmail.com</a>Instagram: @chicagograndgalleryPhone: (773) 502-6010<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://www.chicagograndgallery.com/" target="_blank">www.chicagograndgallery.com</a>&nbsp;

Forms of Flesh: Contemplating Embodiment

Nathan Brad Hall's work comes together in this show to build an undeniably jaw dropping experience for viewers. “Undercurrents,” says Hall, “is about trying to find a way to capture the underlying layers of emotion and have that emotion resonate outwards. It’s the hum of electricity just below the surface, pulsing and cracking, that influences the way we move about in the world.” Based in New York and known for his large-scale figure paintings, Hall’s work offers glimpses into the intensity and vulnerability of being human. He says, "working at a sizable scale allows the viewer to become enveloped in the figure's deep humanity."Hall's monumentally scaled work is defined by his use of dramatic lighting. In each work, he illuminates specific areas of the figure and their surroundings as the rest fades away into deep shadows. While Hall's work displays his knowledge and technique with painting realism, bits and pieces of texture pop out throughout the body of work. Highlights of selectively placed thickly painted marks bring his work to a whole new level of depth. The selective marks reward viewers as they view the work up close, until they fade into the image from afar. Hall states, "Using both expressive and refined brush strokes of various thickness, my work uses the physical nature of oil paint to explore the balance of energy and stillness that can make the human figure come alive."Nathan Brad Hall lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. With a background in both abstract and figurative studies, his focus today is on figurative oil painting, attempting to capture the light that illuminates us all. He has shown his work extensively in group and solo exhibitions in NYC and beyond and can be found in private collections across the U.S. and internationally.Image: Nathan Brad Hall,&nbsp;Day Break, oil on linen, 58&nbsp;x 58&nbsp;inches

Undercurrents: Nathan Brad Hall

Guest Curator:&nbsp;Dorota KruczalakAgainst Interpretation​July 25 - August 30, 2025

Against Interpretation​

Since 1851, Wisconsin has embraced the word "Forward" as its state motto, a simple yet powerful declaration of progress and positivity. At Lily Pad | West, we have embodied this spirit for the past eight years, consistently advancing our vision of showcasing world-class art through a dynamic mix of local, national, and international artists. As the gallery expands its horizons, we are proud to remain deeply rooted in supporting the vibrant community of contemporary Wisconsin artists. We are thrilled to present "Forward," our fourth annual group exhibition featuring an impressive lineup of Wisconsin-based artists: Marc Anderson, Steve Gerhartz, Robert M. Girsh, Michael Guinane, Shelby Keefe, Bruce Niemi, Antwan Ramar, John Waite, and Diane Washa. This year, we are especially excited to welcome Mutópe Johnson, Jolanta Kinga Rose, Michael Sutton, and Alan Eickberg. Runs July 16 - August 31, 2024•&nbsp;VIP and Press Preview Night: Thursday, July 17th from 6 to 8 pm•&nbsp;Gallery Night MKE Receptions: Friday, July 18th from 5 to 8 pm and Saturday, July 19th from 11 am to 4 pm

Forward

In the Shadow of Coal&nbsp;will highlight botanical species of the Waukegan Dunes, located along Lake Michigan and adjacent to a coal-fired power plant. The exhibition will draw attention to the environmental injustices caused by the continued contamination of this coal-fired power plant on people and the environment and the immense threat posed to Lake Michigan. The exhibition comprises traditional, contemporary, and abstract botanical art and will be curated through an open-call with three jurors: Heeyoung Kim (who leads the Botanical Academy at Brushwood), a representative from the Driehaus Museum, and a local arts leader from Waukegan. Onsite programming will include an opening and speaking program, an exhibition guide, and guided tours.

In the Shadow of Coal

<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.dragonflygallery.space/amber-keene.html" target="_blank">Learn more here</a>

Solo Exhibition: Enchanting Views

Fortitude is a series of images of impromptu driftwood huts. The huts project security and fantasy, offset by precarious construction of dilapidated materials in an eroding landscape to create a sense of unease for environmental uncertainty. Fortitude displays the collective history of driftwood from familiar natural and manipulated sources, in a revolving collaboration between trees, ocean, sand, wind, weather, and strangers. Fortitude is a portmanteau of fort and attitude, and a word describing the resilience required to seek and sustain shelter and safety on this entropic planet. There is a secondary sad secret allusion to the fortitude required to keep building secure structures as they continuously get taken away. Soon after the huts get built, occupied, and enjoyed; they inevitably fall from tempestuous weather, rising tides, shifting sand, eroding coast, and the poaching of one hut’s wood for another. Fortitude displays the (un)natural and (de)constructive lives of large trees in this liminal landscape between where we were, where we are, and where we are going; inviting viewers to experience, empathize, and engage with their role in the imminent. These images of trees as (in)secure structures in a visibly deteriorating environment communicate their need to be protected to provide protection.<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.dragonflygallery.space/sena-clara-creston.html" target="_blank">Learn more here</a>

Solo Exhibition: Fortitude

Perspective Gallery is proud to present a new exhibit by photographers&nbsp;Howard Hart and Kathryn Rodrigues. Hart’s&nbsp;Small Moments: Images from Egypt&nbsp;explores people and places away from monumental sites and the chaos of tourism. Hart’s black and white photographs document his personal impressions of Egypt though visually engaging images of small moments from everyday life. Hart is a charter member of Perspective Gallery and works in both analog and digital media.Inspired by a line from a Mary Oliver poem,&nbsp;Every Day Has Something In It Whose Name is Forever,&nbsp;Rodrigues’ work explores time, perception, and the interplay of constraint and expansion. This series stems from a volume of daily photographs, beginning over three years ago, of a skylight in Rodrigues’ home. Presented in a variety of forms, from grids to interactive photo sculptures, this work plays with the notion of time presented as both rigid and fluid. It is an ongoing body of work that invites viewers to enjoy a moment of quiet introspection.

Howard Hart and Kathryn Rodrigues

The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago announces&nbsp;<a style="color: rgb(0, 124, 137);" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://visit.mcachicago.org/es/exhibitions/paul-pfeiffer-prologue-to-the-story-of-the-birth-of-freedom/" target="_blank">Paul Pfeiffer: Prologue to the Story of the Birth of Freedom</a>, opening May 3 and on view until August 31, 2025.&nbsp;Prologue to the Story of the Birth of Freedom&nbsp;is a survey that covers twenty-five years of work from artist Paul Pfeiffer (b. 1966, Honolulu, HI; lives in New York), whose practice interrogates ideas of spectacle, celebrity, and mass culture. The exhibition brings together works from across Pfeiffer’s career, spanning from his early photo and video works to his latest experiments in sculpture and installation.&nbsp;Prologue to the Story of the Birth of Freedom&nbsp;focuses on the artist’s use of media manipulation to reveal audiences’ participation in both adoration and objectification. Mining imagery from our media-saturated world, Pfeiffer recontextualizes global icons such as pop stars, film actors, and athletes through careful acts of cutting, splicing, and masking. Throughout his work, Pfeiffer interrogates what it means to consume images and culture. For Pfeiffer, the basketball court, the boxing ring, and the stadium not only serve as platforms for grand spectacles but as sites where the body politic—of a nation, of a community, of society—is imagined, defined, and contested. Spanning two and a half decades of work, the exhibition features Pfeiffer’s works in the MCA Collection, including&nbsp;Fragment of a Crucifixion (After Francis Bacon)&nbsp;(1999) and&nbsp;Self-Portrait as a Fountain&nbsp;(2000), which is part of the D.Daskalopoulos Collection Gift. This exhibition is the MCA’s fourth that centrally features Pfieffer’s work, following his career-defining solo show&nbsp;Paul Pfeiffer&nbsp;in 2003,&nbsp;MCA Screen: Paul Pfeiffer&nbsp;in 2018, and&nbsp;Fragments of a Crucifixion&nbsp;in 2019.&nbsp;The accompanying catalogue for this exhibition includes an interview from&nbsp;Fragments of a Crucifixionbetween Pfeiffer and former MCA Marjorie Susan Curatorial Fellow Chanon Kenji Praepipatmangkol, and features contributions from University of Chicago Professor Emeritus Tom Gunning, artist Julie Mehretu, and historian Lawrence Chua.&nbsp; Paul Pfeiffer: Prologue to the Story of the Birth of Freedom&nbsp;is organized by the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, and curated by Clara Kim, Chief Curator and Director of Curatorial Affairs, and Paula Kroll, Curatorial Assistant. The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago presentation is curated by Bana Kattan, former Pamela Alper Associate Curator, with Iris Colburn, Curatorial Associate.&nbsp; ABOUT THE ARTIST Paul Pfeiffer (b. 1966, Honolulu, Hawaii)&nbsp;is an artist living and working in New York City, who has been making work in video, photography, installation, and sculpture since the late 1990s. Known for his innovative manipulation of digital media, Pfeiffer recasts the visual language of mass media spectacle to examine how images shape our awareness of ourselves and the world. Sampling footage from YouTube and other sources, he uses these to plumb the depths of contemporary culture, assessing its racial, religious, and technological dimensions. At the same time, Pfeiffer's objects and images function diachronically, establishing profound genealogies that connect contemporary culture and its many particularities to the long, seemingly remote histories of art, media, religion, and human consciousness. Pfeiffer has had many one-person exhibitions at Whitney Museum of American Art (2001); the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (2003 and 2017-18); the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne (2005); MUSAC León, Spain (2008); Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin (2009); Sammlung Goetz, Munich (2011); Museum of Contemporary Art and Design, Manila (2015); Inhotim, Brumadinho, Brazil (2018); and The Athenaeum, Athens, GA (2023). He has presented work in major international exhibitions, most recently the Performa Biennial and the Honolulu Biennial in 2019 and the Toronto Biennial and Seoul Mediacity Biennale in 2022. His work is in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco; M+, Hong Kong; The Guggenheim; Tate Modern; and the Pinault Collection, among many others. Pfeiffer’s first large-scale retrospective of his work at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (2023-24) will travel to the Guggenheim Bilbao and open November 2024. SUPPORT Lead support is provided by the Harris Family Foundation in memory of Bette and Neison Harris, the Zell Family Foundation, and Cari and Michael Sacks. ABOUT THE MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART CHICAGO The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago is a nonprofit, tax-exempt organization accredited by the American Alliance of Museums. The MCA interweaves exhibitions, performances, collections, and educational programs while providing a place for audiences to contemplate and discuss contemporary art in pursuit of a creative and diverse future. The MCA believes in the values of inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility (IDEA) as a platform to enact structural change. The museum is generously supported by its Board of Trustees; individual and corporate members; private and corporate foundations, including the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation; and government agencies. The MCA is a proud member of Museums in the Park and receives major support from the Chicago Park District. Free admission for 18 and under is generously provided by Liz and Eric Lefkofsky and Northern Trust. <a style="color: rgb(0, 124, 137);" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://visit.mcachicago.org/" target="_blank">The MCA is located at 220 E. Chicago Avenue</a>&nbsp;and is open 10 am to 5 pm Wednesday to Sunday and 10 am to 9 pm Tuesday. Tuesday evenings (5 to 9 pm) are free to Illinois residents. The museum is closed on Mondays. Admission is free for all youth 18 and under, members of the military and veterans, and MCA members. Find more information about MCA's exhibitions, programs, and special events at&nbsp;<a style="color: rgb(0, 124, 137);" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://mcachicago.org/" target="_blank">mcachicago.org</a>&nbsp;or at 312.280.2660. Image: Paul Pfeiffer,&nbsp;Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse&nbsp;(09), 2004. Fujiflex digital C-print; 48 × 60 in. (121.9 × 152.4 cm). Collection of Alan Hergott and Curt Shepard. © Paul Pfeiffer. Courtesy of the artist; Paula Cooper Gallery, New York; carlier | gebauer, Berlin/Madrid; Perrotin; and Thomas Dane Gallery, London.

Paul Pfeiffer: Prologue to the Story of the Birth of Freedom

<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.jmkac.org/exhibition/pao-houa-her-the-imaginative-landscape/?utm_medium=email&amp;_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9VbXI1XhnuOkY2pdmZU_NZq3wIlmhgym-XsG-_AP0JQQqSLmVczzoyXE16kal6bCSA4jIi9GhjDEMeV2_iPA3WjmiQDFGoq6KBMISH9l4Mpi83jvg&amp;_hsmi=343424237&amp;utm_content=343424237&amp;utm_source=hs_email" target="_blank">Details</a> Pao Houa Her uses her camera to explore the longing and desire of a community culturally defined by an elsewhere. Rooted in the experience of her HMong community and shaped by family experiences and lore passed down by her elders, Her takes a formally rigorous approach to photography to explore the complex intertwining of artifice and desire bound up in dreams of homeland.Pao Houa Her: The Imaginative Landscape&nbsp;is the first survey of Her’s practice, covering nearly twenty years of work, with selections from six major series to date, as well as new work made in the jungles of Laos. Co-organized by the John Michael Kohler Arts Center (JMKAC) and the San Jose Museum of Art (SJMA) in California, the exhibition embraces the diverse U.S. contexts in which HMong communities have adapted and fabricated homelands. Though specific to Her’s own HMong-American experience,&nbsp;The Imaginative Landscape&nbsp;is a meditation on the construction of homeland that resonates across a variety of diasporic experiences. In both Sheboygan and San Jose, the exhibition will exceed the institutional space with lightboxes in local restaurants and community gathering places, wheat pasted images in public locations, and billboard displays. A complete list of sites will be announced closer to the exhibition opening. * HMong is written with a capital H and M to be inclusive of White Hmong and Green Mong dialects. Speakers of the White dialect pronounce “Hmong” with a silent “H,” indicating a nasal aspiration or puff of air out of the nose. Speakers of the Green dialect pronounce “Mong” without. This exhibition is co-organized by Jodi Throckmorton, JMKAC chief curator, and Lauren Schell Dickens, SJMA chief curator.SJMA’s exhibition will be on view July 15, 2025, into early 2026. Image: Pao Houa Her, untitled (real opium behind opium backdrop), 2020, lightbox, 52 x 65 in. Courtesy of the artist and Bockley Gallery.

Pao Houa Her: The Imaginative Landscape

Foliage

Photography and Collage by Artist Jay Reed

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