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

Bert Green Fine Art is pleased to present a solo show by Chicago-based artist Kevin Blake, guest curated by Dan Cameron. Kevin Blake grew up on the far south side of Chicago, and while young bore witness to the unique fraternity of white male power that was the Chicago Police Department, where his father and grandfather both enjoyed long careers, while forbidding him to follow in their footsteps. Instead, he studied painting at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where he was inspired by its emphasis on art that reflects the specific paradoxes of one’s time and place. Thus incentivized to investigate subject matter close to home, Blake began the challenging process of minutely examining the psychological and cultural effects of toxic masculinity left over from his personal history and presumed cultural identity, to see how they might be reassembled into something more redemptive. The poignant results of Blake’s intensive cross-examination of (mostly) male identity can be seen in “Sundowning,” a word that typically refers to the dramatic mood shifts experienced by Alzheimer’s patients when daylight ends. Its use here is metaphorical, a reference to the crumbling of certain longstanding myths about what male roles are appropriate in today’s increasingly pluralistic society. If what first strikes one about Blake’s work is his impressive level of skill and creativity, that technical aspect is soon overtaken by our gradual discovery that the characters he depicts so unerringly can evoke our capacity to empathize with their suffering, no matter how unappetizing they first appear. In Blake’s compositions, the male of the species is typically portrayed performing a social role fully in accord with societal expectations, only something isn’t going the way it should. A round of golf is swept away by a typhoon, a poolside reverie is harshly interrupted, a gym bro grimaces in our direction: while his subjects aspire to maintain their male privilege in the material world, Blake invites us to see through the bravado, and perceive them within a framework of near-desperate social isolation, worsened by their inability to drop their deeply ingrained roles. — Dan Cameron

Sundowning

The Museum welcomes visitors to explore the historic Murphy Auditorium as part of Open House Chicago. A 1926 City of Chicago landmark, the Murphy Auditorium was erected as a monument to Dr. John B. Murphy (1857-1916), a founding member of the American College of Surgeons and considered one of the greatest clinical educators of his generation. The Museum renovated and re-opened the Murphy Auditorium to the public in 2024. Open House Chicago is free, and reservations are not required. This event does not include admission to the Museum’s exhibition or gallery spaces. For more information, visit https://openhousechicago.org/. On Saturday from 1:00-2:00pm, the auditorium features a free performance of Hanna DiLorenzo: Behind Closed Doors .

Open House Chicago

Join us for our Halloween Masquerade Closing Reception for our "Got Rhythm" Exhibition. Greg Allen of Animal Records will be spinning some of our favorite tunes from the 80s and 90s on vinyl. See the "Got Rhythm" Exhibition one last time, as the event will also serve as the closing reception. Costumes encouraged! Family friendly event.&nbsp; Image: "Masquerade," Sarah Kaiser

Masquerade Closing Reception 

Our Free Days Are Taking The Night Shift! From March through November, we’re returning to Free First Tuesdays! On the first Tuesday of every month, enjoy extended hours from 5:00 pm to 8:00 pm - admission is free for all, no residency restrictions. Want more chances to visit? Take a look at our full lineup of 2026 Free Days below and mark your calendar! From March through November, we’re returning to Free First Tuesdays! On the first Tuesday of every month, enjoy extended hours from 5:00 pm to 8:00 pm - admission is free for all, no residency restrictions.

Free First Tuesdays

Oliva Gallery presents the closing reception for Pleasure Spread, featuring Tara Sabini’s maximalist oil paintings and Jeremy Plotkin Wong’s biomorphic ceramic sculpture. The exhibition explores pleasure as seductive, excessive, unstable, and psychologically charged. Sabini layers pattern, ornament, and the body until abundance becomes pressurized. Wong pushes the ceramic vessel beyond utility into swelling, contorted forms that blur the line between object and organism. Join Oliva Gallery for a final opportunity to experience Pleasure Spread before it closes. About the Artists Tara Sabini is a Chicago-based maximalist oil painter and graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design. Her work has been exhibited nationally, with recent residencies including Vermont Studio Center and Lillstreet Art Center. Jeremy Plotkin Wong is a Chicago-based performance and sculpture artist whose interdisciplinary practice combines sculptural form, material experimentation, abstraction, and performance. Wong received a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and entered the MFA program in Ceramics at Cranbrook Academy of Art in 2025.

Closing Reception: Pleasure Spread

Woman Made Gallery presents&nbsp;In Full View, a juried group exhibition of work by 47 women and non-binary artists age 65 and older. Selected by Jerry Zbiral, the exhibition explores visibility and invisibility as they relate to identity, aging, memory, and the legacy of a fully lived life.&nbsp;Working across a variety of mediums, including painting, sculpture, photography, fiber, and mixed media, the artists consider what it means to be seen, overlooked, remembered, or revealed, and how those experiences shape both life and art. The work speaks to presence, resilience, personal history, and the evolving power of creative expression over time.Opening Reception:&nbsp;October 10, 2026 | 4–7 p.m.Artist Walkthrough &amp; Closing:&nbsp;November 7, 2026 | 2–4 p.m.Exhibiting Artists:&nbsp;Pánne Ally, Loraine Anderson, Laura Balombini, Jane Barrow, Marian Berg, Lindsey Berkun, Carrie Betlyn-Eder, Mary Ann Bucklin, Kathy Castleton, Laura Cerf-Dahl, Margaret Colarelli, Marie Corfield, Susan Fecho, Viktoria Ford, Tammi Franke, Amanda Freymann, Anne-Bridget Gary, Mary Gingrich, Shari Gullo, Pam Hamilton, Deborah Hirshfield, Pamela Hobbs, Ellen Holtzblatt, Judith Huacuja, Frederica Huff, Mama Coco, Jude Kallok, Ruth A. Keitz, Katherine Kraus, Phyllis Lear, Sylvia Lorraine, Darcy Lynn, Maureen May, Angela McElwain, Erin McNamara, Karen Mosbacher, Karen Musgrave, Moni Olguin, Linda Popp, Cherry Rahn, Jane Rieso, Paulette Schermerhorn, Beth Shadur, Carol Spindel, Paola Tavoletti, Mary Jane Tenerelli Janet Tsakis

Artist Walkthrough & Closing

The closing reception for Material Bodies: Identities in Clay marks the final evening of the second annual Midwest Ceramic Exhibition. Juried and curated by Nancy Pirri and Lauralynn White, the exhibition brings together 19 artists from across the Midwest whose ceramic practices consider the human form through contemporary clay. The work ranges from direct figuration to abstraction, examining the body as both subject and physical presence. Featured artists include Lynn Basa, Aaron Becker, Robin Carlson, Hillary Catrow, Gabriel Chalfin-Piney-González, Jamie Freedman, Mirentxu Ganzarain, Jennifer Holt, Matthew King, Darby Lewis, Dawn Liddicoatt, Suzanne Long, Linda Marcus, Patrick Miceli, Andryea Natkin, Jonathan Pacheco, Henry Tyson, Susan Volk, and Christopher Williams.

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