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

William Blake, Artist in Conversation with Writer Donato LoisSaturday, October 18, 202512-2:30pm

William Blake, Artist in Conversation with Writer Donato Lois

Free and Open to All Register <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://forms.monday.com/forms/935251a01ba681ffbeb970932d539f65?r=use1" target="_blank">Here</a> Join Heritage Auctions for a guided tour of highlights from the remarkable <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="HA.com/8231" target="_blank">American Art Signature Auction</a> to take place on November 14. From Ernie Barnes to Norman Rockwell, enjoy these impressive, large-scale American classics and masterworks and the stories behind them before the gavel strikes!

American Art

Solo ExhibitionMisha Goro: Urban Echoes – New oil paintings on aluminumParticipating in the River North Fall Gallery Walk Misha Goro's artistic practice is a continuous creative search for raw authenticity in urban environments that are constantly changing. Cities are weathered by time and through use, taking on a personality of their own from the people and the elements that have interacted with them. When considering subject matter, Goro seeks simple things that we see every day, things that become symbolic once they are taken out of context. Image: Misha Goro, State Street, oil on aluminum, 30x40"

Misha Goro: Urban Echoes

Rosenthal Fine Art is pleased to present&nbsp;The Real Real&nbsp;-- a new exhibition by Dennis Wojtkiewicz. In this new body of work, the artist questions what place is there of such fiercely analog work in a mechanized, mass-produced, digital world? What is the value of a painting painstakingly constructed over time when anyone can capture an image instantly with a phone and further heighten its reality through manipulation?In his recent artist's statement Wojtkiewicz talks about his process:&nbsp;I focus primarily on how light interacts with the diverse surfaces of natural forms—forms that exist at the boundary of biology and sensuality, carrying within them an erotic charge tied to their fertility and ephemerality.The close-up, intimate vantage points I choose liberate these forms from mere depiction, pressing them toward abstraction, toward rhythm, pattern, and texture. They surrender to the idea that representation itself is an unreliable illusion, asking the viewer to engage the paintings not just as signs pointing to recognizable objects but as vivid, sensual encounters—experiences accountable only to their own internal logic.Finally Wojtkiewicz invites us to experience the work:Ultimately, my paintings are about attention and presence. They reimagine biology's fleeting moments of beauty as luminous icons, asking us not only to contemplate impermanence but also to celebrate the act of looking itself—the possibility of finding, again and again, that moment of discovery where craft, vision, and wonder converge. Image: ROSETTE SERIES #37, O/CANVAS 48 x 48 INCHES

The Real Real

Artist conversation with Donato Loia, Thursday October 16, 6pm

William Blake: Brothers’ Bones Beside

Hilton Contemporary is proud to announce a specially curated exhibition of photographs, diamond dust and neon artworks by internationally celebrated artist David Drebin. Following his solo exhibition at Intersect Aspen, CINEMATIC DREAMS marks Drebin’s Chicago debut and introduces collectors to his unique blend of cinematic storytelling and striking visual drama. Renowned for his ability to weave narratives of desire, mystery, and glamour into large-scale photographs, Drebin has become one of the most recognizable visual artists of his generation. His body of work spans photography, light boxes, neon installations, sculptures, and etchings on glass. Known for blending cinematic drama with raw human emotion, his art has been described as 'Hollywood glamour meets psychological thriller.' Hilton Contemporary’s presentation of CINEMATIC DREAMS is the gallery’s first major showcase of David Drebin’s works to our Chicago collectors. The exhibition will highlight both his most celebrated images and rarely seen archival works, giving collectors the chance to experience Drebin’s evocative vision in person. “We are very pleased to introduce David Drebin to Chicago,” said Arica Hilton, CEO and founder of Hilton Contemporary galleries. “His work is bold and unforgettable. Drebin's landscapes are pure cinematography, turning glamour into cinematic storytelling. By presenting Drebin’s vision to our collectors, we continue our mission to feature artists who inspire us to see the world with renewed imagination.” Opening Reception: Friday, October 3rd • 5 to 8 p.m. Hilton Contemporary - River North 716 N. Wells, Chicago About David Drebin Born in Toronto and based in New York City, David Drebin graduated from Parsons School of Design in 1996 and quickly rose to international acclaim. His cinematic style explores themes of beauty, fame, and fantasy. Often his images portray subjects caught in moments of longing or escapism against breathtaking cityscapes and dreamlike settings. In addition to photography, Drebin is celebrated for his multidisciplinary practice. His Hidden Stars portraits playfully mask or conceal well-known cultural figures, exploring the tension between celebrity, anonymity, and identity. He has also created large-scale neon installations, light boxes, etchings on glass, and sculptures, all of which extend his visual universe beyond photography into immersive and experiential art. Drebin’s career includes collaborations with leading global brands and publications such as Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone, GQ, and National Geographic. His artwork has been exhibited at Art Basel, Paris Photo, Intersect Aspen, Photo London, Art Miami, Art Palm Beach, Istanbul Contemporary, and many more. He has also photographed high-profile individuals such as Charlize Theron, John Legend, Sandra Bernhard, Kevin Bacon, and Diane von Fürstenberg among others. Known for his striking portraits, expansive city views, and neon art pieces, Drebin creates immersive worlds that blur the line between reality and imagination. His photographs often feel like stills from a film noir, inviting viewers to create their own narratives around his enigmatic subjects. Drebin has published multiple monographs with teNeues, including The Morning After (2010), Chasing Paradise (2015), Dreamscapes (2016), and Collectors Edition (2021). His works are highly sought after on the international art market, with pieces consistently commanding record-breaking results at auction.

Cinematic Dreams

Elaine Byrne:&nbsp;Drifting Sovereignty Opening Reception: Wednesday, November 5, 5:30 P.M. — 7:00 P.M. The Consul General of Ireland, Brian Cahalane, will open the exhibition at 6:00 P.M. followed by a gallery walk with the artist. This exhibit will run through November 29, 2025. We are most grateful of Culture Ireland, who supported this event. * John David Mooney Foundation is pleased to present&nbsp;Drifting Sovereignty, a solo exhibition by Elaine Byrne, represented by Kevin Kavanagh Galleries, from 5th - 29th November 2025. This show, supported by Culture Ireland, will be opened by Consul General Brian Cahalane.​​Drifting Sovereignty&nbsp;is a multidisciplinary exhibition that critically engages with the shifting nature of borders and the performance of power at geopolitical and environmental margins. Through photography, sculpture, video, and performance, the exhibition interrogates how sovereignty is both asserted and destabilized in contested spaces.​Contemporary borders are often represented as fixed lines on maps, yet such depictions obscure their social, political, and material complexity. Byrne's work shifts focus from the border as line to the borderscape--a dynamic, contested space shaped by governance, infrastructure, and lived experience. In doing so, the exhibition emphasizes the constructed and mutable nature of borders, which appear, dissolve, fracture, and overlap in response to both human and environmental forces.​The works traverse multiple geographies. In the California desert. Byrne photographs prototypes of the U.S.-Mexico border wall--monumental forms that embody both the spectacle and futility of territorial enforcement. In the Canadian High Arctic, she documents landscapes marked by forced Indigenous relocation, revealing how political decisions have reconfigured lives and land. In Svalbard, where Russian-owned land exists within NATO territory, she explores competing territorial claims in the context of climate change and resource extraction.​​A central performance video shows Byrne walking across Arctic Sea ice--a minimal gesture that functions as a meditation on human presence within a rapidly changing landscape. This act underscores how environmental instability redraws boundaries once presumed stable.​Byrne's sustained engagement with borders positions them not solely as barriers, but as active agents in the production of identity, belonging, and exclusion.&nbsp;Drifting Sovereignty&nbsp;offers a critical reflection on the entanglement of geopolitical power, mobility, and environmental change, prompting urgent questions about the future of territory and the limits of control in an increasingly unstable world.​

Elaine Byrne: Drifting Sovereignty

OPENING RECEPTION: Friday, Nov 7, 2025 5-8pm On view through Jan 1, 2026 Solo Exhibition -&nbsp;TBA

Solo Exhibition

South Gallery Image: Herman Aguirre,&nbsp;¡Ni uno mas!, 2023, Oil and oil/acrylic skins on panel, 63" x 98" x 4.5"

Herman Aguirre

Sebastian Thomas

Dec 10 - Jan 4, 2026: Luminous Mosaics, Taiwanese&nbsp;Artist Kai-Chun Chiang

Calendar

Chicago Gallery News