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

What have you forgotten? When you found it or rediscovered it were you happy, sad, annoyed, delighted, regretful? It was once important and then it became forgotten.What is new to you was once forgotten by me. The work on display is a representation of compartmentalizing ideas and memories with no distinct beginning or end.

Noel Mercado: How Could We Forget About You

Metaphysical poet John Donne famously wrote, “No man is an island, entire of itself,” in his 1624 meditation on the interconnectedness of humanity. In Every Man is an Island, artist Natasha Moustache turns this idea inward, asking what it means to exist both within and apart. To belong to a place that embodies solitude and connection at once.The Seychelles Islands, an archipelago of 115 islands scattered across the Indian Ocean, embody this paradox. In Moustache’s black and white photographs, the island emerges not as a place apart, but as a living communion of body and spirit, humanity and nature, self and divine. Each image becomes a quiet testament to the ways in which life here is interwoven with the elements — water, wind, light, and faith.Within this constellation of islands, humanity is held tenderly by the microcosm of the islands themselves, a mirror reflecting the vast, interconnected universe beyond.

Natasha Moustache: Every Man is an Island

“Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue” is an exhibition of select works from Chicago artist Ben Foch that span the past 20 + years of his making. Some works are from the early 2000’s, never before exhibited seminal beginnings. Some works are from the 2014-2018 era, created after the 1st and 2nd incarnations of his artist-run project space New Capital, and of course, something new from 2026 will be selected.Cinderella, Dracula, Raiders Logo, Scotch Tape Plaid, Newport cigarettes, Tupac Shakur; these are some of the source content(s) that generate an origin narrative for the painting practice of Ben Foch. It could appear to be a contemporary interpretation of a Pop Culture narrative in art, and in the sense that Foch is engaged in discovering and/or defining an avant-garde in the 21st century, it is. Yet, his work, now in its mid-career mature phase, finds its roots in the 1960’s and 70’s Conceptual practices of On Kawara, Roman Opalka and Olivier Mosset. The only difference being the veneer.This exhibition is a meditation on and a celebration of life dedicated to making. It’s important to tell our stories; to ourselves, so we can know who we are, to each other, so we can know one another, and to share them with the world at large, so we can manifest our being through shared acknowledgements of time and space. Stories can be told in many ways. This exhibition is an accounting that reflects one artist through a curated look of their past in the present.We are the stories we tell ourselves.<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://mleblancchicago.com/ben-foch" target="_blank">Ben Foch</a>&nbsp;(b. 1977) is an artist based in Chicago. He grew up in Park Forest IL., attended The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (BFA 1995-2000), co-founded the artist-run exhibition space New Capital (2010-2017) and is represented by M. Leblanc.&nbsp;Recent solo exhibitions of Foch’s work include Proof Of Werq (2024) and Hood Ornament (2021) at M. LeBlanc in Chicago, IL, Haiku (2019) at Selenas Mountain in Brooklyn, NY, Full Grown (2018) at Efrain Lopez Gallery in Chicago, IL, and Of Human Bondage (2018) at Roots and Culture in Chicago, IL. Foch’s work has been recently included in group exhibitions such as The Highest Level of Listening (2025) curated by Olivia Swider at Gure, Chicago, IL., Miniotics (2025) curated by Trinity Bavaria and Gunner Dongieux at Weatherproof, Chicago, IL., Tricky Passage (2022) curated by Ben Gill at Rhona Hoffman in Chicago, IL, Ugly Feelings (2016) curated by Karolina Gnatowski at Side Car Gallery in Hammond, IN.

Ben Foch: Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue

Whether shooting from the vast wilds of Alaska, or the familiar Chicago alleys of her hometown, Alexa Viscius manages to create film portraits that feel like peering into a keyhole. Candid shots reveal coveted glimpses of beloved musicians: like New York Phenom Cameron Winter making adjustments to his musical arrangements backstage before his monumental solo performance at Hyde Park’s Rockefeller Church, or the sensational young Chicago band Horsegirl, running down a hill with a certain excitement and teenage-abandon of a group on the cusp of their breakout record, or a contemplative moment shared between longtime friends and prolific Chicago indie rockers Max Kakacek and Julien Elrich of Whitney, sitting in Kackek’s grandparent’s bedroom in Portman, Wisconsin. Many of her portraits, taken at her longtime studio in the historic Flatiron building in Wicker Park Chicago, retain that same sense of tenderness: A portrait of renowned New York musician, and frequent collaborator, Adrienne Linker of Big Thief, displays a sense of intimacy and trust. It’s a trust that has been earned through 20+ years of mastering her craft, allowing her subjects to open up, revealing themselves like flowers. From legendary Chicago DIY venues of yore, to international stages and all those quiet moments in between, she’s been there thru it all, with her finger on the shutter, capturing the music and the people that make it. Alexa Viscius is a Chicago based photographer with a focus on music portraiture, working primarily on film. She received her BFA from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2011. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, Paper magazine, W magazine, and other publications. She is a recipient of the Abbey Road Music Photography Award for the Editorial category in 2024.In addition to her photography practice, Viscius is an award winning graphic designer and plays bass in the Chicago indie rock band Bnny. She lives in Chicago with her husband Adam and their son Arthur.

Alexa Viscius: Portraits of People Who Make Music

Through the investigation of personal histories, familial ancestry, and the weight of place, the six ACRE alumni artists in&nbsp;tether me to the ground or let me float&nbsp;consider how we gather fragmented ideas of place and identity to piece together notions of belonging and grounding.&nbsp;Grounding becomes a means of navigating obscured histories and solidifying ourselves, our ancestors, and our communities to a place.&nbsp;tether me to the ground or let me float&nbsp;examines how we ground ourselves within our own histories and how we become informed and infused by the places we occupy.&nbsp;The exhibition questions the complexity of home, the relationship between the environment and the body, and the fragility of temporalities. Molded and shaped by the landscapes that surround them, the artists in the exhibition explore the multifaceted, imperfect, and often difficult undertaking of building an ecology of belonging that radically imagines our relationships to the ongoing history of a place.&nbsp;Unearthing and breaking down these relationships, the artists reflect on space in relation to memory, migration, community, and spirituality. They consider the tangible traces of our presence and the ephemeral quality of the personal and ancestral histories that both tether and release us from the places we pass through and remain in. Place and home become at once stark and ephemeral in these narratives, inviting the viewer to imagine how we locate and ground ourselves within these complexities. Featured Artists:&nbsp;Prerna, Colin Martinez, yétúndé ọlágbajú, Lars Shimabukuro, Ian Solomon, Shirin Towfiq&nbsp;Curated by&nbsp;Gemma KimACRE (Artists’ Cooperative Residency and Exhibitions)&nbsp;is an artist-run non-profit devoted to providing resources to emerging artists and nurturing a diverse community of cultural producers. ACRE’s programs support this generative community with materials, equipment, expertise, conscientiously produced food, and opportunities to exhibit and share work.&nbsp;ACRE’s annual summer residency in rural Wisconsin brings together emerging artists to live and work in a communal setting. A corresponding year-long program of exhibitions and events based in Chicago creates ongoing opportunities for idea exchange, feedback and growth. Programs such as ACRE Projects, ACRE Kitchen, and ACRE TV, provide additional venues for collaboration and experimentation.ACRE aims to be a leader at advancing new means of support for emerging artists at critical junctures in their careers. ACRE eschews focus on traditional institutional success, instead prioritizing the unique, individually-defined paths of artists.

tether me to the ground or let me float

Forget Me Not&nbsp;features 10 emerging and mid-career Chicago-based artists who showcase the city's burgeoning creative talent and diversity: Mikey Coleman, Stevie Connor, Rex Delafkaran, Bailey Ellens, Bianca Pastel, Alayna Pernell, Juan Molina Hernández, Kitty Rauth, Selma Suleiman, and Marlon Tobias, all of whom broadly reflect on themes of place, home, belonging, and community.Curated by School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) Arts Administration and Policy graduate students Serena Fox, Isabelle (Izzy) Jaeggin, Tia Lowe, and Helena Rodriguez, in collaboration with Epiphany Center for the Arts, the exhibition presents a diverse range of artistic practices, including installation, photography, ceramics, and sculpture, with fiber, collage, and painting.&nbsp;Throughout these works, “home” appears not as a fixed location, but as an evolving terrain defined by the act of remembering. Some of the featured artists render these ideas tangibly through their usage of objects, materiality, and the natural world. Others probe the emotional and psychological landscapes of nostalgia and childhood. Characterized by movement and diaspora, these artists draw on archival material, ancestral traditions, and cultural motifs, grounding their work in practices of preservation.&nbsp;Forget Me Not&nbsp;highlights both the tension and interdependence between individualism and communal belonging. Together, these artists offer an assemblage of perspectives on how we ground ourselves in the world: through ritual, storytelling, connectivity, joy, and resistance. We invite viewers to consider the power of the collective and how, despite our differences, we all find ourselves here, together.

Forget Me Not

Ringleader&nbsp;is a collaborative furniture design project by artists Noël Morical and Mat Mancini, forged at the intersection of sculpture, utility, and irreverent joy. Rooted in their independent studio practices, the duo merges Noël’s intricate macramé technique with Mat’s materially layered, collage-based approach to create hybrid objects that are as functional as they are fantastically whimsy.The collaboration merges through a heart-to-heart between handcrafted and industrial construction. Noël's use of richly colored paracord—knotted, braided, and tensioned—introduces a tactile softness and sculptural rhythm to the work. Her practice draws from the language of textiles and body adornment, reimagining traditional macramé within a contemporary design context. Chairs, tables, and lighting elements become vessels of texture and intimacy—each loop and knot a deliberate gesture toward intentional care and geometric complexity.In parallel, Mat brings an eclectic material and cultural vocabulary drawn from cast forms, welded steel display systems, resin-infused prints, and 1990s pop-cultural motifs. Splicing structure with spirit, his practice grazes the edges of contemporary furniture’s conventions, guided by an irreverent yet lyrical sensibility. His surfaces feel both archival and futuristic—evoking suburban skate parks,color block fashion, Greco-Roman columns, and the visual clutter of mischievous, meaningful adolescence.Together, their work percolates between design, sculpture, and play—producing objects that are performative, customizable, and unapologetically personal. Whether it’s a chair that functions like a stage prop or a lamp that behaves like a wearable artifact,&nbsp;Ringleader&nbsp;treats furniture as a site of experimentation: a place where memory, humor, tactility, and utility converge.Noël Morical (American, b. 1989) lives and works in Chicago IL. She received her BFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2011. Morical is a multidisciplinary artist interested in organizing color, coded experience, and craft techniques.&nbsp;Mat Mancini (b. 1987, Philadelphia) lives and works in Chicago, IL. MFA The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, 2014. BFA Rutgers University, 2010. Recent shows include Peana Projects in MX, Little Berlin in PHL, HG INN, Julius Caesar, Paris London Hong Kong, and LVL3 in CHI.

Noël Morical and Mat Mancini: Ringleader

Parallel Acts: A Practice of Staying brings together two practices that understand gesture as a durational condition rather than a singular event. In both bodies of work, movement is sustained over time, and repetition becomes a means of transformation rather than reproduction.In Shin’s ongoing series, Pas de Deux, Soo Shin constructs a buoyant vessel that floats in the Pacific Ocean while tethered to her body. Paper and pigmented wooden balls move freely within the structure, allowing ocean currents to register motion across the surface. Gesture emerges through sustained presence and shared agency between body, material, and environment, recorded as residue over time rather than intention.Tim Stone’s works are formed through repeated return to a single drawing. By tracing and retracing his own marks over extended periods, he allows accumulation to alter the surface. Through accumulation, the surface slowly transforms: compression builds, sheen develops, and the drawing shifts toward another material state. Staying with the same gesture becomes a means of altering both surface and substance.Placed together, these practices unfold as parallel acts of staying—where movement persists, time accumulates, and matter becomes the record of duration.<a style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.sooshin.org/" target="_blank">Soo Shin </a>(b. Seoul, Korea) is an interdisciplinary artist based in Chicago. She received the Northern Trust Acquisition Award (Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts) at Expo Chicago and has been awarded fellowships from the Loghaven Artist Residency (Knoxville, TN), the Djerassi Resident Artists Program (Woodside, CA), the Vilcek Foundation Fellowship at MacDowell, and the Illinois Arts Council Artists Grant. Her work has been exhibited at Block Museum (Evanston, IL), Ohio University (Athens, OH), PATRON Gallery (Chicago, IL), The Rivalry Projects (Buffalo, NY), The Luminary (St. Louis, MO), Goldfinch Gallery (Chicago, IL), Chicago Manual Style (Chicago, IL), LVL3 (Chicago, IL), and the Chicago Artists Coalition (Chicago, IL), among others. She has also completed residencies at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center (Sheboygan, WI) and Ox-Bow (Saugatuck, MI). Shin holds an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, as well as both an MFA and a BFA from Ewha Womans University in Seoul, Korea.<a style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.circlecontemporary.org/artists/88-tim-stone/works/" target="_blank">Tim Stone</a> was born in Park Ridge in 1973, where he grew up living with his family. Over the years, Stone has created an expansive and cohesive body of work across media, including graphite, watercolor, and acrylic. For the past few years he has focused primarily on grayscale drawings of loose grids in graphite, with titles that hint at personal inspirations. Focused and methodical in his practice, he maintains a diligent studio routine and steadfast artistic vision informed by concepts of abstraction. Stone’s process is driven by labor-intensive, repetitive mark-making that burnishes the graphite and slowly wears away the surface of the paper over time. He’s also an active member of the curatorial committee, assisting guest curators with exhibitions at Circle Contemporary featuring studio artists alongside artists from the broader contemporary art community.

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