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

Sale 6463<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://freemansauction.com/auctions/6463-essential-jewelry?page=1&amp;per=48&amp;tab=overview" target="_blank">Essential Jewelry</a> Jan 28, 2026&nbsp;10:00AM CT Online / Chicago

Essential Jewelry

<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://tnxbinhbb.cc.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=0019Zs6dNFjX7qIcYdaZ8XX_Eff-Fb8JzDYn1L2P8gn-uAqJj96CDvdTMa5_smWVyCbxO-4qAc7vl3KM8exRRuogt08ukdYKZ64ip_8vNq83bRq5EI4YcatBvsusY7rLUvfVoKP05KTH1IS7PRG_016qRjN0G-v1HpIak3UGMDTasT_p_KcBfgSch8kLOujM7501cIw53QGFhM=&amp;c=UAse3PA9iSB-4Mj0SuvQGzlKGOWy0Nx2SbKZlCYkiKHksGmZSDk4Lw==&amp;ch=ZVooo2YRVsSxdN6CxIjYyHMGPkHLYBVf1zkjZEoneF1y2qqImyqpKQ==" target="_blank">From Its Own Ashes</a>, a two-person exhibition by 2024-26 Artist Residents&nbsp;<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://tnxbinhbb.cc.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=0019Zs6dNFjX7qIcYdaZ8XX_Eff-Fb8JzDYn1L2P8gn-uAqJj96CDvdTADW1hvQwLbfOmJwQcRg-utLAitPWJkmgZOiXHSaGRYX--zEwatwpgbHDsRJ7l94R_sg9A1V1yK7YuK6LMFO2YD6iLnxd05o387a884Hbha2inPAH1Q2MZuJA8aR8jzTRekHdN_cssoL&amp;c=UAse3PA9iSB-4Mj0SuvQGzlKGOWy0Nx2SbKZlCYkiKHksGmZSDk4Lw==&amp;ch=ZVooo2YRVsSxdN6CxIjYyHMGPkHLYBVf1zkjZEoneF1y2qqImyqpKQ==" target="_blank">Isaac Couch</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://tnxbinhbb.cc.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=0019Zs6dNFjX7qIcYdaZ8XX_Eff-Fb8JzDYn1L2P8gn-uAqJj96CDvdTADW1hvQwLbfGbqYnsj_lm9PGYZaQni0pwXDex0te1kaFalbLkf0rYiVc4ibvWBXXoi7-NIIgtdtZ0fsmLd92w3hWGAXlg9N77jB0A2ykZC7BLb61vViDqUB4nosWtJo2vIVwEwykvmM&amp;c=UAse3PA9iSB-4Mj0SuvQGzlKGOWy0Nx2SbKZlCYkiKHksGmZSDk4Lw==&amp;ch=ZVooo2YRVsSxdN6CxIjYyHMGPkHLYBVf1zkjZEoneF1y2qqImyqpKQ==" target="_blank">Sangwoo Yoo</a>,&nbsp;curated by 2024-26 Curatorial Resident&nbsp;<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://tnxbinhbb.cc.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=0019Zs6dNFjX7qIcYdaZ8XX_Eff-Fb8JzDYn1L2P8gn-uAqJj96CDvdTPyiSucoXInJWbyvp3hen9WHUEPBqkLnXqTii3QuYPGoFsvTxdHMX8p6UdGPwinjxgg5nMUm-YpfNXzCDkT4yLmpxlgFwSITXL5Ww2kSvwlyDyrst5ymPJt1D8zMb9ogadA8-g95cxS2x4s2-hMkNOY=&amp;c=UAse3PA9iSB-4Mj0SuvQGzlKGOWy0Nx2SbKZlCYkiKHksGmZSDk4Lw==&amp;ch=ZVooo2YRVsSxdN6CxIjYyHMGPkHLYBVf1zkjZEoneF1y2qqImyqpKQ==" target="_blank">Francine Almeda</a>. With similar mechanisms and social inquiries at its core,&nbsp;From Its Own Ashes&nbsp;is a duo exhibition that originates from both artists' personal navigation of loss. Yoo recalls encountering a felled Christmas tree in downtown Chicago as a pivotal moment of unexpected sorrow, its fallen form symbolising both the tree’s life giving force and the grief he holds for friends and family lost; Couch embodies a similar mourning for loved ones lost, drawing upon his upbringing within the American Southern and the constraints of western garment design as a metaphor for the destructive forces of systemic oppression. Although influenced by grief, both artists embrace the potentiality of instability. Working across sculpture, scent, video installation, and garments, Yoo and Couch investigate how these processes of loss (both material and spiritual) can become an alchemic, generative site of transformation.

From Its Own Ashes

Goldilocks Moment&nbsp;is a playful yet contemplative exhibition that explores themes in the popular childhood fairy tale such as those moments&nbsp;when things are "just right." How do we find that moment? How do we keep it? What do we do when we lose it?&nbsp;The&nbsp;story changes when the Bears come home and disruption occurs. But who is the intruder in this story?&nbsp; There is a concept in the field of astronomy called the Goldilocks zone, which is the exact distance from the sun where human life is possible.&nbsp;The artists are interested in the Goldilocks Moment as functional folklore and how the concept gets adopted by economists, scientists, and culture makers to describe a kind of moment, the right moment to leave, the moment to stay, the moment of creation, the moment of equilibrium, the “just right” state of being.&nbsp; The artists are a collective of mostly University of Chicago graduates who have collaborated for many years. They have presented their work in unique spaces including the loading dock of a contemporary art museum and a friend’s garage as a drive-through exhibit during covid.&nbsp;Working together for them is an endeavor of joy that represents a Goldilocks Moment. Each of the artists bring these larger questions into a personal realm that they explore through a variety of media. The artists use photos, film, sculptures, painting and performance to wrestle with ideas such as cultural change, how images can illuminate qualities of common experiences, and one’s comfort and identity in society. They realize that even the practice of creating can bring Goldilocks Moments. As one of the artists put it,&nbsp;In the field, my Goldilocks Moment is when I am so much in the moment of making an image, that I can forget having made it or ever having been there. The artists in this exhibition are Anthony Adcock, dado, Marco G. Ferrari, Hannah Givler, Maymay Jumsai, Stacee Kalmanovsky, Paul G. Somers, and Jay Wolke. The Goldilocks Moment&nbsp;opens at SoNa Chicago Contemporary Art on Friday, January 9 from 5-8 p.m. The Reception for the show will be on Friday, January 16 from 6:00 – 9:00 p.m.&nbsp; There will be an Artist Talk on Saturday, January 31 from 2-3:30 pm, where a panel of several of the artists will be interviewed by Molly O’Donnell. SoNa Chicago Contemporary Art is located at 1527 N. Ashland Ave. Regular hours are Fridays 5-7 p.m., Saturdays from 12-4 p.m., and by appointment by calling Laura Botwinick at 773.513.4436 or emailing&nbsp;Lkbotwinick@gmail.com. <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1767477319/hpghdooyyxg16gldj91i.jpg">

Goldilocks Moment Artist Talk

Sights, Seen, and Never Seen&nbsp;explores the imagery found in the urban environment and the representation of urban life that are often ignored or hidden. Among the rush hours and countless telephone poles, we aim to magnify the mundane, to look at the bigger picture, not for what it is, but for what makes it.&nbsp;After Line, Before Form&nbsp;explores the moment when a point becomes a line, and a line transforms into a shape, tracing the liminal spaces between them and the threshold where line gives rise to form—where movement and perception bring form into being. Featuring works by artists from Ukraine, the Ukrainian diaspora, and other international contexts, the exhibition considers geometry as both a physical structure and an imaginative order.Both exhibitions are curated by Students from the&nbsp;School of the Art Institute of Chicago’s Curatorial Practicum Class.&nbsp;The course is led by UIMA’s Curator,&nbsp;Adrienne Kochman, PhD, Lecturer in the Department of Art History, Theory &amp; Criticism at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Each exhibition is comprised from work in the&nbsp;permanent collection at UIMA.

Sights, Seen, and Never Seen

The exhibition showcases Lustig's multifaceted creative force spanning from childhood to the present day. The showcase includes drawing, painting, sculpture, and more. Highlights include her&nbsp;Surreal Tree Paintings, oil works revealing anthropomorphic qualities in nature; Abstract Illusion Paintings, spontaneous landscapes evoking music and motion; and&nbsp;Zofscape, a multimedia installation combining LED light sculptures, animated video, and original music composition.A graduate of California College of the Arts in Oakland, Lustig has built a remarkable career as a caricature artist, ceramic sculptor, mural painter, and puppet maker. Her work reflects the influence of Bay Area underground comics culture and the Chicago Imagist movement, blending whimsy with deeper commentary on contemporary life. Her signature Pop Surrealism style transforms ordinary subjects into dreamlike scenarios that are simultaneously playful and profound. About the artist:&nbsp;Ellen Lustig is a multi-faceted artist and composer working in variousmedia to create her dynamic installations. Ellen’s light sculptures are a fabrication of acrylic etchings enhanced by LEDs and music, producing what feels like an all-immersive voluminous 3d space. Her animation series includes digitally rendered passages that mimic the designs seen in her sculptures and also have the effect of an other-worldly landscape. A graduate of California College of the Arts in Oakland, California, Lustig has spent decades as a caricature artist, ceramic sculptor, mural painter, and puppet maker, creating unique pieces that are sought after nationwide. In addition to numerous one woman and group shows with her sculptures and paintings, she dedicates time by regularly teaching art to cancer patients and their families in hospitals and wellness centers such as Gilda’s Club of Chicago. Ellen can also be found playing blues keyboards at open mic nights in Chicago and the suburbs.Ellen Lustig's paintings are a collection of Pop Surrealism art. Her subject matter is forever transforming as she delves into toys, nature, and abstraction. The imagery in Ellen's paintings is a combination of whimsy, pop and realism. The subjects in her paintings also vary between baby boomer toys in uncanny situations, anthropomorphic trees, or quirky abstractions.Throughout Ellen's paintings including her early work, tree paintings, toy paintings or abstractions, Lustig creates a variety of subjects and styles. Her continuous theme is Pop Surrealism Art.The Pop Surrealism/Lowbrow art movement originated in the 1960's with hot rod culture and underground comics. It has evolved into a vilified, vital, and exciting art movement.Having been schooled in the Bay area for College, Ellen was definitely influenced by the comical area surrounding her. She then moved to Chicago where the Hairy Who and Imagists were prevalent in the art world which also had an effect on her subject matter. Lustig still resides in Chicago where she has made a lifelong career as a multimedia artist. Her work has been shown nationally in galleries and museums along with private collections. About the Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art:&nbsp;The Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art (UIMA) preserves and promotes contemporary art as a shared expression of the Ukrainian and American experience. UIMA develops, utilizes and encourages artistic talent through exhibitions, concerts, readings, lectures and films to serve the cultural needs of our community and city, and thereby strengthen cultural understanding and diversity. <ul><li>Artist Talk: Saturday, January 17, 1–2 pm</li></ul>

Ellen Lustig: Transformations

LIVE AUCTION&nbsp; 4 FEBRUARY 2026 11 AM CT<a style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://wright20.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=50e5c1be866e9aaa28cfec1db&amp;id=ee6236bdfc&amp;e=d509e17cc6" target="_blank">VIEW LOTS &amp; BID</a>

20|21 Art: The Chicago Edition

Oh, you’ve got to come back to the city, the place where you belongOh, you’ve got to come back to the city, the place where you were bornOh, you’ve got to come back to the city, the city of dreams&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;—Marvin Tate, “City Promenade” OH, YOU’VE GOT TO COME BACK TO THE CITY is a solo exhibition by Theaster Gates. This is Gates’s fourth solo exhibition with GRAY.In&nbsp;OH, YOU’VE GOT TO COME BACK TO THE CITY, Gates brings together a new series of tar paintings, sculpture, and installation to tell an allegory of the city in decay and the potential contained within its ruins. The exhibition’s title comes from a song by Chicago musician and poet Marvin Tate, in which the City, personified as a character, has cleaned up its act and attempts to lure its residents back from the suburbs.&nbsp;Gates’s artistic practice has engaged and reframed the cultural and material history of Chicago as material for the studio. His new installation explores the possibilities that lie within the city’s unattended corners. From his stone repository, Gates has selected a family of marble, granite, scholars’ rocks, and concrete forms that anchor a grid-like installation evoking both the planning logic of cities and the quiet order of memorials. Ceramic works and everyday artifacts rest atop each stone, suggesting the remnants left behind by former inhabitants. Surrounding the sculptural installation is a new series of tar paintings that extend Gates’s patching and bonding strategies. Both sculptural and painterly, these works represent a new direction in the series.&nbsp;In this body of work, Gates wrestles with the burden brought on by aging infrastructure to create new narratives that build on the rich metaphors embedded in his materials—as tools of resistance, signs of excess, and evidence of decline. Developed in conjunction with his exhibition&nbsp;Unto Thee, on view at the Smart Museum of Art through February 22, 2026,&nbsp;OH, YOU’VE GOT TO COME BACK TO THE CITY&nbsp;offers a profound reflection on Gate’s life as a craftsman, urban planner, and pedagogue. ABOUT&nbsp;THEASTER GATESTheaster Gates (b. 1973) currently lives and works in Chicago. Gates creates works that engage with space theory and land development, sculpture and performance. Drawing on his interest and training in urban planning and preservation, Gates redeems spaces that have been left behind. Known for his recirculation of art world capital, Gates’s practice focuses on the possibility of the “life within things.” His work contends with the notion of Black space as a formal exercise—one defined by collective desire, artistic agency, and the tactics of a pragmatist.Gates has received numerous awards, including the Guggenheim Fellowship (2025), Crystal Award (2020), Nasher Prize (2018), Kurt Schwitters Prize (2017), American Academy of Arts &amp; Sciences Award (2016), and the Smithsonian American Ingenuity Award for Social Progress (2015). His work can be found in public collections worldwide, including the Menil Collection, Houston, Texas; Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York; National Gallery of Canada, Ontario; Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Illinois; Tate Gallery, London, England; and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, California. Gates is a professor at the University of Chicago in the Department of Visual Arts and the Harris School of Public Policy.

Theaster Gates: OH, YOU'VE GOT TO COME BACK TO THE CITY

Goldilocks Moment&nbsp;is a playful yet contemplative exhibition that explores themes in the popular childhood fairy tale such as those moments&nbsp;when things are "just right." How do we find that moment? How do we keep it? What do we do when we lose it?&nbsp;The&nbsp;story changes when the Bears come home and disruption occurs. But who is the intruder in this story?&nbsp;There is a concept in the field of astronomy called the Goldilocks zone, which is the exact distance from the sun where human life is possible.&nbsp;The artists are interested in the Goldilocks Moment as functional folklore and how the concept gets adopted by economists, scientists, and culture makers to describe a kind of moment, the right moment to leave, the moment to stay, the moment of creation, the moment of equilibrium, the “just right” state of being.&nbsp; The artists are a collective of mostly University of Chicago graduates who have collaborated for many years. They have presented their work in unique spaces including the loading dock of a contemporary art museum and a friend’s garage as a drive-through exhibit during covid.&nbsp;Working together for them is an endeavor of joy that represents a Goldilocks Moment. Each of the artists bring these larger questions into a personal realm that they explore through a variety of media. The artists use photos, film, sculptures, painting and performance to wrestle with ideas such as cultural change, how images can illuminate qualities of common experiences, and one’s comfort and identity in society. They realize that even the practice of creating can bring Goldilocks Moments. As one of the artists put it,&nbsp;In the field, my Goldilocks Moment is when I am so much in the moment of making an image, that I can forget having made it or ever having been there. The artists in this exhibition are Anthony Adcock, dado, Marco G. Ferrari, Hannah Givler, Maymay Jumsai, Stacee Kalmanovsky, Paul G. Somers, and Jay Wolke. The Goldilocks Moment&nbsp;opens at SoNa Chicago Contemporary Art on Friday, January 9 from 5-8 p.m. The Reception for the show will be on Friday, January 16 from 6:00 – 9:00 p.m.&nbsp; There will be an Artist Talk on Saturday, January 31 from 2-3:30 pm, where a panel of several of the artists will be interviewed by Molly O’Donnell. SoNa Chicago Contemporary Art is located at 1527 N. Ashland Ave. Regular hours are Fridays 5-7 p.m., Saturdays from 12-4 p.m., and by appointment by calling Laura Botwinick at 773.513.4436 or emailing&nbsp;Lkbotwinick@gmail.com. <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1767477365/an9e5r9ij21nda7qlafi.jpg">

Goldilocks Moment

Among ongoing programming offered by&nbsp;Intuit&nbsp;is its quarterly&nbsp;IAM Community Days, inviting the public to explore&nbsp;the Museum, learn about the art on view and work with IAM educators to create a work of art while building connections with others.&nbsp;The next IAM Community Day is&nbsp;Saturday, Feb. 7, 11 am-6 pm; museum admission and activities will be free of charge with no reservation needed.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

IAM Community Days

Sale 6454<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://freemansauction.com/auctions/6454-available?page=1&amp;per=48&amp;tab=overview" target="_blank">The Collector's Cabinet</a> Feb 10, 2026&nbsp;10:00AM CT Online / Chicago

The Collector's Cabinet

LIVE AUCTION&nbsp; 12 FEBRUARY 2026 11 AM ET<a style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://wright20.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=50e5c1be866e9aaa28cfec1db&amp;id=cd0b1b22fe&amp;e=d509e17cc6" target="_blank">VIEW LOTS &amp; BID</a>

Photographic Masterworks from an Important Private Collection

Sale 6455<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://freemansauction.com/auctions/6455-available?page=1&amp;per=48&amp;tab=overview" target="_blank">Collect: European Furniture &amp; Decorative Arts</a> Feb 18, 2026&nbsp;10:00AM CT Online / Chicago

Collect: European Furniture & Decorative Arts

Image: Mie Kongo, AFPP No. 13, 2025, Ash flooring planks, oil paint, 19 x 13 x 1 inches, Image credit: Holly Murkerson

Mie Kongo: Straight Lines and Fragments of Elliptical Lines

The conversation with Ivy Wilson, Associate Professor of English at Northwestern University, and John Corbett about Duke Ellington's 1939 U.S. passport&nbsp;has been postponed. Please join us on&nbsp;Saturday, February 21&nbsp;at&nbsp;2pm&nbsp;to dive into this fascinating artifact, the significance of personal documentation in periods of international crisis, and the status of ephemeral material culture in African American history.

In conversation with Ivy Wilson

Work by&nbsp;<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://chicagoartistscoalition.org/artists/reevah-agarwaal" target="_blank">Reevah Agarwaal</a>,&nbsp;<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://chicagoartistscoalition.org/artists/cay-b-mims" target="_blank">Cay Mims</a>, and&nbsp;<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://chicagoartistscoalition.org/artists/nekita-thomas" target="_blank">Nekita Thomas</a>, curated by&nbsp;<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://chicagoartistscoalition.org/artists/sidney-garrett" target="_blank">Sidney Mori Garrett</a>	"what did i see to be except myself?i made it uphere on this bridge betweenstarshine and clay,my one hand holding tightmy other hand; come celebratewith me that everydaysomething has tried to kill meand has failed."– an excerpt from won't you celebrate with me by Lucille CliftonWon't You Celebrate With Me? is an exhibition where artists Reevah Agarwaal, Cay Mims, and Nekita Thomas journey through memory, weaving truth and wonder to investigate what lies beyond the surface.Part personal archive, part apparition, this exhibition explores themes of memory, lineage, and impermanence. Agarwaal, Mims, and Thomas take their past narratives and shape them into new realities, seeking deeper understanding of what may remain unsaid. Together, they question the ways in which we construct and control our own memories.Memory distorts and preserves. Lineage is grounded in continuity. Impermanence unsettles both, reminding us that nothing is immune to loss or change. In this exhibition, memory becomes a reconstruction, lineage becomes invention and impermanence becomes the only constant.This is a celebration of what we make true. ARTIST AND CURATOR BIOSReevah Agarwaal is an artist based in Chicago, IL, born and raised in New Delhi, India. She earned her MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) in 2024. Inspired by the aesthetics of girlhood, her work incorporates feminine palettes and decorative elements in quilts and collages. By reinterpreting childhood photographs, keepsakes, and lived experiences, she delves into themes of adolescence and Indian family dynamics. Utilizing found and inherited textiles, she reframes perceptions of domesticity, womanhood, and identity.Her work has been featured in numerous exhibitions and fairs, including Expo Chicago, The Other Art Fair, FLXST Contemporary, Bridgeport Art Center, and Chicago Art Department. In 2024, she was awarded the New Futures Award from The Other Art Fair and is currently a resident at the Chicago Artists Coalition. <a style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://reevah.weebly.com/" target="_blank">reevah.weebly.com</a><a style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.instagram.com/reev.art/" target="_blank">@reev.art</a>Cay Mims is a Black, queer artist living on the Northside of Chicago. Their primary goal is to synthesize sociological frameworks with their personal experiences. Their work is overwhelmingly concerned with representing themes of displacement, erasure, impermanence and memory. Qualitative and curious, never didactic, and infused with personality; they seek to create moments that are comfortably familiar to some, while amicably informative to others.Cay also is an emerging, independent arts programmer and curator. Placing an emphasis on marginalized artists, they have hosted and supported creative events around the city for the past year. This includes facilitating/moderating a series of artist conversations in conjunction with shows at the German Cultural Center and (formerly) The Martin; curating an emerging artist pop-up at DragonFly Gallery; and hosting a Black Pride Movie Screening at the Logan Theater.Cay graduated in 2021 from Vanderbilt University with a BA in Studio Art and a BA in Sociology. They have shown work in a number of galleries nationally including Space 204, Nashville TN; Dedo Maranville Fine Arts Gallery, Valdosta, FL; Buckham Gallery, Flint, MI; M. G. Nelson Gallery, Springfield, IL; The Bridgeport Art Center, Chicago, IL.<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://caylabmims.wixsite.com/open" target="_blank">caylabmims.wixsite.com</a><a style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.instagram.com/smimbalyac/#" target="_blank">@smimbalyac</a> Nekita Thomas is a multidisciplinary experiential graphic designer, educator, and researcher dedicated to harnessing design for social impact. Her work focuses on the intersection of race, well-being, and urban design, spatializing justice and reimagining the civic role of design in our lives and communities. Bridging graphic design, tactical urbanism, and civic engagement, her research explores design's capacity to strengthen communities, initiate radical imagining, and amplify civic participation through anti-racist placemaking solutions. Thomas's initiatives, including public installations and participatory design workshops, guide communities toward envisioning and actualizing healthier, more inclusive, and just spatial environments and futures.She has presented her work across disciplinary domains on both national and international stages, including venues such as the Krannert Art Museum, the Black in Design Conference at Harvard (BiD), the American Institute of Graphic Arts Design Educators Conference (AIGA), the International Association of Societies of Design Research Conference (IASDR), and artist residencies such as at Ragdale Foundation.<a style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://nekitathomas.com/" target="_blank">nekitathomas.com</a><a style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.instagram.com/joyjects/" target="_blank">@joyjects</a> Sidney Mori Garrett is a Houston, TX born, Chicago, IL based curator, arts administrator, and artist. Her artistic, administrative, and curatorial practice is rooted in her southern mixed-race Black Feminist’s lens of love, mindfulness, and care. She received a Bachelor ofFine Arts in Photography and Digital Media from University of Houston and a Masters of Fine Art in Arts Administration and Policy from the School of Art Institute of Chicago.<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://sidneymori.com/" target="_blank">sidneymori.com</a><a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.instagram.com/sidneymori/" target="_blank">@sidneymori</a> ABOUT CHICAGO ARTISTS COALITIONFounded in 1974, CAC began as a small group of artists advocating for rights, support, and visibility. Currently located in West Town, CAC is a non-profit organization that supports contemporary Chicago artists and curators by offering a&nbsp;residency program, exhibitions, professional development and resources that enable them to live, work and thrive in the city.Chicago Artists Coalition’s mission and programs are funded by City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, Driehaus Foundation, Field Foundation of Illinois, Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, Illinois Arts Council, Terry and Donna King, Nancy Herring and John Balfe, Statsinger Cohen Foundation, and the generosity of our board members and supporters.

Won’t You Celebrate With Me?

Ancestral Futures Curator: Donté K. Hayes Opening Reception: Friday, February 6th, 5-8pm What does it mean to be a good future ancestor? How might today’s personal, cultural, social, and or environmental actions become legacies for those who come after us? This juried exhibition, curated by artist and ceramicist Donté K. Hayes, shows works that meditate on wisdom, intentionality, and the responsibility of shaping a world that extends beyond ourselves. Exhibiting Artists: Emmanuel Kstony Asamoah, Sarah Alsaied, Ronald Beckham, Laurie Buman, Tiffany Carbonneau, Geornica Daniels, Gabriela Espino, Yessenia Gerace, Julia Hechanova, Valerie Huhn, Annick Ibsen, Maya Jackson, Katie Kehoe, Eliot Kim, Jamie Kost, Boneger Oduro Kwarteng, Muyang Li, Hattie Mendoza, Sofia Mac Gregor Oettler, Mel Rosen, Stevia Roxanne, Jaelene Tatum, Max Trumpower, N. Dia Webb

Ancestral Futures

With delight, Corbett vs. Dempsey presents&nbsp;Capo Testa, an exhibition of new sculptures and paintings by Lui Shtini. This is the artist's fourth solo show at CvsD.Inspired by a cape in Sardinia facing the Strait of Bonifacio, which Shtini has visited many times over the last ten years,&nbsp;Capo Testa&nbsp;is both a continuation and a point of departure. Shaped by sea and time, the cape's boulders have captivated Shtini for years, conjuring imaginary environments populated by their own personnages and producing unique narratives. These scenarios, imbued with a kind of beautiful desolation, have prompted a series of new large-scale paintings, two of which are featured here. These works, fastidiously executed on aluminum, continue Shtini's long-term interest in abstract landscape, but where earlier iterations often dealt with saturated color, here color has been evacuated, emphasizing instead line, volume, and composition, as the artist puts it, "making the delivery of the whole as a visual expression more immediate."These large, nearly monochromatic grey-and-white paintings compile and document the artist's observations and emotions, and even contemporary events, culling them into stark posthuman snapshots. Shtini explains: "The compositions aren’t literal depictions of the above but are rather more abstract and open ended. As I am making them, they begin to crystallize as slowly revealed visions. A feeling of urgency pins down these visions in images. The images come together in a fluid and improvisational way, characteristic of my practice."As companions to the paintings, which operate in the space almost like stage sets, Shtini introduces a series of figurative, mask-like sculptures fitted to personally-designed metal mounts, either free-standing or wall-hanging. These sculptures, too, emerged from Shtini's engagement with Sardinian landscape and the country's cultural traditions. Composed of cork, a material abundant in Sardinia and central to the island's culture and economy, they start in a rough state and proceed through a lengthy process of observation, alteration, and refinement, during which the persona inherent in the original material reveals itself by means of cutting, carving, sanding, and layering.Shtini draws on Sardinia's carnival tradition – a pagan celebration deeply rooted in the island's mythology and the interconnectedness of human, animal, and nature. It is important to Shtini, who has always seen cork as a magical material, that these sculptures were created in proximity to the region where the cork used to make them was collected. Working closely with local harvesters to source irregular pieces that match his vision, Shtini has extended the intimate connection between material and place.Shtini's approach to sculpture mirrors his painting practice through improvisational methods and the use of traditional formats – portraiture, landscape, still life, and now the mask. In&nbsp;Capo Testa, for the first time these two worlds, which occupy different dimensions, collide in a haunting evocation where humanity is merely a trace, but the spaces of narrative persist.Lui Shtini,&nbsp;#14,&nbsp;2025,&nbsp;cork, juniper wood, steel,&nbsp;19 x 13 x 8 1/2 inches.

Lui Shtini: Capo Testa

Artists: Andrew Bearnot, Larry Bell, James Collins, Shingo Francis, Kate Joyce, Jan Tichy, Ruth Root and Kim Uchiyama “Colours are the deeds and sufferings of light.”&nbsp;- Goethe&nbsp; SECRIST | BEACH is pleased to present the salon invitational exhibition&nbsp;Luminous Matter.&nbsp;Luminous Matter&nbsp;brings together a group of eight artists that formally and conceptually explore the interconnectedness of color, light, and form. The exhibition includes an intergenerational roster of artists and was curated with the assistance of gallery artists’ Luftwerk.&nbsp;Luminous Matter&nbsp;is presented concurrently with Luftwerk’s debut solo exhibition&nbsp;The Sun Standing Still.&nbsp;These exhibitions will be on view from December 5 through February 14, 2026 at 1801 W. Hubbard St. An opening reception will take place on Friday, December 5 from 5 to 8PM.Luminous Matter&nbsp;is an exhibition that examines the interdependent and generative relationship between three elemental constituents of visual experience: color, light, and form. Each, in isolation, holds an autonomous aesthetic and conceptual presence; yet, in their convergence, they produce the perceptual and emotional conditions through which we apprehend the world. This exhibition proposes that the meeting point of these three tropes — their overlaps, tensions, and dissolutions — can offer a renewed lens through which to consider the nature of perception itself.While color, light, and form have historically served as fundamental building blocks of visual art, they also occupy complex theoretical terrain. Goethe’s assertion that “colours are the deeds and sufferings of light” provides an entry point into this dialogue: color emerges not merely as a surface attribute, but as an event — a manifestation of interaction, time, and transformation. Light, meanwhile, becomes both a material and a metaphor, shaping visibility and revealing the interstitial boundaries between presence and absence. Form, often regarded as static or structural, is here treated as fluid and responsive, contingent upon the oscillations of both light and color.In this exhibition, these three forces are explored not as fixed categories but as active agents of experience. They are seen as participants in an ongoing exchange between the physical and the psychological, the empirical and the affective. The works assembled for&nbsp;Luminous Matter&nbsp;engage with this exchange through a range of media — from painting and installation to light-based and spatial practices — each probing how visual phenomena can evoke states of emotion, cognition, and embodied perception.At its conceptual core,&nbsp;Luminous Matter&nbsp;contends that perception is never neutral. It is conditioned by memory, by emotion, and by cultural systems of meaning. The exhibition therefore foregrounds the socio-emotional register of perception: how color can serve as a proxy for mood or identity; how light, in its absence or excess, can structure both social and psychic space; and how form operates as a vessel for the unseen forces of attention, gesture, and time. These investigations bridge the rational and the intuitive, inviting viewers to inhabit a space where vision becomes a mode of introspection.In dialogue with this group presentation, a solo exhibition by the Chicago-based artist collaborative&nbsp;Luftwerk&nbsp;(Petra Bachmaier and Sean Gallero) expands the conversation into an immersive field of light and spatial perception. Known for their site-responsive installations that manipulate color and luminosity to alter architectural experience, Luftwerk’s practice offers a vivid articulation of the exhibition’s central inquiry: how light not only illuminates but transforms — both materially and psychologically.Situated within the gallery’s newly expanded 10,000-square-foot space,&nbsp;Luminous Matter&nbsp;is conceived as an experiential continuum rather than a static arrangement. Viewers are invited to navigate a choreography of light, hue, and shape that evolves with each movement and glance. This mutable environment underscores the exhibition’s central thesis: that meaning is not located solely in the object, but in the relational encounter between viewer, artwork, and environment.Ultimately,&nbsp;Luminous Matter&nbsp;seeks to reactivate our sensitivity to the subtle transactions that occur at the thresholds of perception. In an era saturated by digital imagery and artificial illumination, this exhibition returns to the primal forces of color, light, and form — not as mere formal devices, but as conduits of human experience, capable of evoking wonder, reflection, and the quiet rediscovery of seeing itself.

Luminous Matter

Lines Roar&nbsp;(2018) was created by the artist Ellen Berkenblit in collaboration with directors Mónica Brand and Francisco Lopez of Mogollon (Brooklyn). Intermingling footage recorded by the artist in her studio and home, as well as photographs of her family and others taken by her father, the film gives a glimpse into the intersection of Berkenblit’s life and work, an intimate examination of what drives the artist’s practice. Original Score by Zeena Parkins; Zeena Parkins: Harps/Electronics/Tuning Forks; Ikue Mori: Electronics.This film was commissioned by The Drawing Center and co-produced by Anton Kern Gallery.

Ellen Berkenblit: Lines Roar

Corbett vs. Dempsey is thrilled to present&nbsp;Brian Calvin, Maureen Gallace, Diane Simpson, featuring work by each of the three artists. Calvin and Simpson are CvsD artists and have exhibited extensively with the gallery; this is CvsD’s first exhibition with Gallace and her first commercial presentation in Chicago.Quiet intensity. Methodical investigation. Attention to the meaning of materials, the signifying power of the slightest detail, and the rewards of deep observation and thoughtful consideration. Calvin, Gallace, and Simpson do not make work that looks like one another’s. Simpson is a sculptor; Gallace and Calvin are very distinct painters. But a core crossover connects them: the unwavering dedication to what their work might reveal. One might think of composer Morton Feldman or guitarist John Fahey or painter Giorgio Morandi, all of whom spent their artistic lives digging rather than ranging. Or composer Igor Stravinsky: “The more constraints one imposes, the more one frees oneself of the chains that shackle the spirit.”The exhibition came together organically. CvsD invited Calvin, who in turn invited two of his favorite artists, one based in Chicago (Simpson), one in New York (Gallace). As the show came together, Calvin’s logic unfolded. Where on first blush his bold, graphically complex portraits might seem distant from Gallace’s sumptuous, softly palleted, gesturally rich landscapes and seascapes, in fact both artists are masters of facture, their sights trained on the riches revealed by a focused practice. Likewise, Simpson has spent five decades unpacking and retooling the way objects meet the eye, with her unique approach to visual perspective and her precise deployment and détournement of commonly available materials.In&nbsp;Brian Calvin, Maureen Gallace, Diane Simpson, CvsD presents five works by Gallace, three of them immaculate beach scenes on paper and two paintings on board – a diaphanous house portrait in a spectrum of blue hues and a vivid image of flowers seen at close range. Calvin’s contributions include an imposing vanitas tondo in which the circle of the canvas is echoed by a bright pink hand-mirror, portraits with multiple figures sharing facial features, and several modestly scaled works painted on ceramic substrates. Simpson is represented by two classic, free-standing sculptures, both of which utilize fiberboard in the creation of wondrous works inspired by women’s clothing.Brian Calvin,&nbsp;Another Happy Hour,&nbsp;2025, acrylic on linen, 27 1/2 x 23 1/2 inches

Brian Calvin, Maureen Gallace, Diane Simpson

this morning there was&nbsp;light,tomorrow morning there&nbsp;will be light,but where is light?&nbsp;&nbsp;- Etel Adnan SECRIST | BEACH is pleased to announce our representation of, and the debut solo presentation for, Chicago-based artist collaborative&nbsp;Luftwerk.&nbsp;Titled&nbsp;The Sun Standing Still, this&nbsp;exhibition features a suite of new sculptures, wall reliefs, and a site-specific installation by Luftwerk that investigate the dynamic interplay between sunlight and the Earth’s revolution. This exhibition is presented concurrently with&nbsp;Luminous Matter, an invitational survey co-organized with Luftwerk and featuring 8 artists. Both exhibitions open Friday, December 5 from 5–8 PM and remain on view through February 14, 2026.The time before and after daylight, when everything appears muted yet quietly spectacular, reveals a distinct and transitory palette. Capturing the fleeting and subjective perception of light and atmosphere, the works on view in&nbsp;The Sun Standing Still&nbsp;explore how color, devoid of literal representation, can evoke emotional and sensory responses. Fittingly, the exhibition dates include December 21, better known as the Winter Solstice, or the first day of winter. This is the day when the Northern Hemisphere is tilted farthest from the sun, resulting in the shortest period of daylight and the longest night of the year.&nbsp;Beyond its astronomical importance, this day also marks the culturally symbolic rebirth of the sun: a renewal imbued with hope, resilience, and the cyclical rhythm of time.Expanding upon their ongoing investigations into the relationship between perception, space, and light, Luftwerk draws conceptual parallels to Claude Monet’s 1872 painting&nbsp;Impression, soleil levant&nbsp;(Impression, Sunrise), the work that gave name to Impressionism. Just as Monet sought to capture the immediacy of light, Luftwerk transforms that fleeting energy into sculptural and immersive forms, translating light itself into color and vibration.The Sun Standing Still&nbsp;features a range of sculptural objects and a large-scale installation that together create a harmonious, meditative environment. With a focus on heightened perception, color, light, and form become the primary materials shaping an experience that unfolds through the viewer’s movement. This reciprocal interaction—light cast as color onto form—reveals a complex dialogue between energy and perception. Filtered through the celestial rhythm of the sun’s path, Luftwerk’s phenomenological approach opens a space for reflection, renewal, and tangible meaning. Luftwerk&nbsp;(Petra Bachmaier and Sean Gallero, lives and works in Chicago) have exhibited broadly at institutions including: Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago, IL; Fosdick-Nelson Gallery, Alfred University, Alfred, NY; Cheekwood Estate &amp; Gardens, Nashville, TN; Mattress Factory, Pittsburgh, PA; Museum für Gestaltung, Zürich; Arts Club of Chicago, Chicago, IL and Garfield Park Conservatory, Chicago, IL. Throughout their practice, Luftwerk has develop a robust portfolio of projects that engage with notable modern and contemporary architecture including: Jay Pritzker Pavilion, Chicago, IL by Gehry Partners;&nbsp;Barcelona Pavilion, Barcelona and Farnsworth House, Plano, IL by Mies van der Rohe; Ford Residence, Aurora, IL by Bruce Goff; Millennium Park, Chicago, IL by SOM; Fallingwater, Mill Run, PA and Robie House, Chicago, IL by Frank Lloyd Wright; and Netsch Residence, Chicago, IL by Walter Netsch. The artists have realized numerous large-scale permanent public and private commissions in Atlanta, Calgary, Charlotte, Chicago, Harare, Tampa, and Kansas City. They have received numerous awards, including project awards from the AIA Chicago, Graham Foundation, and the Illinois Arts Council. Their work is in several public and private collections including the Public Art collections of Chicago and Fulton County, Museum Buchheim, USF Institute for Research in Art.&nbsp;Their work has been featured in publications such as Artforum, Hyperallergic, Time Magazine, The New Yorker.&nbsp; Adnan, Etel.&nbsp;Journey to Mount Tamalpais, 1986. The Post-Apollo Press.

Luftwerk: The Sun Standing Still

Jackson Junge Gallery is starting off their 2026 season with&nbsp;I’M FINE, a solo exhibition featuring 14 paintings by in-house artist, Sam Arnold.&nbsp;I’M FINE&nbsp;is an introspective art exhibition reflecting on the unique intersection of health and creative expression. The show is a documentation of Arnold’s health journey, exploring whether her artwork reflects the intensity of what she’s going through, or if she’s simply become really good at masking pain. Most people don’t realize Arnold’s work is deeply personal—they just see “happy paintings.” But each one is her way of escaping, of traveling when she physically can’t.&nbsp;I’M FINE&nbsp;offers a window into the evolving landscape of Arnolds’s internal and external world.<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://oh4nipbab.cc.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001MdeqxSD7AhgGMdktnwgKJPU-3V_0ViuYEk-SzxrfkajRROBC20V3ontPTyx0ok9mVgDH5bPvF32O2VgqEbyP8D13gnrNxGHKNdu8Q7yN3nwubnI3ZZ9QNSvuvzxfL8lLw_GiSBOtfWqj0TDW7l-FeJfIbSi2339AJB2y-N_exhk=&amp;c=D18LkDeXhS-Hwtppn61l8orMZ4WQuLRgmjvo_vIAwX9jITqNv3kMEQ==&amp;ch=D3sVuegGAaBng0ApsfdabTWRauvxwWpyTmcZ_NBY5EzclnmQznMQDg==" target="_blank">Viewers of Sam Arnold’s bright work may be surprised to learn that the artist’s life has been chronic pain and PTSD for 14 years. For Arnold, illness is a full-time job - juggling appointments, insurance, treatment research, and just getting through the day. She reports having 220 doctors appointments last year and taking 28 pills a day. There’s always been a contrast between Arnold’s bright and colorful artwork, and the dark things going on. Previously, she has let people form their own ideas about her art without revealing this. But this is Arnold’s life. She makes decisions every day regarding how illness impacts her, that most people don’t have to think about. For years, she has wanted to challenge herself to be more open and vulnerable and to make her pain more obvious in her work instead of masking and saying “I’m Fine”.</a><a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://oh4nipbab.cc.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001MdeqxSD7AhgGMdktnwgKJPU-3V_0ViuYEk-SzxrfkajRROBC20V3ontPTyx0ok9mVgDH5bPvF32O2VgqEbyP8D13gnrNxGHKNdu8Q7yN3nwubnI3ZZ9QNSvuvzxfL8lLw_GiSBOtfWqj0TDW7l-FeJfIbSi2339AJB2y-N_exhk=&amp;c=D18LkDeXhS-Hwtppn61l8orMZ4WQuLRgmjvo_vIAwX9jITqNv3kMEQ==&amp;ch=D3sVuegGAaBng0ApsfdabTWRauvxwWpyTmcZ_NBY5EzclnmQznMQDg==" target="_blank">September 2024 presented a unique opportunity for Arnold. The prospect of starting a new pain management treatment inspired the artist to record her upcoming medical journey through painting.&nbsp;</a>I’M FINE&nbsp;is a journal of Arnold’s year, each painting a monthly entry. The first, “September 2024”, pictures a bright blue and green coastal landscape, representative of Arnold’s optimism before starting a new treatment that her quality of life would improve. Unfortunately, Arnold would undergo an extremely adverse reaction and be forced to change her plans. Going from one treatment to another is no unfamiliar experience for someone with chronic illness. Arnold thus decided it was natural to continue documenting her experiences. “November 2024” saw experimentation with another failed treatment plan reflected in the month’s painting. A bold landscape with golden yellow fields speckled by green trees and a cool blue river running through. Intense pink lines break up the river, literal illustrations of pain running through Arnold’s body. Six months of surgery followed.Sam Arnold would spend most of the past year focusing on both her physical and mental health while creating art about it - chronicling multiple procedures, surgeries, med changes, and weekly sessions with both a therapist and psychologist. Arnold wanted to work true to her changing feelings through the year. Every month she would put away her other paintings, so they didn’t influence each other. “February 2025” sees a stark evolution to an abstract style different from the more representational works of the previous 5 months, which becomes even more jarring in “March 2025”, a green painting streaked with aggressive yellow and red smears which Arnold explains as a manifestation of her anger this month towards her increasing medical issues. March is the only painting missing Arnold’s meticulous black outlining iconic to her work. Arnold shared how difficult it was not to return to the painting and “finish” it with her outline, but she resisted to stay true to March’s emotions.Pain is a common theme for Sam Arnold living with chronic illness, and extensively represented in her work the past year. Grief is another type of pain that Arnold sadly portrays, experiencing the loss of two family members in January and July. Amongst all the vulnerability Arnold shows in&nbsp;I’M FINE, she’s described the paintings from these two months as being the most deeply personal. “January 2025” paints an aerial map of the broken bridge between Florida and Sanibel Island in intense shades of teal and navy. A devastating hurricane destroyed the bridge and Arnold’s family property on the island. The visual of the broken bridge represents Arnold’s inability to visit the place most cherished by her lost family member, keeping her from them, and symbolic of the pain of their passing.Another unique aspect of&nbsp;I’M FINE&nbsp;is the participation of the artist’s therapist, who has agreed to write a few phrases describing the artist’s mental state after sessions from September 2024 to September 2025. Arnold has not seen these notes, but they will be revealed at the opening of her exhibition, which she has said is “terrifying and vulnerable, but also feels incredibly important.”&nbsp;I’M FINE&nbsp;has been an experiment to see if Arnold’s paintings reflect what she has going on, or if she has continued to mask her pain within her bright work. Arnold has found some pieces more outwardly reflective of her pain than usual, especially those with decaying figures like the decomposing Elmo plushie being overtaken by leaves in “December 2024” or the degraded baby doll in “June 2025”. However, other pieces still feel like they conceal Arnold’s pain such as the finale, “September 2025”. She imagined the last piece as being a joyful conclusion to a year of successful treatments, but instead Arnold frustratingly feels she is in the same place she was a year ago. So even if the colorful landscape of September does feel joyful, it is only because Arnold has returned to masking pain in her art. Creating&nbsp;I’M FINE&nbsp;may not have been as cathartic as Arnold hoped, in fact it was hard and uncomfortable, but she still believes that hard things are worth trying.Arnold hopes that her artwork will contribute to the conversation on mental health. From her art, you may discover that you don’t always know what is going on in people’s lives. People may not outwardly admit to their feelings, even an honest person like Arnold unintentionally hides her pain in her upbeat demeanor. View her meaningful exhibition,&nbsp;I’M FINE, at Jackson Junge Gallery January 12th&nbsp;– March 1st, 2026. The gallery will be holding the exhibition’s opening reception on Friday, January 16th, from 6pm - 9pm, free and open to the public. It is curated by Owner Chris Jackson, Gallery Director Kaitlyn Miller and Assistant Gallery Director Kristen Arcus.

I'm Fine

In commemoration of PATRON’s 10th anniversary, we are proud to announce a group exhibition, a person chosen, named, or honored… titled after the Webster’s Dictionary definition of a “patron.” On view from January 24 through March 7, 2026, the exhibition celebrates the collector/artist/gallery relationships which have been formative for the growth and prosperity of the gallery, and reflective of the strength and vibrancy of the Chicago arts community at large. Uniting nearly one hundred key artworks acquired from PATRON over the past ten years, the exhibition is intended to acknowledge the growth of individual artist’s practices, and act as a time capsule of the exhibitions, projects, and conversations that marked the last decade. a person chosen, named, or honored… celebrates the individuals, and networks of Chicago that have shaped our history, our present, and our future.

a person chosen, named, or honored...

Antonius-Tín&nbsp;Bui&nbsp;(they/them) is a multidisciplinary artist whose work traverses the realms of hand-cut paper, community engagement, performance, and soft sculpture to visualize hybrid identities or histories that confront the unsettling present. Bui’s hybridized identity as a queer, genderfluid, and Vietnamese American informs the way they employ beauty as a refuge for fellow marginalized communities. Their intensive paper-cutting process is exceptionally meditative; each sheet of paper&nbsp;represents&nbsp;an archive of memories and oral histories, mirroring the intergenerational trauma that so many refugee communities are faced with. Through their rigorous and reductive process, they deconstruct the white canvas, metaphorically carving out space for the narratives that are so often omitted from recognized histories.&nbsp; Bui (b.1992, Bronx, NY) received their BFA from Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD. Bui has had recent solo exhibitions at&nbsp;Various Small Fires, Dallas, TX (2024);&nbsp;moniquemeloche,&nbsp;Chicago, IL (2023);&nbsp;Hudson D. Walker Gallery, Provincetown, MA (2020);&nbsp;Laband&nbsp;Art Gallery, LMU, Los Angeles, CA (2019); Lawndale Art Center, Houston, TX (2018).&nbsp;Bui’s work has been presented in group exhibitions at&nbsp;the&nbsp;National Portrait Gallery, Washington D.C.;&nbsp;Portland State University, OR; The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery, Saratoga Springs, NY; Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, NC; Orange County Center for Contemporary Art, Sacramento, CA; Picker Art Gallery,&nbsp;Colgate University,&nbsp;Hamilton, NY;&nbsp;the&nbsp;McNay Art Museum, San Antonio, TX; Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts, New York, NY; USC Pacific Asia Museum, Pasadena, CA; Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, Houston, TX; Blaffer Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, TX; among others. Bui will present a solo exhibition at&nbsp;moniquemeloche&nbsp;in 2026.&nbsp; Public collections include the&nbsp;Mint Museum, Charlotte, NC;&nbsp;University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor, MI; New York Historical Society, New York, NY;&nbsp;BMO Harris Bank Corporate Art Collection, Chicago, IL; Bank of America Art Program, Newark, DE; JP Morgan Chase Art Collection, New York, NY;&nbsp;Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation, Portland, OR; Eaton Workshop, Washington D.C.; Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts, Little Rock, AR; Wesley Theological Seminary, Washington D.C.; and the Pennsylvania College of Art &amp; Design, Lancaster, PA.&nbsp;They are a recipient of The&nbsp;Outwin&nbsp;Boochever&nbsp;Prize (2021) and MICA Alumni Grant (2018). Bui is a fellow of the 2022&nbsp;Queer|Art|Mentorship&nbsp;program, and has received additional fellowships from MASS MoCA&nbsp;(2025);&nbsp;Golden Foundation, New Berlin, NY (2024);&nbsp;James Castle House, Boise, ID (2022); Kimmel Nelson Center for the Arts, Nebraska City, NE (2022); Fine Arts Work Center, Provincetown, MA (2019); Yaddo, Saratoga Springs, NY (2024,&nbsp;2019); The Growlery, San Francisco, CA (2019); and Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, Houston, TX (2018). Bui lives and works in&nbsp;Chicago, IL.&nbsp;&nbsp;

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