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

Elevated: Art Via Chicago Wright and Toomey &amp; Co. / ChicagoAuction 18 June 2025 Interested in selling works in this sale?&nbsp;<a style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="mailto:consign@wright20.com" target="_blank">Contact us today</a>&nbsp;for a free evaluation! <a style="color: rgb(67, 90, 255);" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.wright20.com/elevated-art-via-chicago" target="_blank">information</a> Wright and Toomey &amp; Co. are proud to offer the only auctions dedicated to exploring and supporting the legacy of Chicago art.&nbsp;Elevated: Art Via Chicago&nbsp;features 20th century art from important Chicago collections with an emphasis on artists and movements that have shaped the Chicago art world over the last 100 years, such as the&nbsp;Chicago Imagists,&nbsp;Hairy Who?,&nbsp;Monster Roster, and&nbsp;Chicago Modernists. The sale includes highlights by&nbsp;Gertrude Abercrombie,&nbsp;Karl Wirsum,&nbsp;Miyoko Ito,&nbsp;Richard Hunt,&nbsp;Ed Paschke,&nbsp;Robert Lostutter,&nbsp;Joseph Yoakum,&nbsp;Ruth Duckworth,&nbsp;Ivan Albright, and many others.

Elevated: Art Via Chicago

SECRIST | BEACH is&nbsp;pleased to announce the exhibition&nbsp;Master Class: Inside the Last American Museum School with SAIC Painting Alumni.&nbsp;Master Class&nbsp;brings together artworks by over 60 former and current students who studied in the Painting and Drawing Department of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) between the years 2000 and 2025. This exhibition, on view from April 19 through June 21, 2025 at SECRIST | BEACH in Chicago, is guest-curated by art historian, Chair of the Department of Painting and Drawing and current faculty member Lisa Wainwright along with SAIC President Emerita, Elissa Tenny. The gallery will host an opening reception for the public on Saturday, April 19 from 5-8PM.&nbsp;In 1866 a group of 35 artists founded the Chicago Academy of Design. Their mandate was to create a free school to study “life” and “antique” drawing and to run a gallery space alongside the school. The building the original gallery space occupied was lost in the Great Chicago fire of 1871, but by 1879 a new gallery space, with the support of new board members, was born and renamed the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts. In 1882, that name was changed to&nbsp;what we know as&nbsp;the Art Institute of Chicago. Since that time, the School and the Art Institute have grown into a symbiotic dynamic that has&nbsp;greatly impacted both the Chicago scene and the larger art world&nbsp;in myriad ways.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;On the eve of its 160th anniversary, and little known to many, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago is the last 'Museum School' in North America. In celebration of this achievement,&nbsp;Master Class&nbsp;dives into the close connection between the museum and the alums of its renowned Painting and Drawing Department from the last 25 years. On view in the gallery will be an artwork by each of the artists selected, taking up the entirety of the gallery’s 10,000 sq. ft. space. In addition to their own artwork, each artist has been asked to identify an artist and a work of theirs from the collection of the Art Institute. Didactics and a video presentation on view in our salon room will guide viewers to those works in the collection.&nbsp;&nbsp;Curating this exhibition has reminded us - and will express to viewers - the integral and generative link between the school and the museum, highlighting the long histories of public collections and art-making in Chicago. Some of the connections between the artwork on view and their chosen Art Institute collection include a Tony Lewis drawing and Stuart Davis’&nbsp;Ready-to-Wear&nbsp;(1955), Jeffly Gabriela Molina’s painting with Agnes Martin’s&nbsp;Untitled No. 12&nbsp;(1977), Minami Kobayashi’s painting and Pierre Bonnard’s&nbsp;Earthly Paradise&nbsp;(1916-1920).What becomes apparent in&nbsp;Master Class&nbsp;is the indelible impact these master artworks have provided for two and a half decades of art students. Contextually, placing these works into close proximities allows the viewer to comprehend the role a museum has in the cognitive&nbsp;and technical&nbsp;development&nbsp;of artists. Ultimately, the engaging&nbsp;pairings provide&nbsp;insight into the role of looking,&nbsp;sensorial consciousness,&nbsp;historical mapping,&nbsp;institutional awareness and other more surprising discoveries.&nbsp;This exhibition serves as a&nbsp;tangible experience for anyone interested in art history and pedagogy. CATALOGUE:&nbsp;In recognition of the importance of this monumental exhibition, SECRIST | BEACH is developing a comprehensive catalogue that will provide valuable insight regarding&nbsp;Master Class.&nbsp;Many&nbsp;participating artists&nbsp;have&nbsp;provided their own writing in which they expound on their experience as a student, their relationship with SAIC and why the master artwork they chose was impactful. A cadre of art historians, critics and academics connected to SAIC will also be contributing essays that focus on individual artists and their inspiration. Additionally, art historian and co-curator of&nbsp;Master Class&nbsp;Lisa Wainwright and artist and SAIC&nbsp;Crown Family&nbsp;professor Michelle Grabner will contribute introductory essays diving into the history of the relationship between the School and the Institute,&nbsp;and the placement of twenty-five years of production in the context of contemporary art. SCHOLARSHIP:At the conclusion of&nbsp;Master Class, Carrie Secrist and Bill Beach will be presenting a gift to The School of the Art Institute to support future students and their endeavors in learning.&nbsp; Artists featured in&nbsp;Master Class&nbsp;include:Lindsay Adams, Noelle Africh, Luke Agada, Alberto Aguilar, Latifa Alajlan, Cecilia Beaven, Aviv Benn, Samantha Bittman, Elijah Burgher, Robert Burnier, Nik Cho, Alex Bradley Cohen, Jeane Cohen, Paula Crown, Chelsea Culprit, Tavin Davis, Dana DeGiulio, Austin Eddy, Stephen Eichhorn, Peter Fagundo, Nicola Florimbi, Howard Fonda, Jae Ford, Jonathan Gardner, Magalie Guérin, Antonia Gurkovska, Efrat Hakimi, Andrew Holmquist, Mika Horibuchi, Patrick Dean Hubbell, Steven Husby, Omair Hussain, G.D. Johnson, James Kao, Em Kettner, Minami Kobayashi,&nbsp;Meredith Kopelman,&nbsp;David Leggett, Tony Lewis, MJ Lounsberry, Wangari Mathenge, Kristoffer McAfee,&nbsp;Rodney McMillian, Isabella Mellado, Emily Miller, Jeffly Gabriela Molina, Aliza Nisenbaum, Angel Otero, Ruth Poor, Kaveri Raina, Autumn Ramsey, Celeste Rapone, Josh Reames,&nbsp;Clare Rojas, Sterling Ruby, Charlotte Saylor, Claire Sherman,&nbsp;Sumakshi Singh, Cameron Spratley, Keer Tanchak, Sebastian Thomas, Alice Tippit, Orkideh Torabi, Pedro Trueba, Cody Tumblin, Omar Velázquez, Jonathan Worcester, Hiejin Yoo and Molly Zuckerman-Hartung.

Master Class: Inside the Last American Museum School with SAIC Painting Alumni 

The Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art (UIMA) announces its highly anticipated Annual Benefit Gala, taking place Saturday, June 21, 2025, at the Institute's historic location. This elegant evening of art, culture, and community will feature a special live performance by the renowned Telnyuk Sisters, direct from Kyiv.The gala begins with cocktails at 6:00 PM, followed by the main program at 7:00 PM. Guests will enjoy an unforgettable evening that celebrates Ukrainian artistic heritage while supporting UIMA's vital mission of preserving and promoting Ukrainian art and culture. Event Highlights Include:Live Performance: The legendary Telnyuk Sisters will perform exclusively for gala attendees, bringing their celebrated artistry directly from Ukraine's capitalSilent Auction: Guests will have the opportunity to bid on unique artworks and one-of-a-kind piecesSpecial Surprises: The evening promises unexpected moments and magical experiences throughout the nightPremium Refreshments: Delicious drinks provided by Revolution Brewery will complement the sophisticated atmosphere The Annual Benefit Gala serves as a crucial fundraising event for UIMA, with proceeds supporting the Institute's ongoing efforts to preserve Ukrainian artistic traditions, showcase contemporary Ukrainian artists, and educate the public about Ukraine's rich cultural heritage.Attendees are encouraged to dress elegantly for this sophisticated evening. The event provides an excellent opportunity for art enthusiasts, cultural supporters, and community members to come together in celebration while making a meaningful impact.Sponsorship opportunities are available for businesses and individuals interested in supporting UIMA's mission at a higher level. Date: Saturday, June 21, 2025Time: Cocktails at 6:00 PM, Program at 7:00 PM Location: Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art, ChicagoDress Code: Elegant attire For ticket information, sponsorship opportunities, or additional details about the Annual Benefit Gala, please visit&nbsp;https://uima-chicago.org/gala 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.

The UIMA Benefit Gala

Image: Willie Kohler, Keep On Rowing, 2024, oil on canvas, 52 x 48 inches

 Willie Kohler: There Are Many Nows 

Curator: Fiona CashellCall for art: <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.arcgallery.org/calls-for-entry-archive/call-for-entries-home" target="_blank">https://www.arcgallery.org/calls-for-entry-archive/call-for-entries-home</a>

HOME

<h3>Essential Design</h3> Wright / Chicago Auction 24 June 2025Interested in selling works in this sale?&nbsp;<a style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="mailto:consign@wright20.com" target="_blank">Contact us today</a>&nbsp;for a free evaluation! <a style="color: rgb(67, 90, 255);" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.wright20.com/essential-design" target="_blank">information</a> Multiple times a year,&nbsp;Essential Design&nbsp;brings an exciting mix of our favorite designs to auction. From classic mid-century works&nbsp;to innovative&nbsp;contemporary pieces, the collection travels the globe to present&nbsp;works&nbsp;at a variety of price points to add something special to any interior.

Essential Design

For Dear Life grapples with and makes light of the perils of daily life. Inspiration is derived from domestic spaces—a space that can be hauntingly dull as well as safe and protective. I look for comparisons and rely on the uncanny, such as a flushed baby swing mechanism moving a broom to sweep the floor, referencing the monotony and ingenuity of motherhood. Many of the domestic structures are stressed or bent, referencing strain of one in a supporting role; however, in their altered form, they become visible and accomplish new feats, such as a shelf standing up on its own. I translate the push and pull of my own experience through tethered movements, contingent forms, reaching objects, and broom bristles. The absurd hints toward the profound while acknowledging struggle. <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.arcgallery.org/exhibitions-archive/lisa-walcott" target="_blank">https://www.arcgallery.org/exhibitions-archive/lisa-walcott</a>

Lisa Walcott: For Dear Life

I paint my experiences of the world and its inhabitants with color, composition and texture through a filter rooted in memory&nbsp;and the echo of emotional characteristics related to those individuals alongside past events, situations and relationships. I explore and decipher how those interactions have shaped my life and have contributed to my personal growth and how my understanding informs my everyday actions. “Affect the Effect” is a series of paintings that act as a direct reflection of my experiences and my desire to share the truth about the power we possess to overcome doubt and express ourselves in ways that&nbsp;are both&nbsp;unique and universal at the same time. We are the creator and we truly can “Affect the Effect” in and of our lives and sculpt them into that which we desire. <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.arcgallery.org/exhibitions-archive/margaret-archambault" target="_blank">https://www.arcgallery.org/exhibitions-archive/margaret-archambault</a>

Margaret Archambault:  Affect the Effect

Wednesday, June 25, 12pm<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.facebook.com/events/1717388905819832" target="_blank">https://www.facebook.com/events/1717388905819832</a>

HOME Virtual Curator Talk: Fiona Cashell

GRAY is pleased to announce&nbsp;Apparitions,&nbsp;presenting the work of over twenty pioneering artists from across the last century whose interrogations of the human form and its fleeting presence have pushed boundaries of representation. Whether by dematerializing the body, imagining spirits, or making mirages, artists conjure a hallucinatory realm—a liminal space between what appears and what vanishes. Exhibited artists include Magdalena Abakanowicz, Huma Bhabha, McArthur Binion, Roger Brown, Jean Dubuffet, Alberto Giacometti, Ewan Gibbs, Ann Hamilton, Reggie Burrows Hodges, Rashid Johnson, Alex Katz, David Klamen, Jim Lutes, Ana Mendieta, Sandra Mujinga, Trevor Paglen, Naudline Pierre, Jaume Plensa, Susan Rothenberg, Mira Schor, Evelyn Statsinger, John Storrs, Kara Walker, and Wilmer Wilson IV. Apparitions&nbsp;will be on view at GRAY Chicago (2044 W. Carroll Ave.) from April 25 through June 27, 2025. The exhibition will open with a reception 6–8PM on Friday, April 25. Image: Kara Walker,&nbsp;Ten Opaque Micro-regressions, 2023. Courtesy of the artist and Sikkema Malloy Jenkins, New York

Apparitions

Born in Mexico, but raised in Colombia, Stinkfish has been honing his skills on the streets of his hometown of Bogota since an early age. He first experimented with stencils in 2003 and has since perfected his own, unique style. His murals always have a stenciled portrait at their center. These portraits are taken from photos that the artist shoots during his travels around the world. They are faces that catch his eye, but not people he approaches and talks to. Another source is found photographs; either discovered lying on the streets or bought at flea markets. He fashions large format stencils based on these photographs, which on the street are then amended by impromptu, colorful halos.

Stinkfish: Prickly portraits of a fragmented world

Jackson Junge Gallery presents&nbsp;RURAL, a mini exhibition featuring the artwork of Chicago-based artist&nbsp;<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://j2gallery.com/about/artists/pedro-igrez/" target="_blank">Pedro Igrez</a>. Known for his mixed media work using found objects and raw materials, Igrez has created an incredible new collection for&nbsp;RURAL&nbsp;that focuses on capturing the spirit of a rural landscape.The series of pieces featured in&nbsp;RURAL&nbsp;were created to invoke feelings of being immersed in the countryside, dwelling in a world where one is surrounded by both immense pastures and golden fields of grains. By adding natural elements to canvases of earth tones, Igrez attempts to recreate the beauty of pastoral poetry into physical form.&nbsp;RURAL&nbsp;provides a moment of peaceful reflection as it gives the viewer space to imagine themselves alone in the expansive, quiet world Igrez has created.Join us Friday, June 6th, 6-9pm for an opening reception for&nbsp;RURAL&nbsp;which will coincide with Wicker Park Bucktown’s monthly art walk, First Fridays. Refreshments will be provided. The event is free and open to the public. The exhibition will be on view June 2nd&nbsp;through June 29th, 2025. RURAL is curated by Gallery Director Kaitlyn Miller and Gallery Assistant Maddie Kirmse.﻿

RURAL

I'm pleased to invite you to&nbsp;Symbiotic Struggles: Lichen and Coral, a new exhibition featuring paintings by Margot McMahon and Sandra Wilcoxon that explores the fascinating parallels between two of nature's most remarkable symbiotic organisms. We'd be delighted if you could join us for the opening reception on Saturday, April 19, from 12:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art. The exhibition runs through June 29, 2025. Image: Sandra K. Wilcoxon,&nbsp;Fringed Rosette Lichen 2, 2025, Physcia stellaris, Candelaria concolor,&nbsp;Hyperphyscia adglutinata, 12 x 15 in. framed, Watercolor&nbsp;

Symbiotic Struggles: Lichen and Coral

<a style="color: rgb(70, 120, 134);" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://j2gallery.com/" target="_blank">Jackson Junge Gallery</a>&nbsp;is pleased to present their second group exhibition of the year,&nbsp;<a style="color: rgb(70, 120, 134);" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://j2gallery.com/exhibitions" target="_blank">TACTILE TERRAIN</a>, featuring the artwork of thirty-two artists. The exhibition celebrates techniques passed down by artists and craftspeople for generations, with handcrafted work made from fiber, textiles, weaving, woodwork, pottery, ceramics and more.<a style="color: rgb(70, 120, 134);" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://j2gallery.com/exhibitions" target="_blank">TACTILE TERRAIN&nbsp;</a>brings together artists whose work draws directly from the earth, composed of natural elements and inspired by organic textures and forms. The mediums represented are either found in nature or derived from natural materials. Imagination facilitated by the human hand spins these materials into works of art, a collaboration between artist and nature. The exhibition is filled with beautiful earth tones and varied textures, providing an experience that invites viewers to slow down and reconnect.Local artist Pamela Penney exemplifies this connection with nature in her piece “<a style="color: rgb(70, 120, 134);" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://j2gallery.com/store/special-exhibit/outside-in" target="_blank">Outside In</a>”. Framed in a salvaged window, the work features twigs, seed pods, grasses, and flowers gathered on walks with her dogs. Her process of composing a piece begins out in the wild, where she curates and composes her finds before bringing the chosen pieces home and weaving them together with hand-spun yarns. Penney uses the terrain surrounding her as both inspiration and medium, resulting in work that feels as if it were grown, not made - nature woven through the artist’s hands.&nbsp;Capturing that moment of inspiration in nature is Karen Remsen’s “<a style="color: rgb(70, 120, 134);" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://j2gallery.com/store/special-exhibit/sylvan" target="_blank">Sylvan</a>”. The mixed media painting replicates the immersive feeling of walking down a lush forest path. Remsen used thousands of strung beads to bring texture and shine to the leaves framing the painted subject, a portrait of a woman peeking through the leaves, as well as crushed green stone that you might imagine crunching under your feet as you walk. “<a style="color: rgb(70, 120, 134);" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://j2gallery.com/store/special-exhibit/sylvan" target="_blank">Sylvan</a>” represents the sensory experience of losing oneself in nature, and the magic of being fully in the moment.Shelly Brucar’s fiber collage asks us to take advantage of the moments we have left. “<a style="color: rgb(70, 120, 134);" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://j2gallery.com/store/special-exhibit/while-there-is-still-time" target="_blank">While There is Still Time</a>” focuses on the beauty of the life found within our coral reefs, while stressing the need to protect them from the devastating effects of climate change. The collage is bursting with color, in contrast to&nbsp;the bleached white corals lining our coasts. The piece is both beautiful and sobering, a reminder of what is at stake if we fail to protect our fragile ecosystems.Chicago-based ceramicist Drew Reynolds brings movement into the gallery with interactive sculptures like “<a style="color: rgb(70, 120, 134);" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://j2gallery.com/store/special-exhibit/nebulous" target="_blank">Nebulous</a>”, a ceramic piece designed to rotate freely when engaged by the viewer. “<a style="color: rgb(70, 120, 134);" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://j2gallery.com/store/special-exhibit/nebulous" target="_blank">Nebulous</a>” is an undefined form intended to be viewed from any angle, rather than having a fixed orientation.&nbsp;The result is a sculpture that feels dynamic, alive, and ever-changing, while including the viewer in the process. His piece is joined by other organic, abstract sculptures in the exhibition, like Celia Greiner's wood sculpture “<a style="color: rgb(70, 120, 134);" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://j2gallery.com/store/special-exhibit/cells" target="_blank">Cells</a>”. Greiner’s stacked sculpture places just as much importance on the empty space within the forms as the forms themselves. The grain of maple wood adds a beautiful element of texture and line to the interiors of the piece, inviting the viewer to experience the space between them.Kelly McKaig’s “<a style="color: rgb(70, 120, 134);" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://j2gallery.com/store/special-exhibit/the-sum-and-the-parts" target="_blank">The Sum and the Parts</a>” pays homage to the tradition of stitching - one of the oldest textile arts. The piece is composed of corks sewn together with vintage cotton thread to create a curtain-like installation. McKaig places importance on the social aspect of stitching, saying, “For me, stitching is a companion activity. It’s something taught and practiced among the women in my family, taking place in and around the goings-on of everyday life. Indeed, it is an endeavor that brings and binds people together…” “<a style="color: rgb(70, 120, 134);" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://j2gallery.com/store/special-exhibit/the-sum-and-the-parts" target="_blank">The Sum and the Parts</a>” emphasizes the communal and generational nature of textile work.&nbsp;In&nbsp;<a style="color: rgb(70, 120, 134);" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://j2gallery.com/exhibitions" target="_blank">TACTILE TERRAIN</a>,&nbsp;<a style="color: rgb(70, 120, 134);" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://j2gallery.com/" target="_blank">Jackson Junge</a>&nbsp;offers a group exhibition featuring artwork that takes us back to our roots and celebrates the oldest forms of making. Whether it be ceramics, textiles, wood or stone, each piece highlights the beauty and versatility of natural materials.<a style="color: rgb(70, 120, 134);" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://j2gallery.com/exhibitions" target="_blank">TACTILE TERRAIN</a>&nbsp;will be on view at&nbsp;<a style="color: rgb(70, 120, 134);" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://j2gallery.com/" target="_blank">Jackson Junge Gallery</a>&nbsp;May 12th&nbsp;– June 29th, 2025. The gallery will be holding the exhibition’s opening reception on Friday, May 16th, from 6 pm - 10 pm, free and open to the public. It is curated by Owner Chris Jackson, Gallery Director Kaitlyn Miller and Gallery Assistant Maddie Kirmse.

Tactile Terrain

(<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://artsoflife.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=676dcf6750de4694fd657fca1&amp;id=cf934c3253&amp;e=ed6a12e728" target="_blank">Dorothy Carlos</a>&nbsp;performance)&nbsp;﻿

Closing Reception for sounds better with you

SoNa Chicago Contemporary Art is proud to present the exhibition, Better World, featuring the artwork of Alan Emerson Hicks. Better World takes its title from a 1970s commercial produced by the Plastics Council of America that promised a brighter future through plastic. His work responds to this false optimism, reflecting on the environmental and cultural consequences of single-use plastic production in contemporary American society. The artist’s practice spans sculpture, wearable art, and dimensional assemblage. The sculptures are constructed from repurposed plastics over steel armatures and are designed to resemble human figures—commenting on both form and the act of building form through assemblage. These figures suggest presence, identity, and humanity within a material culture of disposability. Hicks’s two-dimensional works explore mass production and transformation through the use of dollar store items and goods sourced online, particularly from Chinese suppliers—materials now affected by recent U.S. tariffs. These pieces often incorporate butterflies and natural imagery as metaphors for change, fragility, and the uneasy relationship between nature and synthetic consumer goods. The work is in constant flux, evoking a sense of transformation and suspended development. These pieces fall into two distinct styles: one, a dimensional couture approach using stickers and objects layered onto boards; the other, shallowly layered compositions sealed in Envirotex resin, creating a dense, atmospheric quality. Hicks also creates wearable dresses from plastic waste and consumer packaging, many of which have been featured in sustainable fashion shows like Trashion Revolution. These works blur the boundaries between sculpture, performance, and activism. Through assemblage, Hicks builds form while commenting on form—referencing nature, transformation, and African American historical figures. His work is in constant evolution, much like the materials and systems it critiques. Better World is both an ironic echo of the past and a call to imagine alternative futures shaped by care, reuse, and reimagining. Hicks has exhibited nationally and internationally, including a recent solo show at the Center on Halsted in Chicago. He works out of his studio in Bronzeville on the South Side of Chicago. Image: Natural Selection, Alan Emerson Hicks, Found object, stickers and paint on board, 13.5"×13.5"

Alan Emerson Hicks: Better World

Between Worlds marks a major moment for LALO— his first solo show and one that's been eagerly awaited by collectors and fans alike. The exhibition features 14 new paintings across three sizes—24x24, 36x36, and 48x48 inches—each one capturing his signature cast of playful, slightly unhinged, and sometimes dangerous characters as they descend on Earth.These mischievous figures touch down in cities and landscapes across the globe: Chicago and Los Angeles (a nod to where he studied and now works), but also Paris, Morocco, South Korea, Brazil, Costa Rica, Spain, Cambodia, New York City, Iceland, Italy, and even Antarctica. Together, the works create a globe-hopping, cartoon-fueled invasion that's as funny as it is surreal. LALO's world blends the punch of street art with the energy of animated storytelling. His paintings feel like your favorite Saturday morning cartoon took a detour through a graffiti-covered alley and came back weirder, funnier, and a little more chaotic. Think Murakami or KAWS—with a wild streak and original characters that shape-shift across settings.

Between Worlds: LALO Solo Show

ENGAGE Projects is pleased to present&nbsp;This Is Post Theory Art, a solo exhibition by painter, performance artist, and art theorist&nbsp;<a style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://link.engage-projects.com/ls/click?upn=u001.vyvtB1j8AoZoi7VAnFZHD1O9SccHpbf-2BQxR-2FROacQNyBRFUYpnMBQrNXtrrzFMkWfrfc3-2F9m6lzj1bkF6-2FlmQzk-2FVtuqIaiUhGjV0NYxMd4-3D5Vcx_F-2B18IOO1ZU6iY4K-2F9Q9GBGu5rvP-2BL20ZUrVQMSgnAy2dkeZXZkSsnZVlr-2Bsr2mNTrrX1Su-2BlhTy9s-2FYv05MbNV0YKgkfhgCV8h-2FDBddyOVA4tOkKVxgk3NE8nlqw29045o1-2FWdOEbdSjP-2BqEPm9gE-2FnoPoPoXc8ERgj92SSO0Q2p-2BUke0UFCpPOflGiflXcwHtAmE1PGYw30G-2BXWxJH1UMnt6ef31MhDQdd3VWeTNQHLHuaSj-2BEdz1nn1mOPUJ277cySYcTwupDyVmDYZukshijc4AtLyyutMuJkgbhVxqCrNQ-2BFxrECO4iFtJUlA-2F6p-2BDG8G-2BN1wE-2BUmXP9iokzXTihQlPsbgGrjU88VSDc4eo2Pldw83oC-2Fcc2TDngtCfdk3zOId3pFzttprYUnfoEkwaa4PThkwq9zKXdWv6uT847LWoHxMBXGag9r4r7hfvilhz8c0HOKyNd2tw7RgbFizPGo3h3r2yETZ9tyGcixqPriEQF4eG6he2wQTo2xgl6AM-2F6T9FpdlOUhjn6REliu25Uu4nomduiNkeulcrjlNgGejdzVBOdgHpn1Mo8mdc9GKF3KIbEbqGV3PWgoTbwmO3Un46iAK6lnvlilQvh33PToa-2FvQqD3Vp66bnIud-2Bt6LdrWNmPKu09CePSFFk2h-2FW75U3VZGk201n7NhNyEBJj42FeBXJsYvJTpjnOu5Z0AHllYE0wKXSorSzFsj1eHfHnzpOwk0fsCl0ylHSfOD8YrSyU249Cc4h3w-2B8knuh8xyQ-2BQEF-2FRdrWCIe4Uf15y4zWaA-2Bv9jLNsaiPouLnn2IeGYFZAWVRtrS3PfZqneZm3kmswdGf7fVY0F-2BKmNuTYsA-3D-3D" target="_blank">Adam Daley Wilson</a>. The show’s visual and text-based pieces propose—first—that such a thing as Post-Theory Art may be seen in relation to conceptual art—and second—it can be defined as theory-making by an artist that is not just cognitive but also emotional and sensory-felt—landing in a viewer’s head, heart, and body all at once. Please join us on Friday, June 6th, 5-7pm, for the opening of&nbsp;This Is Post-Theory Art.The show also proposes that one example of possible art practices in Post-Theory Art is “artist-placed public document art”—an artist creates a theory of public interest, places it into a court—art-as-law—and the court’s response lands not just in the heads, hearts, and lived experiences of the participants, but also in members of the public, if the public issue resonates.In all of this, Post-Theory Art is proposed as human: When an artist makes a work with their head, heart, and body—all three—and when a viewer then experiences it themselves through all three, then perhaps this is a special human connection that AI is unable to do. If so, Post-Theory Art, by communicating theories through the emotional and sensorial, may be a way to preserve our human theory-making in this new time when AI can now make theories too.The exhibition traverses styles including large-scale inscription paintings composed of scrawling, layered text as well as precision paintings that pair serene landscapes with the artist’s own truisms. Wilson’s work oscillates between poise and purposeful disruption to keep the viewer on their toes all the way through the gallery.<a style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://link.engage-projects.com/ls/click?upn=u001.vyvtB1j8AoZoi7VAnFZHD1O9SccHpbf-2BQxR-2FROacQNyBRFUYpnMBQrNXtrrzFMkWfrfc3-2F9m6lzj1bkF6-2FlmQzk-2FVtuqIaiUhGjV0NYxMd4-3DhtR2_F-2B18IOO1ZU6iY4K-2F9Q9GBGu5rvP-2BL20ZUrVQMSgnAy2dkeZXZkSsnZVlr-2Bsr2mNTrrX1Su-2BlhTy9s-2FYv05MbNV0YKgkfhgCV8h-2FDBddyOVA4tOkKVxgk3NE8nlqw29045o1-2FWdOEbdSjP-2BqEPm9gE-2FnoPoPoXc8ERgj92SSO0Q2p-2BUke0UFCpPOflGiflXcwHtAmE1PGYw30G-2BXWxJH1UMnt6ef31MhDQdd3VWeTNQHLHuaSj-2BEdz1nn1mOPUJ277cySYcTwupDyVmDYZukshijc4AtLyyutMuJkgbhVxqCrNQ-2BFxrECO4iFtJUlA-2F6p-2BDG8G-2BN1wE-2BUmXP9iokzXTihQlPsbgGrjU88VSDc4eo2Pldw83oC-2Fcc2TDngtCfdk3zOId3pFzttprYUnfoEkwaa4PThkwq9zKXdWv6uT847LWoHxMBXGag9r4r7hfvilhz8c0HOKyNd2tw7RgbFizPGo3h3r2yETZ9tyGcixqPriEQF4eG6he2wQTo2xgl6AM-2F6T9FpdlOUhjn6REliu25Uu4nomduiNkeulcrjlNgGejdzVBOdgHpn1Mo8mdc9CE1Ti313wdZVfjX3Ss5-2BysLlFdoAIQ4LKLgoLubOo2iplrqQ7GXDnEKzWxD1l4mci3TQksqR80zjVUZo-2Fnz4Jz2tqSYA-2FJnXZrTrfmMX3Eb-2BA-2FTrve-2Bi04q-2BlotUQuh8i1rsblAgHfPPwM3dhjWuyjLZXYLopsvxO28mV9Om4p4yUVhsP50S8pHye-2Brs6Iw4n62Z1-2Bo-2BOYqUocB2nLGJ-2BXBAD3MpL3yMqO46B8D1KZVD3SI6Pz56otgAEolGgyZjQQ7hML4AtaQklPxjxXsojw-3D-3D" target="_blank">Daley Wilson</a>’s work is held in private and corporate collections in New York, Los Angeles, London, Paris, Miami, and Chicago. His solo exhibitions have been recognized as “Must See” by&nbsp;Artforum&nbsp;(Chicago, 2021, 2023). More recently, he was selected for EXPO Chicago’s public art programming (2025) and published an initial paper on art theory in the Fine Arts, Aesthetics, and Philosophy Journal of SSRN (2024). Daley Wilson has also served on the Board of Trustees of the Institute for Doctoral Studies in Visual Art (IDSVA), an international PhD program for artists, and he is also a practicing appellate lawyer specializing in Art Law, Constitutional Law, and the Visual Artists’ Rights Act. He also provides pro bono services to artists.Image: Adam Daley Wilson, Only Some Species Unmarred, 2021, artist's text on collage of appropriated images on aluminum, 82 x 58 in, 208.3 x 147.3 cm

Adam Daley Wilson: This Is Post-Theory Art

“Biomythography” is a term coined by Audre Lord defined as “combining elements of history, biography and myth” within literature. My exploration of this idea is a continuation of the ongoing series of paintings, collages and poetry in my Mythical Memory series. This body of work combines Afro-surrealism, abstraction, and elements of pop art aesthetics. This overlap and intersection of genres is used to create a dialogue around the abstract qualities of time and memory, the liminality of the dream space and the way in which personal narratives can create a mythology. Time and memory are components of history. &nbsp;The mythology enters as the realm where the dream space and memory coincide. Love is the enduring force that weaves it all together. <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.arcgallery.org/exhibitions-archive/monica-j-brown-5" target="_blank">https://www.arcgallery.org/exhibitions-archive/monica-j-brown-5</a>

Monica J. Brown: The Biomythography of Jaybird & The Queen of Hearts

A Personal Remembrance from Tom McCormick about the show: &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;In 1994 I was exhibiting in an art fair in San Francisco when a fellow named Barry McMullen strolled into my booth and asked if I knew of the artist Jan Matulka. Somewhat taken aback, (Matulka was not exactly a household name), I replied I did, but why was he asking? His brokerage firm, E.F. Hutton, represented a Matulka relative, Martha Van Loan, who owned the artist’s estate. Apparently, she was not happy with her current dealer in New York. Now, I didn’t know a ton about Matulka except he was a major Modernist figure&nbsp;in American art. You don’t have to call me twice for lunch so I said to Barry (my new best friend), please sit down and let’s chat. A year later he finally arranged for me to meet Mrs. Van Loan in Connecticut... and so began a thirty-year journey. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Over these past three decades the Van Loan family has entrusted us to promote Matulka and I hope we have met the challenge, with numerous gallery exhibitions, both in Chicago and elsewhere. In 2004 we organized a museum exhibition with the Montclair Art Museum in New Jersey: Jan Matulka – The Global Modernist. The exhibition of 60 paintings, drawings, watercolors and prints&nbsp;traveled for two years to six venues and we produced a major catalog with essays by Patterson Sims and Whitney Rugg. Additionally, we have published a number of other catalogs, often with the help of art historian Henry Adams, a most helpful Matulka booster writing extensively on the artist. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;A prodigious worker, Matulka left a large estate and even after all this time we are still blessed with a good number of A+ examples from the early years of the Modernist movement. Many of the works here have been languishing in our storage for years and I have wanted to organize a show like this for a long time. A Note on the New Mexico Works In 1917 Matulka finished his studies at the National Academy of Design on a high note,&nbsp;winning the $1500 Joseph Pulitzer Traveling Scholarship. He wanted to use the windfall to visit Spain but passport issues kept him home so he went instead to New Mexico, which offered much the same landscape and primitive locales he sought in Spain. There, he received permission to visit and make live sketches at&nbsp;the Hopi Pueblo where he witnessed the Antelope Society’s annual&nbsp;Snake Dance,&nbsp;a sacred ceremony praying for rain. This resulted in many powerful works, both large (finished later in his studio) and 9 x 12 inch panels, painted on-site.&nbsp;The haunting and sometimes disturbing imagery&nbsp;of the&nbsp;Snake Clan dancers wielding live snakes&nbsp;and wearing&nbsp;their&nbsp;fantastic, Kachina inspired masks and costumes, continues to show up in his work over the next three&nbsp;decades. Top image: Moulin Rouge&nbsp;Conté crayon on paper,&nbsp;192115 x 12 inches

Jan Matulka: The Modernist Eye

No People A Sick Fisher Solo Show

No People” A Sick Fisher Solo Show

Mau Mau is a renowned British urban graffiti artist who’s gained an international following with his humorous street, print and graffiti work. He incorporates political, environmental and cultural commentary to his work – often with his trademark character of a mischievous and fun loving Fox. With roots planted in surf and country vibes of the North Devon coast, Mau Mau brings an air of rural sophistication to the art he has been creating for twenty years. He has painted his way around the world, his artwork appearing on everything from shipwrecks to surfboards and billboards to city walls. Mau Mau has produced work for World Land Trust, Greenpeace, Surfers Against Sewage and the Glastonbury Festival, and for record companies such as Ninja Tunes and Lowlife Records. He is the architect of cult brands Sewerside Boardwear and Fear Trade. His street work can also been seen all over the world including the UK, Jamaica, Thailand and Australia. He has had sold out exhibitions in the UK, Japan and Thailand.

Mau Mau Solo Show

moniquemeloche is pleased to present&nbsp;Yvette Mayorga: Pu$h Thru, the artist’s first solo exhibition with the gallery.&nbsp;Yvette Mayorga is a multidisciplinary artist based in Chicago renowned for her confection-inspired artworks that intertwine themes of immigration, identity, and feminized labor through a maximalist lens.&nbsp;Utilizing materials like acrylic piping applied with bakery tools—a nod to her mother's labor as a baker—Mayorga crafts opulent, Rococo-influenced pieces dominated by shades of pink to critically examine the American Dream and the Latinx experience, often&nbsp;borrowing compositions from personal and family photos&nbsp;and art history.Pu$h Thru&nbsp;is Mayorga’s first solo show in Chicago since 2018 and reflects on the last decade of the artist’s life in the city. Showcasing a vibrant fusion of personal narrative, cultural critique, and aesthetic exploration, the works on view weave together a visual diary of protest, neighborhood scenes, and fleeting memories captured on the artist’s phone. Interspersed throughout are images from her family archive—snapshots of the artist as a child celebrating a birthday and sitting in her childhood living room—grounding the exhibition in ancestral history.Mayorga, who is first generation Mexican American, engages deeply with the aesthetics of Rococo, specifically referencing 17th- and 18th-century painters like Jean-Honoré Fragonard, François Boucher, and Elizabeth Vigee Le Brun. Staged portraits of the artist and her community adopt and remix Eurocentric narratives, offering a Latinx, feminist, and contemporary lens to center overlooked bodies and experiences. Pink, a color that has a long history with Mayorga’s practice, is deployed as a conceptual strategy to destabilize Western ideals of skin tone, evoking questions of race, class, and gendered embodiment while also referencing cosmetic and domestic aesthetics—an ironic and radical reclamation of softness as strength. “Latinxoco,” a term coined by Mayorga, merges Latinx identity with Rococo aesthetics to elevate the Mexican American domestic spaces primarily in the Midwest. Drawing on Rococo’s history of intimate salons and ornate social settings, Mayorga connects this to Diasporic cultural traditions—family celebrations, communal gatherings, and richly adorned homes, reclaiming decorative excess as a form of cultural memory.Materially, the work is sculptural and immersive. Thick piped paint, “paint skins,” textiles, rhinestones, nail charms, and domestic ephemera sourced from thrift stores are layered to build textured surfaces that blur the line between painting and installation. A custom wallpaper—based on a 1970s pattern from her childhood home—features gilded floral motifs and subtle renderings of the female reproductive system, signaling both beauty and rupture in a moment of heightened political tension surrounding women’s bodies. The exhibition also explores the politics of place, particularly the impact of gentrification on Chicago’s South Side and the erasure of culturally significant spaces. Imagined storefronts serve as speculative interventions—sites where hyperfeminine care practices are re-centered as both joyful and subversive.&nbsp;These visual constructions explore how gender is performed, how womanhood is politicized, and how Latinx communities, particularly in Chicago, continue to push through structural inequality, environmental crisis, and cultural erasure with humor, care, and defiance. Taken together,&nbsp;Pu$h Thru&nbsp;is a love letter to the last decade while looking ahead; it is a reclamation of space and time, both intimate and collective.Mayorga’s work will be included the group exhibition&nbsp;Los Encuentros&nbsp;at Ballroom Marfa, TX on view July 4-October 12, 2025, and is working on a large-scale public&nbsp;art&nbsp;project with&nbsp;Times Square Arts&nbsp;for fall of 2025. Mayorga’s&nbsp;public artwork installation&nbsp;Pilgrimage to the Isle of Pink,&nbsp;(2023)&nbsp;for the City of Chicago’s O’Hare airport Terminal 5, is on view for the next 25 years. In 2026, Mayorga’s work (along with gallery artists Candida Alvarez and David Antonio Cruz) will be included in a landmark exhibition of paintings by contemporary Latinx artists living throughout the United States and Puerto Rico at the Buffalo AKG Art Museum, NY.

Yvette Mayorga: Pu$h Thru

<img width="1" height="1" src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1748457104/ym403kmr1wlcai2hgntf.gif">on view in gallery 3 June 14—July 26, 2025 select works from our milestone 25th anniversary exhibition will be on view 25!, Installation view. Photo: Bob.

Calendar

Chicago Gallery News