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

Live AuctionThis is an auction replete with standouts. Works by Magritte, Tamayo, Ed Paschke, Karl Wirsum and multiple mixed media collages and prints from the celebrated Tony Fitzpatrick will cross the block.A significant work by Bill Traylor leads the Outsider Art session, alongside major works by Howard Finster, Yoakum, Dial, Sparrow, and Dawson. Folk art includes a carved grotto Jesus and Devil train set sculpture from Wisconsin, and three oversize leaves by Ivan Albright lead the fine art session. Design collectors can settle in to a&nbsp;Bouloum Chair by Oliver Mourge for Airbourne International.

Art & Design

On Friday, May 1st, we will be having an exhibit opening for featured artist Erin Kaya's show "Atmospheric Geometry." The opening will run from 5-7 PM and will display Erin's lively, intriguing abstract paintings, which&nbsp;are defined by a strong use of color and geometric shapes, specifically lines and squares.Image: Metropolis Tapestry

Erin Kaya: Atmospheric Geometry

Get ready to clear some shelf space! Our highly anticipated School &amp; Studio Sale + Fundraiser returns May 2–29, and it’s the perfect opportunity to find something special for yourself, or a unique gift for a loved one. Whether you’re a longtime collector or just looking for that perfect gift, your contribution helps keep our vibrant arts community thriving.

School & Studio Sale + Fundraiser

Group Exhibition Opening Reception:&nbsp;May 1, 2026, 6–10 PMExhibition Dates:&nbsp;May 1 – May 29, 2026 Chicago Grand Gallery presents&nbsp;Without Permission, a group exhibition featuring&nbsp;Paul Sierra, Kevin C. Lawler, and David Hauptschein. Bringing together painting, material-based practice, and AI-driven image-making, the exhibition explores shifting identity, surface, and constructed narrative across three distinct artistic approaches. Working across abstraction and figuration,&nbsp;Paul Sierra&nbsp;creates paintings that reflect identity in transition. His work draws from memory and migration, where forms remain fluid and continuously evolving. Kevin C. Lawler&nbsp;approaches painting through material and surface. With a background in traditional gilding and conservation, his work carries a strong sense of craft, where texture and process become central to the visual experience. David Hauptschein&nbsp;presents AI-based digital works that question authorship and image-making in the contemporary moment. Using artificial intelligence as both tool and collaborator, his work constructs layered, often unsettling visual narratives. Without Permission&nbsp;brings these practices into dialogue, where painting, process, and machine-generated imagery intersect. The exhibition resists fixed meaning, instead embracing transformation, tension, and the instability of form.

Without Permission

Opening Reception: Sat., April 11, 6-9 pm We will also have a reception on April 8 from 6-9pm. Tony Fitzpatrick was the beloved, brash, and bold artist, actor, and poet who died too soon at the age of 66 on October 11, 2025. He was a prolific collage artist and printmaker who loved the city of Chicago as well as birds, dogs, and regular folks. For years he has supported other artists and lifted them up. Before he died, we were working with him on this very special collage show. Tony selected most of the artists in this show because he said, “they are among the best.” This exhibit includes works by Lisa Barcy, Lou Beach, Monica J. Brown, Andrea Burgay, Tony Fitzpatrick, Glen Gauthier, Paul Loughney, Jack Poker, Nellie Seigel, and Paloma Trecka. Along with Tony’s work, there are several pieces in the show that were made in tribute to Tony. Many of the artists worked with or were mentored by him. The work in this exhibition showcases the myriad styles and subjects of contemporary collage revealing the dynamism of this art form. This exhibition explores personal memories, social commentary, and a diversity of materials. SoNa Chicago is proud to be a part of extending Tony’s legacy by showcasing contemporary collage artists and honoring him through this exhibition.

Pieces Too Short to Save: A Survey of Contemporary Collage

Terumi Saito’s first solo exhibition with the gallery opens April 10, 2026, from 5 to 8 p.m. Saito combines backstrap weavings toned in natural dyes with handbuilt ceramics to create highly original forms. Drawn to the intimate connection between body, time, and material that backstrap weaving requires, Saito has made it the foundation of her practice—one of the earliest weaving technologies, it has been practiced across Asia and the Americas for millennia. She sees weaving as a living language, evolving, yet deeply connected to its origins, and a form of reflection, each work a record of time and energy spent.&nbsp;

Terumi Saito: Interweaving — Fiber and Clay

Our main Opening Reception for "Pieces Too Short to Save: A Survey of Contemporary Collage - An Exhibition Honoring Tony Fitzpatrick" is Sat., April 11, 6-9 pm. We will also have a reception on Wed., April 8 from 6-9 pm to celebrate the opening of the show. There will be a short program at the Saturday reception at 7:30 pm to honor Tony. Family members will be present, and his adult children Max and Gaby will read from Tony's poetry. Tony Fitzpatrick was the beloved, brash, and bold artist, actor, and poet who died too soon at the age of 66 on October 11, 2025. He was a prolific collage artist and printmaker who loved the city of Chicago as well as birds, dogs, and regular folks. For years he has supported other artists and lifted them up. Before he died, we were working with him on this very special collage show. Tony selected most of the artists in this show because he said, “they are among the best.” This exhibit includes works by Lisa Barcy, Lou Beach, Monica J. Brown, Andrea Burgay, Tony Fitzpatrick, Glen Gauthier, Paul Loughney, Jack Poker, Nellie Seigel, and Paloma Trecka. Along with Tony’s work, there are several pieces in the show that were made in tribute to Tony. Many of the artists worked with or were mentored by him. The work in this exhibition showcases the myriad styles and subjects of contemporary collage revealing the dynamism of this art form. This exhibition explores personal memories, social commentary, and a diversity of materials. SoNa Chicago is proud to be a part of extending Tony’s legacy by showcasing contemporary collage artists and honoring him through this exhibition.

Pieces Too Short to Save: A Survey of Contemporary Collage  - An Exhibition Honoring Tony Fitzpatrick

Jonathan Muecke’s sixth solo exhibition with the gallery opens Friday April 10, 2026, from 5 to 8 p.m. Muecke's practice is one of persistent material exploration yielding highly intentional forms.&nbsp;Through iterative cycles of observation, experimentation, and re-understanding—Muecke patiently tests material, scale, and form against one another. Exhibited works range across the matrix of Muecke’s practice, from chairs and tables cast in carbon fiber to inscrutable geometric sculptures, together capturing a moment in an ongoing and self-referential body of work.&nbsp;&nbsp;Jonathan Muecke and Nile Greenberg In Conversation: Saturday April 11, 2pm

Jonathan Muecke

A.R.C. Gallery proudly awards fully funded Solo Exhibitions to multiple artists each year. These exhibitions made possible by a generous grant from the Athena Foundation in support of making solo show opportunities accessible to a broader audience. Visual artists of all disciplines, ages and geographic locations are encouraged to apply. The artists are selected by the A.R.C. cooperative based on the quality of their work and commitment to their practice.The Athena Fund Open Calls are open to non-members, and non-affiliates with the purpose of bringing in innovative new work. All work submitted should have been completed within the last 5 years. A.R.C. favors artists who have a strong, cohesive body of work, a clearly communicated vision of their show, and a well-written and thoughtful artist statement. Artists with incomplete submissions will be automatically eliminated. Artists whose work is deemed excellent, but is not selected, may be added to a roster from which A.R.C. can draw for future opportunities and curated exhibitions.

ATHENA 2026 Solo Shows

The Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art (UIMA) is pleased to presentBetween Voice and Silence, an international group exhibition on view May 1 throughJune 28, 2025. The exhibition brings together three artists, Katya Lisova (Kyiv), MatviiVaisberg (Kyiv), Ira Bondarenko (Ann Arbor), whose works in textiles, printmaking, ceramics, and fiber examine empathy, resilience, and the endurance of cultural identity against the backdrop of Russia’s ongoing war on Ukraine.The exhibition is dedicated to the memory of Ukrainian poet Maksym Kryvtsov(1990–2024), who was killed defending his country in January 2023, only months after the publication of his debut collection. His writing, which locates tenderness and humanity amid destruction, serves as a moral and artistic touchstone for the works on view.Between Voice and Silence&nbsp;takes its title Maksym’s poem “In that space between Voice and Silence” and alludes to the liminal space that defines wartime experience and the territory between what can be said and what is rendered unspeakable. The exhibition reflects on the limits and power of human agency in the face of overwhelming force. The value of humanity lies in its capacity to transcend adversity by embracing compassion and keeping empathy and human connection alive&nbsp;in&nbsp;the most oppressive darkness.Working across distinct media and generations, the three participating artists deploy Ukrainian visual vocabularies to contest cultural erasure and affirm collective memory.Image: Katya Lisova,&nbsp;Old Chestnut (Старий каштан),&nbsp;2024 - 2025,&nbsp;2’(W) x 3' (H)

Between Voice and Silence

Join Oliva Gallery for the closing reception of Girl Talk, a solo exhibition by Chicago-based artist Lindsey Kircher, presenting recent figurative paintings that stage psychologically charged scenes through dense composition, saturated color, and symbolic imagery, where figures, animals, and objects converge in layered interiors that move between intimacy and performance; the reception takes place Saturday, May 30 from 1–3 PM and offers a final opportunity to experience the work and meet the artist.

Closing Reception: Girl Talk by Lindsey Kircher

Western Exhibitions is thrilled to present our fifth solo show with&nbsp;Marshall Brown,&nbsp;<a href="https://jxxaepcab.cc.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001mPZNIBbgp7CngKH7GjouZPqgrdkfsQqRZl_PgL7NDhbo0-gE8BFGy8emjM07ZJ6bdZTE3r3YzLqzbr6etCtDNKv_LTwOueZmCJitPDVOy-uIiKEHlGdtQO8GGXVCjGw2taS7eDgoDtRjzTUDmqIK23VMANarfWZo6Ym_17wOpJhKGTvsajrXXq1sGdBy49z6CCPDlkARdNOJ3Z9zpCLGgw==&amp;c=7PLORVjNRCcHiAvoo0yosgb7vONCSH2o-CAOe_uNl9Rtx5TqjGvWig==&amp;ch=FJaFVK7C8TKLubw7oZtYCqmQb_e5DAHI4W1WR0N62GsfWuwfesdlxQ==" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Palaces and Prisons</a>, a two-part exhibition presenting collages from Brown’s new&nbsp;Palaces of Industry&nbsp;series in Gallery 1 and in Gallery 2, never-before-shown works that continue his ongoing&nbsp;Prisons of Invention&nbsp;series. Marshall Brown, an artist and architect, collapses reality and fiction with collage, a loophole between he shared territories of art and architecture. In these Palaces, he builds utopian visions from pure abstraction. In these Prisons, he constructs paradoxes from reality’s ruins.&nbsp; The show opens on&nbsp;Friday, March 27&nbsp;with a public reception from 5 to 8pm, and will run through June 6, 2026. Gallery hours are Tuesday to Saturday, 11am to 6pm.In Gallery 1,&nbsp;Palaces of Industry&nbsp;is a new series of large-scale collages on panel that returns to Brown’s earliest influences: the floating geometries and dynamic equilibrium of Suprematism, Constructivism’s photomontage tradition and layering, Giacometti’s surrealist structures, Duchamp’s readymades. He appropriates images from contemporary artists who make architecture their subject, reconstructing them as monumental collages. These are imagined futures inspired by great industrial palaces built at the birth of modernism: the Crystal Palace, factories that housed new collective labor, the production sites that promised transformation. White space floods the compositions. Fragments hover. The scale creates immersive worlds you can step inside—flatness expands into depth. Building utopian space from contemporary art’s fascination with architecture, Brown turns art’s gaze at architecture back on itself. These are not pictures. They are visions.In Gallery 2, these never-before-shown works continue his ongoing collage-on-paper&nbsp;Prisons of Invention&nbsp;series, named for Giovanni Battista Piranesi’s Carceri d’invenzione. Brown constructs these paradoxical, labyrinthine spaces from fragments of recent architectural photography, just as Piranesi built his imaginary dungeons from the ruins of Rome. Multiple viewpoints collide and diverge within a single composition. Light and shadow emerge from hidden sources. Fragments layer and overlap, creating perspectives that can’t belong to the same space. These are visions of many moments struggling to coexist—each piece holds multiple experiences that refuse to settle into one.<a href="https://jxxaepcab.cc.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001mPZNIBbgp7CngKH7GjouZPqgrdkfsQqRZl_PgL7NDhbo0-gE8BFGy561SuiGEWT4MhT4Os8jhBUeey3LFQ4aZ6T5uQJkYTmbYW6LkgBDGUUKHAh6iVHDti2zkaGpFn12vZDwprvXG2S2UsSIeK0AHHDg5xV_sTOC-ik1fHySs-dJq9--xAUe_lrzLix_xp92&amp;c=7PLORVjNRCcHiAvoo0yosgb7vONCSH2o-CAOe_uNl9Rtx5TqjGvWig==&amp;ch=FJaFVK7C8TKLubw7oZtYCqmQb_e5DAHI4W1WR0N62GsfWuwfesdlxQ==" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Marshall Brown</a>&nbsp;is an architect, urbanist, and futurist whose work creates new connections, associations, and meanings among disconnected architectural and urban remnants. His 2022-23 show,&nbsp;<a href="https://jxxaepcab.cc.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001mPZNIBbgp7CngKH7GjouZPqgrdkfsQqRZl_PgL7NDhbo0-gE8BFGy2uuD0m8_rbJNz6t6FMZhku_YBtgfqVqv6lv3AzCA1pJHdc69fTCPz9wq3yYc6OKDI1qdwsupA_d7f6syVyEl8cGbtwKSiHhO6nLuLUTAM_HSeLxzhzD_GTG_CbHgG0Wcw==&amp;c=7PLORVjNRCcHiAvoo0yosgb7vONCSH2o-CAOe_uNl9Rtx5TqjGvWig==&amp;ch=FJaFVK7C8TKLubw7oZtYCqmQb_e5DAHI4W1WR0N62GsfWuwfesdlxQ==" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Architecture of Collage</a>&nbsp;at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, was Brown’s first solo museum exhibition and most comprehensive presentation of his collages to date. Works from the show, exploratory essays, and additional pieces are published in a book of the same name, available at the gallery. Brown’s work is held in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Arkansas, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Museum of Contemporary Photography and the University Club, both in Chicago. Brown has exhibited at the&nbsp;<a href="https://jxxaepcab.cc.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001mPZNIBbgp7CngKH7GjouZPqgrdkfsQqRZl_PgL7NDhbo0-gE8BFGy8emjM07ZJ6bI9Z7lobUZF4W_f2F8Fi4g9BDBfQ1J7ECDtmdtVb3cQg5FJTXuEYKopHphEXBpnTBdu-iwEOLy1uiLqfN8_lLU3OzE50o-ArwsLj_5QNYrvubhwCmA7VQ9RdxLK6LYRca&amp;c=7PLORVjNRCcHiAvoo0yosgb7vONCSH2o-CAOe_uNl9Rtx5TqjGvWig==&amp;ch=FJaFVK7C8TKLubw7oZtYCqmQb_e5DAHI4W1WR0N62GsfWuwfesdlxQ==" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">2016 Venice Architecture Biennale</a>, the&nbsp;2017 Chicago Architecture Biennial,&nbsp;the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit,<a href="https://jxxaepcab.cc.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001mPZNIBbgp7CngKH7GjouZPqgrdkfsQqRZl_PgL7NDhbo0-gE8BFGy8emjM07ZJ6bjPnSRNnkqaHNQdckV1jNouRizwqncz3HG7uoyanPGCHtMMFgntkGZCp9cy03nQ2jthdXSW2ob5r5F-NlRfd6ZdO_2GUMW0f-7dL2mAGyCluR_DCaiv3gh6a8y5Bl6anJmY9LpnX_jxxofbRm900emuGK46Mk17NktrMmZjTmV3AWbSfTQ9tEu_4WKXi3rOpE&amp;c=7PLORVjNRCcHiAvoo0yosgb7vONCSH2o-CAOe_uNl9Rtx5TqjGvWig==&amp;ch=FJaFVK7C8TKLubw7oZtYCqmQb_e5DAHI4W1WR0N62GsfWuwfesdlxQ==" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">&nbsp;</a><a href="https://jxxaepcab.cc.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001mPZNIBbgp7CngKH7GjouZPqgrdkfsQqRZl_PgL7NDhbo0-gE8BFGy8emjM07ZJ6bjPnSRNnkqaHNQdckV1jNouRizwqncz3HG7uoyanPGCHtMMFgntkGZCp9cy03nQ2jthdXSW2ob5r5F-NlRfd6ZdO_2GUMW0f-7dL2mAGyCluR_DCaiv3gh6a8y5Bl6anJmY9LpnX_jxxofbRm900emuGK46Mk17NktrMmZjTmV3BtWSd6D6EhGNBWjcqDjYCa&amp;c=7PLORVjNRCcHiAvoo0yosgb7vONCSH2o-CAOe_uNl9Rtx5TqjGvWig==&amp;ch=FJaFVK7C8TKLubw7oZtYCqmQb_e5DAHI4W1WR0N62GsfWuwfesdlxQ==" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Arts Club of Chicago</a>, the Architecture and Design Museum Los Angeles, and in a 10-year survey,&nbsp;<a href="https://jxxaepcab.cc.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001mPZNIBbgp7CngKH7GjouZPqgrdkfsQqRZl_PgL7NDhbo0-gE8BFGy8emjM07ZJ6bnZplywff9dtv64hK1sygeYVTet5MW28aeYa2mWbJilpfcGIegsKRgzHPd3Fw3INFhZuhPTMyGYiSx3oM54bg-6PxmE5piljEp70XQEQoZVWE9ZW5QqSTyvtgWKniyo2PxYmvaVt2Y9TeXThJX4Zss0x6kjNMpy7SU7fIBeUIBn_H1wzSvuTVuz6UPKMjVo7bq4mvbAEVonnH1Mh6YAXWv6Ca1gCMBk17&amp;c=7PLORVjNRCcHiAvoo0yosgb7vONCSH2o-CAOe_uNl9Rtx5TqjGvWig==&amp;ch=FJaFVK7C8TKLubw7oZtYCqmQb_e5DAHI4W1WR0N62GsfWuwfesdlxQ==" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Recurrent Visions: The Architecture of Marshall Brown Projects</a>, at the Princeton University School of Architecture. Marshall Brown received his masters degrees at Harvard University. He is a full professor with tenure at the Princeton University School of Architecture, where he directs the Princeton Urban Imagination Center. Marshall Brown lives in Princeton, NJ and Philadelphia, PA. Foundry﻿, 2026, collage on prepared panel, 72 x 87 inches

Marshall Brown: Palaces and Prisons

Anne Loucks Gallery is pleased to announce the opening of&nbsp;Reflections,&nbsp;a new exhibition in our Glencoe gallery featuring west coast artists Victoria Adams, John McCormick and Leslie Wu.The show includes 35 landscape paintings capturing dramatic skies, glistening water, and meditative vistas.&nbsp;Please join us for the Opening Reception with artist Leslie Wu, Friday, March 13th from 5 - 7 pm at 309 Park Avenue in Glencoe.&nbsp;

Victoria Adams, John McCormick & Leslie Wu: Reflections  

Oliva Gallery presents&nbsp;Girl Talk, a solo exhibition of paintings by Chicago-based artist Lindsey Kircher, on view from April 3 through May 30, 2026. The exhibition brings together a group of recent figurative works that stage psychologically charged scenes populated by women, animals, and symbolic objects. Through dense compositions and saturated color, Kircher constructs theatrical environments that blur the boundaries between interior life and performance. Kircher’s paintings unfold as layered narrative spaces in which bodies, decorative objects, and animal figures intertwine. Poodles, parrots, musical instruments, bird cages, fruit, and candles appear alongside female figures whose poses oscillate between vulnerability and command. Limbs twist and fold across the canvas, creating compositions that feel at once intimate and unstable. These environments operate less like conventional portraits and more like staged psychological tableaux where fragments of domestic life accumulate into something closer to myth or allegory. Across the exhibition, Kircher examines the visual language historically used to frame femininity. The paintings reference traditions of figurative painting that intertwine the body, ornament, and domestic space, yet they complicate these associations through exaggeration, humor, and visual excess. Characters appear aware of their own performance, inhabiting environments that feel part boudoir and part stage set. The result is a body of work that treats identity not as a fixed image but as a shifting composition of gestures, objects, and symbolic relationships. <a href="https://www.eventbrite.com/e/opening-reception-girl-talk-by-lindsey-kircher-at-oliva-gallery-tickets-1985080888374?aff=oddtdtcreator" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">RSVP</a> to the opening reception

Girl Talk by Lindsey Kircher

The Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art marks its 55th anniversary&nbsp;with deep pride and gratitude. What began as a humble gallery has grown into a powerful cultural voice, recognized across the United States and around the world. For over five decades, UIMA has stood as a beacon—protecting, nurturing, and sharing the soul of Ukrainian artistic expression, and carrying forward a legacy that refuses to be silenced.We are honored to announce that UIMA’s annual benefit&nbsp;gala will take place on May 30th. This year’s theme,&nbsp;“The Enduring Legacy of Ukrainian Art: Honoring the Past, Inspiring the Future,”&nbsp;carries profound meaning in this moment of history. As Ukraine’s culture is being deliberately targeted and threatened, our responsibility to preserve it, to uplift it, and to ensure it lives on becomes ever more urgent. Because culture is not only memory—it is identity, resilience, and the heartbeat of a nation.On this special evening, both galleries will be filled with the beauty, strength, and spirit of Ukrainian art. We invite you to walk among these works, to feel their stories, and to share in a night of connection, reflection, friendship, and hope. Visit our website for&nbsp;<a href="https://uima-chicago.us20.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d42e05c77d71dcdfd9e3b5f3a&amp;id=e584376c74&amp;e=82afcb77a8" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">more details</a>.&nbsp;<a href="https://uima-chicago.us20.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d42e05c77d71dcdfd9e3b5f3a&amp;id=bfe0296ca3&amp;e=82afcb77a8" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Get Tickets</a>

UIMA Annual Benefit Gala

Soft Evidence is a solo exhibition by Mami Takahashi that brings together video, textile-based installation, performance documentation, and collaborative works to explore how women’s bodies communicate, resist legibility, and carry memory within everyday life. Rooted in attentiveness rather than spectacle, the exhibition considers the body as both a site of expression and a surface onto which social expectations, histories, and perceptions are projected.

Soft Evidence

The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago is excited to announce the Chicago presentation of&nbsp;<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://mcachicago.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=c24ba7c5a91cefd699dc985e1&amp;id=01546b90d5&amp;e=4ba592fe2a" target="_blank">Firelei Báez</a>, the first North American survey exhibition of the artist (b.1980, Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic; lives in New York) running from November 15, 2025, to May 31, 2026. Spanning two decades of Báez’s spirited practice, this landmark exhibition showcases her vibrant and captivating paintings and installations. Through a bold visual language that blends folklore, fantasy, mythology and science fiction, Báez constructs layered worlds that challenge dominant historical narratives and unsettle the often-fixed categories of race, gender and nationality. In this exhibition, Báez also emphasizes resilience and creative agency, especially among marginalized communities who have always found ways to create refuge and power in defiance of systems of repression.Known for her richly pigmented, multidisciplinary approach, Báez combines saturated colors, intricate patterns and expressive figuration with abstract gestures, architectural plans, colonial-era maps and culturally resonant symbols. Her work draws deeply from Afro-Caribbean traditions and acts as a cultural and historical crossroads for the enduring legacies of colonialism across the Americas, the African Diaspora and the cultural nexus of the Caribbean. This major exhibition reaffirms Báez’s place as one of the most compelling and visionary artists of her generation.In addition to her dynamic paintings, the exhibition will feature one of her more immersive pieces,&nbsp;A Drexcyen chronocommons (To win the war you fought it sideways)&nbsp;(2019), which will occupy an entire gallery at the MCA. This large-scale work consists of paintings, mesh, papier-mâché, cutout tarp and plants that, together, transport visitors into one of Báez’s created worlds. Chicago is also highlighted in the exhibition:&nbsp;The trace, whether we are attending to it or not (a space for each other’s breathing)&nbsp;(2019) features a ciguapa (a feminine, trickster creature from Dominican folklore) bending over an architectural plan of the Illinois Central Railroad, uniting both sides of the tracks, which run between New Orleans and Chicago, to restore the divisions left by colonial trade.Firelei Báez&nbsp;is organized by the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston and curated by Eva Respini, Deputy Director and Director of Curatorial Programs, Vancouver Art Gallery (former Barbara Lee Chief Curator, ICA/Boston), with Tessa Bachi Haas, Assistant Curator, ICA/Boston. The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago presentation is organized by Carla Acevedo-Yates, former Marilyn and Larry Fields Curator and Director of Curatorial Initiatives, with Cecilia González Godino, former Marjorie Susman Curatorial Fellow, and Iris Colburn, Curatorial Associate. ABOUT THE ARTISTFirelei Báez (b. 1980, Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic; lives in New York)&nbsp;was born to a Dominican mother and a father of Haitian descent. Her upbringing between Hispaniola’s two countries, which have a longstanding history of tension predicated on ethnic difference, informs her concerns with the politics of place and heritage. She currently lives and works in New York City.Báez received an M.F.A. from Hunter College, a B.F.A. from the Cooper Union’s School of Art, and studied at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. She is the subject of her first major US survey, which originated at the ICA/Boston, curated by Eva Respini, and is now traveling. Her work has been presented in many significant international exhibitions, including the inaugural installation of the ICA Watershed, Boston (2021), curated by Eva Respini, which traveled to The Momentary in Bentonville, Arkansas; and The Milk of Dreams at the 59th Venice Biennale (2022), curated by Cecilia Alemani. Recent solo presentations of Báez’s work include exhibitions at Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebaek; Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art, Rotterdam; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York; The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh; and Pérez Art Museum Miami. The artist has recently participated in a number of group exhibitions at major institutions, such as the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; Cleveland Museum of Art; Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto; Baltimore Museum of Art; and Rockbund Art Museum, Shanghai. She is the recipient of many awards, most recently the Cooper Union President’s Citation (2022), Artes Mundi Prize (2021), and Philip Guston Rome Prize (2021). Báez’s work is held in many significant private and public collections; the latter include the Baltimore Museum of Art; Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, AR; Dallas Museum of Art; Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco; Guggenheim Abu Dhabi; Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston; The Marieluise Hessel Collection, Hessel Museum of Art, Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY; Nasjonalmuseet, Oslo; Pérez Art Museum Miami; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Sindika Dokolo Foundation, Luanda,Angola; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York; Tate, London; and Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. SUPPORTMajor support for&nbsp;Firelei Báez&nbsp;is provided by the Henry Luce Foundation and The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.This project is supported in part by Karen and Brian Conway, David and Jocelyne DeNunzio, Mathieu O. Gaulin, The Kotzubei-Beckmann Family Philanthropic Fund, Lise and Jeffrey Wilks, and an anonymous donor.Lead support for&nbsp;Firelei Báez&nbsp;at MCA Chicago is provided by the Harris Family Foundation in memory of Bette and Neison Harris, the Zell Family Foundation, Cari and Michael Sacks, and R. H. Defares.Major support is provided by Laura and Tony Davis and Linden Capital Partners, Newcity, Robin Loewenberg Tebbe and Mark Tebbe, and Charlotte R. Cramer Wagner and Herbert S. Wagner III of Wagner Foundation.Generous support is provided by Nickol and Darrel Hackett, Hauser &amp; Wirth, the Margot and W. George Greig Ascendant Artist Fund.This exhibition is supported by the MCA’s Women Artists Initiative, a philanthropic commitment to further equity across gender lines and promote the work and ideas of women artists ABOUT THE MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART CHICAGOThe Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago is a nonprofit, tax-exempt organization accredited by the American Alliance of Museums. The MCA interweaves exhibitions, performances, collections, and educational programs while providing a place for audiences to contemplate and discuss contemporary art in pursuit of a creative and diverse future. The MCA believes in the values of inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility (IDEA) as a platform to enact structural change. The museum is generously supported by its Board of Trustees; individual and corporate members; private and corporate foundations, including the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation; and government agencies. The MCA is a proud member of Museums in the Park and receives major support from the Chicago Park District.&nbsp;<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://mcachicago.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=c24ba7c5a91cefd699dc985e1&amp;id=91a06bd7c9&amp;e=4ba592fe2a" target="_blank">The MCA is located at 220 E. Chicago Avenue</a>&nbsp;and is open 10 am to 5 pm Wednesday to Sunday and Tuesdays from 10 am to 9 pm. Tuesday evenings (5-9 pm) are free for Illinois residents. The museum is closed on Mondays.&nbsp;Admission is free for all youth 18 and under, members of the military and veterans, and MCA members. Free admission for anyone 18 and under is generously provided by Liz and Eric Lefkofsky, and Northern Trust. Find more information about MCA's exhibitions, programs, and special events at&nbsp;<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://mcachicago.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=c24ba7c5a91cefd699dc985e1&amp;id=0649146eaa&amp;e=4ba592fe2a" target="_blank">mcachicago.org</a>&nbsp;or at 312.280.2660.

Chicago Presentation of Firelei Báez

Dispossession—the deprivation of land, culture, language, or all three—has been a defining and enduring condition across the Americas, initiated by the expansion of European colonialism.&nbsp;Dispossessions in the Americas:&nbsp;The Extraction of Bodies, Land, and Heritage from La Conquista to the Present&nbsp;brings&nbsp;together&nbsp;more than 40 works by 36 contemporary artists from across Latin America whose work broadly seeks to critique and unsettle the long-standing politics of dispossession. Curated by&nbsp;Jonathan D. Katz, Associate Professor of Practice, History of Art and Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies, University of Pennsylvania, and Eduardo Carrera, the exhibition is presented by Alphawood Exhibitions.Dispossessions in the Americas&nbsp;features&nbsp;photographs, videos, installations, performances, sculptures, and paintings&nbsp;produced between 1960 and 2025.&nbsp;A selection of these artworks circulated in Latin American museums from 2021 to 2025 as part of the&nbsp;<a href="https://protect.checkpoint.com/v2/r01/___https:/dia.upenn.edu/en/___.YzJ1Om5ld3N3ZWJsbGM6YzpvOjFjOGQzMDUxNWM3Yjg5ZWRkNWM0ZTU0ZWM5MWRmNTQ1Ojc6MmRiNzoxYmE1NzM5MWExMGQxNjdjMTdkZGVmMDk2Y2E2MGExN2FlNTZlNDg2YTZmMDQwYTJhNGQ5M2M0Njc4ZGJiN2Y0OnA6RjpG" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Dispossessions in the Americas&nbsp;project</a>, a transdisciplinary research project, teaching initiative, and community engagement program led by the University of Pennsylvania with support from the Mellon Foundation. Organized around three constellations — Territory, Body, and Cultural Heritage — the exhibition explores the colonial legacies in the Americas as territories marked by dispossession (of land, culture, and language) and their continued effect on Indigenous, Afro-descendant, queer, and trans communities, while also fostering resistance and reimagined forms of belonging.Featured artists include:&nbsp;Karina Aguilera Skvirsky, Colectivo Ayllu, Colectivo Tawna, Deborah Anzinger, Carlos Arias, Archivo de la Memoria Trans, Purita Pelayo, Felipe Baeza, Tania Bruguera, Saskia Calderón, Seba Calfuqueo, Javier Cardona Otero, Wilson Díaz, Frau Diamanda/Héctor Acuña, Augusto Falconi, Ani Ganzala, Frank Gaudlitz, Camilo Godoy, Regina José Galindo, Thomas Locke Hobbs, David Lozano, Cinthia Marcelle, Laryssa Machada, Carlos Martiel, Ana Mendieta, Joiri Minaya, Lulu Molinares, Lizette Nin, Kiván Quiñones, Madorilyn Crawford, Miguel Ángel Rojas, Deborah Thomas, Gihan Tubbeh, Javi Vargas Sotomayor, Antonio Wong Rengifo, Rember Yahuarcani, and Luis Fernando Zapata.

Dispossessions in the Americas

Sculptor Angie Seykora repurposes fibers, vinyl, beads, plastics, wire, and found objects to create site-specific installations and sculptures. "These types of materials combined with intuitive approaches and responses to making result in non-representative works that incite the visual and tactile senses." Our gallery space will be activated by these large, compelling sculptures that are refined through this exploration of material.&nbsp;

Geometries In Light

This exhibition marks the first time Matisse’s&nbsp;Jazzwill be shown in its entirety since the Art Institute acquired it in 1948. One of the most important artist books of the 20th century,&nbsp;Jazz&nbsp;joins more than 50 works from the museum’s renowned collection of paintings, sculpture, drawings, prints, illustrated books, and textiles to showcase Matisse’s commitment to continual innovation and the expressive power of color and line.

Matisse’s Jazz: Rhythms in Color

Celebrating a remarkable fifty-year period of artistic invention, this exhibition largely comprises drawings never before seen outside of Dunham’s own studio and highlights a more holistic look at his career. This show will strengthen our understanding of Dunham’s explorations of figuration to abstraction and everything in between.

Carroll Dunham: Drawings, 1974–2024

<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://qvrzaq.clicks.mlsend.com/tj/cl/eyJ2Ijoie1wiYVwiOjM4NzU1NixcImxcIjoxNzMyNDE4MTEyMDcxOTM2NjMsXCJyXCI6MTczMjQxODIzMzYxMjM4NTIwfSIsInMiOiJiODA1ZjgyMzJkOTJmODAxIn0" target="_blank">Sarah Smelser: Sandia</a>Sandia&nbsp;is&nbsp;an ongoing series of monotypes begun in 2023. For Smelser, contemplation of the situational experience of being in&nbsp;a specific physical space is central, and to this end she seeks out impactful landscapes. Her daily ritual of walking becomes a method of attuning to the shifting qualities of light, smell, sound, and the subtle rhythms of a place; the unpacking of these sensory perceptions into visual form is the basis of her practice.Though the works in the "Sandia" series were born of a particular place, they do not attempt to describe it. Instead, the visual and physical experience of place—its memories, impressions, and contrasts to familiarity—feeds Smelser’s abstract sensibility. Fifteen works from the series are shown in this collection.The "Sandia" prints emerged from the artist’s lifelong love of the high desert environments of the American Southwest and, more specifically, from several weeks she spent at an artist residency in Albuquerque, NM, in 2022. Albuquerque sits on land that slopes from the Sandia Mountains down to the Rio Grande. The Sandias—Spanish for watermelon—were named for their warm pink-red color at sunset. The city presses up against the mountains, and harsh desert conditions permeate the urban environment. The intersection of the urban and natural landscapes became a particular focus for Smelser during her daily plantigrade perambulations.

Sarah Smelser: Sandia (online exhibition)

Our Free Days Are Taking The Night Shift! From March through November, we’re returning to Free First Tuesdays! On the first Tuesday of every month, enjoy extended hours from 5:00 pm to 8:00 pm - admission is free for all, no residency restrictions.

Free First Tuesdays

PATRON presents our first solo exhibition with MANUELA GARCÍA: She is sitting on her own shadow<a href="https://patrongallery.us10.list-manage.com/track/click?u=fe9966abed200e47655a01bab&amp;id=32f06d23da&amp;e=9e3563b61b" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">MANUELA GARCÍA</a>&nbsp;(b. 1972, Mexico City, Mexico) lives and works in Mexico City, Mexico. Garćia received a Bachelor of Arts from the National University of Colombia, Medellín, Columbia.Recent exhibitions include:&nbsp;She is sitting on her own shadow,&nbsp;PATRON, Chicago, IL (forthcoming); Duets | Manuela García &amp; Fani Zguro&nbsp;(2026),&nbsp;Gat-Tirana Art Gallery, Tirana, Sweden;&nbsp;Geles: Partituras Corporales&nbsp;(2026),&nbsp;Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes, Mexico City, Mexico;&nbsp;Fuerzas Motrices&nbsp;(2026),&nbsp;N.A.S.A.L, Mexico City, Mexico;&nbsp;In the Shadows, Our Ghosts Lurk&nbsp;(2025)&nbsp;Contemporary at Blue Star, San Anotonio, TX;&nbsp;Primary Frequencies&nbsp;(2025),&nbsp;Efraìn Lopez Gallery, New York, NY;&nbsp;Escenario afectivo&nbsp;(2025),&nbsp;Guadalajara90210, Mexico City, Mexico;&nbsp;Invisible ink&nbsp;(2025),&nbsp;Studio Hannibal, Berlin, Germany;&nbsp;Sur, sur&nbsp;(2025),&nbsp;N.A.S.A.L, Mexico City, Mexico;&nbsp;Mecánica vegetal&nbsp;(2025),&nbsp;Guadalajara 90210, Mexico City, Mexico;&nbsp;An unfinished map of matter&nbsp;(2025),15 Beautreillis, Paris, France;&nbsp;Lo visible&nbsp;(2025),&nbsp;Espacio Cabeza,&nbsp;Guadalajara, Mexico;&nbsp;Double the Uncertainty&nbsp;(2024), curated by Roselin Rodriguez,&nbsp;N.A.S.A.L.,&nbsp;Mexico City, Mexico;&nbsp;Liaisons&nbsp;(2024),&nbsp;curated by Julia María López,&nbsp;Maison Jaune, Paris, France;&nbsp;Contrapunto&nbsp;(2024),&nbsp;curated by Corina Krawinkel,&nbsp;König Gallery, Mexico City, Mexico;&nbsp;Masa solar&nbsp;(2024),&nbsp;curated by Marco Valtierra,&nbsp;Raúl Anguiano Museum, Guadalajara, Mexico;&nbsp;Como fantasmas en las sombras&nbsp;(2024),&nbsp;curated by&nbsp;Fabiola Iaza,&nbsp;La Laguna S.A. de C.V., Mexico City, Mexico;&nbsp;Out of place&nbsp;(2024),&nbsp;curated by Marco Valtierra,&nbsp;Espacio Cabeza, Guadalajara, Mexico;&nbsp;&nbsp;Mediating Forms&nbsp;(2023),&nbsp;Efraín López, New York, NY;&nbsp;Choreographies of Matter&nbsp;(2023), curated by Sandra Sanchez,&nbsp;Galería Tiro al blanco, Guadalajara, Mexico;&nbsp;Empty the mist&nbsp;(2023),&nbsp;curated by Marco Valtierra,&nbsp;Caiman Project, Guadalajara, Mexico;&nbsp;Eroded house&nbsp;(2023),&nbsp;curated by Karla niño de Rivera,&nbsp;Anahuacalli Museum, Mexico City, Mexico;&nbsp;On the Surface&nbsp;(2022),&nbsp;curated by Aline Hernández,&nbsp;Peana Gallery, Mexico City, Mexico;&nbsp;Portrait of an artist&nbsp;(2022), curated by Ana Castella,&nbsp;Peana Gallery, Mexico City, Mexico;&nbsp;Maaa mo mi me moo&nbsp;(2022), curated by Underbelly,&nbsp;Cabañas Museum,&nbsp;Guadalajara, Mexico;&nbsp;Atl 217&nbsp;(2022),&nbsp;Acapulco 62,&nbsp;Mexico City, Mexico;&nbsp;Oscillations&nbsp;(2021),&nbsp;City Museum of Cuernavaca, Cuernavaca, Mexico; and&nbsp;Antropoceno&nbsp;(2021), curated by Alberto Ríos de la Rosa,&nbsp;Casa Wabi, Mexico City, Mexico, amongst several others.

Calendar

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