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

Center for Native Futures presents Hattie Lee Mendoza, Melissa Melero-Moose, Sean Chandler

Hattie Lee Mendoza, Melissa Melero-Moose, Sean Chandler 

Randolph Street Market Festival<a href="https://randolphstreetmarket.com/event/randolph-street-market-festival-july-2026/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Buy Tickets</a><a href="https://randolphstreetmarket.com/vendor-application-july/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Become a Vendor</a>Indoor &amp; OutdoorSUMMER SOLSTICE BASH!Stroll on over to the Market and enjoy shopping 200 indoor and outdoor dealers! Find some great shades and breezy fashion as well as accoutrements for casual lifestyle and leisure time. Recharge your battery inside with cool cool A/C. Continuous live music, DJ’s, food and 3-Market Bars too!

Randolph Street Market Festival 

The Evanston Art Center (EAC) is excited to welcome the public to its upcoming exhibition,&nbsp;Rina Akowala | Ode to Color. The exhibition will be on view from June 27 through July 29, 2026, with an opening reception on Sunday, June 28, from 1–4 p.m. The reception is free and open to the public.Chicago-based, Indian-born artist Rina Akowala translates her global travels into vibrant abstract landscapes. Working across oils, inks, mixed media, and acrylics, she captures the essence of diverse locales—from European countrysides to South American waterfalls, from the farmlands of Iowa to the Indian subcontinent—emphasizing the interplay of light on land and water. Her recent work uniquely blends spiritual iconography with natural scenery, depicting ethereal representations of Lord Ganesha, the Hindu deity of wisdom and new beginnings. These pieces incorporate landscape elements, reflecting Ganesha’s invocation at the start of new ventures.Rina Akowala | Ode to Color&nbsp;will be exhibited in the Second Floor Atrium Gallery at the Art Center. The opening reception is free and open to the public. This exhibition is partially funded by the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency, and the EAC’s general membership.

Rina Akowala | Ode to Color

The Evanston Art Center (EAC) is excited to welcome the public to its upcoming exhibition,&nbsp;Moritz Kellerman | Recent Paintings. The exhibition will be on view from June 27 through July 29, 2026, with an opening reception on Sunday, June 28, from 1–4 p.m. The reception is free and open to the public.Born in Nicaragua, Moritz Kellerman is both a 21st-century artist and an art historian whose work is informed by the art of both the past and present. During his graduate studies at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Kellerman became inspired by the work of Willem de Kooning and Richard Diebenkorn. He also draws inspiration from the Old Renaissance Masters in his painting practice. His use of wood panels recalls the techniques of Leonardo da Vinci, while his method of mixing paint directly on the surface of the work echoes that of Claude Monet.Since 1981, Kellerman has exhibited extensively at colleges, museums, and galleries. He is a tenured professor at Oakton College, where he teaches Studio Art and Art History.Moritz Kellerman | Recent Paintings&nbsp;will be exhibited in the Second Floor Gallery of the Art Center. The opening reception is free and open to the public. This exhibition is partially funded by the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency, and the EAC’s general membership.

Moritz Kellerman | Recent Paintings

Artists: Natalja Heybrook, Ruti Modlin, Jeein Kim

July Solo Shows

On Friday, July 10th, we will be having an exhibit opening for special exhibitor Meghan Borah's show "Rainy Day Women." The opening will run from 5-7 PM and will display Meghan's unique, thought-provoking work, which is influenced by&nbsp;how others view us, how we view ourselves, how we react, and how that makes us feel.&nbsp; Image: Meghan Borah, 300 DPI image of "Girls with Flowers."&nbsp;

Meghan Borah: Rainy Day Women

Vibrance is an exhibition illuminated by movement, identity, and the electric pulse of human connection. Featuring four Chicago based artists, photography, paintings, and neon glass sculptures transform the gallery into a living atmosphere, one saturated with color, rhythm, intimacy, and unapologetic presence. Presented during Pride Month, Vibrance serves as both celebration and declaration: an affirmation of life, visibility, and the triumphs continually forged through collective resilience and self-expression. Spencer Gale constructs abstract neon sculptures that bend light into emotional architecture. His luminous and organic forms activate the surrounding environment, dissolving the boundary between object and observer.&nbsp;Photographer Francisco Malave turns his lens toward the nightlife culture. Navigating the dim corners of clubs and gay bars, Malave captures fleeting moments often hidden from public memory. His photographs reveal beauty within spaces society deems to remain unseen, preserving the spirit of nightlife not as spectacle, but as sanctuary. Painter Devon James approaches the human form as both landscape and language. Through fluorescent palettes, layered patterns, and intertwined humanoid figures, the work explores intimacy, coexistence, and the beauty found within human connection. Bodies merge and interlock within surreal compositions, suggesting the fragile yet powerful ways individuals influence and shape one another. Interdisciplinary artist Connor Young, presents paintings from his ongoing series, Killer Queen, a response to the right wing’s legislative attacks on Drag performers, queer spaces and forms of expression. In response to this, Young leans into the stereotypes that conservatives project onto Drag performers, depicting drag queens and queer icons in bright, saturated colors, with exaggerated, and often humorous poses and features.&nbsp; Together, these artists construct a bright dialogue centered on visibility, liberation, and communal energy. Vibrance explores the conditions that allow individuals to express themselves most freely, while honoring the cultural spaces, histories, and creative communities that make such expression possible. Rooted within the spirit of Chicago, the exhibition invites viewers into a world where light becomes language, color becomes emotion, and difference becomes connection.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Vibrance

Chicago Sculpture InternationalCSI Project Space Gallery EXHIBITION DATES: June 5 - July 31, 2026OPENING RECEPTION: Friday, June 5, 2026, 6–9 pm “Abstract Expressions” explores the raw, unfiltered language of gesture, color, and movement—where emotion takes form beyond representation and meaning emerges through instinct rather than depiction. Influenced by the bold innovations of artists such as Willem de Kooning, whose restless surfaces redefined the boundaries of abstraction, the pieces in this exhibition embrace tension, rhythm, and spontaneity. In these artworks, control and chaos coexist, echoing the human condition in all its vulnerability and force.&nbsp;Abstract Expressions is not about what is seen, but what is felt—an immersive encounter with the energy of creation itself, emotion made visible. Exhibiting Artists: Nikki Anderson, Pinar Aral, Tomas Co, Darlys Ewoldt, Ted Sitting Crow Garner, Shelley Gilchrist, Peter Gray, Carol Hammerman, Kasia Kay, Victoria Kowalczyk, Laurie LeBreton, Patrick Miceli, Scott Mossman, Rebecca Russow, Marvin Shafer, Yvette Kaiser Smith, Pat Stephens, Rich Stewart, Michele Thrane Curator: Micki LeMieux The CSI Project Space Gallery is located at 1912 N. Damen Ave.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Gallery Hours: Fri, 2-6 pm; Sat, 12-4 pm; Sun, 1-5 pm

Abstract Expressions

Please join us for a special exhibition by ENGAGE Projects at SoNa Chicago Contemporary Art. The exhibition series invites artists to transform the gallery into an extension of the studio. Featuring finished works alongside works in progress, the exhibition offers visitors a deeper understanding of artistic process, material experimentation, and the evolving nature of a practice. Rather than a performative studio reconstruction, Studio Sessions creates space for intimacy, conversation, and close looking—encouraging collectors, curators, and the broader community to engage with artists beyond the finished object. Each participating artist will present one to three completed works alongside a developing piece from the studio, offering insight into the decisions, revisions, and thinking that shape the work over time. Participating artists include Nick Albertson, bARBER, Matthew Girson, Noel Mercado, and Margaret Welsh. Throughout the exhibition, ENGAGE Projects and SoNa Chicago will host a series of public programs, including artist conversations, panel discussions, and special events designed to further expand dialogue around artistic practice and studio culture. Participating artists will also be invited to take part in week-long Instagram takeovers on the ENGAGE Projects account, offering additional opportunities to share process, inspiration, and perspectives from the studio. About ENGAGE Projects: In pursuit of the continued study of the arts and support of community-led progress, ENGAGE Projects’ vision is centered around engagement with artists, communities, and patrons. See more about ENGAGE Projects <a href="https://www.engage-projects.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">here</a> About SoNa Chicago Contemporary Art: SoNa Chicago highlights primarily contemporary artists from Chicago. Although we will put a spotlight on Chicago artists, we want the dialogue between artists in the gallery to be global. We view our space as a venue for conversation, community, and a celebration of the arts. View more about SoNa Chicago <a href="https://sonachicagoart.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">here</a>

Studio Sessions: A Collaboration with Engage Projects

moniquemeloche is pleased to present Lavar Munroe:&nbsp;DANCE WITH MY FATHER AGAIN, the artist’s second solo exhibition with the gallery. Munroe is an interdisciplinary artist from Nassau, Bahamas whose work spans painting, drawing, sculpture, installation, collage, and assemblage. Working with an expansive range of materials including paint, cardboard, feathers, glass, found objects, textiles, newspaper, and discarded cultural artifacts, Munroe constructs richly layered worlds that merge folklore, spirituality, personal memory, and collective history.Munroe’s exhibition emerges from research developed for The Bahamas Pavilion at La Biennale di Venezia 2026, which recently opened to rave reviews, and centers on an intergenerational dialogue between Munroe and the late Bahamian artist John Beadle – who are both deeply shaped by Bahamian culture and particularly the traditions of Junkanoo, the national festival known for its processions, elaborate handmade costumes, music, improvisation, and collective production. Following Beadle's death in 2024, Munroe developed works that engage Beadle's legacy, incorporating aspects of his artistic philosophy, collected materials, sketches, and influence.&nbsp;DANCE WITH MY FATHER AGAIN&nbsp;extends Munroe’s ongoing exploration of posthumous collaboration while marking a deeply personal return to continue an unrealized project conceived with his late father.Before his father's passing, Munroe envisioned a collaboration centered on the parachutes his father—&nbsp;a&nbsp;Junkanooer, fisherman, and boatsman—washed, repaired, and braided by hand. Recognizing their sculptural beauty, Munroe hoped to present the parachutes as artworks and respond to them through his own visual language, creating a dialogue between two makers connected by a shared understanding of material transformation. Although his father's death interrupted the project, the collaboration sustained as Munroe incorporated these objects into subsequent installations, sculptures, and drawings, allowing his father's presence to remain an active force within the work.This exhibition marks a return to the origins of that conversation through a series of unstretched paintings on canvas. While earlier projects relied on inherited objects as collaborators, these paintings position memory itself as the medium of exchange for which the artist navigates loss, celebration, and lasting connection. Central to these works is the Bahamian tradition of shared mourning, where movement, coordinated dress, and united visual markers transform grief into a communal act. The figures depicted here are "rushing", a term associated with participation in Junkanoo processions moving through spaces that are at once celebratory and elegiac. Layers of Bahamian newspapers from 2024 to 2026 function as both historical record and a fragmented archive, preserving traces of specific moments that emerge and disappear beneath successive layers of paint, fringe, beads, sequins, and decorative elements derived from Junkanoo costume-making traditions. The surface feels simultaneously celebratory and weathered, echoing the handmade exuberance of Junkanoo while preserving the residue of lived experience and ritual.Taken together, the works in&nbsp;DANCE WITH MY FATHER AGAIN&nbsp;revisit the relationship that first inspired Munroe's notion of posthumous collaboration. Here, Munroe deftly showcases painting as a space in which communication, remembrance, and artistic partnership can be shaped by the enduring presence of ancestors, community, and shared history.<a href="https://t8j4tqkab.cc.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001HEw2jKi8CMNvWFoG6Y6F_Y3BYAk2Ifckta9-otEzFXdeEZCvpFMjv4T-4WiWcVLUo2vWiD5WVwoqrIq1D_lGHu7UvTSxViO5kQOF40dMN7PkWYQeA_RInXx3PEZVTmOwk3pfqkNNRJVo2Z9oHP36F7HYpK_vL5BPefYGxRPaB4T02EqELWDflGnqlC7CcWHa09JArziskxpdij8PUFAIn6CHtGzBtT5Bmg51WWuNE27QYSfFy8u4LSnZRyIugv8NcF0uKsP5HEv2qleI8rYS-w==&amp;c=mayR7Zr2M0pE5TwMwhP-aeMkDM48iXct9v_W7lzwQ-VJM2ZoyBc2ow==&amp;ch=BQh7hExe1nF9iMcSRvD4Wtp5HkGqvRDY5t-eDaDwe8S1pAjqR559sw==" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Learn more</a> Image: Lavar Munroe,&nbsp;DANCE WITH MY FATHER AGAIN (detail), 2026

Lavar Munroe: DANCE WITH MY FATHER AGAIN

Registration is required. Visit&nbsp;www.EvanstonArtCenter.org&nbsp;for more information.The Evanston Art Center (EAC) is excited to welcome the public to our upcoming exhibition,&nbsp;Presence and Absence: The Space Between | Curated by Indira Freitas Johnson. The exhibition will be on display from July 6 – August 2, 2026 with an opening reception on Sunday, July 12, 1–4 pm that will be free and open to the public.Curated by Indira Freitas Johnson,&nbsp;Presence and Absence: The Space Between&nbsp;is the culminating exhibition for the EAC’s Curatorial Fellowship. Johnson’s fellowship explores the dual reality of death—the physical disappearance of those we love and the enduring emotional, spiritual, and cultural traces they leave behind. Through sculpture, painting, performance, and participatory installations, the exhibition brings together fragile and enduring materials to reflect on memory, loss, and the tension between impermanence and our human desire to hold on. Rather than viewing death as an ending, the exhibition considers it as a connective force between past, present, and future, inviting visitors to reflect on legacy, remembrance, and the ways we remain present even in our absence. Indira Freitas Johnson is a sculptor, cultural worker, peace activist, and educator whose work explores the intersection of art, community, and social change.Presence and Absence: The Space Between&nbsp;will be exhibited in the First Floor Gallery of the Art Center. The opening reception is free and open to the public. This exhibition is partially funded by the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency, and the EAC’s general membership.Evanston Art Center, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization, is dedicated to fostering the appreciation and expression of the arts among diverse audiences. The Art Center offers extensive and innovative instruction in broad areas of artistic endeavor through classes, exhibitions, interactive arts activities, and community outreach initiatives.Evanston Art Center is located at&nbsp;1717 Central St., Evanston, IL.

Presence and Absence: The Space Between | Curated by Indira Freitas Johnson

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 Tuesday

Step into the sharp, subversive world of satire, past and present, in this lively panel inspired by the Driehaus Museum’s exhibition&nbsp;Ink &amp; Outrage: 18th-Century Satirical Prints in London &amp; Dublin. Using the exhibition as a springboard, writers and contributors from&nbsp;The Onion&nbsp;and&nbsp;The New Yorker&nbsp;will bring the conversation into the present day, exploring how satire is crafted, circulated, and received in today’s fast-moving media landscape.&nbsp; This discussion focuses on the enduring mechanics of satire, its targets, its techniques, and its cultural impact. Panelists will reflect on how their own practices echo (or diverge from) historical traditions, revealing how, in many ways, the more things change, the more they stay the same.&nbsp; Moderated by Colin Barr of the University of Notre Dame, whose scholarship bridges Irish and English history, the conversation offers audiences a unique opportunity to connect the incisive humor of the 18th century with the satirical voices shaping public discourse today. Whether you’re a longtime fan of contemporary satire or newly curious, this program invites you to see both past and present with fresh eyes.&nbsp; About the Panelists Colin Barr (Moderator)&nbsp;is professor of modern Irish history in the Keough School of Global Affairs at the University of Notre Dame and the Thomas Moore and Judy Livingston Director of the Keough School’s Keough-Naughton Institute for Irish Studies. Barr was born in Canada and raised in the United States. He holds a B.A. from Stonehill College and a Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge, and has held academic appointments in Ireland, the United States and the United Kingdom. Barr’s work seeks to place the history of the island of Ireland and its peoples in the widest possible context, including that of the United Kingdom, the continent of Europe, the Roman Catholic Church and the global Irish Diaspora.&nbsp; Tom Bachtell&nbsp;is a freelance cartoonist and caricaturist and illustrator. His distinctive drawings appeared in The New Yorker’s Talk of the Town section for 25 years, and he contributes regularly to the New York Review of Books. His work also appears in Politico and i-D Magazine. Tom illustrated Bag Man (Crown 2020) by Rachel Maddow, and recently published his first children’s book, The WhyBecause Book - Das Warum-Weil Buch in Germany (Tanja Langer 2025).Mike Gillis&nbsp;is head writer for The Onion. He’s also written for The New Yorker, The Atlantic, McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, Tricycle, ClickHole, and the Supreme Court (in the form of a recent amicus brief in defense of parody and free speech).&nbsp; Rob Knoll&nbsp;is a staff writer at The Onion. He has also written for the website ClickHole.

Exploring Satire with The Onion and The New Yorker

John McIntire is a self-taught artist who turned&nbsp;to oil painting later in life as a way to create and express his interest in modern art. Surrounded by talented artists his entire life, John has been influenced by his mother (grade school art teacher), Tim Ferrarell (Lewis U roommate, art major) and his brother Paul (architect, sculptor). John‘s paintings are all abstract, inviting viewers to see whatever their imagination allows. He envisions them in urban spaces – open, expressive and minimalist.

John McIntire: Fields In Color

What does color feel like? In the hands of the artists gathered for Color Play, it feels like&nbsp;memory, motion, celebration, and wonder. Kim Storage Gallery is proud to present this vibrant group&nbsp;exhibition featuring the work of Poppy Dodge, Megan Woodard Johnson, Kathleen Waterloo, and Gretchen&nbsp;Warsen—four artists united by an unapologetic devotion to color as a primary language of expression.Across wildly different materials and methods, each artist approaches color not as decoration but as the very&nbsp;subject of their work. Poppy Dodge, a self-described Color Maximalist working in Sonoma County, California,&nbsp;builds richly layered abstractions inspired by improvisational quilting and collage—stacking shapes and hues&nbsp;into what she calls “playful color conversations” that stitch together a life’s worth of experience. Megan&nbsp;Woodard Johnson, a Milwaukee-based mixed media painter, layers paint and expressive drawn line with&nbsp;found ephemera—vintage ledgers, packaging, handwritten records—to map the beautiful, layered complexity&nbsp;of everyday moments. Her work captures how small, ordinary joys quietly accumulate into a life, and how&nbsp;color can carry the full weight of memory and mood. Kathleen Waterloo brings a uniquely architectural&nbsp;sensibility to the group: a former interior architect turned encaustic painter, she transforms aerial views,&nbsp;street maps, and structural blueprints into luminous abstract compositions rendered in molten wax and&nbsp;pigment. And Gretchen Warsen, working on a large scale in her studio, builds paintings through accumulation&nbsp;and intuition—layering opaque acrylic color, drawn line, and translucent fields while drawing inspiration from&nbsp;interior design, children’s illustration, and the eternal freshness of flowers. Her titles, arrived at through&nbsp;reflection and conversation with her daughters, serve as gentle invitations into each work’s emotional world.Together, these four artists make a compelling case that color is never neutral—it carries feeling, triggers&nbsp;memory, and opens dialogue between artist and viewer. Color Play invites visitors to slow down, look closely,&nbsp;and let color do what it does best: surprise, delight, and connect us to one another<a href="https://us.list-manage.com/rmKCk2gE3Bv?e=0feabe6389&amp;c2id=59e859111d676330d8f5e0c66464fc47" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">View the Exhibition</a> Artist Talks: Saturday, July 18 at 1 PM <a href="mailto:kim@kimstoragegallery.com?subject=RSVP%20for%20Color%20Play&amp;body=Hi%20Kim%2C%0A%0AI%20look%20forward%20to%20joining%20you." rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">RSVP</a>

Color Play

Corbett vs. Dempsey is deeply honored to present&nbsp;Secondary Modern, an exhibition of paintings by Rodney Graham. This is the gallery’s first exhibition of the artist and the artist’s first in Chicago since his untimely death in 2022.&nbsp;With his paintings, Rodney Graham reversed time’s arrow.Convention, amongst conceptual artists, is for their painting practice to come first, to precede their transformation into full-fledged conceptualists. In Graham’s case, paintings came later, as part of his complex of different artistic activities, which included the photographic lightboxes for which he is best known, but also films, books, performances, songwriting, singing, bandleading, record making, sculpture, installation art, bakery ownership, and more. Among the personae the Vancouver-based artist created for his photographs were several art world archetypes – the collector, the dealer, and the artist. Graham inserted his own paintings into these works, in part as props, but also as the productions of an actual studio practice, which he reported finding “absorbing to a frightening degree.” The initial paintings, which incorporated many ideas from canonic modernist movements such as the School of Paris, CoBrA, and Abstract Expressionism, appeared in 2003 with a presentation of monochromatic works at the Venice Biennale, and continued in 2005 with his exhibition&nbsp;Picasso, My Master, at Johnen Galerie in Berlin, and in 2007 with&nbsp;Wet on Wet – My Late Early Styles&nbsp;at Lisson Gallery in London. All of these were small scale and most of them were painted directly by him. He went on to create a series of 84 huge, shaped panel paintings featuring permutations of two abstract designs from a satirical cartoon from an obscure 1950s pulp magazine; these were shown at Hauser &amp; Wirth in Zurich and Donald Young Gallery in Chicago in 2009. In subsequent works, what we might call Graham’s “early late” paintings, developed during the 2010s and continuing until his death, Graham borrowed visual elements from these original paintings, cut and pasted them together using a digital program, blew them up to monumental scale, and had them executed by studio assistants in order to change their facture.In&nbsp;Secondary Modern, CvsD presents seven of the “late early” canvases from 2004/5, small modernist paintings that are at once marvelous inventions of Rodney Graham and are at the same time, one step removed from that earnest endeavor, they are meditations on what it means to be a modern painting. Augmenting these rare examples of the first painterly output are two large-scale "early late"&nbsp;paintings from 2022, equally masterful, equally droll. In these incredible paintings, Graham seems to wonder how an object can be something and be a quotation of that thing at the same time. Image: Rodney Graham,&nbsp;Untitled,&nbsp;2022,&nbsp;oil and sand on linen,&nbsp;72 x 60 inches,&nbsp;77 5/8 x 65 5/8 x 2 5/8 inches, framed.&nbsp;

Rodney Graham: Secondary Modern

This notorious episode from Glenn O'Brien's late 1970s NYC cable access TV show is a mess in all the best ways. The budgetless program served as a barometer of things that made New York glorious at that moment, including punk rock, underground film, experimental poetry, and postmodern art. Abounding with technical difficulties and featuring cameos by some of New York's most legendary hipsters,&nbsp;TV Party&nbsp;was a spirited improvisational playground–as Blondie's Chris Stein said of the hour-long show: "it's not chaos, it's art."

TV Party: The Sublimely Intolerable Show

In the North Gallery, CvsD presents&nbsp;Splatscape, featuring a single sculpture by Steven Urry.&nbsp;Steven Urry’s sculpture reminds me of number nine pasta.&nbsp;–&nbsp;Joe ZuckerSteven Urry (1939–1993) was based in Chicago and New York. Fabricated, as was much of Urry’s work from the late 1960s into the '70s, out of aluminum that had been cast and welded in his studio above the Biograph Theater, the monumental sculpture in&nbsp;Splatscapecomes from a period in which Urry was closely associated with the Chicago Imagist artists. His work was curated into numerous group exhibitions with members of the Hairy Who, False Image, and Nonplussed Some, and he showed alongside them at Phyllis Kind Gallery, despite the fact that his oeuvre was virtually all abstract. Biomorphic in the extreme, with unpainted metallic finishes, Urry’s globular, spurting, gooey sculptures often seemed to defy gravity, creeping up walls, dangling from the ceiling, or arcing high into the air. The sculpture featured in&nbsp;Splatscape&nbsp;dates from circa 1969, when a similar work adorned the façade of Loyola University’s library in Rogers Park and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, mounted a solo exhibition of related works titled&nbsp;Dribblescape. Urry’s work has not been exhibited since his 2012 retrospective at Koehnline Museum of Art, Des Plaines, Illinois. Image: Steven Urry in his Lincoln Avenue studio above Chicago's Biograph Theater, 1971. Photo: Mary Baber.

Steven Urry: Splatscape

Krasl Art Center presents&nbsp;Sculpture in the Direct Method, a group exhibition featuring Ajene Cetawayo Williams, Isaac Duncan III, Albert LaVergne, and Richard Hunt. On view from May 16 through August 9, 2026, the exhibition brings together two generations of artists to explore how material, form, and process shape contemporary and modern Black sculpture.Spanning generations of artistic practice,&nbsp;Sculpture in the Direct Methodexplores how artists engage abstraction, representation, and material process as interconnected and evolving strategies. The featured artists employ a range of visual languages, from gestural and improvisational approaches to more structured and symbolic forms, reflecting the breadth of contemporary and modern Black artistic practice.At the center of the exhibition is the direct method of metal sculpture, in which materials are cut, bent, and welded together to build form. This process allows for immediacy and revision, positioning material as an active and responsive element in the development of each work. Rather than adhering to predetermined outcomes, artists working in this way often allow form to emerge through interaction with their materials.Within this framework, abstraction operates as a critical language. Across Black sculptural traditions, abstraction has been used to engage complex histories and lived experiences. In this exhibition, abstraction and representation move fluidly, offering multiple ways of approaching identity and cultural expression.Sculpture in the Direct Method&nbsp;highlights the diversity of approaches and relationships within Black art, emphasizing how artists use material, form, and process to explore and reimagine social, cultural, and aesthetic landscapes.&nbsp; Other exhibition related events:PUBLIC P<a href="https://sfpwlrdab.cc.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=0018nGdO601K0Us765swOcLJfngaCAZK9Xpmx94WQZZwxVfLw22_iXp3k1uBVdLFIQC9fQbVHFvHVSq1OPWsIwZ1hTMTJqhYjzWAErQJh9DQ2SrJ_Hy0oGG8LD6gSx35mpeIQxaf_aO8OwmoWtmFTvhKzxghxu7-PE_CN3c8A9MA91sPFQj1gmosg==&amp;c=wEhlYspdbK8skk8jBCXuB7cKSX69SRG4MTy-zyu4SDZvQvucsarXsg==&amp;ch=TDWbgZ80bkqthX-o6bdbvqljuVQ3OlTItpD2tUiNXIWEr5DM8-KA-w==" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="color: rgb(22, 22, 22);" target="_blank">REVIEW PARTY</a>Friday, May 15, 2026﻿﻿6 - 8 PMARTIST IN DIALOGUE:&nbsp;Isaac Duncan III and Ajene Cetawayo WilliamsSaturday, May 16,&nbsp;2026﻿﻿12 PM<a href="https://sfpwlrdab.cc.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=0018nGdO601K0Us765swOcLJfngaCAZK9Xpmx94WQZZwxVfLw22_iXp3k1uBVdLFIQCGU3A5vO7RN90eKktov-ar5K8RfXWg4zaIRRBznJX1_xfYZe9VzsjCaxqBisvvFc6KXLxn4XKNMpl5PInNIUyyJpZcx3hq9fTFFRwqfimTkDMVzESSxqu4PMMVTnGc8Yy&amp;c=wEhlYspdbK8skk8jBCXuB7cKSX69SRG4MTy-zyu4SDZvQvucsarXsg==&amp;ch=TDWbgZ80bkqthX-o6bdbvqljuVQ3OlTItpD2tUiNXIWEr5DM8-KA-w==" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="color: rgb(22, 22, 22);" target="_blank">COFFEE WITH THE CURATOR</a>Thursday,&nbsp;May 21, 202612 - 1 PMCLASS OFFERINGS: ART AND LABORAges 13+(5) Tuesdays, 6 - 7:30 PMMay 26 - June 23&nbsp;Instructors Tami Fauver and&nbsp;Meli BanderaBased on the book&nbsp;Art and Labor&nbsp;by Ellen Boris and supplemental readings about Richard Hunt. For more information regarding the exhibitions, visit&nbsp;<a href="https://sfpwlrdab.cc.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=0018nGdO601K0Us765swOcLJfngaCAZK9Xpmx94WQZZwxVfLw22_iXp3nDt0v7q1qrzW9pZxMrgzZKFbCEhszZ0BI3Ak268G3qKRRaUwHkV3YBxnGY3Fc1V0GoHCeLM5vjXQFdHyrE9d49pNF60MdLJIhsxui7xQqN7&amp;c=wEhlYspdbK8skk8jBCXuB7cKSX69SRG4MTy-zyu4SDZvQvucsarXsg==&amp;ch=TDWbgZ80bkqthX-o6bdbvqljuVQ3OlTItpD2tUiNXIWEr5DM8-KA-w==" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="color: rgb(36, 125, 146);" target="_blank">www.krasl.org</a>.

Sculpture in the Direct Method

Public Opening | 5:30 –&nbsp;8:00 pmOpening Artist Talk&nbsp;| 6:00 – 7:00 pm Artist Oren Pinhassi sculpts anthropomorphic forms at great scale that appeal to the senses and intellect at once. He brings to The Arts Club of Chicago a series of figural/architectural works that occupy the gallery in an encompassing configuration, aiming to trigger the physical engagements of desire and fragility. On a basic level, Pinhassi’s forms address viewers as beings. They stand erect, though full of bulbous protrusions and seductive orifices. Yet, they refuse to be fully explicit, instead, seeking to communicate in the manner of poetry. Pinhassi’s towering or sprawling creatures draw upon such ordinary materials as sand, stone, or vinyl. In a process he has named “erotic construction,” Pinhassi uses sensual appeal, rough texture, suggestive pose, and intimate detail to press against the confines of a restrictive society.&nbsp;He has further explained, “The cavities in my work—windows, holes—simultaneously reference the most intimate cavities of the body and, as recognizable architectural elements, become landscapes for this public exchange.” How do streetscapes or open windows suggest encounters or interpenetrations? What are the boundaries between one and another? Why do we fear contact? And where might mutual understanding be found?New York-based artist&nbsp;Oren Pinhassi&nbsp;(b. 1985) creates sensuous sculptures and immersive installations that explore the reciprocal relationship between humans and the environments we create. His work investigates how architecture and objects shape our bodies, behaviors, and perceptions while simultaneously carrying traces of human presence, desire, and vulnerability. Pinhassi’s ongoing dialogue highlights how our designs, in turn, design us.Working primarily with sand and plaster, Pinhassi is drawn to organic materials for their transformative potential and porous nature. His process of layering burlap, plaster, and sand over welded steel skeletons involves repeated tactile engagement, mirroring how environments carry the marks of human action—surfaces bearing traces of interaction, labor, care, and also the effects of erosion and destruction. His works challenge fixed ideas of private and public space and the roles we carry within them, envisioning construction as a tender world of hybrid forms where human and environment exist in constant co-creation.The exhibition is curated by&nbsp;Janine Mileaf, Executive Director and Chief Curator at The Arts Club of Chicago.&nbsp;Publication: To accompany the exhibition, the Arts Club of Chicago and Zolo Press, Mexico City, will copublish the artist’s first monograph with an essay by&nbsp;Alyce Mahon, Professor of Modern and Contemporary Art History and Fellow of Trinity College at the University of Cambridge, and support from Edel Assanti, London, Commonwealth and Council, Los Angeles, and Lehmann Maupin, New YorkPhoto:&nbsp;Truth Teller&nbsp;(detail), 2024. Steel, burlap, sand, polymer and rock. 93 x 30 x 24 in (236.2 x 76.2 x 60.9 cm). Photo by Elisabeth Bernstein. Courtesy of the artist and Lehmann Maupin Gallery.

Oren Pinhassi: Into Your Arms Length

Jackson Junge Gallery is proud to present THE SENSUAL LAND, a solo exhibition celebrating 50 years of Bodyscapes created by in-house photographer Allan Teger. Teger creates his images by placing toys and miniatures on the body and shooting the picture as a single exposure.This retrospective will exhibit rare and special mementos from Teger’s creative journey. Teger has said it’s been “a long strange trip!” and it will be fun and interesting to show the whole story!

The Sensual Land: 50 Years of Bodyscapes with Allan Teger

The next Project Space exhibition features designer and artist Maryangela Sanchez Rocca, whose work spans furniture, sculpture, and domestic objects. Sanchez Rocca’s practice emphasizes materials often overlooked and systems of making rooted in care, ritual, and collective labor.For this exhibition, Sanchez Rocca focuses on ixtle (EESH-tleh), a fiber extracted from the lechuguilla plant, native to northern Mexico. Historically used for brushes, ropes, sacks, and baskets, ixtle is closely tied to agricultural labor, land stewardship, and resistance within ejido farming communities. Drawing from knowledge shared by farmworkers in Coahuila, Mexico, Sanchez Rocca traces the material’s significance across Indigenous cultivation practices, colonial economies, and contemporary labor systems.Through sculptural furniture, screens, and immersive installations made from raw ixtle and Douglas fir, Sanchez Rocca transforms utilitarian tools such as brooms and brushes into forms that resist usefulness. The works challenge assumptions about labor, value, and beauty while honoring the many hands that shape materials. In Project Space, the exhibition becomes an environment for reflection, rest, and quiet power.Previous Exhibition: <a href="https://krasl.org/material-memory/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">MATERIAL MEMORY</a>

Maryangela Sanchez Rocca

<a href="https://www.theccma.org/tsm" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Saturday Man: At the Edge of the Game</a> presents 53 photographs depicting the world’s most popular sport through the eyes of the acclaimed photographer Peter Robinson. Robinson has spent over six decades documenting everything from the intensely local British football of the 1960s, to the unconventional (and now defunct) North American Soccer League, and the evolution into today’s game of billionaires and superstars. His time as the official photographer for FIFA and contributions to publications, such as Onze and Sports Illustrated, cemented his reputation as one of the leading photographers of his generation. However, what defines Robinson as an artist is his distinctive skill in storytelling, utilizing football to explore the human condition. Through decades of change in the worlds of football and photojournalism, Robinson’s unique artistry contrasts an increasingly commercialized version of the formerly grassroots sport. His lens has stayed focused not only on the field, but also the communities at its edges. This singular perspective is why Pablo Maurer of The Athletic deemed Robinson, “Arguably the world’s greatest living soccer photographer.” The Saturday Man: At the Edge of The Game is presented in partnership with The Footy Museum.

The Saturday Man: At the Edge of the Game

Join us in celebrating the reopening of the gallery at&nbsp;3149&nbsp;N. Halsted&nbsp;tonight, 6-9pm.Old Friends is pleased to present&nbsp;ReCentering, a secondary iteration of our inaugural&nbsp;Centering&nbsp;exhibition.&nbsp;Same artists, new works, same ethos of returning to purpose, place, and practice. Ava Igoe, Michelle Chun, Tong Pan, and Emily Schroeder Willis.As M. C. Richards writes in her seminal 1964 text:&nbsp;“An act of the self, that’s what one must make. An act of the self, from me to you. From center to center.”ReCentering&nbsp;will be on view through August 15th. Please email the gallery to schedule a viewing.&nbsp;<a href="mailto:office@oldfriendsgallery.com?subject=ReCentering%20%7C%20Preview%20Request&amp;body=" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Request a Preview</a>Thank you for your continued support of our program! We look forward to christening this new location, and welcoming back our wonderful community of friends and colleagues.

Calendar

Chicago Gallery News