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

The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago is thrilled to announce the latest installation in its&nbsp;<a style="color: rgb(0, 124, 137);" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://mcachicago.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=c24ba7c5a91cefd699dc985e1&amp;id=5302a2f296&amp;e=95b957c616" target="_blank">Atrium Project series, featuring the mural&nbsp;The Free Clinic for Gender Affirming Care&nbsp;by artist Edie Fake</a>&nbsp;(b. 1980, Evanston, IL; lives in Twentynine Palms, CA). Opening on March 25, 2025, and running through March 26, 2026, in the MCA’s second floor atrium, the artwork envisions the utopian façade of a clinic for free transgender healthcare. Curated by Assistant Curator Jack Schneider,&nbsp;The Free Clinic&nbsp;is a large-scale architectural representation of a clinic, whose prismatic colors reflect the full spectrum of gender expression beyond the binary. It confronts widespread political efforts to restrain, scapegoat, and repress transgender and nonbinary people in the United States, an issue that is personal to Fake. To him, “gender affirming care has been hard-won and life-changing . . . this mural is meant to meet the threat—and often reality—that has positioned gender affirming care as scarce, under-resourced, and underground with an aspirational and celebratory vision.”&nbsp; The installation coincides, and is in conversation with,&nbsp;<a style="color: rgb(0, 124, 137);" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://mcachicago.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=c24ba7c5a91cefd699dc985e1&amp;id=f9f0473f52&amp;e=95b957c616" target="_blank">City in a Garden: Queer Art and Activism in Chicago</a>, an upcoming exhibition at the MCA opening on July 5, 2025, also curated by Schneider.&nbsp;City in a Garden&nbsp;examines Chicago's underacknowledged role in the histories of queer art and activism beginning in the 1980s, when activists radically mobilized in response to the US government’s disastrous handling of the AIDS crisis and reclaimed the historically pejorative epithet “queer” as a liberatory term encompassing all who purposefully deviate from heteronormative society. With works drawn from the MCA Collection and other local collections, the exhibition features over thirty artists—including Fake. Edie Fake’s work has previously been exhibited at the MCA in&nbsp;<a style="color: rgb(0, 124, 137);" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://mcachicago.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=c24ba7c5a91cefd699dc985e1&amp;id=8cfda8f3de&amp;e=95b957c616" target="_blank">Chicago Comics: 1960s to Now</a>&nbsp;(2021). Atrium Project: Edie Fake&nbsp;is curated by Jack Schneider, Assistant Curator.&nbsp; ABOUT THE ARTIST Edie Fake’s (b. 1980, Evanston, IL; lives in Twentynine Palms, CA)&nbsp;multimedia work—drawings, paintings, installations, comics, books, and zines—has been exhibited in solo shows at Berkeley Art Museum and Film Archive; Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse; and in New York City at The Drawing Center, Broadway Gallery, and Marlborough Gallery. Fake recently exhibited publications, paintings, and a large wall installation in&nbsp;Chicago Comics: 1960s to Now&nbsp;at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. His 2018 show at Western Exhibitions was reviewed in Art in America. Fake’s work is held in the collections of the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library &amp; Museum, Columbus; Des Moines Art Center, Iowa; RISD Museum, Providence; KADIST, San Francisco; Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas; and the Santa Barbara Museum of Art. He was one of the first recipients of Printed Matter’s Awards for Artists, and his Gaylord Phoenix collection of comics won the 2011 Ignatz Award for Outstanding Graphic Novel. His work has been written about and featured in&nbsp;Artforum, The New York Times, The Paris Review, Art News, Art 21, Juxtapoz, Hyperallergic, The Comics Journal, and The Los Angeles Review of Books. Fake’s work is held in the collections of the Des Moines Art Center in Iowa, the RISD Museum in Providence, RI, KADIST in San Francisco, and the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art in Overland Park, KS. Edie fake was born in Chicagoland in 1980 and received a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2002. Fake is represented by Western Exhibitions in Chicago and Broadway Gallery in New York, and he currently lives and works in Twentynine Palms, California.

Atrium Project: Edie Fake

Perspective Gallery is pleased to announce LENS 2026, our 16th annual juried international exhibition of fine art photography. Photographers are invited to submit work for possible inclusion in the exhibition. All subject matter and photographic processes, except AI, are welcome.

LENS 2026

Volume Gallery's new location, 1700 W Hubbard, Chicago, IL ﻿The Heresy of Legacy, the first exhibition at Volume Gallery’s new, expanded, space, explores the cyclical nature of movements and currents in art, architecture, and design—how innovation emerges in friction with established legacies, and how heresy becomes the foundation for new canons. This group exhibition considers what happens when today’s artists engage the paradox of history: honoring the influence of the past while consciously dismantling it. Rooted in the history of the avant-garde, the exhibition acknowledges how reactionary moves have continually propelled art, architecture, and design forward. More about the exhibition&nbsp;<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://ymlps3.com/2f31amjheaoaeqmbsatauuhbarajmjew/click.php" target="_blank">here.</a>&nbsp;

The Heresy of Legacy

<a style="color: rgb(5, 99, 193);" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.21cchicago.com/" target="_blank">21c Museum Hotel Chicago</a>&nbsp;is unveiling a new exhibition with&nbsp;Truth or Dare: A Reality Show. The exhibition opens to the public on March 15, 2025, and remains on view until March 2026 throughout the 21c Chicago gallery spaces. At a hotel where curiosity shapes every experience, the latest exhibition presents a thematic group exhibition of 70 multimedia artworks by 52 artists from across the globe exploring the slippery terrain between fact and fiction.&nbsp;Truth or Dare&nbsp;features works by artists Jorge Méndez Blake, Leandro Erlich, Vibha Galhotra, Jane Hammonds, Ann Hamilton, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, Alejandro Almanza Pereda, Pedro Reyes, Federico Solmi, Siebren Versteeg, and many others, including Chicago-based photographer Laura Letinsky.Located in Chicago’s vibrant River North neighborhood,&nbsp;Truth or Dare: A Reality Show&nbsp;opens to the public with a reception on Friday, March 21stfrom 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. An introduction to the exhibition by 21c Museum Hotel’s Chief Curator, Alice Gray Stites, will be followed by a presentation by featured artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer at 7 p.m. The world-class museum is free and open 24/7, 365 days a year.“Highlighting uncertainty and contradiction, the artworks featured in&nbsp;Truth or Dare: A Reality Show&nbsp;emphasize the importance of questioning both knowledge and belief by utilizing illusion to entice, entertain, and explore the contemporary relationship between fact and fiction, presence and absence, reality and imagination,” said Alice Gray Stites, Chief Curator of 21c Museum Hotels.The suspension of disbelief is invoked in works that simulate games, maps, and tricks of the eye and hand, to engage and connect. A ping-pong table altered with a mirror for a game of one-on-one by Trong Gia Nguyen, a gravity-defying black rectangle modeled on the alien monolith in Stanley Kubrick's&nbsp;2001: A Space Odyssey&nbsp;by Josh Azzarella, and Charles Matton's hologram figure projected in a miniature library are at once playful and prescient critiques of how and where we search for knowledge and meaning. Anthony Adcock's steel&nbsp;Column&nbsp;is actually oil paint on wood; Addie Wagenknecht's flower vase is crafted from 3D printed Liberator guns; and Paolo Ventura's detailed photographs of scale models suggest that nothing is as it seems. Alejandro Almanza Pereda's dynamic video reimagines a Caravaggio still life under water, where fruit, glasses, and flatware rise and fall, defying a fixed arrangement.Collapsing the immediate distance between what is seen and what is known, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer’s&nbsp;Zero Noon&nbsp;is a clock that runs on internet-refreshed statistics, conflating time and data into a screen-based experience of consumption. Drawing on hundreds of sources, the clock tells the local time based on various metrics, such as the average number of daily human breaths, the number of firearms produced in the U.S. per day, the number of cups of tea drunk in the UK, etc. Each day at noon, the clock resets, and the numbers all revert to zero, ever so briefly suspending the exponential onslaught of these indices of activity worldwide.&nbsp;The new exhibition highlights the global contemporary environment available in 21c Chicago’s expansive and art-filled event spaces. The unique spaces offer an opportunity to gather creatively, with the capacity to host gatherings from 10 to 300. Named a Gold Medal Winner in the Best Boutique Hotel and Best Décor categories of Northstar Meetings Group’s annual awards, 21c Museum Hotel Chicago encourages curiosity and collaboration for all events.&nbsp; About the ArtistRafael Lozano-Hemmer is a media artist working at the intersection of architecture and performance art. He creates platforms for public participation using technologies such as robotic lights, digital fountains, computerized surveillance, media walls, and telematic networks. Inspired by phantasmagoria, carnival, and animatronics, his light and shadow works are "antimonuments for alien agency". He was the first artist to represent Mexico at the Venice Biennale with an exhibition at Palazzo Van Axel in 2007. He has also shown at Biennials in Cuenca, Havana, Istanbul, Kochi, Liverpool, Melbourne NGV, Moscow, New Orleans, New York ICP, Seoul, Seville, Shanghai, Singapore, Sydney, and Wuzhen.&nbsp;Collections holding his work include MoMA and Guggenheim in New York, TATE in London, MAC and MBAM in Montreal, Jumex, and MUAC in Mexico City, DAROS in Zurich, MONA in Hobart, 21C Museum in Kanazawa, Borusan Contemporary in Istanbul, CIFO in Miami, MAG in Manchester, SFMOMA in San Francisco, ZKM in Karlsruhe, SAM in Singapore and many others. About 21c Museum Hotels21c Museum is a multi-venue museum located in seven cities. One of the largest contemporary art museums in the U.S., and North America’s only collecting museum dedicated solely to art of the 21st century, each property features exhibition space open free of charge to the public, combined with a boutique hotel and restaurant. It was founded in 2006 by Laura Lee Brown and Steve Wilson; philanthropists, preservationists, and collectors, committed to expanding access to contemporary art as a means of catalyzing revitalization and civic connection. 21c presents a range of arts programming curated by Museum Director, Chief Curator Alice Gray Stites, including both solo and group exhibitions that reflect the global nature of art today, as well as site-specific, commissioned installations, and a variety of cultural events. The organization collaborates on arts initiatives with artists and organizations worldwide, including Speed Art Museum, North Carolina Museum of Art, Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, Artadia, Creative Time, For Freedoms, and others. About 21c Museum Hotel Chicago&nbsp;Located steps from the famous Magnificent Mile shopping district in River North, 21c Museum Hotel Chicago offers an art-filled escape in the heart of the city. The 297-room hotel, with 106 suites, boasts extraordinary contemporary art with a multi-venue museum that provides curated exhibitions and cultural programming for both visitors and the local community. For a perfect night out in River North, the hotel’s signature restaurant, Lure Fishbar, provides world-class seafood and sushi, premium steaks, burgers, craft cocktails, and more. Recently awarded the Northstar Meetings Group Gold Medal Award for the Best Boutique Hotel and Best Décor in the Midwest, 21c Museum Hotel Chicago’s art-filled event spaces offer inspiration for creative gatherings for groups ranging from 10 to 300. For more information, visit&nbsp;<a style="color: rgb(70, 120, 134);" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.21cchicago.com/" target="_blank">https://www.21cchicago.com/</a>.&nbsp; Image: Valerie Hegarty, Still Lives with Crows, 2006

Truth or Dare: A Reality Show

<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.jmkac.org/exhibition/familiar-texture/?utm_medium=email&amp;_hsenc=p2ANqtz--3ltRN229IYW6amwf9BwlVoynj9P-wWQnCqcp7iqRNGTlfMqSkuurGL0gvDRvyto79NLfEDi-NC3vxrvl6oHLkgUth4KUD_YekpyhDAXRiMjpD1io&amp;_hsmi=343424237&amp;utm_content=343424237&amp;utm_source=hs_email" target="_blank">Details</a> Childhood memories of home are reconstructed in the form of textiles and fibers by artists Hangama Amiri, Keith Jackson, Yvette Mayorga, Tressa Prisbrey, and Dalila Sanabria. Each artist presents interior settings such as a bedroom inspired by fantasies, a living room of communal gatherings, or a storage space that marked the passage of time. Each of these sites memorialize social and environmental influences that shaped the future of an individual. The use of or reference to textiles and fibers, such as clothing, blankets, boxes, carpet, or upholstery, imbues memories and feelings with a tactile quality found in the rooms re-created by each artist. Importantly, they do not depict themselves or others in these scenes. This anonymity encourages imagined conversations, interactions, sounds, or scents of homeland to emerge from a variety of perspectives. By relying on textures—both literally and figuratively—the exhibition provides context for domestic spaces where an origin story is found, and a familiar emotional weight is recognized. Together, the works celebrate the right to choose from narratives of the past and how these stories inform and enrich the fiber of one’s being. Image: Yvette Mayorga, Bedroom After 15th (detail), 2022; acrylic piping on Disney TV, purses, shoes, lotion, wooden shelves, lamp, ceramic, bookbag, sneakers, Hello Kitty bubble blower, clock, faux books, mirrors, wood, pillows, wall paintings, nightstand, acrylic piping on bike, acrylic piping on canvas, and video; 9 x 9 x 10 ft. Courtesy of the artist.

Familiar Texture: The Fibers of Childhood and Home

Kim Storage Gallery is pleased to present Snack Shop, a solo exhibition featuring paintings created at a pivotal moment in Gabrielle Marie Stone's practice. At a time when continuing her painting practice felt uncertain, the artist considered converting the front exhibition space of her studio into a snack shop—a practical solution to keep the lights on and sustain her creative work.While the snack shop concept never came to fruition, the paintings in this exhibition are the first pieces that occupied that never-to-be retail space. Intimate and episodic, they offer entry points rather than resolutions, inviting viewers into a world that sits somewhere between necessity and indulgence. Like little snacks, these works provide sustenance in quieter ways—not essential, yet deeply nourishing.Snack Shop names both the space and practice as it almost was, honoring the conditions in which the work was made: adaptive, provisional, and hopeful. The paintings retain their inherent dreamlike and atmospheric qualities, yet the exhibition grounds them in the real economies and lived decisions of making art today—a reflection on vulnerability, resilience, and the creative impulse that persists even in uncertainty.Gabrielle Stone (b. 1990) is a contemporary abstract painter based in Chicago, IL. Her work explores the nature of place using color, form, and materiality to depict environments that are whimsical in their reimagining. Influenced by her deep attachment to physical spaces, Stone’s paintings communicate geometry and structure while embodying its very dissolution.Stone holds a Bachelor of Arts in studio art and creative writing from Carleton College where she studied under artists Fred Hagstrom and David Lefkowitz, art historian Ross Elfline, and curator Margaret Pezalla-Granlund. The late artist, Larry McKim, was also a significant mentor in her early years before leaving the east coast.Location: 207 E Buffalo St, Suite 404, Milwaukee, WI 53202 (Marshall Building, 4th floor)Image: Sound of Satin,&nbsp;Acrylic on canvas, 60 x 46"

Snack Shop

The Renaissance Society is thrilled to announce that artist&nbsp;Maurizio Cattelan&nbsp;will conceive and orchestrate&nbsp;RenBen 2026, taking place on&nbsp;Wednesday, April 8, 2026, during Chicago's EXPO Art Week.&nbsp;Known for his provocative and darkly humorous approach to contemporary art, Cattelan has spent four decades creating works that spark conversation, to say the least. From his infamous solid gold toilet&nbsp;America&nbsp;to his hyperrealistic sculptures, Cattelan's work consistently captivates audiences while questioning authority, religion, celebrity, and the art world itself.&nbsp;RenBen is the Renaissance Society’s annual artist-centered gala and the institution’s most important fundraising event, vital to sustaining its experimental exhibitions and programs throughout the year. Each edition invites a single artist to design every aspect of the evening, from the space and performances to the food and choreography. Past editions have been conceived by Meriem Bennani (2025), Kevin Beasley (2024), Adam Linder (2023), and Piero Golia (2022), each expanding what an artist-driven benefit can be.&nbsp;For RenBen 2026, Cattelan will draw on his established signature forms of playful inversion, surprise, and surrealist elegance. Guests can expect his subversive wit and theatrical sensibility. “BEING AN ARTIST IS NOT A JOB, IT'S A MALFUNCTION,” he shared.&nbsp;Maurizio Cattelan's work has been featured in major museums and exhibitions worldwide, including solo shows at the Guggenheim Museum in New York, the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, and the Beyeler Foundation in Basel. His collaborations through&nbsp;Toiletpaper&nbsp;magazine and with brands including Kenzo, Berluti, Longchamp, and Seletti—demonstrate his ability to merge high art with popular culture, making him an ideal artist to reimagine RenBen.&nbsp;All proceeds from RenBen 2026 support the Renaissance Society's program of exhibitions,&nbsp;Intermissions, concerts, public programs, and publications—all free and open to the public.&nbsp;RenBen 2026 takes place during Chicago's EXPO Art Week, in alignment with EXPO CHICAGO contemporary art fair, attracting cultural figures from around the globe.&nbsp;Additional details will be announced in early 2026.&nbsp;Corporate sponsorships and in-kind gift opportunities are available.&nbsp;Please contact Polina Kasian at&nbsp;<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="mailto:pkasian@renaissancesociety.org" target="_blank">pkasian@renaissancesociety.org</a>&nbsp;for more information.&nbsp;Underwriter and Benefactor sponsorships and individual tickets are now available&nbsp;<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://secure.lglforms.com/form_engine/s/TqGCpLmdPWCEh8kci33nKQ" target="_blank">here</a>.&nbsp;Photo:&nbsp;Maurizio Cattelan by Alberto Zanetti.

RenBen 2026

<a style="color: rgb(0, 124, 137);" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://mcachicago.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=c24ba7c5a91cefd699dc985e1&amp;id=2520d7f3f7&amp;e=95b957c616" target="_blank">Vernissage</a>Navy Pier Festival HallApr 9, 2026 | 10 am–12 pm&nbsp; The Women’s Board of the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago invites you to attend this year's spectacular benefit, the Vernissage Champagne Brunch, on the opening day of <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.expochicago.com/" target="_blank">EXPO CHICAGO</a> Contemporary Art Fair at Navy Pier's Festival Hall. The MCA is proud to participate in the 13th year of EXPO CHICAGO, which presents artwork from more than 170 leading galleries from around the world. Proceeds from Vernissage raise significant funds in support of the MCA Learning department, whose programs offer compelling opportunities to explore, challenge, discuss and reflect on the MCA’s exhibitions and programs, as well as the world of contemporary art and culture.

Vernissage

Kim Storage Gallery is pleased to present Snack Shop, a solo exhibition featuring paintings created at a pivotal moment in Gabrielle Marie Stone's practice. At a time when continuing her painting practice felt uncertain, the artist considered converting the front exhibition space of her studio into a snack shop—a practical solution to keep the lights on and sustain her creative work. While the snack shop concept never came to fruition, the paintings in this exhibition are the first pieces that occupied that never-to-be retail space. Intimate and episodic, they offer entry points rather than resolutions, inviting viewers into a world that sits somewhere between necessity and indulgence. Like little snacks, these works provide sustenance inquieter ways—not essential, yet deeply nourishing. Snack Shop names both the space and practice as it almost was, honoring the conditions in which the work was made: adaptive, provisional, and hopeful. The paintings retain their inherent dreamlike and atmospheric qualities, yet the exhibition grounds them in the real economies and lived decisions of making art today—a reflection on vulnerability, resilience, and the creative impulse that persists even in uncertainty. Gabrielle Stone (b. 1990) is a contemporary abstract painter based in Chicago, IL. Her work explores the nature of place using color, form, and materiality to depict environments that are whimsical in their reimagining. Influenced by her deep attachment to physical spaces, Stone’s paintings communicate geometry and structure while embodying its very dissolution. Stone holds a Bachelor of Arts in studio art and creative writing from Carleton College where she studied under artists Fred Hagstrom and David Lefkowitz, art historian Ross Elfline, and curator Margaret Pezalla-Granlund. The late artist, Larry McKim, was also a significant mentor in her early years before leaving the east coast. On view: February 27 – April 10, 2026Opening Reception: Friday, February 27 from 5 to 8PM Image: Sound of Satin, Acrylic on canvas, 60 x 46”&nbsp;

<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.mocp.org/events/talk-and-workshop-reimagining-the-photo-album-with-matthew-finley/" target="_blank">Talk and Workshop: Reimagining the Photo Album&nbsp;with Matthew Finley</a> Saturday, April 11, 202612- 1 pm Lecture1-2:30 pm Workshop MoCP600 S. Michigan Ave.Chicago, IL Join MoCP collection artist Matthew Finley (American, b. 1972) for a lecture and workshop exploring the creative possibilities of family and personal archives. Participants will reimagine the photo album as a space for personal or fictional storytelling, using either their own pictures or provided images to create imaginative, curated albums. This program is inspired by Finley’s series and new book&nbsp;An Impossibly Normal Life, a fictional narrative composed of sourced snapshots from around the world that reimagine his late uncle’s life and their shared experiences of coming out and belonging.&nbsp; This program will be held in the MoCP print study room. It is free but requires registration (link is forthcoming).

Talk and Workshop: Reimagining the Photo Album with Matthew Finley

<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://experience.mcachicago.org/7252/7259" target="_blank">Get Tickets</a> Admission is free to Family Day attendees. Make yourself big and make yourself little, play with perspective and scale. Join us for a smaller-than-usual Family Day while the rest of the museum opens a new exhibition.Designed for children under 12 and their grown-ups, MCA Family Days invite our youngest visitors to be the museum’s artists, thinkers, and collaborators. Image: Family Day | It’s Alive!, MCA Chicago, April 12, 2025. Photo: Natasha Moustache, © MCA Chicago.

Family Day | Mini Mundo

Pareidolia - Here's Looking at YOU 3/21/26, 6-9PM - 4/11/26, noon-3PM Opening reception 3/21/26, 6-9PM # Have you ever been just minding your own business…when suddenly you notice the dishwasher or that weird mark on the ceiling looking back at you?&nbsp; Yeah. That’s PAREIDOLIA - patterns, faces, or forms that we see in otherwise unremarkable, unrelated objects. ShadowBoxX is assembling a group of artists from across the country who have captured this phenomenon in their works. Pareidolia will feature paintings, drawings, carvings, stitchwork, assemblage, and prints. No digital, no AI, just hands and materials, juried by the ShadowBoxX Collective. This show is for you if you've experienced pareidolia too! Opens March 21, 2026.

Pareidolia - Here's Looking at YOU

Opening Reception: Saturday, January 10, 2026, 2pm — 4pm&nbsp;(the gallery will be open 10am — 4pm)Artist Talk: 4pm About the exhibitionLeah Ke Yi Zheng’s upcoming exhibition presents a complete series of 64 paintings based on the hexagrams of the&nbsp; I Ching (Book of Changes), a foundational text in Chinese philosophy that offers insights into the changing nature of existence. Each painting reflects on a hexagram not through literal representation, but through an evolving visual language shaped by abstraction, intuition, and the interplay of light and material. As she works with silk and hand-built hardwood stretchers, in continual difference, the exhibition becomes a meditation on change itself: how it is read, made visible, and experienced through painting.Zheng’s practice brings together traditional Chinese materialities and conceptual art methodologies to explore transformation, multiplicity, and the logic of variation. It is rooted in a dialogue between Eastern and Western modes of thought and influenced by thinkers such as John Cage and Yuk Hui. In this project, the&nbsp;I Ching&nbsp;is not only a reference, it is a method, a structure, and a philosophical companion. This is a one-work exhibition: Zheng considers the full sequence as a total and single work in itself, with every painting still an individualized piece.&nbsp;For&nbsp;Change, I Ching (64 Paintings), Zheng has also subtly reshaped the exhibition architecture. The transformation is understated rather than dramatic, but carefully calibrated to heighten the play of light throughout the space, and, at times, to redirect it in dialogue with the paintings. By covering certain windows, adjusting the proportions of select walls, and building a new rhythm around the room’s perimeter, Zheng creates conditions that privilege what she calls “the light of the here and now.” As daylight shifts over the course of the day, the silk paintings shift with it, their surfaces absorbing and reflecting minute changes in color and brightness. In turn, these variations reveal the altered space itself, making the architecture and the paintings co-responsive, changing together in real time.&nbsp;Curated by Myriam Ben Salah and Karsten Lund. About the ArtistLEAH KE YI ZHENG (b.1988, China) lives and works in Chicago. Recent solo and two-person exhibitions include&nbsp;Machine(s)&nbsp;at Layr, Vienna (2025);&nbsp;I-Ching/Machineat Mendes Wood DM, New York (2025);&nbsp;Leah Ke Yi Zheng&nbsp;at Mendes Wood DM, Brussels (2024);&nbsp;John Cage, Leah Ke Yi Zheng: The Grasshopper Lies Heavy&nbsp;at Castle Gallery, Los Angeles (2024);&nbsp;Leah Ke Yi Zheng&nbsp;at David Lewis Gallery, New York (2023); and&nbsp;Currency @ Swiss National Bank, Zurich&nbsp;at Soccer Club Club, Chicago (2021). Recent group exhibitions include New Museum, New York (2025); Zeno X Gallery, Antwerp (2023); and Caffé Centrale, Monte Castello di Vibio (2022) among others. She was awarded a 2019 – 2021 Fellowship from The Arts Club of Chicago. CreditsLead support for this exhibition is provided by Murat Ahmed &amp; Katherine Mackenzie and School Museum Fund, The Hees Family. Principal support is provided by Gay-Young Cho and Christopher Chiu.Major annual support for the Renaissance Society is provided by the Mellon Foundation. Renaissance Society programs are supported by Teiger Foundation, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, and a grant from the Illinois Arts Council. Annual support is provided by The Provost’s Discretionary Fund at the University of Chicago.All Renaissance Society publications are made possible by The Mansueto Foundation Publications Program. EventsOpening Reception&nbsp;Sat, Jan 10, 2-4pm&nbsp;&nbsp;With artist talk at 4pm PerformanceEli KeszlerSun, Feb 15, 2pm Eli Keszler is a Grammy-nominated artist, composer, and percussionist based in New York. Whether performing an improvised solo set at the drum kit or writing an electro-acoustic score for a film, he brings an agile experimentation to his work. For this site-specific appearance, Keslzer performs live in the gallery space in the afternoon light. Within this unique architectural and acoustic setting, he offers his own take on some of the dynamics at play in Leah Ke Yi Zheng’s exhibition, including change and variation, iterative multiplicity, and logics of impermanence. DiscussionSpecial Guests of the ArtistWith Danny Bredar, Gaylen Gerber, and Oscar ZhengSun, Mar 22, 2pm For this informal discussion in the gallery space, Leah Ke Yi Zheng is joined by three people from her close circle: artists Danny Bredar and Gaylen Gerber, and her son Oscar Zheng. Each of them brings an intimate familiarity with her practice and a deeply personal perspective on her work. In an impromptu, unscripted exchange, they surface aspects of Zheng’s exhibition that might not emerge in a formal artist talk. Their conversation mirrors the spirit of the&nbsp;I Ching&nbsp;itself, which, according to Zheng, absorbs all aspects of life. Visit&nbsp;<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://renaissancesociety.org/" target="_blank">renaissancesociety.org</a>&nbsp;for more information.

Leah Ke Yi Zheng: Change

<h4>EXPO CHICAGO</h4><h3>Contemporary Art Fair</h3><h3>April 9–12, 2026</h3>

EXPO CHICAGO 2026

Sale 6483<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://freemansauction.com/auctions/6483-watches?page=1&amp;per=48&amp;tab=overview" target="_blank">Watches</a> Apr 15, 2026&nbsp;10:00AM CT<h2> </h2>Live / Chicago

Watches

Now in its 59th year,&nbsp;Watercolor Wisconsin&nbsp;was started in 1966 to honor the depth and breadth of watercolor in the state.Jurors Jessica Cochran and Peggy Macnamara will select work for the 2025 exhibition. Jessica Cochran is the Deputy Director of the Renaissance Society, an independent contemporary art museum on the University of Chicago campus. She has worked as a curator, administrator, consultant, and educator in the realm of contemporary art for 20 years. Peggy Macnamara has served as the Artist-in-Residence at Chicago’s Field Museum of Natural History since 1990 and as an Adjunct Professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago since 2001. Image: Carlotta Miller, Soaring Renovation, 2024, Watercolor, 34 1/4 x 23 1/4 inches, Racine Art Museum, Helen Rusk Memorial Purchase Award from&nbsp;Watercolor Wisconsin 2024, Photography: Tyler Potter

Watercolor Wisconsin 2025

Beginning April 1, 2026,&nbsp;the&nbsp;Racine Art Museum (RAM) will&nbsp;present&nbsp;<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://link.mediaoutreach.meltwater.com/ls/click?upn=u001.lVpDCVeqdBsS0YynwBNnWsI6uzjI-2B9jc-2BcioV3sOeK-2B1GaexiNjzR3MVijOd55ua0qY6FxfgoA3PTJvBp91mffztEZOBpPQwZkCFIO2tFyE-3DiQWA_0g5QiKQ3ANfCkWXxwzczn1phIok0-2FnBF8GNWXrNhq2-2B4ftGj9DI8Jn4AfRAGeAJVn7gGoI0v4yHfyxNzcTgWoLQij9mq4AdTVgAgcfJX-2F-2FPTu332zUjMMqljcxl9w9r3D05K4mfLxUOgZYVRxvaxIW02kdGTI-2BPwZJXgH3pCRyhb8BKwZW2NXkVIJHADga4H8TX-2FV0zJg5lNtHfy1CDRB4HUgtMGCCrmiFpy-2FHogfhl5QdsT8o5iNvIMA8KtP4Ks6Ghb95coJw-2BaeO1DYKdhEV0bVsUpggLW0ZkwLyDdBO42cP1O5REmNKguJ6hi6bGzUO9ibrJ0oXtPRqoPTnTC5jdkMYc9SAztBFIfNcSd7fmwpk9diTH603se-2BuMAmwXKIgKc-2FKAp-2BUj0LcQCGOwf8w-3D-3D" target="_blank">RAM PEEPS® Brand Art Exhibition 2026</a>, the 17th edition of a popular annual exhibition featuring art made from or inspired by colorful PEEPS®&nbsp;Brand marshmallow candy. Since its inception in 2010, this signature experience has captured worldwide attention by inviting artists of all ages and skill levels to work with a new creative medium or subject matter. New in 2026, the exhibition will expand into a larger gallery space and include a specially commissioned installation inspired by the theme.&nbsp; Curating an exhibition of PEEPS®-inspired artwork is somewhat unexpected for a museum. However, the concept of working with nontraditional media is supported by RAM’s focus on collecting contemporary craft and material-based art. Artists consistently push material boundaries, which is apparent in many works within the museum’s permanent collection that utilize materials produced for purposes other than art-making. RAM’s beloved exhibition has become a melting pot of creative expression since it encourages artists to step out of their comfort zones and work with a material unlike anything else, or push themselves to incorporate the iconic PEEPS® Brand shapes in their chosen medium. Taking inspiration from pop culture, famous artists, sports, and everything in between, artists have combined PEEPS® with such art-making mediums as painting, ceramics, screen-printing, woodworking, papier mâché, glass fusing, and 3-D printing. RAM PEEPS® Brand Art Exhibition 2026&nbsp;will be the first iteration of this show to be presented in one of the museum’s first-floor permanent gallery spaces. This highly requested move will enhance the overall experience by increasing visibility of the creative display and improving visitor traffic flow. Entry to&nbsp;RAM PEEPS® Brand Art Exhibition 2026&nbsp;is free and open to individuals and groups across the globe.&nbsp;Awards in multiple categories will be judged by a panel of experts based on creativity and the best use or representation of PEEPS®. Continuing a much-loved tradition, museum visitors are invited to vote for their favorite piece in the exhibition for the coveted PEEPles Choice Award, which will be announced after the end of the show.&nbsp; Works may be delivered in person at RAM on March 13 and 14, 2026, 10:00 am ­– 4:00 pm. Shipped entries must arrive at the Racine Art Museum, 441 Main Street, Racine, Wisconsin 53403, between March 9–13, 2026. All submissions must include a completed&nbsp;<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://link.mediaoutreach.meltwater.com/ls/click?upn=u001.lVpDCVeqdBsS0YynwBNnWsI6uzjI-2B9jc-2BcioV3sOeK-2B-2Fnax-2F1N9bJdX-2FU52fZ19M-2BBLnGgnX5aZpN-2BicPOE5W8OCR-2B-2BbXmscewyaG4Q3VcvX8vEzuF-2BOdhTp0abqyLpwFg6-_0g5QiKQ3ANfCkWXxwzczn1phIok0-2FnBF8GNWXrNhq2-2B4ftGj9DI8Jn4AfRAGeAJVn7gGoI0v4yHfyxNzcTgWoLQij9mq4AdTVgAgcfJX-2F-2FPTu332zUjMMqljcxl9w9r3D05K4mfLxUOgZYVRxvaxIW02kdGTI-2BPwZJXgH3pCRyhb8BKwZW2NXkVIJHADga4H8TX-2FV0zJg5lNtHfy1CDRB4HUgtMGCCrmiFpy-2FHogfhn4maalMF-2BHncoNexCIdIn8N-2FI5BIS6TWMc4eUMgxNc13YQ-2FsbY8uDXNNDazid-2BxwK1clif3kEbXmhK-2BQRmgdLVyL61Ljy27i7WFCa-2BYcm3Ey7upQzKbIpL3JC5o6Tl1BfEbGEpzmqUKycUseeCpwZLoFc7L2IFxl7gw6-2F9VngilQ-3D-3D" target="_blank">entry form</a>. In addition to regular submissions for&nbsp;RAM PEEPS® Brand Art Exhibition 2026, the museum is seeking proposals for a large-scale, site-specific installation to accompany the reimagined exhibition in its new location. This paid opportunity is open to artists who are 18 years of age or older and reside anywhere within driving distance to RAM. Proposals, which should fit the lighthearted spirit of the exhibition, must be submitted via the museum’s website by 4:00 pm CDT on December 5, 2025. Further information about both artistic opportunities can be found on RAM’s website,&nbsp;<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://link.mediaoutreach.meltwater.com/ls/click?upn=u001.lVpDCVeqdBsS0YynwBNnWsI6uzjI-2B9jc-2BcioV3sOeK-2B1GaexiNjzR3MVijOd55ua0qY6FxfgoA3PTJvBp91mfcSkOceErIy11d5tSLPrR14-3Dbsom_0g5QiKQ3ANfCkWXxwzczn1phIok0-2FnBF8GNWXrNhq2-2B4ftGj9DI8Jn4AfRAGeAJVn7gGoI0v4yHfyxNzcTgWoLQij9mq4AdTVgAgcfJX-2F-2FPTu332zUjMMqljcxl9w9r3D05K4mfLxUOgZYVRxvaxIW02kdGTI-2BPwZJXgH3pCRyhb8BKwZW2NXkVIJHADga4H8TX-2FV0zJg5lNtHfy1CDRB4HUgtMGCCrmiFpy-2FHogfhk7oot8zKA6gy-2FhxjgqEmgg7oID3xuOPpR0yVokufuUvQ8T-2BgbBa38AFAq2kj6RCo7NuZX2rmTeVEu7Egwnzp1JrBj27IaOSTFK3BT59XwnPtgVeE2FKciMVXdacDGyfg8F1l5SSm-2FeA3XTVFtjq75wQRCpuKkptxoEBQjyMT1lJw-3D-3D" target="_blank">ramart.org</a>. Pictured: Debby PeckCirque du Soleil—“La Peeps”, 2025PEEPS® Brand marshmallow candy, foam, polymer clay, pipe cleaners, beads, glitter glue, lace, glass, curtain rings, latex paint, and google eyesPEEPle’s Choice Award,&nbsp;RAM PEEPS® Brand Art Exhibition 2025Photography: Rachel Comande&nbsp;

RAM PEEPS® Brand Art Exhibition 2026

The exhibition&nbsp;Pao Houa Her: Seeds of History&nbsp;presents a newly completed photographic series by Pao Houa Her that brings together her long-standing practices of portraiture and landscape photography. The work reflects Her’s deep commitment to building relationships and thoughtfully representing the people and cultural traditions of the HMong diaspora. Developed alongside&nbsp;Pao Houa Her: The Imaginative Landscape&nbsp;at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center,&nbsp;Seeds of History&nbsp;grew from the artist’s vision to photograph HMong Americans from the Sheboygan area posed in a field of poppies. Created in the summer of 2025, the black-and-white series includes more than a dozen portraits, thirteen of which were acquired by JMKAC. Each image depicts a member of Sheboygan’s local HMong American community. More than a historical record,&nbsp;Seeds of History&nbsp;honors the enduring presence and vitality of the HMong diaspora in Sheboygan more than fifty years after HMong refugees first arrived in the region. By naming each individual portrayed, the series centers dignity, care, and connection—affirming that history is shaped by real people and relationships, not anonymous figures or statistics. * HMong is written with a capital H and M to be inclusive of White HMong and Green Mong dialects. Speakers of the White dialect pronounce “HMong” with a silent “H,” indicating a nasal aspiration or puff of air out of the nose. Speakers of the Green dialect pronounce “Mong” without. <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.jmkac.org/exhibition/pao-houa-her-seeds-of-history/" target="_blank">Discover Seeds of History</a>&nbsp;

Pao Houa Her:  Seeds of History

This Winter, the&nbsp;Elmhurst Art Museum&nbsp;presents&nbsp;Living with Modernism: Kelli Connell.&nbsp;Presenting two series by the Chicago-based artist, Connell’s nationally traveling exhibition&nbsp;Pictures for Charis&nbsp;responds to the iconic photographs of Highland Park-born artist&nbsp;Edward Weston&nbsp;through a queer, feminist lens. Her second major body of work—Double Life—explores the evolution of intimate relationships shaped by the changing nature of identity over time, and features new commissions responding to the architecture of the&nbsp;Mies van der Rohe-designed McCormick House. The exhibition marks the largest presentation of Connell’s work in Chicago, placing queerness, power structures, and shifting ecologies in the twenty-first century in conversation with two giants of modernism. The exhibition is curated by&nbsp;Allison Peters Quinn, Executive Director and Chief Curator, and will be on view at the Elmhurst Art Museum, 150 South Cottage Hill Avenue in Elmhurst, from&nbsp;January 24 to April 27, 2026. Peters Quinn says, “The Elmhurst Art Museum is honored to present the arresting photographs of nationally acclaimed photographer Kelli Connell in the Chicagoland area, where she has rooted her art practice and mentored dozens of artists for over a decade. Following its extensive US tour, we have expanded the&nbsp;Pictures for Charis&nbsp;exhibition to include an additional series,&nbsp;Double Life&nbsp;by Connell. Connell’s commitment to exploring the everyday moments in relationships with ourselves and loved ones encourages us to cherish both the beautiful and the difficult times in our lives. Chicago is a crucial center for contemporary photography, and we are proud to highlight this through&nbsp;Living with Modernism.” An exhibition in two parts, Connell explores the psyche of human relationships and our connection to nature and architecture. The main galleries will feature 45 photographs from her series&nbsp;Pictures for Charis, a tender and emotional sequence of work placing Connell in dialogue with one of the most innovative American photographers of the 20th Century, Edward Weston (1886-1958). For this body of work, Connell revisited the sites of Weston’s black-and-white landscapes and portraits of his partner of 11 years, writer Charis Wilson, in&nbsp;California and the West&nbsp;(1934-45), to photograph her own former longtime partner, artist Betsy Odom. Connell’s work is presented alongside 48 original prints by Weston on loan from the Center for Creative Photography (Tuscon) and text excerpts from Charis. Shining new light on Weston’s subject, Charis, the installation bridges eighty years of ecological and social shifts with a feminist perspective.The McCormick House gallery features the latest chapter in Connell’s ongoing series&nbsp;Double Life, which the artist began in 2002. For this series, Connell explores long-term relationships with others and the self. The digital images document the fictional relationship of two women, both played by collaborator Kiba Jacobson. Connell describes&nbsp;Double Life&nbsp;as “an honest representation of the fluidity of the self in regard to decisions about intimate relationships, sexuality, gender, family, belief systems, and lifestyle options.” For&nbsp;Living with Modernism, the Elmhurst Art Museum commissioned Connell to respond to the architecture of McCormick House designed by Mies van der Rohe. Connell chose to photograph the site - and incorporate poetry from its former owner Isabella Gardner (niece of the Boston arts patron by the same name) - to generate new works adding to the perpetual&nbsp;Double Life&nbsp;narrative. Connell says,&nbsp;“I am beyond thrilled to show&nbsp;Pictures for Charis&nbsp;and&nbsp;Double Life&nbsp;together at the Elmhurst Art Museum. Both projects portray my commitment to uncovering forgotten histories. Making new work in the McCormick House, a space where the work will also be shown, was a unique opportunity for me to think about architecture and its impact on people and the relationships we have with each other in these spaces.” Pictures for Charis&nbsp;is co-organized by the Center for Creative Photography, Tucson, at the University of Arizona on behalf of the Arizona Board of Regents; the Cleveland Museum of Art; and the High Museum of Art, Atlanta. Pictures for Charis&nbsp;is curated for each museum by Rebecca Senf, Ph.D., Chief Curator at the Center for Creative Photography, Tucson, at the University of Arizona on behalf of the Arizona Board of Regents; Barbara Tannenbaum, Ph.D, Curator of Photography and Chair of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs at the Cleveland Museum of Art; and Gregory J. Harris, the Donald and Marilyn Keough Family Curator of Photography at the High Museum of Art, Atlanta and Allison Peters Quinn, Executive Director &amp; Chief Curator of the Elmhurst Art Museum.This project is made possible by Teiger Foundation. Photographs by Edward Weston are courtesy of the Edward Weston Archive at the Center for Creative Photography. Additional support for&nbsp;Living with Modernism&nbsp;and related programs are provided by the Illinois Arts Council and individual donors. ABOUT THE ARTISTKelli Connell&nbsp;(b. 1974) is a photographer based in Chicago. Through her images, she addresses issues of sexuality, identity, and self-perception. Her work is in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, J Paul Getty Museum, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Dallas Museum of Art, and the Museum of Contemporary Photography, among others. Publications include&nbsp;Kelli Connell: Pictures for Charis&nbsp;(Aperture and Center for Creative Photography, March 2024),&nbsp;PhotoWork: Forty Photographers on Process and Practice(Aperture),&nbsp;Photo Art: The New World of Photography&nbsp;(Aperture), and the monograph&nbsp;Kelli Connell: Double Life&nbsp;(DECODE Books). Connell has received fellowships and residencies from The Guggenheim Foundation, MacDowell, PLAYA, Peaked Hill Trust, LATITUDE, Light Work, and The Center for Creative Photography. ABOUT THE ELMHURST ART MUSEUMThe Elmhurst Art Museum is located at 150 South Cottage Hill Avenue in Elmhurst (IL), 25 minutes from downtown Chicago by car or public transportation (Metra). On the museum’s campus is the McCormick House, a single-family home designed in 1952 by Mies van der Rohe, one of the great architects of the 20th Century. The McCormick House is one of only three residences designed and built by Mies in the United States – and one of only two open to the public. The Museum is open Wednesday and Thursday from 12:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m., Friday through Sunday, 11:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Regular admission prices are $18 for adults (ages 18+), $15 for seniors, $10 for students, and $5 for children. For more information, please call 630.834.0202 or visit <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.elmhurstartmuseum.org/" target="_blank">elmhurstartmuseum.org</a>.Images Kelli Connell,&nbsp;Surf, Point Lobos, 2015, courtesy the artist.

Living with Modernism: Kelli Connell

<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.mocp.org/events/lecture-in-photography-carla-williams/" target="_blank">Lecture in Photography: Carla Williams</a>Wednesday, May 6, 20266:00-7:30 pm Ferguson Lecture Hall600 S. Michigan Ave.Chicago, IL&nbsp; Carla Williams (American, b. 1965) is a photographer and curator known for her explorations of identity, race, gender, and representation. In her early work in the 1980s, she used a large-format camera to explore her own image, in work that reflected the lack of visibility of Black women in photographic history. Williams is the co-author of&nbsp;The Black Female Body: A Photographic History&nbsp;(2002) with Deborah Willis. She served as a curator of photography at the J. Paul Getty Museum and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture and was a professor at the Rochester Institute of Technology.

Lecture in Photography: Carla Williams

Cheryl Pope&nbsp;is an interdisciplinary visual artist&nbsp;who&nbsp;questions and responds to issues of identity as it relates to the individual and the community, specifically&nbsp;regarding&nbsp;race, gender, class, history, power, and place. Her practice&nbsp;emerges&nbsp;from the act and politics of&nbsp;listening and&nbsp;recently introduces&nbsp;a novel&nbsp;material to explore the artist’s memories. Referencing the familiar repertoire of the French Post-Impressionist, Intimist, and Imagist paintings, Pope recreates deeply personal recollections that cinematically compose the silent complexities of beautiful and tragic oscillations between love and loss in our everyday lives. Images of couples are drawn from memory, referencing the artist’s own relationships and moments of disconnect, anxiety, and desire, while beach scenes depicting a mother and child accentuate a tender stillness of caregiving. In these scenes, the figures exist in a nest of choreography–a rotating stage of mystery, tragedy, and poetry of day-to-day living with feelings of presence and absence woven throughout.  &nbsp;Pope (b.1980, Chicago, IL) received her MA in Design (2010) and BFA (2003) from the School of the Art Institute, Chicago, IL, where she is an Adjunct Professor.  Pope has had recent solo exhibitions at&nbsp;Easy Does It Curatorial Space, Los Angeles, CA (2024);&nbsp;moniquemeloche, Chicago, IL (2022, 2019); The Ulrich Museum of Art,&nbsp;Wichita, KS (2022); Rockford Art Museum, Rockford, IL (2019); Galleria&nbsp;Bianconi, Milan, Italy (2019); Andres Guerrero Gallery, San Francisco, CA (2018); and Fort Gansevoort, New York, NY (2017).&nbsp;Notable&nbsp;group presentations include&nbsp;Get in the Game: Sport and Contemporary Culture&nbsp;at&nbsp;SFMoMA&nbsp;(2024) which travels to the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and the Pérez Art Museum Miami&nbsp;(2025; 2026);&nbsp;Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, FL (2024);&nbsp;Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum, East Lansing, MI (2023); The FLAG Art Foundation, New York, NY (2023&nbsp;2021); Everson Museum, Syracuse, NY (2023);&nbsp;Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, Kalamazoo, MI (2022); Weinberg/Newton Gallery, Chicago, IL (2022); Skin in the Game&nbsp;curated by Zoe&nbsp;Lukov, Chicago, IL (2022); Fountainhead, Miami, FL (2021); Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA (2021);&nbsp;Virginia&nbsp;MOCA,&nbsp;Virgina&nbsp;Beach, VA (2021); and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL (2020).&nbsp;Pope will present a solo exhibition at&nbsp;moniquemeloche&nbsp;in 2026.&nbsp;Pope’s work is in the collections of&nbsp;the&nbsp;Museum of Contemporary Art&nbsp;Jacksonville, FL;&nbsp;the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL;&nbsp;UBS Art Collection, New York, NY;&nbsp;Joan&nbsp;Flasche&nbsp;Artists Book Collection, Chicago, IL; Seattle Art Museum, WA; Honolulu Museum of Art, HI; Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, CA; Poetry Foundation, Chicago, IL; DePaul University Art Museum, Chicago, IL; Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA;&nbsp;Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD;&nbsp;United States Embassy, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic; The Jackson West Memorial Hospital, Miami, FL; and The Ulrich Museum of Art,&nbsp;Wichita, KS. She has been the recipient of several awards and fellowships, including the Public Artist Award, Franklin Works, Minneapolis, MN (2017); Selected Artist, Year of Public Art, Chicago Cultural Center, IL (2017); Mellon Fellowship, Kenyon College, Gambier, OH (2016); and 3Arts Award, Chicago, IL (2015). Pope lives and works in Chicago, IL&nbsp;and Miami, FL.&nbsp;

Cheryl Pope

Material Memory&nbsp;explores how knowledge, history, and cultural memory are carried through objects and the act of making. Bringing together four artists working in ceramics, fiber, tapestry, and print, the exhibition centers analog processes, material investigation, and the slow accumulation of gesture and meaning.Through hand-built ceramics, bead-encrusted vessels, pony-bead tapestries, and meticulously carved relief prints, the artists in&nbsp;Material Memory&nbsp;examine how culture and personal histories are inherited, learned, and reinterpreted through labor, repetition, and intimate engagement with material. These works ask viewers to consider how objects embody memory, mediate identity, and carry stories across generations.Featuring:Chris Salas&nbsp;(Ceramics)Salas’s hand-built ceramic forms emerge through intuitive, iterative processes informed by personal relationships, historical research, and the ongoing legacy of colonization in the Americas. Clay becomes a vessel for cultural reckoning, holding layered histories through time-intensive making and surface.Katie Mongoven&nbsp;(Fiber, Beading)Mongoven transforms found blue-and-white ceramic vessels with intricate beadwork and embroidery. Her labor-intensive practice explores diasporic memory, identity reconstruction, and the reclamation of Orientalist objects through touch, repetition, and bodily presence.akeylah wellington&nbsp;(Sculpture, Tapestry)Wellington’s pony-bead tapestries and mixed-media sculptures blend humor, endurance, and personal history. Drawing on childhood imagery, early digital culture, and found materials, her work preserves stories of displacement, resilience, and generational inheritance.Ramiro Rodriguez&nbsp;(Printmaking)Rodriguez’s woodblock and linoleum relief prints document familial and cultural narratives rooted in Mexican-American print traditions. Through carving and layered printing, his work embeds memory, transformation, and inherited knowledge into the physical act of making.Together, the artists in&nbsp;Material Memory&nbsp;use material as language—foregrounding slow, analog processes as acts of remembering, learning, and transmission. Their works are deeply personal yet culturally resonant, tracing the invisible threads of inheritance that bind past, present, and future.

Material Memory

<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://experience.mcachicago.org/7252/7260" target="_blank">Get Tickets</a> Admission is free to Family Day attendees. Celebrate the movements of our bodies. Designed for children under 12 and their grown-ups, MCA Family Days invite our youngest visitors to be the museum’s artists, thinkers, and collaborators. Image: Family Day | Playoffs, MCA Chicago, May 10, 2025. Photo: Natasha Moustache, © MCA Chicago.

Family Day | Let Loose

Krasl Art Center presents&nbsp;Malcolm Taylor: Prologue, The State of Play, on view February 7 through May 10, 2026 in the ArtLab. The exhibition opens with a free public reception on Thursday, February 6, from 6 – 8 PM.The State of Play&nbsp;marks Benton Harbor–based photographer Malcolm Taylor’s first gallery exhibition, offering an adventurous exploration of storytelling through action figure photography. Taylor stages intricate miniature sets and captures them in vivid, cinematic photographs that blur the line between play and narrative. Featuring characters drawn from comics, video games, and popular culture, the works are infused with humor, nostalgia, and imagination, inviting viewers into fully realized worlds at a toy-sized scale.

Calendar

Chicago Gallery News