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

<a href="https://doorcountycontemporary.com/so/95PrFp0Xf/c?w=GekfwPLCcWnE-pBmDszBdNmxmIBnRoKt2etLwIi2f5I.eyJ1IjoiaHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZG9vcmNvdW50eWNvbnRlbXBvcmFyeS5jb20vIiwiciI6Ijk1ZGU1NjA2LTkxZTctNDY4Ni04MGJjLTUwOTVkMmZiYjE0OCIsIm0iOiJtYWlsIiwiYyI6IjBkODQ0NmNkLWI1MGMtNDcwMC1iODk0LTI0Y2FjNTQ2MWE2ZiJ9" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Door County Contemporary</a> art fair is returning to <a href="https://doorcountycontemporary.com/so/95PrFp0Xf/c?w=EYK3F73EiMCFsKQ-QbO_OM3ELe6xGtDH-R8Z81KZ2zI.eyJ1IjoiaHR0cHM6Ly93d3cucGVuaW5zdWxhc2Nob29sb2ZhcnQub3JnLyIsInIiOiI5NWRlNTYwNi05MWU3LTQ2ODYtODBiYy01MDk1ZDJmYmIxNDgiLCJtIjoibWFpbCIsImMiOiIwZDg0NDZjZC1iNTBjLTQ3MDAtYjg5NC0yNGNhYzU0NjFhNmYifQ" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">PenArt</a> in Fish Creek on June 4-7, 2026. Guests are invited to experience the opportunity to access international galleries and artists known worldwide in an event that highlights the area as a vibrant nexus of creativity, connection, and commerce. <a href="https://doorcountycontemporary.com/so/95PrFp0Xf/c?w=f4XZH_D0dNeMaY2YDsmpn6i2iIhn64Ynx2O0oFBkjhQ.eyJ1IjoiaHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZG9vcmNvdW50eWNvbnRlbXBvcmFyeS5jb20vdGlja2V0cyIsInIiOiI5NWRlNTYwNi05MWU3LTQ2ODYtODBiYy01MDk1ZDJmYmIxNDgiLCJtIjoibWFpbCIsImMiOiIwZDg0NDZjZC1iNTBjLTQ3MDAtYjg5NC0yNGNhYzU0NjFhNmYifQ" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">VIP passes</a> provide event-goers early entry with premier access to exclusive works and noteworthy gastronomic festivities.&nbsp;&nbsp;Indulge in unforgettable local food, fare, and charm amidst the idyllic <a href="https://doorcountycontemporary.com/so/95PrFp0Xf/c?w=Wn68iJ_WyLLd7C0A7boaV8MBti8tgBTUTJyHDjUmlgw.eyJ1IjoiaHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZG9vcmNvdW50eS5jb20vIiwiciI6Ijk1ZGU1NjA2LTkxZTctNDY4Ni04MGJjLTUwOTVkMmZiYjE0OCIsIm0iOiJtYWlsIiwiYyI6IjBkODQ0NmNkLWI1MGMtNDcwMC1iODk0LTI0Y2FjNTQ2MWE2ZiJ9" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Door County</a> atmosphere. Whether you’re looking to enhance your collection or purchase your first piece, this is Wisconsin’s must-see summertime art event.&nbsp;The inaugural <a href="https://doorcountycontemporary.com/so/95PrFp0Xf/c?w=d7b6oxZXJuy9rUarQpLcxl0KVSM2IC9h2LRlBeFTIVc.eyJ1IjoiaHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZG9vcmNvdW50eWNvbnRlbXBvcmFyeS5jb20vYWJvdXQiLCJyIjoiOTVkZTU2MDYtOTFlNy00Njg2LTgwYmMtNTA5NWQyZmJiMTQ4IiwibSI6Im1haWwiLCJjIjoiMGQ4NDQ2Y2QtYjUwYy00NzAwLWI4OTQtMjRjYWM1NDYxYTZmIn0" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Door County Contemporary art fair</a>, held in 2025, marked a groundbreaking moment for the Midwest art scene. This collaboration with <a href="https://doorcountycontemporary.com/so/95PrFp0Xf/c?w=EYK3F73EiMCFsKQ-QbO_OM3ELe6xGtDH-R8Z81KZ2zI.eyJ1IjoiaHR0cHM6Ly93d3cucGVuaW5zdWxhc2Nob29sb2ZhcnQub3JnLyIsInIiOiI5NWRlNTYwNi05MWU3LTQ2ODYtODBiYy01MDk1ZDJmYmIxNDgiLCJtIjoibWFpbCIsImMiOiIwZDg0NDZjZC1iNTBjLTQ3MDAtYjg5NC0yNGNhYzU0NjFhNmYifQ" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">PenArt</a> drew artists, galleries, and guests from across the region and the country. With over 3,400 guests in attendance and 20 exhibiting galleries from across the nation, the fair delivered a dynamic, standout celebration of contemporary art.&nbsp;<a href="https://doorcountycontemporary.com/so/95PrFp0Xf/c?w=-a67t14LD12jQ6mHolEIffI9zgdRIb63zudXsF4s_wg.eyJ1IjoiaHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZG9vcmNvdW50eWNvbnRlbXBvcmFyeS5jb20vZ2FsbGVyaWVzIiwiciI6Ijk1ZGU1NjA2LTkxZTctNDY4Ni04MGJjLTUwOTVkMmZiYjE0OCIsIm0iOiJtYWlsIiwiYyI6IjBkODQ0NmNkLWI1MGMtNDcwMC1iODk0LTI0Y2FjNTQ2MWE2ZiJ9" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Galleries participating in Door County Contemporary in 2026</a>From painters and sculptors to photographers, print-makers, and mixed-media innovators, the fair showcased a rich tapestry of artistic expression. Attendees also enjoyed a robust schedule of public programs, panel discussions, and artist talks, sparking conversations and forging relationships between artists, collectors, curators, and art enthusiasts. The event generated over $120,000 in art sales—a powerful testament to the growing support for a creative economy in the Midwest.&nbsp;“Gallery participants shared a commitment to art of the region, to cosmopolitanism and rurality. The result was a production that was opposite of the market-driven, doctrinal spectacle of large art fairs whose competitiveness and exclusivity precludes place and congeniality, opting instead for ‘arcade frenzy,’” stated Paul Krainak’s article “<a href="https://doorcountycontemporary.com/so/95PrFp0Xf/c?w=dsWMSwqY_TwzjnF7Ad96y0d_AsX9NufEM2sOhA66qYQ.eyJ1IjoiaHR0cHM6Ly9iYWRhdHNwb3J0cy5jb20vMjAyNS9zdWItcnVyYWwtNDktNS1kb29yLWNvdW50eS1jb250ZW1wb3JhcnktYXJ0LWZhaXIvIiwiciI6Ijk1ZGU1NjA2LTkxZTctNDY4Ni04MGJjLTUwOTVkMmZiYjE0OCIsIm0iOiJtYWlsIiwiYyI6IjBkODQ0NmNkLWI1MGMtNDcwMC1iODk0LTI0Y2FjNTQ2MWE2ZiJ9" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Sub-Rural #49.5, Door County Contemporary Art Fair</a>” for <a href="https://doorcountycontemporary.com/so/95PrFp0Xf/c?w=NeSOl9Yfp53sDoXskPp6-vBJDzXj-baK0SyQAMnP8ok.eyJ1IjoiaHR0cHM6Ly9iYWRhdHNwb3J0cy5jb20vIiwiciI6Ijk1ZGU1NjA2LTkxZTctNDY4Ni04MGJjLTUwOTVkMmZiYjE0OCIsIm0iOiJtYWlsIiwiYyI6IjBkODQ0NmNkLWI1MGMtNDcwMC1iODk0LTI0Y2FjNTQ2MWE2ZiJ9" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Bad at Sports</a>.&nbsp;This overwhelmingly positive reception reinforced the vision of Door County Contemporary: to cultivate a grounded, welcoming, and high-caliber alternative to the standard art fair model. Thanks to the generous contributions of <a href="https://doorcountycontemporary.com/so/95PrFp0Xf/c?w=FV392uqiW5mvzez0iM9UZubD4JLEQqsXmcxDbC86tBY.eyJ1IjoiaHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZG9vcmNvdW50eWNvbnRlbXBvcmFyeS5jb20vcGFydG5lcnMiLCJyIjoiOTVkZTU2MDYtOTFlNy00Njg2LTgwYmMtNTA5NWQyZmJiMTQ4IiwibSI6Im1haWwiLCJjIjoiMGQ4NDQ2Y2QtYjUwYy00NzAwLWI4OTQtMjRjYWM1NDYxYTZmIn0" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">DCC’s partners</a>, the fair is returning with inimitable works on display and peerless possibilities for art exploration.&nbsp;Get Your Tickets Now!

Door County Contemporary 2026

The sun was formed 4.6 billion years ago. It takes 8 minutes and 20 seconds for its light to travel to Earth. The calendar as we know it, based on cycles of the solar year, was first implemented four and a half centuries ago in 1582. Days still track our planet’s rotation. Years follow our orbit around the sun. Months originally matched lunar cycles. The average human life span equals 26,784 nights or sunrises. In some places, where people have to watch the sky for other reasons, it’s 12,000 less. The oldest person on record lived 122 years. The oldest living now is 115. The clock is a device that constitutes time as it measures it. Time used to be local, based on the sun’s position. That changed on “The Day of Two Noons,” in 1883, when U.S. railroads adopted standardized time zones. Four people who woke up this morning can say they’ve been on the moon. No one has stood there since 1972. Up to 6500 stars are visible to the naked eye at any one location. In most cities around the world, one sees only a fraction of this. Palomar Observatory, on a California mountain, once had the largest optical telescope in the world. It lost the title in 1976, but it’s still used to observe celestial objects, collecting incoming light. Italo Calvino wrote a book about a person, a seeker of the cosmic in the everyday, who shares his name with that place. At 118 pages,&nbsp;Mr. Palomar&nbsp;takes maybe 3 to 4 hours to read. AI doesn’t experience time as a continuous flow, or have a concept for it like we do. Its perception of “now”, if one can say that, will change as its processing speed increases. We can predict where all the stars in the sky will be a hundred years from now. There isn’t a good count for the number of fireflies every summer, but it’s easily in the hundreds of millions, or more. Each one lives for only a few weeks after emerging from the ground. Once there were 3 to 5 billion passenger pigeons flying overhead in America. Now there are none. Palomar&nbsp;is a group exhibition in two parts. Curated by Karsten Lund. Friends of Palomar Patron Circle: Maria Christina &amp; Guy-Karim Caland Puymartin. Renaissance Society programs are supported by the Teiger Foundation and The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. Image: Sarah and Joseph Belknap,&nbsp;4 Months of the Sun, 2014

Palomar (Part 1)

Please join us on Wednesday, April 8th from 5 - 7 pm for the opening reception of our new exhibition,&nbsp;Melanie Parke: Viridescence.&nbsp;The show features sixteen paintings inspired by the landscape, shorelines, fields and gardens surrounding the artist's Northern Michigan studio.&nbsp;Melanie Parke's work combines brilliant color with enchanting views and objects that evoke a sense of sense of warmth and memory. Her layered, painterly compositions reveal an intuitive sense of balance, structure and light.&nbsp;&nbsp;Join us to meet the artist and celebrate Spring with an exhibition that reflects the new light, blossoms, color and promise of the season. We look forward to seeing you this Wednesday at our Winnetka gallery!564 Lincoln Avenue in Winnetka

Melanie Parke: Viridescence 

John Stezaker, the British artist known for his groundbreaking conceptual collage cycles,&nbsp;debuts a new body of work&nbsp;at GRAY Chicago this spring. Titled&nbsp;Raft, the exhibition features a series of uncanny landscapes that mend together two images from the artist’s archives to create a single composition. Sourced from nineteenth-century British books—ostensibly about world travel, but flaunting the geographic extent of the empire—Raftis a continuation of the radically incisive collage techniques Stezaker has been pursuing for nearly six decades.The exhibition opens at GRAY Chicago on Saturday, March 28 with an artist walkthrough at 2:30 PM and a public reception from 3-5 PM.<a href="https://ennouncement.exhibit-e.com/t/y-l-atiikhl-tjjiiihhyu-t/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Learn More</a>

John Stezaker: Raft

Grey James’ latest works are concerned with his personal experience as a trans man, having experienced significant harassment and defamation. These works have become supercharged with emotion and defiance in response to being targeted by anti-trans individuals. PJOB is an acronym for “Pink Jerkoff Boy,” the title of a painting sold in 2017 that was used by James’ tormentors as evidence of his depravity. James has repurposed this title to reclaim his power.

Grey James: PJOB

GRAY is pleased to announce&nbsp;Roger Brown: Weathervane, the first monographic exhibition at the gallery dedicated to Brown since announcing exclusive representation of the artist’s estate.&nbsp;Opening at GRAY Chicago on March 19,&nbsp;Weathervane&nbsp;explores the artist’s vision of an emotionally charged contemporary life set at the tense border between the built environment and the natural world.Featuring eleven paintings from the 1980s and 1990s, the exhibition reflects Brown’s clarity of vision as an artist both unafraid to face sociopolitical headwinds and unable to ignore ecological destruction.The exhibition opens with a public reception from 5-7 PM on March 19 and remains on view through June 13.&nbsp;Roger Brown: Weathervane&nbsp;will travel to GRAY New York for a presentation at the gallery’s Madison Avenue space opening on July 8.<a href="https://ennouncement.exhibit-e.com/t/y-l-ajdujlt-sykijfhl-t/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Learn More</a> Installation view of&nbsp;Roger Brown: Weathervane, GRAY Chicago, 2026. Artwork © The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the Brown Family.

Roger Brown: Weathervane

Juried Group ShowHarmony is often hard to achieve. But let's be honest: Do we always want harmony? How tensions are resolved, make peace with, or completely defy opposition can be more enlightening.&nbsp;We want the clash. We want the contradiction. Let's see the fight!CONFLICT OF INTERESTS is about friction. It is about using the “wrong” material on purpose. It is about the disconnect between what something looks like and what it says.ShadowBoxX Gallery has asked 50 talented artists from across the country to show us what that disconnect looks like.

Conflict of Interests

Architect / Artist&nbsp;Wallace Bowling&nbsp;assembles numerous&nbsp;constructs&nbsp;in a&nbsp;10’ X 10’ X 10’&nbsp;Boxx&nbsp;at Bert Green Fine Arts, 8 South Michigan Avenue,&nbsp;concurrent with Expo Chicago 2026.&nbsp;The title&nbsp;Ensemble&nbsp;- individual components regarded as single and complete,&nbsp;forming a larger, more complex whole - is ideal.&nbsp;Ensemble opens Saturday, 11 April and runs through Saturday, 13 June.&nbsp;Opening Reception is on Saturday,&nbsp;11 April&nbsp;from 5:00 to 7:00 pm.&nbsp;Artist Talk is on Saturday,&nbsp;9 May&nbsp;from 2:00 to 4:00 pm.Closing Reception is on Saturday,&nbsp;13 June&nbsp;from 2:00 to 4:00 pm.The artist will be present at all events. “An artwork is not complete until it is viewed.”Marcel Duchamp, 1957&nbsp;

Wallace Bowling: Ensemble

John Stezaker, the British artist known for his groundbreaking conceptual collage cycles,&nbsp;debuts a new body of work&nbsp;at GRAY Chicago this spring.Titled&nbsp;Raft, the exhibition features a series of uncanny landscapes that mend together two images from the artist’s archives to create a single composition. Sourced from nineteenth-century British books—ostensibly about world travel, but flaunting the geographic extent of the empire—Raftis a continuation of the radically incisive collage techniques Stezaker has been pursuing for nearly six decades.The exhibition opens at GRAY Chicago on Saturday, March 28 with an artist walkthrough at 2:30 PM and a public reception from 3-5 PM.<a href="https://ennouncement.exhibit-e.com/t/y-l-atiikhl-sykijfhl-t/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Learn More</a>

I would have to say that what art gives me is awareness. Awareness of this short period of time that we have, on one hand, and on the other hand, a way of understanding reality. It may sound corny or dramatic, but for me art is a form of salvation.- Liliana Porter* SECRIST | BEACH is pleased to announce a solo presentation for New York-based gallery artist Liliana Porter. Titled The Strange Task, this exhibition will feature a variety of media including painting, works on paper, sculpture and video all featuring Porter’s coterie of endearing inanimate found objects, toys and figurines. This exhibition is presentedconcurrently with UNREAL, an invitational survey featuring a group of artists exploring contemporary anxieties and the surreal dimensions of everyday life.Both exhibitions open Friday, April 10 from 5–8 PM at SECRIST | BEACH and remain on view through June 13, 2026.Born in Argentina in 1941 and based in New York since 1964, Liliana Porter has developed a enigmatic multidisciplinary practice spanning more than six decades. Working across video, photography, painting, printmaking, drawing, collage, small-scale installations, and theatre, her work incorporates everyday found objects to investigate themes of identity, labor, and time, with an idiosyncratic blend of poetic metaphor and humor. Porter constructs situations in which ordinary objects are transformed into agents of reflection on the human condition.Porter is widely recognized as an important figure in conceptual, Latin American and feminist art. Her uniquely personal visual language is rooted the theory of surrealism highlighting not only our relation to objects, but the very nature of objecthood itself. By placing these toys and figurines in a specific context where they are either connected to each other or, conversely, directly connected to the viewer, the fidelity of emotional connection is enhanced. Works included in the exhibition - such as To Get There, To Hold the String, To See a Bird, and To Do It Again - stage moments of quiet action and contemplation.Objects and protagonists develop a narrative that is as approachable as it is meaningful, creating a reconsideration of our own everyday actions.As co-founder of the influential New York Graphic Workshop (1964), Porter also produced prints for the Spanish Surrealist artist Salvador Dalí. Although their artistic practices diﬀer in both method and context. significantly, both artists share a commitment to distorting reality as a method of inquiry. This conceptual aﬃnity situates Porter within a broader lineage ofSurrealist experimentation, where altered perception functions as a means of probing psychological, cultural, and symbolic structures. Highlighting Porter’s connection to this artistic movement, The Strange Task is presented alongside UNREAL, an exhibition featuring a group of artists whose work engages with contemporary manifestations of surrealism. Thesimultaneous presentation of these two exhibitions establishes a dialogue of contemporary approaches to the surreal, highlighting the relevance of imaginative distortion as a strategy for interrogating collective consciousness.____Liliana Porter’s (b. Argentina, 1941, resides in New York since 1964) recent solo exhibitions include those at Dia Beacon in New York, Les Abattoirs in Toulouse France, El Museo de Barrio in New York City; The Perez Art Museum in Miami; Galería Luciana Brito in São Paulo, Brasil; ART OMI in Ghent, NY; Savannah College of Art and Design in Savannah, GA; El Museo Nacional de Artes Visuales in Montevideo; Museo Provincial de Bellas Artes Franklin Rawson in San Juan, Argentina; Museo de Arte de Zapopan in Guadalajara, MexicoHer most recent institutional exhibition took place at Dia Bridgehampton in 2025. Porter's most recent theatrical performance, THEM was co-directed with Ana Tiscornia with music by Sylvia Meyer and debuted in New York at The Kitchen in 2018. Image: Liliana Porter, Woman Sweeping with Gold, 2025, Glitter and figurine one a pedestal, Dimensions variable

Liliana Porter: The Strange Task 

The storied city of Djenné, a center of Islamic learning, study, and scholarship since the twelfth century, is the hometown of Bamako-based photographer&nbsp;Hamdia Traoré&nbsp;(b. 1992, Mali).&nbsp;The thirty portraits in Traore’s series&nbsp;Des marabouts de Djenné (Marabouts of Jenne)&nbsp;reflect his intimate connections to the city’s people and deep history. Learned and devout, marabouts teach in Djenné’s over 50 Qur’anic schools, offer spiritual guidance, and treat ailments through their knowledge of the Qur’an.Made during a time of political and social upheaval in Mali, these portraits reflect enduring cultural resilience. Each image depicts a marabout seated with the tools of his practice—books, Qur’an boards, amulets, and prayer beads—framed by the architecture and atmosphere of Djenné. The consistent format underscores their collective identity, while individual poses and captions highlight personal roles and neighborhoods.Traoré’s work will be shown alongside mid-20th-century black-and-white portraits of marabouts by Malian photographers&nbsp;Mamadou Cissé, Abdourahmane Sakaly, and&nbsp;Tijani Sitou. Drawn from the Archive of Malian Photography, these earlier images share visual parallels and deepen the historical context.&nbsp;Together, these images illuminate evolving perspectives on spiritual authority, identity, and visual representation in Mali.This exhibition is developed in collaboration with the artist and professor Candace Keller, co-founder of the&nbsp;<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://amp.matrix.msu.edu/" target="_blank">Archive of Malian Photography</a>.

Hamdia Traoré’s “Des marabouts de Djenné” and Muslim Portraiture in Mali

With origins dating from 1875, the art collection at the University of Notre Dame is one of the oldest and most esteemed academic collections in the United States. To&nbsp;celebrate the 150th anniversary of the collection,&nbsp;the Raclin Murphy Museum of Art is hosting a major exhibition that highlights many of the recent gifts it has received to commemorate the anniversary.&nbsp;The gifts range from single works of art to entire collections. Virtually every part of the permanent collection has benefited from the generosity of devoted alumni, supporters, and friends from across the country and worldwide. Iconic paintings from Thomas Gainsborough to John Singer Sargent, Georges Rouault to Julie Mehretu are included, as are prints and drawings ranging from Martin Schongauer to Pablo Picasso, among many others. Works from across the Indigenous Americas are represented by Veracruz sculptures and Cuzco altarpieces, as well as recent work by Diego Romero and Jaime Okuma. Photographs by such canonical figures as Andreas Gursky, and Marilyn Minter will also be exhibited.&nbsp; This monumental exhibition, on view from February 17 to June 14, 2026, will be presented in the temporary exhibition galleries and sited in select permanent collection spaces across the Museum and in the Charles B. Hayes Family Sculpture Park.&nbsp;Bridging Time and Place&nbsp;is a highlight of a sesquicentennial celebration of exhibitions and events that will run from August&nbsp;2025 through&nbsp;December 2026.&nbsp; The Exhibition and Sesquicentennial Celebration are made possible by the Sesquicentennial Fund and The Friends of the Raclin Murphy Museum of Art.&nbsp;Additional support comes from the Marilynn and James W. Alsdorf Endowment, the Ashbaugh Endowment, the Alice Tully Endowment, and the Susan and Justin Driscoll Endowment.&nbsp; Image: Hippolyte Petijean (French, 1854–1929)Notre Dame, 1895Oil on canvas21 3/4 x 28 in. (55.25 x 71.12 cm)Bequest of Ernestine Morris Carmichael Raclin2024.008.025

Bridging Time and Place: The 150th Anniversary of the University of Notre Dame Art Museum

Ann Toebbe’s ongoing series,&nbsp;Cooler by the Lake,&nbsp;is set in Hyde Park. For nearly two decades, Toebbe has lived in this Southside Chicago neighborhood with her husband, working and raising her two daughters and stepson. Toebbe’s domestic paintings explore the people, places, culture, and climate that are woven into her daily routine as a working artist and mother—home, garden, studio, grocery store, bakery, park, and local school. Her densely composed multi-point-of-view vignettes capture the sensory impressions and memory layers accumulated in hours and days spent in Hyde Park, meditating on the realization that this is the neighborhood her children know as home and where Toebbe and her husband will grow old.

Ann Toebbe: Cooler by the Lake

An exhibition exploring how images of luxury obscure the labor and extraction behind consumer culture.Sammy Baloji’s monumental diptych&nbsp;Raccord #1: Cite de Kawama&nbsp;stages a sharp visual contrast between a Congolese temporary mining settlement and an advertisement for an idealized resort. The advertising image is not merely decorative, but is part of an economic system that manufactures longing, offering miners and their families a fantasy of leisure and mobility even as they remain excluded from the wealth it fuels.Building from Baloji’s photograph, recently acquired by The Block Museum of Art, this exhibition reminds us that beneath the surfaces of leisure, consumption, and profit lie histories of exploitation and environmental damage.&nbsp;Beneath the Surface&nbsp;brings together artworks and advertising from The Block&nbsp;collection and the&nbsp;<a href="https://northwestern.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=904f932038284b4d9eea69636&amp;id=31838cac8b&amp;e=ec81127d70" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Herskovits Library of African Studies</a>&nbsp;to make us think about how extractive industries rely on visual strategies to promote consumption, obscure labor, and elevate luxury. By presenting these works side by side, the exhibition invites viewers to consider how our own desires, shaped by photographs and advertisements, are linked to hidden processes of extraction, exploitation, and environmental harm.Beneath the Surface&nbsp;is presented in conversation with&nbsp;<a href="https://northwestern.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=904f932038284b4d9eea69636&amp;id=b8f5be7060&amp;e=ec81127d70" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Teresa Montoya’s Tó Łitso (Yellow Water): Ten Years after the Gold King Mine Spill,</a>&nbsp;on view in the main gallery. Together, the projects underscore how the impacts of extraction link distant communities.<a href="https://northwestern.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=904f932038284b4d9eea69636&amp;id=0a7ea9386c&amp;e=ec81127d70" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">READ MORE</a> The exhibition is curated by Uche Okpa-Iroha, 2025‒2026 Art History Graduate Fellow, in consultation with Corinne Granof, Academic Curator. It is generously supported by the Illinois Arts Council Agency and The Graduate School (TGS), Northwestern University. Additional in-kind support is provided by Northwestern University Libraries. Image:&nbsp;Sammy Beloji,&nbsp;Raccord #1, Cité de Kawama, 2011. Digital inkjet print on Baryta paper. Copyright of the artist.

Beneath the Surface: Labor and Consumerism

On August 5, 2015, the rupture of the abandoned Gold King Mine near Silverton, Colorado, released more than three million gallons of toxic wastewater into the Animas River, turning its waters a shocking shade of yellow. In the following year, artist and anthropologist&nbsp;Teresa Montoya&nbsp;(Diné, born 1984) embarked on a road trip from Silverton to Shiprock, New Mexico, retracing the path of the contaminated water and documenting its ongoing cultural, spiritual, and material effects on the Navajo Nation and other Indigenous communities downstream.Marking the ten-year anniversary of the disaster, The Block Museum of Art partners with Montoya to revisit this journey.&nbsp;Tó Łitso (Yellow Water)&nbsp;explores the enduring consequences of the Gold King Mine spill through photography, sound recordings, water samples, and cartographic data.&nbsp;Combining documentary photographs with scientific data and poetic reflection,&nbsp;Tó Łitso&nbsp;invites viewers to consider water not only as a life-sustaining resource but also as a conduit for histories, stories, and harm. In doing so, the exhibition challenges extractive frameworks of land use, centering Indigenous knowledge and resilience. Through Montoya’s interdisciplinary practice,&nbsp;Tó Łitso (Yellow Water)&nbsp;offers a powerful meditation on environmental and cultural justice in the Southwest and beyond."The 2015 spill had discharged more than three million gallons of acidic mine waste fluid into Cement Creek before joining the Animas River and eventually into the San Juan River, which flows directly across the Navajo Nation. Through my photographic journey, I make explicit the enduring presence of toxicity across multiple landscapes and territories. Sometimes it appears beautiful, other times haunting.&nbsp;The images highlight the relationships that various communities sustain through water/tó&nbsp;despite the occurrence of repeated and enduring contamination from upstream locales.&nbsp;The Gold King Mine Spill shows us this, even in that, which cannot be readily seen." – Teresa MontoyaPronounce:&nbsp;<a href="https://navajowotd.com/word/to/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Tó</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://navajowotd.com/word/litso/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Łitso</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;Teresa Montoya’s Tó Łitso (Yellow Water): Ten Years after the Gold King Mine Spill&nbsp;was curated by Kathleen Bickford Berzock, Associate Director of Curatorial Affairs, and Marisa Cruz Branco (Isleta Pueblo/Portuguese), Terra Foundation Fellow, in collaboration with the artist. It was supported in part by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council. Ahéhee' (thank you) to Janene Yazzie, John Hosteen, Wade Campbell, and Andrew Curley for Diné language and curatorial guidance. Image: Teresa Montoya (Diné, born 1984), Tó Łitso #22 (Yellow Water #22), from the series Tó Łitso (Yellow Water), 2016, Inkjet print. Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art, Northwestern University, Block Board of Advisors Endowment Fund purchase. Image courtesy of the artist

Teresa Montoya’s Tó Łitso (Yellow Water): Ten Years after the Gold King Mine Spill

2025 Master of Fine Arts degree candidates — present their thesis projects and conclude their residencies in the Department of Art, Theory, and Practice at Northwestern University.This exhibition and the associated events are co-organized by the Department of Art, Theory, and Practice and the Block Museum of Art at Northwestern University. Support provided by the Norton S. Walbridge Fund; the Myers Foundations; the Jerrold Loebl Fund for the Arts; and the Alsdorf Gallery Endowment.

Art, Theory, and Practice

What is the difference between “looking” and “seeing”? How is meaning made and how do forms signify? These questions have concerned Chicago-based artist Alice Tippit (b. 1975) for more than a decade. Her paintings and works on paper generate multiple layers of meaning through poetic techniques like metaphor, serving as indirect references rather than clear, straightforward representations. The images in Tippit’s paintings float between the familiar and the enigmatic––recognizable forms and shapes are removed from any clear context or obvious meaning. Included in this exhibition are a selection of Tippit’s works from the past ten years as well as new commissioned works.&nbsp;This exhibition is Alice Tippit’s first museum solo presentation and is accompanied by a fully-illustrated catalog published by DePaul Art Museum, distributed by the University of Chicago Press, designed by Omnivore, with essays from Ionit Behar, Johanna Fateman, and Mary Simpson.Alice Tippit: Rose Obsolete&nbsp;is organized by DePaul Art Museum and curated by Ionit Behar, PhD. ​<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://patrongallery.us10.list-manage.com/track/click?u=fe9966abed200e47655a01bab&amp;id=18119f4d8e&amp;e=9e3563b61b" target="_blank">More Information</a> Image: ALICE TIPPIT, Fool, 2022, Oil on canvas, 13" x 10" x 1"

Alice Tippit: Rose Obsolete

“I start with a line–anywhere. A desire to open the space to uncover the reality living deep within.”&nbsp;-Barbara Nessim&nbsp;Since the 1960s, Barbara Nessim (b. 1939) has developed a unique visual language in painting and drawing that challenges traditional gender norms. As one of the first women to gain prominence in the male-dominated world of commercial art and illustration, Nessim’s work confronts stereotypes about femininity and sexuality, while also celebrating the agency of women. In every facet of her work—whether as a visual artist, illustrator, designer, teacher, or archivist—Nessim’s practice is guided by an insatiable curiosity, driving her to continually explore new ideas, techniques, and mediums. A pioneer in computer art during the 1980s, Nessim has had an impact far beyond the art world, including fashion, advertising, and pop culture. By consistently challenging norms and pushing the boundaries of artistic expression, Nessim continues creating work that is as relevant and resonant today as it was when she first began her career.&nbsp;Barbara Nessim’s solo exhibition at DePaul Art Museum—her first one in Chicago—includes paintings, drawings, computer art prints, a site specific installation, with special emphasis on the artist’s sketchbooks or her “forever books,” as she calls them, which have been instrumental to her creative process. “The books tell the story, they see it all, the good parts, the bad, and the ugly. Nothing escapes. Nothing edited. It’s the rule [...] It must have a beginning and an end, just as I live my life.”&nbsp;Barbara Nessim: My Compass Is the Line&nbsp;is organized by DePaul Art Museum and curated by Ionit Behar, PhD.&nbsp;Image: Barbara Nessim,&nbsp;Women with Mask,&nbsp;1966. Photo by David Smith.&nbsp;

Barbara Nessim: My Compass Is the Line

Juror for Body Sovereignty: Danni O’BrienSolo artist: Audrey Yang

Body Sovereignty (Front/Group) & Solo (Back)

Friday evening, May 1, 5 to 8 PM.&nbsp; Joan Holleb, “Woodland Tales” Landscapes on Copper. Spring River North Gallery Walk, 5-8pm. ﻿On view through July 1st, 2026.

Joan Holleb: Woodland Tales

May 15-July 3 Presented by: Ron Jerak &amp; Michael Preski What happens when you bring an Abstract painter and a Surrealist together in one exhibition? The audience gets to take a journey through the artists’ story laid out on canvas, doused in color and covered in a vision. Ron Jerak creates the images he envisions by using strong color and contrast, incorporating straight lines and sharp angles. Symmetry is often present in his works, though asymmetrical compositions are employed as well. Michael Preski creates intricate and often highly detailed imagery with multiple mediums, layering different segments until they form the final piece. Like Ron’s works, they can cover a full range of concepts with their subjects, but all of them tell a story. Both of their stories are contained within each individual piece as well as the whole of their works. These stories are often drawn from everyday events, emotions and general life experiences as how the viewers experience the world. And though every piece is open to the audience’s interpretation, the artists guide their perceptions using the visuals themselves as a map. So feel free to join these two artists as they share their stories depicted in vibrant colors and unwavering imagery. <a href="https://www.bridgeportart.com/canvas-color-vision/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Details</a>

Canvas, Color, & Vision

From a 6th-century gilt bronze Buddhist sculpture to white porcelain and contemporary paintings of the late 20th century, the works of art in this exhibition demonstrate the artistic legacy produced on the Korean peninsula over millennia. Among the 140 artworks on view, 22 are officially recognized as National Treasures or Treasures by the Korean government.

Korean National Treasures: 2,000 Years of Art

This exhibition foregrounds the University of Chicago’s pivotal role in studying and exhibiting contemporary Chinese art since the mid-1990s. In February 1999, Wu Hung, Harrie A. Vanderstappen Distinguished Service Professor of Chinese Art History at the university, opened his first exhibition at the Smart Museum of Art. Entitled&nbsp;Transience: Chinese Experimental Art at the End of the Twentieth Century&nbsp;(1999),&nbsp;&nbsp;the exhibition – and many more Wu curated in the ensuing years – was field-defining and forged new avenues for situating Chinese art within a broader global contemporary framework.Taking these earlier exhibitions as points of departure,&nbsp;Beyond Boundaries: Three Decades of Contemporary Chinese Art at the Smart&nbsp;reflects on the enduring adaptability of contemporary art from China as it continues to grow within and beyond cultural and academic institutions. Bringing together artworks acquired by the Museum over the last three decades, archival materials, ephemera, as well as new work,&nbsp;Beyond Boundaries&nbsp;explores how artists navigate and challenge physical limitations across cultural, environmental, and political terrains. Through strategies of fluidity, they confront dominant social expectations and political hegemonies – not only within a rapidly transforming China, but also amid broader global uncertainties. In doing so,&nbsp;Beyond Boundaries&nbsp;invites us to revisit fleeting moments, environments, and actions, and urges us to reconnect, return, and remember.Support for&nbsp;Beyond Boundaries&nbsp;is provided&nbsp;by Markovitz Family Foundation for the Arts and Education. Additional support is provided by the Smart Museum's Board of Governors, and SmartPartners.&nbsp;Presented in&nbsp;the Robert and Joan Feitler Gallery, and the Joel and Carole Bernstein Gallery.

Beyond Boundaries: Three Decades of Contemporary Chinese Art at the Smart

Alma Thomas (1891–1978) is a singular figure of twentieth-century American art. She developed her form of abstraction – characterized by the dazzling interplay of pattern and hue – late in life, after retiring from a long career as a schoolteacher. Her vibrant and rhythmic art transcended established genres, incorporating elements of gestural abstraction and color field painting and creating a style distinctly her own.Composing Color: Paintings by Alma Thomas&nbsp;draws on the extensive holdings of the artist’s paintings at the Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM) and offers an intimate view of Thomas’s evolving practice during her most prolific period, from 1959 to 1978. At a deeply politicized moment in American life, Thomas’s abiding sources of inspiration became the cosmos, nature, and music. As she stated, “Through color I have sought to concentrate on beauty and happiness, rather than on man’s inhumanity to man.” The exhibition&nbsp;invites visitors to see the world through the eyes of Alma Thomas.SUPPORTComposing Color: Paintings by Alma Thomas&nbsp;is organized by the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Generous support has been provided by the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, Chris G. Harris, the Wolf Kahn Foundation, and Susan Talley.

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