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

Museum of Contemporary Photography at Columbia College Chicago (MoCP) announces its next exhibition,&nbsp;<a style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://mocp.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=9e4250b7536dc23e9352b28ee&amp;id=1157c0cf86&amp;e=58cea278c7" target="_blank">MoCP at Fifty: Collecting Through the Decades</a>, on view January 22-May 16, 2026. As we enter the new year, MoCP celebrates its 50th anniversary. Since opening in 1976 and initiating collecting in 1979, MoCP has acquired over 18,000 objects by more than 2,000 artists, representing a broad scope of aesthetics, technologies, and processes. The variety of artworks collected has allowed the museum to engage in conversations across political, social, and cultural landscapes. To celebrate this milestone,&nbsp;MoCP at Fifty&nbsp;examines the evolving practice of building a dynamic collection, presenting a range of objects, from the rarely exhibited to newly acquired works. Together, these selections question and reflect on the role cultural institutions play in shaping the photographic canon. Each of the museum’s five galleries represents a decade of collecting, beginning with the most recent acquisitions (2016-2026) in the first gallery, then moving backwards through time. “Over five decades, the MoCP has built a collection that traces shifting cultural, political, and visual histories. This moment allows us to look back with reflection and celebrate our holdings, knowing that every photograph we steward becomes part of a larger conversation about how images shape our understanding of the world.” Karen Irvine, Chief Curator and Deputy Director Looking at MoCP’s collection decade by decade is as much an archive of history as it is of art. Collections are fluid, often evolving in ways that mirror the values and trends of society at large. The first decades are noticeably missing many women and artists of color, not because such artists were not making work at the time, but because cultural institutions had yet to fully consider the value of varied perspectives and forms of practice. The later decades were collected with intention, not only of addressing gaps in representation, but to embrace conceptual works and works that push the boundary of what defines “photography,” in the process expanding, innovating, and redefining what a photography museum can offer the public. This exhibition displays over 100 objects from the MoCP collection. Featured artists include: Joel Sternfeld (American, b. 1944), Barbara Crane (American, 1928–2019), Matthew Finley (American, b. 1972), Carrie Mae Weems (American, b. 1953), Yasuhiro Ishimoto (Japanese American, 1921-2012), Dayanita Singh (Indian, b.1961), Bob Thall (American, b. 1948), Carlotta Corpron (American, 1901-1988), and various others. Uta Barth, Field #3, 1995; printed 2021. 2021:244

MoCP at 50: Collecting Through the Decades

Sale 6502 <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://freemansauction.com/auctions/6502-early-20th-century-design?page=1&amp;per=48&amp;tab=overview" target="_blank">Early 20th Century Design</a> May 20, 2026&nbsp;10:00AM CT<h2> </h2>Live / Chicago

Early 20th Century Design

Sale 6503<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://freemansauction.com/auctions/6503-modern-design?page=1&amp;per=48&amp;tab=overview" target="_blank">Modern Design</a> May 20, 2026&nbsp;11:00AM CT<h2> </h2>Live / Chicago

Modern Design

Opening Reception: Friday, April 17 from 5 to 8PM Artist Talk: Saturday, April 18 starting at 1PM 207 E Buffalo St, Suite 404, Milwaukee, WI 53202 (Marshall Building, 4th floor) Kim Storage Gallery is pleased to present Reflections and Undercurrents, a solo exhibition of new&nbsp;paintings by Katherine Steichen Rosing that immerses viewers in the invisible forces shaping forests and watersheds amid&nbsp;climate disruption. Rosing’s work reveals both the resilience and fragile balance of ecosystems under stress, asking what&nbsp;persists—and what quietly disappears—beneath the surface of the landscapes we love. In this body of work, she abstracts hidden ecological processes into vividly hued, densely layered surfaces, merging the&nbsp;visible and invisible through inscribed marks that are later veiled by color, like root systems and currents we cannot fully&nbsp;see. Reflections and Undercurrents introduces submerged forests of yellow-green trunks rising through ultramarine&nbsp;floodwaters, holding the tension between visual allure and the unsettling question of whether we witness temporary&nbsp;inundation or irreversible transformation. Grounded in long-term observation, environmental research, and collaborations with scientists, Rosing’s practice&nbsp;addresses extreme weather cycles—drought, deluge, and intensifying storms—that leave forests stressed and&nbsp;vulnerable, from local neighborhoods to distant northern ecosystems. She understands painting as a way to convey the&nbsp;felt experience of environmental change, creating a contemplative space where beauty and unease coexist and where&nbsp;subtle shifts in color, light, and texture echo broader ecological transformations. Born in Appleton, Wisconsin, Rosing is known for environmentally engaged paintings and immersive installations&nbsp;exploring relationships among forests, watersheds, and climate. She has exhibited in over one hundred solo and group&nbsp;shows in museums and galleries, including the Rockford Art Museum, Amos Eno Gallery (New York), the Arts Club&nbsp;(Washington, DC), and the Museum of Wisconsin Art. Her work is held in numerous public and private collections, and she holds an MFA from Northern Illinois University. She received the 2022 Forward Art Prize. Image: Blue Damselflies Flitting About My Kayak, Acrylic on canvas, 44 x 55"

Reflections and Undercurrents

<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://randolphstreetmarket.com/event/randolph-street-market-festival-may-2026/" target="_blank">BUY TICKETS + DETAILS</a> <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://randolphstreetmarket.com/vendor-application-may/" target="_blank">BECOME A VENDOR</a> Randolph Street Market FestivalMay 23+2410am to 5pm both days 1341 W Randolph StChicago, ILIndoor &amp; Outdoor 23RD ANNUAL GARDEN PARTY! Kick off summer with Randolph, we’ll be in full VINTAGE bloom with 200 stellar indoor and outdoor dealers! Our biggest show of the year, an incredible feast for the senses, glorious color, life and GREAT BUYS. Continuous live music, dj’s, food and 3-Market Bars too!

Randolph Street Market Festival

Uncertain HistoriesJune 14, 2025 - May 24, 2026Chicago Cultural Center, Grand Army of the Republic (G.A.R.) Hall Cases, 2nd Floor North Everything in history, once it has happened, looks as if it had to happen exactly that way. We can’t imagine any other. But I am convinced of the uncertainty of history, of the possibility of surprise, of the importance of human action in changing what looks unchangeable.—Howard Zinn (US Army veteran), 1994* The Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) Hall was built as a memorial to the sacrifices of Union Civil War veterans and their families. According to the renowned American abolitionist Frederick Douglass, their sacrifices were for freedom and a testament to the most profound declaration of human rights in history. Yet, Douglass also argued in a 1877 speech to the GAR, that the task of fully realizing this freedom remained unfinished. In the face of this unfinished task, and the current challenges to freedoms,&nbsp;Uncertain Histories&nbsp;reveals entanglement between past military actions and today’s state repression, between historic declarations and the current struggle for freedom. The creative practices of contemporary veteran artists&nbsp;Darrell W. Fair,&nbsp;Eric J. Garcia,&nbsp;Monty Little (Diné), and&nbsp;Amber Zora&nbsp;draw throughlines that complicate legacies of colonialism and militarism while seeking a more peaceful future. These creative acts of hope transform violent histories into stories of survival and resistance. As celebrated historian and World War II veteran Howard Zinn writes, “To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness.”* Uncertain Histories&nbsp;is curated by Aaron Hughes in affiliation with the emerging Veteran Art Movement, with support from the DEMIL Art Fund, DCASE, and the City of Chicago.* Howard Zinn,&nbsp;You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train: A Personal History of Our Times&nbsp;(Beacon Press, 1994).

Uncertain Histories

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

Marshall Brown: Palaces and Prisons

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

Dispossessions in the Americas

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

Chicago Presentation of Firelei Báez

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

Geometries In Light

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

Matisse’s Jazz: Rhythms in Color

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

Sarah Smelser: Sandia (online exhibition)

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

Carroll Dunham: Drawings, 1974–2024

In partnership with Chicago Housing Authority, during the summer of 2025 Hyde Park Art Center carried out a mural production program. Artist and educator&nbsp;Dorian&nbsp;Sylvain led a select group of young adults to design and complete a mural on the exterior of Hyde Park Art Center’s building. The education of individuals of all ages and backgrounds is core to Sylvain’s practice, with a particular focus on students within the age group of 18 – 25 years old. Sylvain’s teaching and leadership with this group centered on developing artistic skills and professionalism, while working with Art Center community to carry out a design process towards a finished mural. Through hands-on experience, this summer cohort were provided with materials, resources, and instruction to complete a large-scale mural while being exposed to professional artists, public art in Chicago through, and the Art Center’s expansive community.

Nature is Arts Muse

DOCUMENT is delighted to present&nbsp;Dabin Ahn’s first solo exhibition with the gallery, opening on Friday, March 27.Dabin Ahn (b. 1988, Seoul, Korea) lives and works in Chicago, IL. He creates paintings populated by flora, fauna, vessels, candles, and ceramic fragments, motifs that function as representations of the self. Ahn’s paintings also incorporate sculptural elements such as hand-built frames that part to reveal images along the canvas edge. Light plays a central role in the artist’s lexicon, suggesting an illuminating presence even when its source is hidden. These elements collectively blur the boundaries between the material and the imagined, evoking an emotional depth reflective of the human experience. Ahn received a BFA and MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Selected solo exhibitions include François Ghebaly, Los Angeles; OCHI, Los Angeles; Harper’s, New York; 1969, New York. Recent group exhibitions include Make Room, Los Angeles; Harper’s, East Hampton; and The Hole, Los Angeles. His work can be found in the permanent collections of the High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GE; X Museum, Beijing, China.

Dabin Ahn

Future Now: Virtual Sneakers to Cutting-Edge Kicks is a groundbreaking new exhibition featuring nearly 60 futuristic footwear designs pushing the boundaries of what footwear can be. Exhibiting an incredible mix of fashion, design, gaming, new media, architecture, and material arts as well as sustainable and collaborative practices, the exhibition showcases work by designers as diverse as Rem D. Koolhaas and Zaha Hadid, innovators Mr. Bailey and Salehe Bembury, as well as designs made in collaboration with fashion icons Rick Owens, Stella McCartney, and Yohji Yamamoto, and top gaming and innovation companies such as PlayStation, Gravity Sketch, and more.Future Now features sections exploring Innovation, Sustainability, Transformative, and Virtual shoes. Exhibition highlights include the self-lacing Nike MAG (first conceived for the movie Back to the Future Part II), digitally designed and 3D-printed shoes, sneakers made from mushroom leather and reclaimed ocean plastics, virtual footwear, and more.“The future is always being shaped by the present. The exhibition includes many incredible and innovative new footwear designs that are promising to transform what we will wear tomorrow. From sneakers created to address issues related to sustainability and inclusion to shoes that blur the line between the real world and the metaverse, this exhibition explores how forward-looking creators are helping us step into the future.”—Elizabeth Semmelhack, Director and Senior Curator, Bata Shoe Museum

Future Now: Virtual Sneakers to Cutting-Edge Kicks

The Door County Contemporary Art Fair will be held at the Peninsula School of Art in Fish Creek, Wisconsin from June 4 to June 6, 2026. For the second year the three-day program will introduce art to art enthusiasts in an event yet unseen in Wisconsin. It was born from the desire to address a lack of contemporary art in an otherwise culturally enriched and dynamic destination. And to do it with an enthusiasm that embraces the energy, vision, and welcoming spirit of the region. DCC will host 14 art galleries from Wisconsin and beyond while welcoming thousands of art lovers from around the United States. It will also feature a wealth of site-specific art works and projects, plenty of Wisconsin-centric food and drink, and curated events and art-related projects. Door County Contemporary will be more than an art fair, it will be a three-day celebration of art and ideas. All of it set against the backdrop of one of the America’s greatest geographical settings–a brilliant contrast of perspectives that will make it a truly memorable and unique occasion. DCC hopes to leave visitors feeling they’ve married the best of fine art with the idiosyncratic swagger of the region, meant to resonate long after its visitors exit State Highway 42/57. The events, the setting, the tastes and smells, and of course the world class art will create something far greater than the sum of its eclectic parts: woodsy tradition and bleeding-edge cultural objects; Spotted Cows and conceptual art; and all the best things talented humans can deliver to the world to make it worth inhabiting.<a style="color: rgb(255, 254, 252);" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.doorcountycontemporary.com/application" target="_blank">Application</a> Door County Contemporary<a style="color: inherit;" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="mailto:info@doorcountycontemporary.com" target="_blank">info@doorcountycontemporary.com</a>

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)

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 rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://ennouncement.exhibit-e.com/t/y-l-ajdujlt-sykijfhl-t/" target="_blank">Learn More</a> Image: Roger Brown,&nbsp;Lake Effect, 1980. © The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the Brown Family.

Roger Brown: Weathervane

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

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

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

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

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.

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