<h1><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1760617210/rjx8jow9izsnfpxyrnt7.jpg"></h1> <h1><a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/scott-burton-shape-shift" target="_blank">Scott Burton: Shape Shift</a></h1> Oct 3, 2025 - Dec 20, 2025 Opening: Friday, Oct 3, 2025 1:00 PM – 5:30 PM Also on view: <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/the-joffrey-ballet-in-the-us" target="_blank">The Joffrey + Ballet in the U.S.</a> and <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/ellen-altfest-forever" target="_blank">Ellen Altfest: Forever</a> <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/organizations/wrightwood-659" target="_blank">Wrightwood 659</a> (Lincoln Park) <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1760617212/ocgrcwtqfncbxwy0mjep.jpg"> <h1><a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/william-blake-brothers-bones-beside" target="_blank">William Blake: Brothers’ Bones Beside</a></h1> Oct 3, 2025 - Nov 9, 2025 Opening: Friday, Oct 3, 2025 5:00 PM – 8:00 PM <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/organizations/gallery-victor" target="_blank">Gallery Victor</a> (River North) <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1760617213/ncte8gpmkb6ghajmofri.jpg"> <h1><a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/cinematic-dreams" target="_blank">Cinematic Dreams</a></h1> Oct 3, 2025 - Nov 15, 2025 Opening: Friday, Oct 3, 2025 5:00 PM – 8:00 PM <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/organizations/hilton-contemporary" target="_blank">Hilton Contemporary</a> (River North) <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1760617215/zo8gsyat9ygtoms0904o.jpg"><h1><a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/found-in-place-tiffany-stronskys-abstract-exploration-of-belonging" target="_blank">Found in Place – Tiffany Stronsky’s Abstract Exploration of Belonging</a></h1> Oct 3, 2025 - Nov 1, 2025 Opening: Friday, Oct 3, 2025 5:00 PM – 9:00 PM <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/organizations/oliva-gallery" target="_blank">Oliva Gallery</a> (Logan Square) <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1760617217/fepjwxg6iadpnl4cqk2h.jpg"> <h1><a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/beyond-the-fold-a-journey-through-the-realms-of-jason-brammer" target="_blank">Beyond the Fold: </a></h1><h1><a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/beyond-the-fold-a-journey-through-the-realms-of-jason-brammer" target="_blank">A Journey Through the Realms of Jason Brammer</a></h1> Oct 3 - 5, 2025 During West Town Art Walk Opening: Friday, Oct 3, 2025 5:00 PM – 8:00 PM <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/organizations/chicago-truborn" target="_blank">Chicago Truborn</a> (West Town) <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1760617218/hxtxkmwbvlokjkkxrf1x.jpg"> <h1><a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/michael-banning-my-window-is-a-garden-gate" target="_blank">Michael Banning: My Window is a Garden Gate</a></h1> Oct 3, 2025 - Nov 8, 2025 Opening: Friday, Oct 17, 2025 5:00 PM – 8:00 PM <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/organizations/kim-storage-gallery" target="_blank">Kim Storage Gallery</a> (Milwaukee) <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1760617219/f09w33ujejfqqofihsk5.jpg"> <h1><a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/entwined-landscapes" target="_blank">Entwined Landscapes</a></h1> Oct 3, 2025 - Oct 31, 2025 Opening: Friday, Oct 3, 2025 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/organizations/vivid-art-gallery" target="_blank">Vivid Art Gallery</a> (Winnetka) <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1760617221/sts24bjhrlqcodjmrdmt.jpg"> <h1><a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/elyse-martin-moving-on" target="_blank">Elyse Martin: Moving On</a></h1> Oct 2, 2025 - Oct 24, 2025 Opening: Friday, Oct 3, 2025 5:00 PM – 8:00 PM <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/organizations/arc-gallery" target="_blank">ARC Gallery</a> (West Town)

New Exhibitions and Events: October 3

<h3>Fall is always an incredibly busy&nbsp;season in Chicago’s art world, with new&nbsp;exhibitions opening across galleries and museums.&nbsp;Behind the scenes, many people in the community&nbsp;are working tirelessly to support artists and bring&nbsp;fresh perspectives to the public. We spoke&nbsp;with five insiders about what excites them now&nbsp;and what they anticipate next.</h3><h3> </h3><h3>To receive a copy of the print edition&nbsp;<a style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://835ba3.myshopify.com/" target="_blank">click here.</a></h3> <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1758209666/iao496ahlxlp20wt78sx.jpg"> “Although we’ve been writing about art for the last 15 years on Colossal, 2025 marks our first fall art season as gallerists. We’re thrilled to be working with twin sisters Haylie and Sydnie Jimenez on their exhibition, Speak of the Devil, on view at <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://joymachine.art/" target="_blank">Joy Machine</a> through September. It’s a very Chicago show, complete with the checkered brick patterns seen on many of our buildings and scenes of the artists’ beloved community here in the city.&nbsp;We’ve also had the pleasure of working with Maria Gaspar, Bryana Bibbs, Raoul Deal, and Swoon at the Haggerty Museum of Art in Milwaukee. Titled <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.marquette.edu/haggerty-museum/no-one-knows-all-it-takes.php" target="_blank">No One Knows All It Takes</a>, this project explores the connection between personal health and collective wellness through the lens of immigration, addiction, caretaking, and incarceration. We hope the exhibition inspires empathy and solidarity in a time of profound devastation and grief.”

Anticipating a Season of Art: Five to Talk to – Christopher Jobson  & Grace Ebert – Joy Machine

<h3>Fall is always an incredibly busy&nbsp;season in Chicago’s art world, with new&nbsp;exhibitions opening across galleries and museums.&nbsp;Behind the scenes, many people in the community&nbsp;are working tirelessly to support artists and bring&nbsp;fresh perspectives to the public. We spoke&nbsp;with five insiders about what excites them now&nbsp;and what they anticipate next.</h3><h3> </h3><h3>To receive a copy of the print edition&nbsp;<a style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://835ba3.myshopify.com/" target="_blank">click here.</a></h3> <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1758826732/oflbqwmhh7wxawsrwegk.jpg"> Christopher (“Kit”) MaxwellSamuel and M. Patricia Grober CuratorThe Art Institute of Chicago “We recently reopened our newly redesigned galleries of European design, 1600–1900, following more than three years of collaboration with the Barcelona-based architectural firm Barozzi Veiga. It’s an elegant and striking space, and I’m looking forward to sharing both the galleries and the exceptional collection they display with our audiences.&nbsp; This fall, I’ll begin work on an updated edition of the Thorne Miniature Rooms publication, featuring new research and photography, set for release in early 2027, offering a welcome update to a longtime favorite. In spring I’ll be curating a special installation of important, never-before-published Renaissance ceramics on loan from a private collection—a rare opportunity to present these remarkable works to the public for the first time.”

Anticipating a Season of Art: Five to Talk to – Christopher (“Kit”) Maxwell

<img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1758732840/rddftzys8pb0myroxu36.jpg">Tony Fitzpatrick Artist, actor, writer Tony Fitzpatrick has a new book out soon, The Sun at the End of the Road: Dispatches from an American Life, with an opening celebration at Great Lakes Tattoo in the West Loop on October 4. Fitzpatrick sports many tattoos himself, several of which are his own designs. In addition to being a sought-after space to get inked, Great Lakes Tattoo is also home to the Great Lakes Tattoo Gallery, a dedicated art space. Fitzpatrick shared with CGN an excerpt from the forthcoming book, which can be purchased from Eckhartz Press <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://eckhartzpress.com/shop/the-sun-at-the-end-of-the-road-dispatches-from-an-american-life/" target="_blank">here</a>. – GV <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1758732841/lxqumybniargm0e09f4a.jpg"> <h3>THE MYSTERY OF COCK ROBIN (1969)</h3> More and more, an Albert Camus quote—about artists taking a long, arduous journey to rediscover the images which first opened their heart—feels true to me. As a kid, I loved signs, and Chicago was full of them. I memorized signs in Villa Park and Lombard as a way of navigating, and I especially loved the Cock Robin one because of the rainbow cones you could get there: three neon-bright, square scoops of sherbet. I also loved their burgers, which is not to say they were good. They weren’t. They were buffalo pucks but, as a kid, I ate all manner of garbage—happily—and I never stopped loving these. As a teen, Cock Robin was a safe place to hang out. The management didn’t seem to mind, as long as you consumed your share of Silver Dollar shakes and burgers. It was on Main Street, a draw for every kind of kid: greasers, potheads, jocks and oddballs like me were welcome. Kids from different cliques got to know each other and flirt with one another. I came to realize greaser girls were hot, but you ran the risk of getting your ass kicked for chatting them up. I’ll never forget the place. It is locked forever in the amber of my memory. Especially that sign—with its jauntily dressed robin, complete with top hat. I almost got a tattoo of it. Hell, I still might. Me and my delinquent friends took delight in informing the nuns we were going to “CA-a-a-h-h-C-K Robin.” They were a humorless lot of Felicians—mostly Polish, mostly from the old country. Sister Asunta was a straight-up psychopath. She would beat the snot out of you with beads, fists and the knotted rope she wore around her habit, signifying she was, in fact, a Bride of Christ. No wonder Jesus died a virgin. The nuns suspected we were saying something dirty but couldn’t really prove it. Knowing us though? They guessed it was unsavory and sinful, which is what we intended. I can tell what kind of neighborhood I’m in—anywhere in the world—just by their signs. The drive on Los Angeles’ Sunset Blvd from the Pacific to downtown LA takes you through every American circumstance and appetite, from penthouse to outhouse and back again. One minute, you’re driving through tony Bel-Air, and soon you’re among the walking wounded of East LA. The drive is amazing at night, when Los Angeles looks like a fleet, dark, sleek animal decked out in lights. I get what people love about it; on that majestic ride, everything looks possible. There are no Cock Robin burger joints in LA; they have Rick’s Drive In &amp; Out—way better food, with an iconic sign of its own. People who have had near-death experiences say, “Your life flashes before your eyes,” or some such jive. Maybe they’re not all the way wrong; I experienced something like it during my heart surgery. I found myself revisiting familiar places, situations and circumstances. Like déjà vu, but with greater resonance: the images that had first opened my heart. I saw the Cock Robin sign, and their rainbow sherbet cone from forty years ago; I saw the side of our ranch house from my childhood, where my mother grew lily of the valley and my sister kept rabbits. They felt like missives from a childhood, waving goodbye. # <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1758732842/pmzskogvpovm3ecjmo4w.jpg">

Stories from Memory: Tony Fitzpatrick Shares Tales and Art

<h3>At its heart CGN is a unique resource devoted to&nbsp;exploring and supporting the contemporary art market by listening to collectors and gallerists, promoting living artists and by educating new and future collectors.&nbsp;</h3><h3> </h3><h3>One of the ways we keep this exploration interesting is to regularly examine the various art collections in our midst. No collection is the same and each is as unique as its steward. CGN has conducted dozens of interviews over the years with collectors who have generously shared their stories, homes and treasured pieces with us.&nbsp;Collecting art is fulfilling pursuit, but there are bound to be delightful moments as well as inevitable challenges. We asked a handful of collectors to share their own stories or lessons learned, as well as some insight into what has kept them going and what may inspire the next generation of collectors who are so important to the future of the art market and today’s working artists. Keep up with CGN to read more collector stories and interviews.</h3><h3> </h3><h3>– CGN</h3><h3> </h3><h3>To purchase a copy of the fall print edition&nbsp;<a style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://835ba3.myshopify.com/" target="_blank">click here.</a></h3> <h3><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1758596298/scncoinyqcdtooilmge3.jpg"></h3>The painting that didn’t get away: Eric White, Orgonomic Functionalism Conference, 1973 “We have a ‘one that got away plus a silver lining’ story about collecting.&nbsp; A few years ago, we had been eyeing a striking painting by an artist we’d been following. We showed it to a friend of ours—a seasoned gallerist and art consultant—just as we were getting serious about acquiring it. Unfortunately, that turned out to be a tactical error. Before we could make a move, a client of hers swooped in and bought the piece. We were crushed, and more than a little annoyed with ourselves for hesitating. But as luck would have it, that loss led us to one of our favorite acquisitions. With our ‘art funds’ still intact, we inquired about available work by another artist we admired. To our surprise, a painting recently returned to the gallery had just become available–Eric White’s Orgonomic Functionalism Conference, 1973. It had been purchased by Courtney Cox and David Arquette but didn’t work in the space they’d planned. We loved it and snapped it up. In the end, missing out on the first piece turned out to be a blessing—because we ended up with something we love even more.&nbsp;After we bought the painting we learned that director Wes Anderson had also tried to buy it but missed out. So now every time we watch a Wes Anderson movie we say something along the lines of, ‘Your loss, Wes Anderson!’” # <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1758596300/j7uwjxkmu9lpio7hvqiw.jpg">The collectors and the artist, in front of the painting. On left: Brian; center: Eric White; right: Michael.

CGN Collecting Stories: Brian Westphal and Michael McVickar

<img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1761594498/qmiff4m4grungnhz5djx.jpg"> By GINNY VAN ALYEA Chicago’s own Vertical Gallery is setting off on an exciting new path. Though gallery owner Patrick Hull's decision means he is leaving the West Town space after the current show closes, he emphasizes that he is also adapting to the current art market to meet collectors where they are. And he's also not done with Chicago. Ultimately, after more than a decade of shaping the city’s urban-contemporary art scene, owner and curator Hull is leaving his physical space in order to expand his gallery’s reach to collectors around the globe. Vertical’s current group show, The Scenic Route—on view through September 27—will be the final exhibition in its West Town space. From here, the gallery will focus on art fairs, pop-ups, and destination events across the U.S. and abroad. The new approach begins this winter at Aqua Art Miami (December 3–7) and builds on Vertical’s successful presentations in Paris and New York. Chicago will remain part of the journey. In March 2026, Vertical will celebrate its 13-year anniversary in partnership with Jackson Junge Gallery, and in July the gallery will present acclaimed Dutch painter Collin van der Sluijs in collaboration with Joy Machine Gallery. Additional exhibitions are planned. As Patrick Hull describes it, “Vertical 3.0 brings our artists and our aesthetic to the world at large, and better serves the needs of a global collector audience demanding new, more interactive experiences.” Though the format is evolving, the gallery’s mission is unwavering: showing the best in contemporary art and giving artists fresh ways to connect with collectors.It’s a bold new chapter for Vertical—one that keeps Chicago close to its heart while embracing a worldwide audience. <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://verticalgallery.com/" target="_blank">verticalgallery.com</a> Read CGN's spring 2020 interview with Hull <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/articles/vertical-gallery-s-digital-embrace-how-patrick-hull-sees-art-online-long-term" target="_blank">here</a>.

Patrick Hull Announces He's Leaving West Town Location and taking Vertical Gallery Virtual 

Vertical Gallery Prepares to Take Its Vision Worldwide

<img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1761594473/s3c56hxvpbgdl0esqtae.jpg">Ching Wei-Wang, performance documentation of&nbsp;Maintain Status Quo Indefinitely, 2024 Via PR CHICAGO&nbsp;–&nbsp;Museum of Contemporary Photography at Columbia College Chicago (MoCP) announces the 2025 Snider Prize award recipient and honorable mentions. This year, the Snider Prize has been awarded to Ching-Wei Wang with honorable mentions awarded to Annelise Duque and Selena Kearney. The Snider Prize is a purchase award given to emerging artists in their final year of graduate study. The winner receives $3,000, and two honorable mentions each receive $500 towards the purchase of work to be added to MoCP’s permanent collection. Ching-Wei Wang (Way)&nbsp;holds a BA in Foreign Languages and Literatures from National Taiwan University (2021) and an MFA in Photography from Parsons School of Design (2024). Her work in performance and photography explores Taiwan’s political histories and what she calls “the layered identities shaped by colonial histories, geopolitical tension, and ideological frameworks.” Way has a background in writing and dance, which is evident in her use of text and the movement of the body. <h3>Snider Prize Honorable Mention: Annelise Duque</h3> <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1761594474/von5fpzt0ychfpkazlj3.jpg">Annelise Duque,&nbsp;After Image, 2024 Annelise Duque&nbsp;earned her MFA from Ohio State University. Working across photography, performance, video, and collage, she examines issues of time and memory, particularly in relation to her Filipino heritage and ancestry. In her own words, she “is forever entranced by the camera’s ability to reveal both truth and lies, currently using the photograph as a method of time-travel.”&nbsp; <h3>Snider Prize Honorable Mention: Selena Kearney</h3> <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1761594475/lm999zg7orr20luwsrkd.jpg"> Selena Kearney,&nbsp;Suspended Dust 1, from the series&nbsp;Shadowy Evidence,&nbsp;2025 Selena Kearney&nbsp;holds an MFA in Photography from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, a Bachelor of Liberal Arts from Evergreen State College, and a Certificate of Fine Art Photography from the Photographic Center Northwest. A member of the Coast Salish tribe, Kearney’s practice is deeply rooted in her heritage. Her work, as she describes, “centers Indigenous presence, cultural continuity, and visual sovereignty.” Working across disciplines including drawing, photography, and performance, she investigates colonial US histories while honoring and elevating the stories of the people who lived before her.&nbsp;About the Snider Prize Award <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1761594477/l1rl6tznytmdkujf0utw.jpg">Lawrence K. and Maxine Snider, MoCP DARKROOM, 2022 Through the generosity of Lawrence K. and Maxine Snider, the Snider Prize was established as a prestigious endowed purchase award supporting emerging artists completing their graduate studies. Since its inception in 2013, the prize has recognized twelve artists and awarded twenty-four honorable mentions, integrating their works into the museum’s permanent collection. This initiative reflects MoCP’s enduring commitment to nurturing new talent and advancing the field of contemporary photography. <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.mocp.org/about-museum-of-contemporary-photography/opportunities/the-snider-prize/?mc_cid=1ea25cf0f2&amp;mc_eid=58cea278c7" target="_blank">Learn more about the Snider Prize Award</a> #

Museum of Contemporary Photography (MoCP) announces 2025 Snider Prize

<h3><a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/art-world-figures-remember-late-patron-agnes-gund-a-legend-and-icon-1234752937/" target="_blank">Art World Figures Remember Late Patron Agnes Gund: ‘A Legend and Icon’</a></h3> Anges Gund, an avid art collector and patron of towering importance to New York’s Museum of Modern Art,&nbsp;died&nbsp;Thursday in Manhattan. She was 87.&nbsp;The&nbsp;New York Times&nbsp;reported her death on Friday, but did not provide a cause. Following the announcement of Gund’s death, artists and cultural workers took to social media to honor her memory. “My heart just broke. Rest in peace dear Aggie. They broke the mold with you,” Roxana Marcoci, chief curator of photography at MoMA,&nbsp;wrote&nbsp;alongside a photograph of Gund at the opening of “LaToya Ruby Frazier: Monuments of Solidarity” with Frazier, playwright Lynn Nottage, and labor leader and feminist activist Dolores Huerta. Via ARTnews Image: Roxana Marcoci, LaToya Ruby Frazier, Agnes Gund, and Dolores Huerta attend MoMA's "LaToya Ruby Frazier: Monuments of Solidarity" at the Museum of Modern Art in 2024.Photo Eugene Gologursky/Getty Images for Museum of Modern Art <h3> </h3><h3><a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://ocula.com/magazine/opinions/new-york-is-not-america-art-market/?b&amp;utm_source=email&amp;utm_medium=campaign&amp;utm_campaign=Thoughts%20on%20New%20York%20City%E2%80%99s%20Art%20Market%20%7C%20Seoul%20Rising&amp;utm_id=01K46FJE1QF4K6279R496YWHTZ&amp;_kx=ZldUrTFpbbbbjP8cT8DPQkm5mmpFOFdvvxIu2Lk_R3d5sIZ_MXgxAK72-q01k5UW.T28mdB" target="_blank">New York Is Not America: Thoughts on the City’s Art Market</a></h3> The collector scene in many parts of the United States is struggling with economic uncertainty, while dwindling attendance and layoffs have been seen at institutions like SFMOMA and the Art Institute of Chicago. Then there’s the rising political hostility which has buffeted the museum sector with funding cuts and censorship pressures in states such as Florida and Texas. But, through all of that, New York continues to be bolstered by a unique blend of global collectors, institutional heft and financial gravity. As a result, the city continues to behave like an outlier. Via Ocula <h3> </h3><h3><a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/18/arts/design/new-york-art-80s-levy-gorvy-dayan.html" target="_blank">New York’s Art Stars of the ’80s, Curated by One of Their Own</a></h3> In “Downtown 81,” Edo Bertoglio and Glenn O’Brien’s no-budget New York film made in the early 1980s, a teenage Jean-Michel Basquiat roams a desolate Lower Manhattan, hauling a painting he’s trying to sell to make rent. “There was a diamond-brick road there and I could see it,” Basquiat’s only-lightly fictionalized character says with uncanny prescience. “I was off to be the wizard.” This is the moment of creative florescence that the uptown gallery Lévy Gorvy Dayan revisits with its exhibition,&nbsp;<a style="color: rgb(50, 104, 145);" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.levygorvydayan.com/exhibitions/downtown-uptown" target="_blank">“Downtown/Uptown: New York in the Eighties,”</a>&nbsp;a blockbuster opening Thursday that surveys the decade’s art stars: Basquiat and Keith Haring, Julian Schnabel and David Salle, Cindy Sherman and Jeff Koons, among others.&nbsp; Via NYT <h3><a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://news.artnet.com/art-world/museums-politics-2679093" target="_blank">Is This the Breaking Point for Museums?</a></h3> It would be hard to exaggerate the seismic shift museums across the West are facing. As governments slash funding and threaten further cutbacks in public support,&nbsp;<a style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); color: rgb(31, 31, 31);" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://news.artnet.com/art-world/museums-sustain-unprecedented-assault-trump-first-100-days-2635944" target="_blank">American museums</a>, long facing dwindling backing from central bodies like the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), have typically looked to corporations, individual donors, private foundations, and earned income to prop up their budgets. British and especially German museums have long been able to rely on public largesse to a greater degree, but now even they, and museums in other European countries, are facing politicians who say they cannot justify cultural funding in times of strained budgets. Via Artnet

What We're Reading: 9/22/25

CGN interview with Chicago art collectors Melissa Weber and Jay Dandy

Dedicated to Collecting: Melissa Weber and Jay Dandy

<img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1758343910/makvftgw1lltogyaz3jt.jpg">Theaster Gates. Concrete slabs from Lorado Taft Midway Studios as installed at Listening House. Photo: Sara Pooley By ALISON REILLY Theaster Gates: Unto Thee opens September 23 at the Smart Museum of Art, marking the artist’s first solo exhibition at a museum in Chicago. This overdue presentation of his work will feature installations of materials that Gates acquired through two decades of involvement with the University of Chicago, first as a staff member and then as faculty. The materials include the Department of Art History’s glass lantern slide collection, concrete floors salvaged from the Department of Visual Arts’ Midway Studios, slate from Rockefeller Chapel, and hand-carved wooden pews from Bond Chapel.&nbsp; “Unto Thee,” Gates explains, “offers a reckoning with the ways in which true collaboration between the ‘local’ and the ‘institutional’ could result in deep transformation of both. Unto Thee allows me to return every material artifact given to me by the University in a new state of recognition by a larger, cultural context outside of the institution and the city of Chicago, thereby redeeming these discarded materials beyond their state of inheritance.” A series of public programs, tours, and film screenings at the university and Gates’s cultural centers will accompany the exhibition, including an opening celebration from October 4-5, 2025. Gates will participate in a panel off campus, followed by a performance at Bond Chapel by The Black Monks, Gates’s music project that merges Black musical traditions and Eastern monastic practice.&nbsp; Galina Mardilovich, curator at the Smart Museum, said, “The Black Monks are really one facet of Theaster’s practice that we’re so excited to feature. They originally formed as a response to an invitation by Charles Esche to respond to the Smart’s exhibition, Heartland, which connected Chicago-based- musicians with musicians in the Netherlands around the topic “music of the Mississippi.” It’ll be interesting to bring them back here, bring them back home, so to speak.”&nbsp; <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1758343912/jfwwjwn4jniflarvijrw.jpg">Glass lantern slides from the University of Chicago’s Department of Art History, now in the care of Theaster Gates. Courtesy of the Rebuild Foundation. &nbsp;For Gates, collecting these pieces of the university’s history is not transactional. He said, “My access to the glass lantern slides depended completely upon my relationship with the facilities team at the University of Chicago. The vitrines from the Oriental Institute arrived at my step, because people were willing to build a bridge from their institution to an art studio. These objects represent stories, relationships, trust, and goodwill.” The concrete floors from Midway Studios, which are covered in layers of paint, showcase over a hundred years of artistic history. They tell the story of the early twentieth-century sculptor Loredo Taft, who moved his studio from downtown Chicago to the Midway Plaisance. Eventually, as Mardilovich explained, “It became a de facto art space, a studio space for faculty at the University of Chicago before there was an official space for them. Taft created this really interesting community of artists and is credited for supporting women sculptors. He was elevating unconventional and untraditional art makers at the time and supporting them as well as giving them space to create.” In the early 2010s, when the Logan Center for the Arts was being built, there was demand at the university to renovate Midway Studios. Gates, who was instrumental in the creation of the center, received parts of the studios’ concrete floors that were given away. At some point, he also collected surplus granite from the Logan Center construction site. Vanja Malloy, Dana Feitler Director of the Smart Museum and co-curator of the exhibition, said, “I think that it’s beautiful–the juxtaposition of the granite for a new chapter of the arts at the university that Theaster helped found, with the concrete, the foundational beginnings.” Gates’s art practice focuses on recontextualizing these architectural elements as sculptures and deriving meaning from the new relationships they create. “These objects are redeemed, and their redemption value is a demonstration of the work that I was invested in outside of the University,” Gates said. “I was trying to amplify the materials that sat in front of me. The amplification was not for my glory; it was simply to demonstrate that everyday things, even when unruly, excessive, inconvenient and without practical use, can be reimagined as intelligible, substantial, and absolutely necessary.” <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1758343913/eh8yregpfttpctrtglix.jpg">Theaster Gates. Granite from the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts as installed at Listening House. Photo: Sara Pooley Along with the exhibition, Gates will be teaching a class called Unto Thee, giving students an opportunity to learn more about the material history of the university and its broader context on the South Side. “From what I’ve observed, Theaster is a beloved colleague to many but also a really inspirational professor,” Malloy said. “He’s really excited about sharing his knowledge and fostering the next generation.” The Smart Museum also commissioned Gates to create a new work, which will be on display in the museum’s lobby as part of their Threshold series until July 2026. The installation will feature an expansive shelving system showcasing a collection of African masks that Gates recently acquired and conserved, along with his personal record collection. Music will be playing in the lobby, and the museum will invite DJs to activate the space. While plans have not been confirmed, Malloy and Mardilovich are discussing community workshops focused on archiving and collection practices.&nbsp; <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1758343913/nqyvkjcyxodfbypvbkxd.jpg">Glass lantern slide from the University of Chicago’s Department of Art History,&nbsp;now in the care of Theaster Gates. Courtesy of the Rebuild Foundation. Unto Thee provides an opportunity to celebrate the richness of Gates’s generative art practice over the past 20 years and the connections that he has cultivated along the way. “The exhibition demonstrates something evident in the first book of the New Testament, Matthew 25:14-30, the Parable of Talents,” Gates explained. “The ambition that I had at the University of Chicago was to find ways to use its resources and multiply those resources for the impact of the community that I lived in. In addition, I use these materials, transfiguring them from waste products to culturally productive works of art, with the intention of amplifying the University’s deep belief in the arts. In a moment when that belief seems in peril, this exhibition seems even more timely. It is a reminder that art is not a waste, and great art requires great administration, aesthetic execution, and an unwavering belief in artists.” Theaster Gates: Unto Thee is on view at the Smart Museum of Art&nbsp;at the University of Chicago&nbsp;September 23, 2025–February 22, 2026<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://smartmuseum.uchicago.edu/" target="_blank">smartmuseum.uchicago.edu</a> #

Theaster Gates's first solo exhibition in his home town of Chicago takes place at the Smart Museum of Art

A Homecoming at the Smart Museum of Art: Theaster Gates

<img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1758304689/lymltafc6dhgcru6jlst.jpg">2024 By CGN Staff This fall, downtown Chicago will light up as the 11th Annual Arts in the Dark Halloween Parade takes over State Street on Saturday, October 18, from 6 to 8 p.m. Presented by LUMA8 and the City of Chicago, the free, family-friendly parade features music, dance, giant puppets, glowing floats, and dazzling performances. A project first dreamed up and co-founded by one of the City's previous Commissioners of Cultural Affairs, Mark Kelly, along with Sharene Shariatzadeh, the annual art-themed gathering downtown has proved it has staying power. Named one of the world’s best Halloween celebrations by Wanderlust Magazine and highlighted in USA Today’s top 10 parades, Arts in the Dark draws over 100,000 spectators and celebrates Halloween as the artist’s holiday. <h2>A Cultural Mosaic on Parade</h2> More than 5,000 performers from 100+ cultural organizations will showcase Chicago’s artistic diversity with music, dance, and spectacle. New this year are Creative Guilds—groups of architects, photographers, audio makers, writers, and other artists collaborating on imaginative displays such as a 50-foot cosmic serpent, 40-foot glow worm, and 16 towering skeletons. While inspired by Halloween, groups are encouraged to present their own identity and art form. Expect vibrant representations of Black, Mexican, Irish, Colombian, Brazilian, South Asian, Korean, Puerto Rican, Caribbean, Peruvian, and LGBTQ+ cultures, alongside dance companies, music groups, drag performers, circus artists, and more. <h2>Honoring Chicago’s Creative Spirits</h2> The parade will again recognize Creative Spirits, local cultural leaders including Tara Mallen (actor/director), Terry Hunter (Grammy-nominated DJ), Wilfredo Rivera (choreographer), Joe Cerqua (composer), Jimalita Tillman (theater producer), Eugene Bush (film producer), and rising street artist Clue. “Chicago is a hothouse of cultural ferment, and this parade will capture that creative spirit in a magical evening procession,” said Kelly, parade co-founder and artistic director. <h2>Join the Fun: DIY Costume Contest</h2> A new Haunted Runway Costume Contest, presented by Goodwill Greater Milwaukee &amp; Chicago, invites parade-goers to design their own look. Submit a photo by October 8 at <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://bit.ly/TheHauntedRunway" target="_blank">bit.ly/TheHauntedRunway</a> for a chance to win Goodwill gift cards and VIP seating for next year’s parade. Finalists will strut their creations during the event as the crowd votes for a grand prize winner. <h2>Event Details</h2><ul><li>When: Saturday, October 18, 2025, 6–8 p.m.</li><li>Where: State Street, starting at Randolph Street</li><li>Cost: Free</li></ul> Arts in the Dark is produced by LUMA8 and the City of Chicago with major support from Chicago Loop Alliance and Goodwill Greater Milwaukee &amp; Chicago, and is part of Mayor Brandon Johnson’s Fall Fest 2025. For full details, visit <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.artsinthedark.org/" target="_blank">artsinthedark.org</a> or <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.luma8.org/" target="_blank">luma8.org</a>

Chicago’s Arts in the Dark Parade Returns for Its 11th Year of Halloween Magic

<h1><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1758310450/pkuoq5olm6pn82svtazn.jpg"></h1><h1> </h1><h1><a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/allison-reimus-repetition-with-variety" target="_blank">Allison Reimus: Repetition with Variety</a></h1> Sep 19, 2025 - Oct 18, 2025Opening: Friday, Sep 19, 2025 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/organizations/65grand" target="_blank">65GRAND</a> <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1758310451/wost6fv29zzqh3zx56bx.jpg"> <h1><a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/jacqueline-surdell-the-conversion-rings-rapture-and-the-forest-archive" target="_blank">Jacqueline Surdell: The Conversion: Rings, Rapture and the Forest Archive</a></h1>and<h1><a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/natura-non-constristatur" target="_blank">Natura Non Constristatur</a></h1> Sep 19, 2025 - Nov 15, 2025Opening: Friday, Sep 19, 2025 5:00 PM – 8:00 PM <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/organizations/secrist-beach" target="_blank">Secrist | Beach</a> Jacqueline Surdell is CGN's fall issue cover artist. Read the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/articles/jacqueline-surdell-an-artists-voice-helps-scale-her-art" target="_blank">full interview</a> with her here, and look for the print issue around galleries this weekend! <h1><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1758310452/mcvan7u2iegu1e2gqqxm.jpg"></h1> <h1><a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/weriem-lesprit-de-pierrot" target="_blank">WERIEM: L’esprit de Pierrot</a></h1> Sep 19, 2025 - Nov 22, 2025Opening: Friday, Sep 19, 2025 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/organizations/epiphany-center-for-the-arts" target="_blank">Epiphany Center for the Arts</a> <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1758310454/p2au9taqzzmla5989hqf.png"> <h1><a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/victoria-martinez-frente-a-la-vida-facing-life-exhibition-opening" target="_blank">Victoria Martinez: Frente a la vida / Facing Life</a></h1> Saturday, Sep 20, 2025 12:00 AM – 12:00 AMOpening: Saturday, Sep 20, 2025 2:00 PM – 4:00 PM <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/organizations/poetry-foundation" target="_blank">Poetry Foundation</a> <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1758310455/uynekupw0iomhkqoexjr.jpg"> <h1><a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/luke-agada-to-translate-is-to-move-across" target="_blank">Luke Agada: To Translate is to Move Across</a></h1> Sep 20, 2025 - Nov 1, 2025Opening: Saturday, Sep 20, 2025 4:00 PM – 7:00 PM <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/organizations/moniquemeloche" target="_blank">moniquemeloche</a> <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1758310456/juqoax6jdocnyseghmto.jpg"> <h1><a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/closing-reception-for-alex-katz-white-lotus" target="_blank">Closing Reception for Alex Katz: White Lotus</a></h1> Saturday, Sep 20, 2025 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/organizations/gray" target="_blank">GRAY</a> <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1758310457/yovhydkgnimqbyavhbhr.jpg"> <h1><a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/mac-pierce-artist-talk" target="_blank">Mac Pierce Artist Talk</a></h1> Saturday, Sep 20, 2025 3:00 PM – 5:00 PM Read CGN's feature about Pierce's show <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/articles/deathmatch-by-mac-pierce-at-bert-green-an-intimate-artistic-exploration-of-war-and-games-both-real-and-pretend" target="_blank">here</a> <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/organizations/bert-green-fine-art" target="_blank">Bert Green Fine Art</a> <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1758310459/jjernc6ccjkwjt6qfnuj.jpg"> <h1><a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/collin-moodyvom-boden-wine-tasting" target="_blank">Collin Moody/vom Boden Wine Tasting</a></h1> Saturday, Sep 20, 2025 2:00 PM – 5:00 PM <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/organizations/corbett-vs-dempsey" target="_blank">Corbett vs. Dempsey</a> <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1758310460/zqsry34slotwblzb0m5q.jpg"> <h1><a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/black-women-and-clay" target="_blank">Black Women and Clay</a></h1> Sep 20, 2025 - Nov 16, 2025Opening: Saturday, Sep 20, 2025 12:00 PM – 4:00 PM <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/organizations/ukrainian-institute-of-modern-art-uima" target="_blank">Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art (UIMA)</a> <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1758310461/wobls59qu0p3dnklfoiq.jpg"> <h1><a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/special-mccormick-house-tour" target="_blank">Special McCormick House Tour</a></h1> Sunday, Sep 21, 2025 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/organizations/elmhurst-art-museum" target="_blank">Elmhurst Art Museum</a>

New Exhibitions and Events: September 19-20

<h3>Fall is always an incredibly busy&nbsp;season in Chicago’s art world, with new&nbsp;exhibitions opening across galleries and museums.&nbsp;Behind the scenes, many people in the community&nbsp;are working tirelessly to support artists and bring&nbsp;fresh perspectives to the public. We spoke&nbsp;with five insiders about what excites them now&nbsp;and what they anticipate next.</h3><h3> </h3><h3>To receive a copy of the print edition&nbsp;<a style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://835ba3.myshopify.com/" target="_blank">click here.</a></h3> <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1758209053/xkywbulm2bzdup2eci7m.jpg">Photo by: Robert Chase Heishman “Autumn is my favorite season in the Midwest, offering a rich landscape of sensory experiences. This time helps me recharge my battery, which in turn enhances my work as an art consultant. Being in touch with all my senses allows me to better connect and speak about artwork with my clients. Personally, I’m looking forward to eating Kim’s Uncle Pizza, wearing Morel Map perfume by Chicago-based Clue, catching a live music performance at Fitzgerald’s in Berwyn, and sipping a coffee at the Art Institute’s member lounge.&nbsp; Of course, I’m also excited to see what the local galleries will be exhibiting and to travel to new cities, such as Brussels and Shanghai, on behalf of <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.degrootfineart.com/" target="_blank">DeGroot Fine Art</a>.”

Anticipating a Season of Art: Five to Talk to – Jaime DeGroot

<h4><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1760543341/fbk1d7emlmzj4rp2pmm0.jpg"></h4>Henri Matisse,&nbsp;Léda et le cygne&nbsp;(1944-46). Courtesy Sotheby’s. <h4> </h4><h4><a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://news.artnet.com/market/pritzker-collection-sothebys-2688225" target="_blank">$120 Million Pritzker Collection Goes to Sotheby’s in New York</a></h4> A collection of works by some of the key artists of the 19th and 20th centuries, from the holdings of major Chicago collectors Jay and Cindy Pritzker, will be among the artworks included at Sotheby’s inaugural marquee Impressionist and Modern sale at its new Madison Avenue home this November. Via Artnet <h4><a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2025/09/17/meet-the-former-auction-heavyweights-remodelling-the-art-market-as-advisers" target="_blank">Leaner, nimbler and more discreet: why some art advisory firms are growing in a downturn</a></h4> While the major auction houses have shed staff amid a bearish market since the pandemic, a gaggle of “super advisories” has been born, some founded by former top-level auction rainmakers with decades of experience and bulging address books.Without the vast overheads of auction houses and galleries, the leaner, nimbler, more discreet advisory model chimes with a cautious market. “Many of us advisors have thought, what about a Super Advisory firm: taking five specialists from different departments in the auction houses and putting them to work without the overheads,” says Josh Baer, author of the Baer Faxt trade newsletter and himself an art adviser. “The biggest cost for an art adviser is travel and you can easily stop that. It just makes sense that they could be more efficient and competitive.” Via The Art Newspaper <h4><a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/lost-jesus-painting-peter-paul-rubens-paris-mansion-osenat-1234751588/" target="_blank">Long-Lost Painting By Rubens From 1613 Found in Paris Mansion by French Auctioneer</a></h4> A long-lost, dramatic painting of&nbsp;<a style="color: rgb(229, 75, 39);" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.artnews.com/t/jesus-christ/" target="_blank">Jesus Christ</a>‘s crucifixion by 17th century Flemish master painter&nbsp;<a style="color: rgb(229, 75, 39);" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.artnews.com/t/peter-paul-rubens/" target="_blank">Peter Paul Rubens</a>&nbsp;was found in a mansion in Paris, and will be auctioned this fall.Christ on the cross&nbsp;(1613) was discovered by French auctioneer Jean-Pierre&nbsp;<a style="color: rgb(229, 75, 39);" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.artnews.com/t/osenat/" target="_blank">Osenat</a>&nbsp;last September, while preparing to selling the private residence in the city’s 6th district, according to&nbsp;<a style="color: rgb(229, 75, 39);" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20250910-400-year-old-rubens-found-in-paris-mansion" target="_blank">AFP, which first reported the news.</a>Osenat said the large Baroque painting measuring 42 by 29 inches was “a true profession of faith and a favourite subject for Rubens, a protestant who converted to Catholicism”. Via ARTnews <h4><a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/11/arts/design/jeffrey-gibson-sculptures-met-museum.html" target="_blank">In Jeffrey Gibson’s Sculptures, Child’s Play and Indigenous Truths</a></h4> Public sculpture has been under fire in recent years, from the politics of portraiture to a wild hypothesis that a man is living inside&nbsp;<a style="color: rgb(50, 104, 145);" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://news.artnet.com/art-world/is-a-man-trapped-in-anish-kapoors-bean-2676618" target="_blank">Anish Kapoor’s “Cloud Gate” (2006)</a>&nbsp;— nicknamed “The Bean” — in Chicago. One genre that seems to have navigated the culture and conspiracy wars without much tumult is sculpture popular with children. The beloved José de Creeft’s “<a style="color: rgb(50, 104, 145);" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.centralparknyc.org/locations/alice-in-wonderland" target="_blank">Alice in Wonderland</a>” (1959) in Central Park remains an all-ages favorite, while Greg Wyatt’s “<a style="color: rgb(50, 104, 145);" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://gregwyattsculpture.com/bronze/peace-fountain" target="_blank">Peace Fountain</a>” (1985) at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, with its cavalcade of mythical creatures, has become a more recent classic. I thought of these when I saw Jeffrey Gibson’s new sculptures on the Fifth Avenue facade of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.&nbsp; Via NYT

What We're Reading: 9/17/25

<img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1757909348/lm14bldxcjo9h69iye0i.jpg"> By CGN Staff Chicago is about to welcome a bold, citywide celebration of design and ideas. On September 19, the Chicago Architecture Biennial (CAB) launches SHIFT: Architecture in Times of Radical Change, bringing together architects, artists, designers, and thinkers to explore how architecture can respond to—and inspire—transformative change. This fifth edition of the Biennial isn’t just one exhibition. It’s a multi-site, months-long festival that runs through February 28, 2026, weaving conversations and installations across Chicago’s neighborhoods and cultural landmarks. <h2>A Citywide Collaboration</h2> SHIFT is powered by a remarkable network of over 60 partners—from major museums and cultural institutions to innovative architecture firms and community organizations. These collaborations extend CAB’s reach and deepen its impact, turning the Biennial into a true celebration of Chicago’s creative and civic spirit. <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1757909349/y5zxt6wq9ppkfrovuswt.jpg">Thaden School, Architects: Marlon Blackwell Associates &amp; EskewDumezRipple. Photo: Timothy Hursley. <h2>Highlights of Opening Weekend</h2> The Biennial kicks off with a lively, not-to-miss opening weekend full of exhibitions, panels, tours, and performances. Here’s a taste of what’s planned:<ul><li>Exhibition Tours at the Chicago Cultural Center. Start with a guided tour of the Center’s exhibition spaces led by SHIFT Artistic Director Florencia Rodriguez.</li><li>Designer Sean Canty’s Immersive Installation. A space that doubles as a venue for discussions on publishing’s role in architecture and the nightclub as a lens for understanding collective life.</li><li>Self-Guided Citywide Tour. Visit key SHIFT sites:</li><li class="ql-indent-1">Graham Foundation for Fragmented Manifestos</li><li class="ql-indent-1">Griffin Museum of Science and Industry for TRACES</li><li class="ql-indent-1">Stony Island Arts Bank for the lively LOUDREADERS performance.</li></ul> <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1757909350/uutrrjhlqi1gw9f2blw5.jpg">TAKK (Mireia Luzárraga and Alejandro Muiño), “Fellaria’s Time Capsule” <h2>Spotlight on Program Partners</h2> Several partner institutions are presenting major exhibitions and conversations:<ul><li>Chicago Architecture Center (CAC). Hosting The Prize is the Beginning: Illuminating Architectural Excellence Through the Americas Prize (through October) and the September 18 panel New Architecture in a New World, which looks at architecture’s role in shaping change.</li><li>National Public Housing Museum. Showcasing Living in the Shade: Open Space and Public Housing, exploring the history and future of public housing.</li></ul> More special events include In the Making: A Public Art Journey at The Arts Lawn (September 19), Eyes on the Future at Studio Gang (September 19), and Myth of the Organic City at 6018North (September 19–21), among many others. <h2>Plan Your Visit</h2> The Biennial’s core exhibitions will unfold across several key venues:<ul><li>Chicago Cultural Center</li><li>Graham Foundation</li><li>Stony Island Arts Bank</li><li>Griffin Museum of Science and Industry</li></ul> And starting in November, a new exhibition site will open with more than 25 large-scale projects that further expand the conversation. <h2>Free and Open to All</h2> True to its mission, the Chicago Architecture Biennial remains free and open to everyone. Follow along on Instagram <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.instagram.com/chicagoarchitecturebiennial" target="_blank">@chicagoarchitecturebiennial</a> for behind-the-scenes previews, event updates, and stories from across the city. Whether you’re an architecture lover, an artist, or simply curious, SHIFT invites you to see Chicago—and the world—through a new lens. Full program details and itineraries are available on the Biennial’s <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://chicagoarchitecturebiennial.org/" target="_blank">website</a>. Read CGN's interview with CAB Director Jennifer Armetta <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/articles/jennifer-armetta-championing-the-arts-one-project-at-a-time" target="_blank">here</a> from our fall 2025 magazine.

Opening Weekend for CAB6 – SHIFT: Architecture in Times of Radical Change

<img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1758136685/ervdoypnekbu1emhoh27.jpg">A celebratory EarlyWork dinner kicks off the weekend. By GINNY VAN ALYEA The third annual Chicago Exhibition Weekend, hosted by Gertie and EarlyWork, features 50 participating galleries and creative spaces across the city September 19–21, 2025 spotlighting Chicago’s vibrant cultural landscape and artistic spirit. Last year’s edition attracted 5,000 attendees over three days.&nbsp; This year CXW25 expands its footprint with more galleries, demonstrating the vitality and diversity of the city’s growing commercial art scene. There are more partnerships in place, as well as a central hub space. At the heart of this year's event is a mission to take Chicago's reputation as the heart of "fly-over country" and bust it open, using art history as a means to show that Chicago is and has always been a vibrant, and most of all, significant player in the country's creative and cultural history. Part walk down memory lane, part super-party, and part civic flag-waving, CXW25 promises to be a busy, art-centered weekend that gathers more staying-power and vibrancy each year.&nbsp; September 18–21, 2025<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.chicagoexhibitionweekend.com/" target="_blank">chicagoexhibitionweekend.com</a> * <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1758136686/ox9qir3vkh4m6yf41c2n.jpg"> <h3>Special Exhibition</h3> Over My Head: Encounters with Conceptual Art in a Flyover City, 1984–2015, curated by Iris Colburn and Gareth Kaye, will revisit some key moments of Chicago’s own art history in order to put them back on the map. The exhibition, which will run for three weeks and be free and open to the public, explores key post-conceptual exhibitions staged by pioneering Chicago dealers such as Rhona Hoffman, Donald Young, Feature Inc., Feigen Inc., and Robbin Lockett. focusing on works that marked pivotal moments in an artist’s practice, reflected enduring dealer-artist relationships, or engage themes of temporality, transmission, and memory. Located at 400 N. Peoria Street, CXW’s hub site,&nbsp;Over My Head&nbsp;examines Chicago’s oft-forgotten position as a nerve center for post-conceptual art in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. The exhibition opens to the public on Friday, September 19, 2025 and is on view through October 11, 2025. <h3>CXW Hub and Opening Weekend</h3> 400 N. Peoria – CXW’s central hub – is set within a raw industrial site in Fulton Market. The site will host an exhibition as well as conversations produced in partnership with Independent Curators International (ICI), curator-led walk-throughs as well as programming in conjunction with the Chicago Art Book Fair. The space is intended to be a resource before and after visiting galleries, offering a look at history as well directions to participating local galleries. The exhibition’s opening weekend promises to be as layered as the art on the walls. Public hours run September 19 (12–8 pm), September 20 (10 am–6 pm), and September 21 (10 am–6 pm), followed by regular hours through October 11. A September 18 preview dinner—led by acclaimed chef Agustin Mallmann, traveling to Chicago just for the occasion—offers an intimate prelude and keeps up the weekend's super-party rep. Tickets are sold out. <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1758136688/xn20blwbkhbtavr7bqyx.jpg">Faheed Majeed and Monique Brinkman-Hill CXW is also launching a conversation series with Independent Curators International (ICI), curated by Scott Campbell, ICI’s Midwest Programs Manager. Two marquee talks bookend the weekend:<ul><li>Zoom Out: Sept 19, 6 pm: Faheem Majeed and Monique Brinkman-Hill reflect on the South Side Community Art Center’s historic and evolving role in supporting Black artists.</li><li>Zoom In: Sept 21, 3 pm: Hamza Walker and John Corbett revisit the friendships and cultural networks that helped shape Chicago’s conceptual art scene.</li></ul> Also don't miss: • Maintenance Works: Art, Labor, and Care, Saturday, September 20, 2-3pm at SECRIST | BEACH: 1801 West Hubbard Street Chicago, IL 60622 Artists Brendan Fernandes and Molly Gochman in conversation, moderated by Samara Furlong. Maintenance Works: Art, Labor, and Care&nbsp;will delve into caregiving, collective memory, and the role of art as an act of maintenance and connection. Together, Fernandes and Gochman will reflect on how performance, participation, and collaboration shape their practices—examining how undervalued gestures of care, cleaning, and tending become sites of dignity, connection, and transformation.<h3> </h3><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1758136688/y5laohbnej9xhfiqelvc.jpg"> <h3>Books</h3> Adding another dimension, the Chicago Art Book Fair (CABF) will set up shop inside the hub. Known for championing independent publishers, zinemakers, and printmakers, CABF offers an international yet distinctly Chicago showcase of experimental printed matter—from zines and books to limited-edition prints. The partnership this year with CXW will raise the fair's profile and be sure to exchange audiences. <h3>A Biennial</h3> CXW also coincides with the opening of the 6th Chicago Architecture Biennial: SHIFT: Architecture in Times of Radical Change, which has a base at the Chicago Cultural Center but also offers programming city-wide out of a commitment to showcase the collective strength of&nbsp;over 60 citywide partners, fom museums and cultural institutions to architecture firms and government agencies. The Biennial officially opens to the public on&nbsp;September 19, 2025, with exhibitions at the&nbsp;Chicago Cultural Center,&nbsp;Graham Foundation,&nbsp;Stony Island Arts Bank, a site-specific installation on the grounds of the&nbsp;Griffin Museum of Science and Industry,&nbsp;and special performances throughout the day.&nbsp;In case opening weekend is busy enough, CAB is on view through February 2026. <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1758136689/c0tomua110vphah8tbio.png">CXW's route curators <h3>The Invitation</h3> For CXW organizers and curators the hub is more than a venue. It’s a launch pad: a place to meet friends, soak up context, and set out to explore the city’s galleries and institutions during a weekend that celebrates the people and stories making Chicago’s art scene second to none –&nbsp;finally a destination in its own rite and not flyover on the way to somewhere else. There are also many opportunities to go into dozens of spaces and businesses that make Chicago what it is. Visitors will also have the option of choosing a curated route from one of Chicago’s cultural movers and shakers to help guide you to destinations around the city. Trust these route curators for their selections, from participating galleries and institutions to under-the-radar restaurants and shops. To view the full list of participating galleries and their own programs and exhibition openings, visit <a style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.chicagoexhibitionweekend.com/" target="_blank">chicagoexhibitionweekend.com</a>.

Putting Chicago First: Round Three for Chicago Exhibition Weekend

<h3><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1757612928/iqnt1qxxlfzayt7dlkc9.jpg"></h3>Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle, Well 35°58’16”N - 106°5’21”W (Santa Clara Pueblo, NM), 2014. Pictured: Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle. Courtesy of the artist.<h3> </h3><h3> </h3><h3>This interview appears in CGN's fall 2025 magazine.&nbsp;To receive a copy of the print edition&nbsp;<a style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://835ba3.myshopify.com/" target="_blank">click here.</a></h3> By JEFFERSON GODARD Ambiguity can be a place of uncertainty and frustration, but for Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle, it is where his practice thrives. Manglano-Ovalle is a Chicago-based artist who has created an art practice over the past 40 years that ultimately asks more questions than provides answers.&nbsp; His achievements and accolades are numerous indeed. A 2001 John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Award and 2009 John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellow winner, Manglano-Ovalle was born in Spain, lived in Colombia, and studied at Williams College (BA in 1983), and The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (MFA in 1989). He has shown internationally at institutions including the Guggenheim New York and Bilbao, MoMA, Tate Liverpool, MCA Chicago, The Art Institute of Chicago, and Frankfurter Kunstverein, just to list a few. Iñigo currently serves as the Lorraine H. Morton Professor of Art at Northwestern University and will present new work at the DePaul Art Museum this September in a solo show titled Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle: A Want for Nothing, curated by Dr. Ionit Behar.&nbsp; My first encounter with Manglano-Ovalle’s work was through an architecture publication that extolled his video artwork Le Baiser/The Kiss (1999) in which he played a window washer. Yet the window he was cleaning was not your average pane of glass. This window was part of the storied Farnsworth House (1945-1951) by architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and the kiss alludes to the sound that the squeegee makes when contacting the glass, but the piece also speaks to class and entitlement. It wasn’t until eight years later that I got a chance to experience a work of his in person, and I was gobsmacked.&nbsp; Travelling to Documenta in Kassel, Germany in 2007, I walked into a darkened space where a large, hulking metal sculpture of a truck was tucked up against the back wall. In an adjacent space sat a small transistor radio sat amidst a room flooded with orange light cast from a filter over the glass. This culminated to create a sparce and looming feeling that was overwhelming, and I was hooked. Phantom Truck was the title of this full-scale recreation of a supposed bioweapons truck that former US Secretary of State Colin Powell spoke of when he addressed the UN Security Council prior to the US invasion of Iraq in 2003. Located within this dimly lit space, the viewer had to make sense of this through the ambiguity. It was both present and absent at the same time, reinforcing the foreboding history it held inside.&nbsp; Recently, I had a chance to speak with DePaul Art Museum Curator Dr. Ionit Behar about the upcoming exhibition, Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle: A Want for Nothing. In our conversation, we spoke about this enthralling exhibition that questions utility, how we understand systems, and how art can move beyond representation. One question that the exhibition initially posits is “How does the work draw us in, and how do we, in turn, respond to it—right here, right now?”&nbsp; * Jefferson Godard (JG): Let’s begin by unpacking the term usefulness. The press release makes mention of this term. Can you talk more about how you feel Iñigo’s art has a useful factor to it, or is this more of a way of sharing how he makes work that is so ambiguous?&nbsp; Ionit Behar (IB): My initial answer references the title of the show, A Want for Nothing. This title came out of many conversations with Iñigo which very much resonated with me when he said, “what I want out of this world, or out of my practice, or even my existence in this world is to really want nothing.”&nbsp; I interpret this not as a rejection of desire, but as a form of radical openness, a way of being that doesn’t cling or impose. It’s akin to holding a coin in an open palm rather than gripping it tightly. In this openness, meaning can circulate freely. Iñigo’s practice embodies that spirit, leaving room for interpretation and inviting viewers to sit with uncertainty, rather than being told exactly what to see or feel.&nbsp; It also reinforces a particular way of being in the world. Iñigo’s work fosters a quiet yet profound dialogue about what it means to exist within this world, not just to move through it, but to be in relation to it. A Want for Nothing is not a denial of desire or a rejection of living. Rather, it speaks to a deeper yearning, an inquiry into what we ask of the world and what it asks of us in return. It’s a subtle but powerful shift in perspective. If we were to reconsider our relationship with the world through this lens, perhaps things could begin to change, on both personal and collective levels. This was part of our earliest conversations, and where the exhibition first began to take shape.&nbsp; <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1757612928/bf0b8lqrtvhuz1yiszpm.jpg">Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle, Well 34°01’03’’N-118°29’12’’W [detail], 2015, Stainless steel, aluminum and brass. Courtesy of the artist and Christopher Grimes Gallery <h4>_____________________________________________________________________________________________</h4><h4> </h4><h4>“One of the works in the show, ‘An Attempt to Say Something that Can Actually Hold Water,’ started out to test whether or not my statements could actually hold water. Using the Coopering technique, a craft process of making buckets, I created a bottomless bucket that ultimately doesn’t hold water.”</h4><h4> </h4><h4>– Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle</h4> <h4>_____________________________________________________________________________________________</h4><h4> </h4> JG: It is great to learn the ethos of the show and some of his philosophy. Can you walk us through A Want for Nothing?&nbsp;IB: I don’t want to give too much away, but the first gallery features quieter, more intimate works Iñigo calls “discrete objects,” pieces that blur the line between function and art. It also highlights his making by hand, distilling forms to their most minimal expression. For example, there is a piece entitled, An Attempt to Say Something that Can Actually Hold Water that appears to be a simple bucket—but it has no bottom. At first, it suggests utility: a container for water, a familiar and everyday object. But by removing its base, Iñigo renders it non-functional. It still carries the memory and form of a bucket, but its purpose has been subverted. This quiet gesture unsettles our assumptions and gently redirects our attention towards what the object implies, what it lacks, and what it might mean.&nbsp;&nbsp;The Well project will also be present, rooted in Iñigo interest in land art. His recent research in the Sonoran Desert—walking the terrain and engaging with a range of people—adds a rich, layered context to the work.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;JG: Much like the Well project, ritual, interstitial space, and failure are important elements in his work. Can you comment on how this show addresses these themes?&nbsp; IB: There’s something deeply ritualistic in the making of his work, laborious, repetitive, almost monk-like. This process invites contemplation and evokes a sensibility reminiscent of 1960s and 70s artists like Walter de Maria, Richard Serra and Robert Barry, or even earlier figures such as Marcel Duchamp. He actively seeks critique, much like a student, and embraces contradiction as a generative space. After all, living is full of contradictions. I appreciate that he allows this tension to surface through his objects, rather than forcing a statement that might otherwise feel contrived.&nbsp; <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1757612929/kgcugd4omhrdkfl75a5j.jpg">Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle, Untitled, 2023, Pine and graphite. Courtesy of the artist. JG: Iñigo prefers the viewer to take what they want from the work and the overall exhibition. Did this inform your decision on whether or not to use wall labels?&nbsp; IB: There won’t be any wall labels in the exhibition, something that differs from our usual approach at DPAM, but it’s important to honor the artist’s preferences. One of the things I appreciate most about DPAM is that we don’t follow a single model for presenting interpretive text. Instead, we consider each exhibition individually, asking what kind of textual support will best serve the work. In this case, the goal is to keep interpretation as open as possible while remaining generous to the viewer. Short texts will be available as handouts, which visitors can choose to read—or not—as they move through the galleries and engage with the works on their own terms. JG: While a strong exhibition will fulfill visual and even psychological aspects, what do you hope your show with Iñigo will fulfill?&nbsp; IB: This exhibition offers an opportunity to return to basics, and ultimately, to ourselves. I hope it encourages us to see things in a new light. That’s part of what Iñigo brings to his work: a way of provoking reflection without repetition. If there’s one message to take from this show, it’s an invitation to imagine what a different future could look like, rather than simply looking back. I also think the show seeks to remind us of our humanity, our capacity for stillness, for care, for contradiction, and for imagination. After all, living is a contradiction in itself. In a world that often feels rushed, fragmented, or transactional, the works gently call us back to an attentive way of being. They ask us not just to look, but to feel; not just to interpret, but to be present.&nbsp; Being part of this process and working with him has been incredibly meaningful. I hope that sense of connection and possibility will resonate with viewers as well. # <h4>Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle: A Want for Nothing</h4><h4>DePaul Art Museum&nbsp;</h4><h4>September 11–February 8, 2026</h4><h4><a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://resources.depaul.edu/art-museum/Pages/default.aspx" target="_blank">artmuseum.depaul.edu</a></h4>

Open to Interpretation: Ionit Behar Curates a Show of Work by Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle at DPAM

<img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1757646047/gdo5dl3aicqxcaaslr25.jpg"> <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/bethany-collins-dusk" target="_blank">Bethany Collins : DUSK</a>Opening: Thursday, Sep 11, 2025 5:00 PM – 7:30 PMPATRON&nbsp; <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1757646048/q6xigd9igvouh9rgpybt.jpg"> <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/aaron-curry-richard-hawkins-human-non-human" target="_blank">Aaron Curry &amp; Richard Hawkins: Human Non-Human</a>Opening: Thursday, Sep 11, 2025 6:00 PM – 8:00 PMCorbett vs. Dempsey <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1757646048/lnf63ess0ikieukosgdx.jpg"> <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/artists-talk-for-fragments-and-shadows" target="_blank">Artists' Talk for Fragments and Shadows&nbsp;</a>Thursday, Sep 11, 2025 7:00 PM – 8:00 PMPerspective Photo Gallery <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1757646049/nsffbz1jvttqy4f6ymcs.jpg"> <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/tiffany-lamps-beyond-the-shade" target="_blank">Tiffany Lamps: Beyond the Shade</a>Sep 12, 2025 - Mar 15, 2026The Driehaus Museum <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1757646050/ltilqi9ss1qgaw5ky1cf.jpg"> <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/kiah-celeste-and-gordon-hall-artifact-unidentified" target="_blank">Kiah Celeste and Gordon Hall: Artifact Unidentified</a>Opening: Friday, Sep 12, 2025 5:00 PM – 8:00 PMDOCUMENT <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1757646051/sqzsrlkc1qyzrrhm4dh0.jpg"> <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/angels-now-in-technicolor-berninis-celestial-bodies-reimagined" target="_blank">Angels: Now in Technicolor</a>Opening: Friday, Sep 12, 2025 5:00 PM – 8:00 PMGallery Victor <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1757646052/chnlrkfvjm1jx9asxscn.jpg"> <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/misha-goro-images-of-the-city" target="_blank">Misha Goro: Urban Echoes</a>Opening: Friday, Sep 12, 2025 5:00 PM – 8:00 PMAddington Gallery <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1757646053/cacwixiqt5jndbqziqfr.jpg"> <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/porfirio-gutirrez-modernism" target="_blank">Porfirio Gutiérrez: Modernism</a>Opening: Friday, Sep 12, 2025 5:00 PM – 8:00 PMVolume Gallery <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1757646054/dtkjixbacifmvfpr4rkv.jpg"> <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/the-real-real" target="_blank">The Real Real</a>Opening: Friday, Sep 12, 2025 6:00 PM – 8:00 PMRosenthal Fine Art, Inc. <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1757646054/oevm2fcxqbl8vc1fucqy.png"> <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/csi-project-space-by-degrees-iv" target="_blank">CSI Project Space: By Degrees IV</a>Sep 13, 2025 - Oct 3, 2025Chicago Sculpture International (CSI) <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1757646055/wijbrva5eh7pwrckic3r.jpg"> <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/diego-marcon-krapfen" target="_blank">Diego Marcon: Krapfen</a>Opening: Saturday, Sep 13, 2025 4:00 PM – 7:00 PMThe Renaissance Society <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1757646056/tljnx9qyx4c2ilcb5bpe.jpg"> <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/oscar-joyo" target="_blank">Oscar Joyo</a>Sep 13, 2025 - Oct 11, 2025VSG Contemporary <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1757646058/h1oib902snmoaff3tuhy.jpg"> <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/the-futurepast-indian-art-deco-1925-1950" target="_blank">The FuturePast: Indian Art Deco 1925-1950</a>Opening: Saturday, Sep 13, 2025 6:00 PM – 8:00 PMThe Golden Triangle

Exhibitions Openings for September 11 -13

<img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1757613430/ryayornrgseh1r6ul713.jpg">A rendering of the Obama Presidential Center By CGN Staff The Obama Foundation has revealed ten new artist commissions for the forthcoming Obama Presidential Center, slated to open in spring 2026 in Jackson Park. The expansive 19.3-acre campus will include a museum, public library, gardens, and community spaces—and will feature over 25 site-specific works of art, most free and open to the public. <h3>Diverse, Global Voices with Chicago Roots</h3> The newly announced artists bring a dynamic cross-section of contemporary art: <ul><li>Nick Cave &amp; Marie Watt – This Land, Shared Sky, a monumental textile installation combining Indigenous and Black traditions (Museum Main Lobby).</li><li>Nekisha Durrett – Hem of Heaven, a freestanding sculpture of thousands of ceramic tiles reimagining Harriet Tubman’s shawl (Forum Courtyard).</li><li>Jenny Holzer – Text-based painting memorializing the Civil Rights–era Freedom Riders (Museum Skyroom Vista).</li><li>Jules Julien – A digital mural of eleven illustrations on democratic participation (Museum Level 5 &amp; Civics Gallery).</li><li>Idris Khan – Sky of Hope, an immersive ceiling painting of thousands of words from President Obama’s Selma speech (Museum Skyroom).</li><li>Aliza Nisenbaum – Reading Circles/ Weaving Dreams/ Seeding Futures, a sweeping mural celebrating libraries as civic spaces (Library Main Reading Room).</li><li>Jack Pierson – A found-letter word sculpture spelling HOPE, echoing Obama’s signature campaign message (Museum Entry Pavilion).</li><li>Alison Saar – Torch Song, a towering bronze figure inspired by the Statue of Liberty and Chicago blues (Women’s Garden).</li><li>Kiki Smith – Receive, a celestial bronze celebrating our shared connection to the cosmos (Museum Hope &amp; Change Lobby).</li></ul> These artists join a distinguished roster already announced—Lindsay Adams, Spencer Finch, Richard Hunt, Maya Lin, and Julie Mehretu—with more to come. <h3>Art as Civic Catalyst</h3> “Art has the power to reflect who we are and to shape who we aspire to become,” said Valerie Jarrett, CEO of the Obama Foundation. “These extraordinary commissions will invite every visitor to feel inspired, respected, and connected.” Dr. Louise Bernard, founding director of the Center’s Museum, added that each commission is “a meditation on civic life…speaking to resilience, memory, identity, and hope.”Curated by Virginia Shore (Shore Art Advisory), the program underscores the Obamas’ belief in the arts as central to democracy—an extension of their White House legacy of welcoming diverse voices and creative practices. The Obama Presidential Center is planned to open in spring 2026 and is envisioned as a vibrant cultural hub and gathering space. Alongside the museum and library, the site will feature a fruit and vegetable garden, athletic center, and sweeping public grounds designed for both neighborhood and global visitors. Through art installations, performances, workshops, and conversations, the Center aims to inspire creativity and civic engagement across generations. <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://obama.org/presidential-center/" target="_blank">obama.org</a>

Nick Cave, Jenny Holzer and others to Create Site-Specific Works for Obama Center

<img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1757387888/cvtmilxxqxqejl1mqymi.jpg">Jennifer Armetta <h3>This interview appears in CGN's fall 2025 magazine. To receive a copy of the print edition&nbsp;<a style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://835ba3.myshopify.com/" target="_blank">click here.</a></h3> By JEFFERSON GODARD Chicago’s cultural scene is always in need of a tireless arts champion. Jennifer Armetta is up for the challenge. Several years ago I had the pleasure of first meeting Jennifer at Verge, a donor affinity group at the Museum of Contemporary Art of Chicago. Verge was a group of arts enthusiasts who would help the museum acquire works from emerging artists like Manon de Boer, Michelle Grabner, and Jordan Wolfson. This group would ultimately morph into Emerge which still brings exciting works from up-and-coming artists into the MCA’s collection today. Since we met Jennifer has moved between Chicago, Minneapolis, and Ojai, California, carving out a well-earned reputation for herself. Currently Jennifer directs two organizations in Chicago: Engage Projects in West Town, and most recently, the Chicago Architecture Biennial. And if that were not enough, she is a licensed Real Estate agent working with Eugene Fu. She also volunteers her time on multiple boards and foundations. As Director of this year’s Chicago Architecture Biennial, entitled “SHIFT: Architecture in Times of Radical Change,” Jennifer will work alongside Artistic Director Florencia Rodriguez. The Biennial’s programs and exhibitions will be located at the Chicago Culture Center as in years past, with many satellite locations or hubs throughout Chicago.&nbsp; Engage Projects is Jennifer’s commercial art space, where she brings a nuanced conversation to the gallery model. One of these is Engage Showroom, an in-home exhibition model that further pushes her work-life balance while revisiting the classic ‘apartment gallery’ that Chicago is so well known for fostering.&nbsp; During our lively conversation, I learned more about her passion for artists, the upcoming Biennial, Engage Projects, and what sparked Jennifer’s energy early on. * Jefferson Godard (JG): You graduated with a degree in art history. What did you initially set out to do, and what brought you to the art world?&nbsp;Jennifer Armetta (JA): I actually started off as a Psychology major and didn’t switch to Art History until second semester junior year. What compelled me to change was being inspired by and ultimately falling in love with art. I thought artists were just so brave and fearless in the way that they put themselves out there. It seemed as though they were ready to be criticized. And, instead of it deterring them, they would do it all over again. I wanted to be part of that and help in any way I could as I felt they were truly courageous. Upon graduating, I worked at a Chicago art gallery but sadly could not support myself. The art world, as you know, is a difficult place to sustain oneself. So, I pivoted and went to work for a pharmaceutical company. As a bit of a science-nerd, I ended up enjoying and learning a lot from this experience. One aspect that stood out was the training that they give us. They taught us how to establish a rapport, how to build relationships, and how to communicate effectively in a very short period of time. In some way I still credit many of my interpersonal skills to this experience.&nbsp; JG: When you created Engage Projects, what were your goals for the gallery? What do you still feel like you have to accomplish? JA: What I wanted to accomplish was to make a mark on the Chicago art scene and work with both emerging and mid-career artists. Another aspect was the name. Using “projects” was very intentional, because I didn’t want it to function only as a gallery. Galleries are fabulous and wonderful, but they’re a very tricky business. I wanted to have the flexibility to do things a bit differently, and operate outside of our space, exploring different partnerships. Some questions that I continually ask myself are, what does it mean to represent artists, as well as how people consume and experience art. JG: How do you feel the relationship between the artist and the gallerist has changed? JA: Every artist has different wants and needs, ambitions, and goals. My goal is to focus on the needs of the artists. To facilitate that, I really want to be able to address their needs. The relationship between the gallerist and artist needs to be more individualized and not just fit into a program. And, for me, an art gallery is not like a shop, so it is important that it is more personalized and geared towards the goals of the artist.&nbsp; JG: Another important aspect of your life is supporting causes you believe in. While you have served, and continue to, on many boards, I am most interested in your relationship with Carolyn Glasso-Bailey and her foundation.&nbsp; JA: Carolyn was my childhood friend, and I’ve known her since she was 12. We were best friends, and in many ways, we were like family. Carolyn got started in the art world very young. In high school she started interning at a local gallery in Minneapolis. That was part of my exposure to the arts at a young age. She loved it and went on to have her first gallery in Minneapolis in her early 20’s, and in Chelsea, New York after that. She then pivoted to being an art consultant in Ojai, California. She and I had similar paths, but she started at a younger age. Sadly, she was diagnosed with Glioblastoma in 2014 and passed away a year later in November 2015.&nbsp; Carolyn’s whole mission was that artists came first. She would give her car to an artist if theirs broke down. She would pay out artists before she got paid. She set a real example in the art world of what to do. The foundation that’s named for her, which supports The Ojai Institute, was begun by her sister Lila Glasoe Francese, and her widower Chris Bailey, an artist. I joined artists Rob Fisher, Sharon Loudon, and Sanford Biggers to help create a foundation that gives out grants and supports a residency program. <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1757387889/f49wxs2ajzlgayux3cfi.jpg">House, by Sara Fitzsimons, 6018 North JG: The last thing we’ll talk about is the Chicago Architecture Biennial, titled SHIFT: Architecture in Times of Radical Change. With the Biennial opening soon, how is your and Florencia Rodriguez’s vision taking shape? What changes did you set out to make for this year?&nbsp; JA: The title is both apropos and, in a way, a bit ironic. Florencia has put together an incredible exhibition program and she is thematically referring to our exhibitions as ‘capsules.’ She also wanted to address a lot of the social, cultural, and economic issues that are affecting us all. For example, what does the built environment mean and how can it be solutions-oriented?&nbsp; We also wanted to return to architecture. There are a lot of terrific artists in the exhibition, but this year there is a deliberate focus on returning to architecture.&nbsp; This Biennial will incorporate over 100 projects from more than 30 different countries. One thing that we set out to do was to work with more partners throughout Chicago. This year, we have expanded our network, and the Chicago Architectural Biennial will have pop-ups or hubs all over the city. Stay tuned for an exciting Biennial that opens in September! * SHIFT: Architecture in Times of Radical ChangeSeptember 19, 2025–February 28, 2026On view at the Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington Blvd., as well as many locations throughout the city. <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://chicagoarchitecturebiennial.org/" target="_blank">chicagoarchitecturebiennial.org</a> View programming at Engage Projects at&nbsp;<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.engage-projects.com/" target="_blank">engage-projects.com</a> <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1757387889/zrjihyrobzwbdauydbse.jpg">100 Links, The Buell Center. Installed at the Chicago Cultural Center for CAB5 in 2023. Photo by Tom Harris.&nbsp;

Jennifer Armetta: Championing the Arts One Project at a Time

<h3>Fall is always an incredibly busy&nbsp;season in Chicago’s art world, with new&nbsp;exhibitions opening across galleries and museums.&nbsp;Behind the scenes, many people in the community&nbsp;are working tirelessly to support artists and bring&nbsp;fresh perspectives to the public. We spoke&nbsp;with five insiders about what excites them now&nbsp;and what they anticipate next.</h3><h3> </h3><h3>To receive a copy of the print edition&nbsp;<a style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://835ba3.myshopify.com/" target="_blank">click here.</a></h3> <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1760543176/kyqxndpjtqvclgdour96.jpg"> “SoNa Chicago is pleased to open the Fall season with the culminating exhibition of the Industry of the Ordinary (IOTO) Summer Residency 2025. The exhibition offers viewers a unique opportunity to participate in a one-time full activation on September 6, from&nbsp;5–8 pm, when all 15 artists will inhabit the entire gallery complex, including the building in the rear and exterior spaces. Visitors can expect a mix of time-based, performative, and spatial interventions alongside two- and three-dimensional works. An artist walkthrough will take place on September 13, from 5–7 pm when all the artists will offer deeper insight into their processes and the evolution of the work. The exhibition is on view through September 27. We also have a wonderful show planned for 2026 to coincide with EXPO Chicago, featuring Tony Fitzpatrick and nine other collage artists. It has been a joy to work with Tony on this exhibition, as he has selected most of the artists in the show. We look forward to sharing these artists’ work with Chicago and the international audience coming to the city next spring. The exhibition will run April 8–May 30, 2026.”

Anticipating a Season of Art: Five to Talk to – Laura Botwinick – SoNa Chicago

<img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1760543738/tsyrncfpm7uvd3pqqko9.jpg"><h3><a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/audrey-niffenegger" target="_blank">Audrey Niffenegger: Wayward Bodies</a></h3> On view Sept 5–Oct 11Opening: Friday, Sept 5, 4:00 PM – 7:00 PMZolla/Lieberman Gallery <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1760543738/ql7vueto6wjgmtq6wxcc.jpg"> <h3><a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/the-scenic-route" target="_blank">The Scenic Route</a></h3> On view Sept 5 - 27Opening: Friday, Sep 5, 5:00 PM – 8:00 PMVertical Gallery <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1760543740/kpfovyolfm3mdjbpyjrs.png"> <h3><a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/holding-space" target="_blank">Holding Space</a></h3> On view Sept 5 - 27Opening: Friday, Sep 5, 5:00 PM – 9:00 PMOliva Gallery <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1760543741/hisgpu3zmjjabfs7opoe.png"> <h3><a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/a-world-undone-paula-shur" target="_blank">Paula Shur: A World Undone</a></h3> On view Sept 4–28Perspective Gallery <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1760543742/cwqm7nx75ym7ipsiasgb.jpg"> <h3><a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/diane-jurado-the-ambiguous-narrative" target="_blank">Diane Jurado: The Ambiguous Narrative</a></h3> On view Sept 4 - 26Opening: Friday, Sep 5, 2025 5:00 PM – 8:00 PMARC Gallery <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1760543743/ntxk6nflpcmhccuigpi0.png"> <h3><a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/somewhere-in-between-christina-cooley" target="_blank">Somewhere Between, Christina Cooley</a></h3> On view Sep 4 - 28Opening: Friday, Sep 5, 6:00 PM – 8:00 PMGallery Seven <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1760543744/scdrl3ejh0wsdibt6dxv.jpg"> <h3><a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/true-colors-expressive-landscape-paintings" target="_blank">True Colors: Expressive Landscape Paintings</a></h3> On view Sep 6 - Oct 26Opening: Saturday, Sep 6, 2:00 PM – 5:00 PMThe Grove Gallery <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1760543745/s78kksp0ncmryvjiifu8.jpg"> <h3><a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/industry-of-the-ordinary" target="_blank">Industry of the Ordinary Summer Residency 2025 Exhibition</a></h3> On view Sep 6 - 27, 2025Opening: Saturday, Sep 6, 5:00 PM – 8:00 PMSoNa Chicago Contemporary Art # <h3>View the full CGN calendar of upcoming art events <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events?filter=upcoming&amp;page=1" target="_blank">here</a>. </h3> <h3>Sign up for our free weekly newsletter <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/newsletter" target="_blank">here</a>.</h3>

New Exhibitions: September 4–6

<img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1760543252/qhyrzg5ukci8xsy2timk.jpg"> Via PR MILWAUKEE, WI – September 3, 2025 – <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://mam.org/" target="_blank">The Milwaukee Art Museum (MAM)</a> announced today that Kim Sajet has been selected as the organization’s next Donna and Donald Baumgartner Director. Kim Sajet is a museum leader and arts advocate, and until recently was the director of the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. During her twelve-year tenure, she expanded the gallery’s reach through innovative exhibitions and public programs that brought a contemporary focus to the museum’s collections. Under Sajet’s leadership, museum attendance doubled and major capital improvements were made—including reinstalling the America’s Presidents gallery. She also raised more than&nbsp;$85 million for the gallery’s operations and endowment.&nbsp;&nbsp; “MAM’s ability to attract talent of Kim Sajet’s caliber—who is among only a handful of world-class, values-based museum leaders—speaks to the excellent reputation and collections represented by the Museum and its role as a cultural cornerstone of our community and the nation,” said Andy Nunemaker, Chairman of the Milwaukee Art Museum Board of Trustees. “This moment marks a unique opportunity to bring in a leader who can unlock the Museum’s full potential and advance its vision of connecting people with art and with each other, creating experiences that inspire, spark curiosity, and bring joy, while also sharing the Museum’s story on the national and international stage.” A resident of the United States for nearly three decades, Sajet brings a truly international perspective to her role, having been born in Nigeria to Dutch parents and raised in Australia. Before directing the National Portrait Gallery, she served as President &amp; CEO of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Vice President and Deputy Director at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and Director of Corporate Relations at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. She has also directed two museums in Victoria, Australia, and has close ties to museums in the Netherlands. Sajet holds a BA and MBA from Melbourne University, an MA in Art History from Bryn Mawr College, and a doctorate in Liberal Studies from Georgetown University. She is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the International Council of Museums (ICOM), and the Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD), where she served on the board from 2021 to 2025. Formerly the host of the PORTRAITS podcast—nominated for a Webby Award in 2025—Sajet is currently completing a book with Princeton University Press on early photography and the carte-de-visite album of American social reformer Emily Howland.&nbsp;As the new Director of the Milwaukee Art Museum, Sajet is excited to be leading a museum with a significant international collection in one of America’s most innovative and entrepreneurial cities. “From the first moment that I started talking to the search committee,” she reflected, “I was impressed with how passionate everyone was about the museum and how they saw it as a central part of what makes Milwaukee a world-class city. The general vibe is entrepreneurial, culturally vibrant, and refreshingly authentic. This sense of experimentation is also a major part of the museum’s collecting and exhibition history. Since 1982, for example, the Currents series has provided an important platform for contemporary artists such as Cindy Sherman, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Isaac Julien and Lawrence Weiner to launch their careers, and international artists such as Damien Hirst and Idris Kahn to have their first American showing. I am keen to expand on this commitment to living artists and also explore the educational opportunities that flow from the art and design of the past. The museum itself is gorgeous, and I want to invite everyone across the country to see for themselves what a special place this is.” “Kim brings with her a passion for making museums educational and meaningful while also ensuring accessibility and fun,” said Nunemaker.&nbsp;“We believe more visitors and patrons to the Museum is a good thing, not only to support the sustainability of the organization, but to engage in the Museum’s vision of connecting with art and each other.”&nbsp; Sajet joins the Museum at a milestone moment, as it celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Bradley Collection of Modern Art—nearly 400 modern masterpieces that transformed the Museum and put Milwaukee on the cultural map. This remarkable gift brought major artists such as Wassily Kandinsky, Pablo Picasso, Mark Rothko, and Andy Warhol to Milwaukee, establishing the Museum as a leading center for modernism. The Museum will mark this anniversary with the Art Forward Gala on September 20 and will open a special tribute exhibition, The Bradley Collection of Modern Art: A Bold Vision for Milwaukee, on September 25. “To begin my tenure during this milestone exhibition is a privilege, and a reminder of the impact that art—and the generosity behind it—can have on a community for generations,” said Sajet.Sajet begins her role effective September 22, 2025.

Milwaukee Art Museum Names New Director: Kim Sajet

<h3>Fall is always an incredibly busy&nbsp;season in Chicago’s art world, with new&nbsp;exhibitions opening across galleries and museums.&nbsp;Behind the scenes, many people in the community&nbsp;are working tirelessly to support artists and bring&nbsp;fresh perspectives to the public. We spoke&nbsp;with five insiders about what excites them now&nbsp;and what they anticipate next.</h3><h3> </h3><h3>To receive a copy of the print edition&nbsp;<a style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://835ba3.myshopify.com/" target="_blank">click here.</a></h3><h3> </h3><h3> </h3><h3><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1756916363/ygxqms1q4dkt9thrtgc2.jpg"></h3>Photo by: Sandro <h3>Bob Faust – Artist</h3> “It has been a busy season in the studio as I continue to self define exactly what my practice is. Where I have landed is a statement that is actually an example of my work its own right, “Art is Design is Art is Design is Art is Design and so on.” It’s my acknowledgement of design as an equal to art, as well as informative to each another. It’s about language and text, pattern and image, as well as installation and object.&nbsp; To that end I have a few projects I am thrilled to be working on and toward. On September 5, I open a two-person show with Mayumi Lake called “Shakkei” at the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.chicagogallerynews.com/events/shakkei-work-by-mayumi-lake-and-bob-faust" target="_blank">Elmhurst Art Museum</a>. Shakkei means “borrowed scenery” and for me it’s the acknowledgement of a works connection and conversation with the space and all who have an encounter with it. You will see work that sits squarely in the design space but is without question art, and work that sits in the art space that is unquestionably designed. This is a show that is allowing me to comfortably own my space in the center of both. Additionally, I am designing a new book about Nick Cave’s upcoming show at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, titled “<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://americanart.si.edu/exhibitions/nick-cave" target="_blank">Mammoth</a>”, that will share the entire making process inspired by field guides. It is a very special book, as it has much personal attention across every page, making it unlike any other book we have done before.” <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.bobfaust.com/" target="_blank">bobfaust.com</a>

Interview with artist Bob Faust Fall 2025

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