Every September Navy Pier is flooded with gallerygoers from Chicago locals to people from abroad walking through the maze of booths at the International Exposition of Contemporary and Modern Art (Expo Chicago). More than 100 booths showing and selling contemporary visual work from international galleries are situated inside Festival Hall at Navy Pier. This year’s Expo conveniently coincides with the Chicago Architecture Biennial, where creatives have no excuse but to wander through gallery spaces and attend lectures by prominent artists.
This isn’t to say that Expo is here to dominate the month. Smaller DIY spaces like Pilsen’s Baby Blue Gallery and Humboldt Park’s New Works are also opening shows, and Julius Caesar in East Garfield Park has created its own miniature art fair called Barely Fair. Galleries all over the city have capitalized on making their showrooms a destination point in the upcoming weeks. If you’re looking to escape the glitz and glam of Expo, the Franklin’s “Outliers (Q3-Q1)” is a show presenting artists from regions in political turmoil, and Wicker Park’s Heaven Gallery’s “Knows No Bounds” looks at how experiencing art has been influenced by technology. Here are some more exhibitions we encourage you to check out.
Western Exhibitions
Through 11/2:
Orkideh Torabi, “Heaven on Earth”
Ruby T, “Underwater Flood”
1709 W. Chicago, suite 2C
312-480-8390
westernexhibitions.com
Tue-Sat 11 AM-6 PM
Prairie Chicago
Through 10/27:
Joel Dean, “Evolve Right Now”
2055 W. Cermak
prairie.website
Sun 1-4 PM; Thu 6-9 PM
Julius Caesar
Through 10/20:
“Barely Fair,” miniature art fair with two dozen art galleries and project spaces with works exhibited in 1:12 scale booths.
3311 W. Carroll
barelyfair.com
Fri 6-10 PM; Sat 11 AM-7 PM; Sun 1-4 PM or by appointment
Baby Blue Gallery
Through 11/6:
“I Know You Would Never Laugh at Me,” group exhibition with artists Darius Airo, Spencer Harris, and Kaitlin Smrcina; opens Fri 9/20, 7-11 PM.
2201 S. Halsted
540-230-7822
babybluegallery.com
Sun 1-3 PM or by appointment
Mariane Ibrahim
Through 10/26:
Ayana V. Jackson, “Take Me to the Water”; opens Fri 9/20, 6-8 PM.
437 N. Paulina
312-877-5436
marianeibrahim.com
By appointment
New Works
Through 10/20:
Vincent Larouche, “Coch/lear/sweat”; opens Sat 9/21, 6-10 PM.
3403 W. Grand
newworksprojects.com
Sun 1-4 PM or by appointment
Produce Model Gallery
Through 11/30:
Maggie Crowley and Javier Bosques, “New Again,” and Iria Prieto and Christhian Diaz, “Vía”; open Sat 9/21, 7-10 PM.
1007 W. 19th
646-872-7692
produce-model.com
Fri-Sat noon-5 PM or by appointment
The Franklin
Through 10/27:
“Outliers (Q3-Q1),” group show with Aman Mojadidi, Azadeh Gholizadeh, Khalil Chishtee, and Sana Kazi.
3522 W. Franklin
thefranklinoutdoor.tumblr.com
Sat 2-4 PM and by appointment
Corbett vs. Dempsey
Through 10/12:
Carol Jackson, “End World Music”
2156 W. Fulton
773-278-1664
corbettvsdempsey.com
Tue-Sat 10 AM-5 PM and by appointment
Heaven Gallery
Through 10/20:
“Knows No Bounds,” group exhibition with work by Mike Rea, Gwendolyn Zabicki, and more.
1550 N. Milwaukee, second floor
773-342-4597
heavengallery.com
Fri-Sat 1-6 PM; Sun 1-5 PM or by appointment
Agitator: a Co-Operative Gallery
Through 10/6:
“Everything Has Changed: Life Altering Health Care Experiences in 21st Century USA,” group exhibition
1112 N. Ashland
agitatorgallery.com
Mon, Wed 6-9 PM; Tue 6-7 PM; Fri 5-8 PM; third and fourth Sat 2-5 PM or by appointment
Co-Prosperity Sphere
Through 10/2:
“Now What?! Advocacy, Activism, and Alliances in American Architecture since 1968,” organized in part by ArchiteXX
10/3-11/16:
Work by the late Sabina Ott in the window spaces
10/12-10/31:
“Networks of Resistance,” group show of activist artists and collectives including work by members of the Justseeds Artists’ Cooperative, William Estrada, and the Art Build Workers.
3219 S. Morgan
773-823-9700
coprosperity.org
Thu 11 AM-7 PM; Sun noon-5 PM or by appointment
The Renaissance Society
Through 12/1:
LaToya Ruby Frazier, “The Last Cruze”
University of Chicago
Cobb Hall, fourth floor
5811 S. Ellis
773-702-8670
renaissancesociety.org
Tue-Wed, Fri 10 AM-5 PM; Thu 10 AM-8 PM; Sat-Sun noon-5 PM
Sullivan Galleries, School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Through 10/12:
“Envisioning Justice: New Visions Beyond Incarceration by Chicago Artists and Communities”
33 S. State, seventh floor
312-629-6635
saic.edu/sullivan-galleries
Tue-Sat 11 AM-6 PM
Logan Center for the Arts
Through 10/27
“Tufting Gun Tapestries,” experiments in textiles
915 E. 60th
773-834-8377
arts.uchicago.edu/logan-center/next
Tue-Sat 9 AM-9 PM; Sun 11 AM-9 PM v