If you’re looking for some unique art exhibitions in Chicago to explore this month, this list is for you. For those of you who know me IRL, you know I’m an artist and an art journalism at the same time, and many of you have received exhibition suggestions from me in private before. Well, I figured why not put together a list of my favorite exhibitions going on this and next month, and share it with all our long-time readers this time? So, here it is!
Pullman: Conscious Revitalization of the Overlooked
Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E Washington St, Chicago, IL 60602
The Chicago South Side neighborhood of Pullman is historically known as one of the first communities in the U.S. to be built as an industrial company town. Home to the Pullman Palace Car Company in the 1880s, Pullman was a model for corporate social engineering by a train baron whose failed experiment ignited union labor strikes and civil rights movements by the resident employees. Today, the remaining buildings are the focus of the neighborhood’s historical and architectural narrative—making the southern half of Pullman a recipient of investments to advance revitalization efforts. What about north Pullman?
If you’re interested in Chicago’s architecture, history, and their interwoven relationships, check out this exhibition presented by Chicago Architecture Biennial. And don’t forget to take advantage of the free museum days this month before heading over!
Forecast Form: Art in the Caribbean Diaspora, 1990s–Today
MCA Chicago, 220 E Chicago Ave, Chicago, IL 60611
Taking the 1990s as its cultural backdrop, Forecast Form: Art in the Caribbean Diaspora, 1990s–Today is the first major group exhibition in the United States to envision a new approach to contemporary art in the Caribbean diaspora, foregrounding forms that reveal new modes of thinking about identity and place. It uses the concept of weather and its constantly changing forms as a metaphor to analyze artistic practices connected to the Caribbean, understanding the region as a bellwether for our rapidly shifting times.
Image Credit: Artist Replete
Between Løve and Money
Water Tower Place, 835 N Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL 60611
Two Southside Chicago artists take over the former Dr. Seuss space for a dual exhibition featuring their newest work starting Jan. 15th. Arthur “Art” Williams Jr. is an American-born artist and former counterfeiter, who counterfeited the 1996 hundred dollar bill, and was subject of the book The Art of Making Money by Jason Kersten. Roger J. Carter is a chicago artist who uses toy soldiers and mixed media to create portraits. Both artist will debut new works in this exhibition. If you’re looking for an art exhibition in Chicago with daring, mindblowing approaches, come check out this exhibition at The Water Tower Space!
Image Credit: The Art Institute of Chicago
The Language of Beauty in African Art
The Art Institute of Chicago, 111 S Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL 60603
How has African art been evaluated and valued—and by whom? The latest exhibition, The Language of Beauty in African Art at the Art Institute of Chicago, is an exploration that seeks to decolonize the Western aesthetic standards long placed on these objects and to elevate the local indigenous perspectives of the works’ makers and communities.
Image Credit: Kavi Gupta Gallery
KUMOJI (Cloud Path / A Road Traversed By Birds And The Moon)
Kavi Gupta Gallery, 835 W Washington Blvd floors 1-3, Chicago, IL 60607
Kavi Gupta presents Kumoji (Cloud Path / A Road Traversed By Birds And The Moon), a solo exhibition of new paintings by Miya Ando. Expressive of the transitory and immaterial quality of clouds at night, the exhibition spotlights nature’s impermanence and interdependence.
Based on actual night clouds Ando photographed in a variety of locations over the past three years, their ephemeral qualities illustrate the sentiment behind the Japanese phrase “mono no aware,” roughly translated as “the pathos of things.” Beauty fades; strength dissolves into frailty. Everything follows this rule; it is the vernacular of nature.
Private Quarters IV
Volume Gallery, 1709 W Chicago Ave 2nd floor, Chicago, IL 60622
There is no better place than a carefully curated group exhibition to find new inspirations for life, art, and everything else. Volume Gallery is a commercial art gallery focused on design and contemporary art in West Town, Chicago. Featuring new works by (L-R) Jonathan Muecke, Petra Bachmaier and Sean Gallero of Luftwerk Studio, and Anders Ruhwald, Private Quarters IV is a collection of new work from Volume artists, with more new pieces being added as the exhibition goes on!
Featured Image: Artist Replete
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