EXPO CHICAGO 2023. Photo by Justin Barbin
Next week marks the biggest and busiest art week of the year in Colossal’s back yard as EXPO CHICAGO returns to the Navy Pier from April 11 to 14 with hundreds of galleries, site-specific projects, talks, and satellite programming across the city. Numerous galleries, museums, artists, and curators are also partnering for EXPO ART WEEK, which launches April 8.
We know it’s impossible to be in 341 places at once, but as we prepare our own schedules, we wanted to share what we’re looking forward to on-site and off.
Of the 170 galleries at the fair this year, several will show works by artists previously featured on Colossal. Here’s what we’re most looking forward to.
Top: Joel Daniel Phillips, “Killed Negative #40 / After Unknown Photographer,” 2021, pastel and colored pencil on paper. Bottom: Marie Watt (Seneca), “Butterfly” (2015), reclaimed wool blankets, satin binding, thread, cotton twill tape, and tin jingles, 94 x 126 inches
1. Joel Daniel Phillips and Marie Watt with San Francisco’s Catherine Clark Gallery, booth #344.
Amir H. Fallah, “I am Not This Hair, I am Not This Skin, I am the Soul Within” (2023)
2. Amir H. Fallah with Nazarian / Curcio in Los Angeles, booth #352.
Delita Martin, “Rain Falls From The Lemon Tree” (2020), acrylic, charcoal, decorative papers, hand stitching
3. Delita Martin with Galerie Myrtis, booth #405.
Jacqueline Surdell, “Impression, Nightscape, Clark St Bridge” (2024), nylon cord and steel
4. Jacqueline Surdell with Library Street Collection in Detroit, booth #133.
Gio Swaby, “Together We Bloom 4” (2024), fabric and thread
5. Gio Swaby with Claire Oliver Gallery, booth #356.
Antonius Tin-Bui, “Solo of Raven” (2021), hand-cut paper and paint, 109 x 60 inches
6. Antonius-Tín Bui, Yvette Mayorga, and Ebony G. Patterson with moniquemeloche.
Linda Nguyen Lopez, from ‘Dust Bunnies’
As part of /Dialogues, the fair’s spate of panels, forums, and discussions, our friends at Art21 are screening a selection of films on Friday afternoon. And on Saturday, join Chicago-based artist Michael Rakowitz off-site at Gene Siskel Film Center for a screening of “Haunting the West,” a short film delving into Iraqi-Jewish heritage and how it informs his work.
Plus, artist Linda Nguyen Lopez will discuss contemporary craft with John Paul Morabito and Judilee Reed on Sunday afternoon.
For the fair’s public art program IN/SITU Outside, artist Brendan Fernandes will install scaffolding around the General John Alexander Logan Monument in Grant Park. Titled “New Monuments | Chicago,” the intervention suggests that the longstanding statue, which the Chicago Monuments Project cited as warranting greater public discussion, is in transition. There will be an accompanying performance on April 12, and the work is presented by the Black Cube Nomadic Art Museum and the Chicago Park District.
Barely Fair 2023 at Color Club
And countering the enormity of EXPO CHICAGO with an event of equally epic proportions, Barely Fair returns to the Color Club in Avondale with thirty galleries in miniature. Stop by to see the small works from artists around the world nested inside 1:12 scale booths.
Get your EXPO CHICAGO tickets here, and use the code COLOSSAL24 for $5 off.
Source: Art - thisiscolossal.com
