Rec
Hidden in a neighborhood in a building designed by Ando, lots of rotating exhibitions often involving queer art and history, digital art, and bigger art and architecture retrospectives. Prob as close to a secret big art space as you can get in Chicago.
Feb 25, 2025
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Rec
Located at the intersection of Western and Cermak in Chicago, the Western Pole is a makeshift rotating exhibition space on a city-owned light pole. Itās run by the artist and curator Jesse Malmed and is one of the single most delightful things in my life. I get to walk by it on my commute to the train and see the exhibitions change at a seemingly random cadence. Theyāre usually poster-based in format but Iāve seen a very cool sculpture of a birdhouse affixed to the pole and sometimes the work is interactive, using phone numbers, QR codes, and even links to artistās Venmoās. Iām aching to know how artists are picked and what the general āinfrastructureā of running the pole is. But also, Iām addicted to the mystery and in love with the reclamation of The Commons.
Chicago has a gorgeous and historied community of alternative art spaces, including an ecosystem of apartment galleries and non-traditional exhibition spaces. We have Barely Fair, a miniature art fair with tiny booths. Thereās a gallery run out of someoneās purse and a now-closed space that existed inside of someoneās medicine cabinet! One curator commissioned artists to make earrings and used her earlobes and neck as an exhibition space. Iām even in on it. My husband and I ran Curb Appeal Gallery out of our living room for a year and a half!
I guess what Iām trying to say is, be scrappy, be nimble, and be creative. You want to do a show, build up your artist CV, get into curatorial work? Make the spaces you want to be within. They can be as simple as a city light pole.
Chicago has a gorgeous and historied community of alternative art spaces, including an ecosystem of apartment galleries and non-traditional exhibition spaces. We have Barely Fair, a miniature art fair with tiny booths. Thereās a gallery run out of someoneās purse and a now-closed space that existed inside of someoneās medicine cabinet! One curator commissioned artists to make earrings and used her earlobes and neck as an exhibition space. Iām even in on it. My husband and I ran Curb Appeal Gallery out of our living room for a year and a half!
I guess what Iām trying to say is, be scrappy, be nimble, and be creative. You want to do a show, build up your artist CV, get into curatorial work? Make the spaces you want to be within. They can be as simple as a city light pole.
Feb 25, 2025
Rec
My recommendation if youāre looking to start going to openings is to sign up for gallery newsletters and plot out who has overlapping art openings (usually on first Fridayās). Organize your gallery-hopping by neighborhood! Grab a friend, plot where youāll get snacks along the way.
West Town / Noble Square: Western Exhibitions Patron Document Paris London Hong Kong Volume ENGAGE projects Rhona Hoffman Andrew Rafacz Monique Meloche Mickey
West Loop / Fulton Market: Corbett v Dempsey Chicago Artists Coalition Kavi Gupta Anthony Gallery Arts of Life Gray
Humboldt Park / Garfield Park: Tusk Patient Info Goldfinch Julius Caesar
Pilsen / McKinley Park: Tiger Strikes Asteroid / MANA Prairie Produce Model
University Galleries (go for BFA and MFA shows!): DPAM Gallery 400 Logan Center for the Arts Renaissance Society Block Museum SAIC galleries
West Town / Noble Square: Western Exhibitions Patron Document Paris London Hong Kong Volume ENGAGE projects Rhona Hoffman Andrew Rafacz Monique Meloche Mickey
West Loop / Fulton Market: Corbett v Dempsey Chicago Artists Coalition Kavi Gupta Anthony Gallery Arts of Life Gray
Humboldt Park / Garfield Park: Tusk Patient Info Goldfinch Julius Caesar
Pilsen / McKinley Park: Tiger Strikes Asteroid / MANA Prairie Produce Model
University Galleries (go for BFA and MFA shows!): DPAM Gallery 400 Logan Center for the Arts Renaissance Society Block Museum SAIC galleries
Feb 15, 2025
Rec
Itās the miniature art fair that runs concurrent to the big EXPO art fair in Chicago. Started by a group of funny and cool Chicago artists, this mini-fair has an incredible architectural armature to host the tiny booths. And a lot of the galleries really embrace the assignment, creating to-scale environments full of teensy art for sale (complete with a price list).
Apr 26, 2025
Top Recs from @jrpaperstack
Rec
āEven if you end up having to go somewhere else, there still will be culture to get involved in, people to meet, things to learn, realizations to be made. All of that is still right there for you and it will be open in a way you won't even realize until you've done like a year or two. So it's truly still exciting times. As long as you feel generally good about the place you ultimately choose, your time is coming.
Mar 26, 2025
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