The Definitive Chicago Art Gallery Guide
This list of institutional spaces and commercial art galleries provides more than enough for a full week of artistic activities for those visiting Chicago.
Image via Complex Original
Chicago occupies a unique space in the national art scene. Its geographic location and abundance of museums and educational spaces have created the conditions for a particularly vibrant artistic community. A true Chicago gallery crawl requires more than an afternoon. This list of institutional spaces and commercial art galleries provides more than enough for a full week of artistic activities.
Stroll through the River North gallery district or the Wicker Park neighborhood that’s popular with young Chicago residents. Then, after getting your fill of smaller galleries and experimental work, be sure to save time to visit the Art Institute of Chicago’s Modern Wing for a look at masterpieces from the last century.
Monique Meloche Gallery
Website: moniquemeloche.com
Monique Meloche got its start when its eponymous owner opened her home in 2000 with an exhibition titled “Homewrecker,” featuring 30 artists and 90 pieces staged across all three floors of her residence. It has since grown into a firmly established gallery, participating in international art fairs and representing a roster of emerging artists in all disciplines. Some stand-out stars include Rashid Johnson, a Chicago native with his first major museum solo exhibition at MCA in 2012, and Abigail Deville, a participant in the 2012 New Museum Triennial.
Vertical Gallery
Website: verticalgallery.com
A younger gallery located in the Ukrainian Village neighborhood, Vertical Gallery hosts monthly exhibitions of illustrative, design-heavy, and street art that’s not often seen in contemporary galleries. The gallery describes its mission as to bring “this art form to a broader audience and eliminate the barriers that exist between traditional institutions, contemporary galleries, art collectors, and casual viewers. With clearly listed prices and an online shop featuring work under $500, Vertical Gallery is indeed reaching out to a wider audience.
Agent Gallery
Website: agentgallery.com
Agent Gallery doesn’t limit itself to artwork, also selling furniture, lighting, textiles, and macabre home décor in an intimate, highly curated showroom. A large selection of vintage orthodontic dental mannequins that resemble faceless, toothy monsters is currently available for those so inclined. Other collectable goods include lunar charts, surgical lights, and a vintage fencing mask.
Alderman Exhibitions
Website: aldermanexhibitions.com
Averaging just six or seven thoughtfully curated exhibitions a year, husband-and-wife team Garry Alderman and Ellen Hartwell state in an interview for Temporary Art Review that their hope for the gallery is for it to act as “a connection point between many of the somewhat isolated groups that gather around the major institutions in Chicago.” In addition to their regular program, the gallery space also hosts artist talks, lectures, and readings from names like Christy Matson, Daniel Bauer, and Irena Knezevic.
Hyde Park Art Center
Website: hydeparkart.org
A non-profit institution with deep ties to the community dating all the way back to its founding in 1939, Hyde Park Art Center offers studio art classes and provides arts education outreach to Chicago area schools. With showcases of Chicago-based artists in six onsite galleries, there’s always something going on. Don’t miss the “Ground Floor” triennial show that brings together a wide swath of Chicago’s best emerging talent. The space is free and open to the public seven days a week.
Aspect Ratio
Website: aspectratioprojects.com
Aspect Ratio boasts the title of the city’s premier destination for video art—few cities can even claim such a center. A successful commercial gallery that features video is a rarity, even more so for a thriving one. Keep an eye out for Israeli artist Guy Ben-Ner, whose touching and funny work explores autobiographical relationship between the artist and his family.
Intuit
Website: art.org
Short for “Intuitive and Outsider Art,” Intuit is the only non-profit in the United States to focus exclusively on self-taught and outsider art. Their permanent collection features an incomparable full-scale installation of the living and working space of Henry Darger, a reclusive custodian who has posthumously become one of the most recognizable and celebrated outsider artists of all time. Go and set aside plenty of time to explore Darger’s surreal universe, as well as the work of many other utterly unique artists.
The Renaissance Society
Website: renaissancesociety.org
The Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago is a museum without a permanent collection that hosts a rotating series of temporary exhibitions in a pristine, high-ceilinged space. In the past, the Society has presented key solo exhibitions from the likes of Felix Gonzales-Torres, Bruce Nauman, Jenny Holzer, and Mike Kelley. A recent highlight is “Teen Paranormal Romance,” a playful group show that surveys “artistic production in wake of a zeitgeist that has rendered the unconscious a derelict playground home to weeds of surrealism.” In other words, it’s contemporary art straight from the minds of the artists, no holds barred. The museum and its events are free and open to the public.
Defibrillator
Website: dfbrl8r.org
A non-profit arts organization that gives special attention to performing and ephemeral arts, Defibrillator provides opportunities for both local and international artists and builds dialogue around an innovative medium that’s nevertheless often shunted to the side. Coming up soon is the fourth annual Rapid Pulse International Performance Art Festival, “an intense whirlwind of live performance art, videos, artists talks, workshops, and panel discussions” that, this year, takes place June 4-14. Visitors can look forward to international participants like Jelili Atiku, Nasa Ezugha, Paris Legakis, and more.
Kavi Gupta Gallery
Website: kavigupta.com
As one of Chicago’s heaviest-hitting commercial galleries, Kavi Gupta Gallery currently represents international art stars like Angel Otero, Jessica Stockholder, and Roxy Paine. Founded in 1998 by a former investment banker, Kavi Gupta today boasts a mini-empire of two satellite locations in Chicago and another gallery in Berlin, in addition to the main space on Washington Boulevard. For visitors looking for some of the most ambitious contemporary art being shown in the city, Kavi Gupta is unmissable.