Dealers across the 145 participating galleries from 23 countries are gearing up for the fifth edition of the EXPO Chicago, which opens with a VIP preview on September 22 and runs until September 25.
As part of EXPO week, there will be a packed schedule of events, exhibitions, and parties celebrating the Windy City’s rich contribution to American art and culture. And as the centerpiece of EXPO art week, the fair is its crown jewel.
Here’s some of the highlights to look out for at this year’s EXPO.
Marc Straus, Gallery installation, New York (2015). Photo: courtesy Marc Straus Gallery.
Reviled and admired in equal measure for his consistent use of animal blood in his performances and artworks, Marc Straus Gallery is taking a risky approach by showing works by the controversial Austrian artist Hermann Nitsch. As a counterpoint the New York gallery is also taking works by the minimalist Korean installation artist Jong Oh.
Taking only female contemporary artists, Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects will show works by Sadie Benning, Kim Dingle, Shana Lutker, Nicola Tyson, and Ellen Berkenbilt. Fellow Angeleno Honor Fraser will be showing works by street art favorite KAWS, and the innovative Japanese-American sculptor and painter Kaz Oshiro.
Kaz Oshiro, Untitled (Steel Beams) (2016). Photo: Courtesy Honor Fraser, Los Angeles.
Local favorite Kavi Gupta will make the short trip to the Navy Piers bringing with him works by the Chicago minimalist painter McArthur Binion. Rhona Hoffman, also from Chicago, will take show-stopping names such as Spencer Finch and Deanna Lawson in conjunction with the gallery’s 40th anniversary.
Meanwhile, New York and London-based mega gallery David Zwirner will take works by Donald Judd, Sherrie Levine, Wolfgang Tillmans, Luc Tuymans, and Christopher Williams. Paris’s Galerie Perrotin has announced that it will take works by Xavier Veilhan and John Henderson.
Wolfgang Tillmans, Freischwimmer 228 (2012). Photo: Courtesy David Zwirner, New York.
Coming all the way from Berlin, Peres Projects has elected to show works by the American artist Blair Thurman.
In the EXPOSURE section for emerging galleries, New York’s 11R goes to Chicago with works in tow by painters Jackie Saccoccio and Douglas Melini. Fellow New York gallery On Stellar Rays will show sculptures by Tommy Hartung and Zipora Fried.
Tommy Hartung, White Devil #1 (2015). Photo: Courtesy On Stellar Rays, New York.
Meanwhile, buzzed-about LA-based gallery Ashes/Ashes presents paintings by Timothy Hull and collage work by Matthew Craven.
EXPO Chicago runs from September 22-25 at Navy Pier.