Ten must-see shows for EXPO Art Week

EXPO Chicago—our city’s premier art fair, now in its 13th edition—returns this week, bringing with it gallerists, collectors, and art enthusiasts from around the globe.

Much ado has been made about the downsizing of this year’s fair—the first under the direction of Kate Sierzputowski and the third since Frieze acquired it. The number of participating galleries has dropped from around 170 to around 130, and EXPO has excised the Special Exhibitions and Editions + Books sections, which typically featured many local institutions. Still, there will be 12 local galleries with official presentations at the fair. And perhaps the smaller size will make the fair feel less exhausting.

It’s also worth remembering that EXPO Chicago is a commercial enterprise, and is perhaps not your best bet for discovering the most exciting local artists or learning about the coolest art spaces. Fortunately, EXPO Art Week helps draw attention to such spaces, and we’re honing in on a few (both official and unofficial participants) we think are worth visiting. Of course, there are many more events worth your time and attention, from the new Neighbors art fair, a decidedly smaller, invitation-only affair; to the much-beloved Barely Fair, which we wrote about yesterday; to the exhibition smorgasbord happening at 1709 W. Chicago.

Installation view, “take my wife . . . PLEASE!,” Patron
Credit: Nick Albertson

“take my wife . . . PLEASE!”

Make no mistake: Nyeema Morgan is funny. For the local artist’s second exhibition with Patron, she sends up our expectations around what it means to frame something through the setup (or framing, if you will) of a joke. Through sculpture and drawing, the artist combines found media—like color swatches labeled “Modest White” or “Everyday White”—with her own pristine compositions, forcing the viewer to reconsider how we construct meaning.

Interested visitors can take in even more of Morgan’s work at the Neubauer Collegium, which is showing new works by Morgan and her husband, artist Mike Cloud, including a “jointly produced sound work.” (Through 4/25, Patron, 1612 W. Chicago, free, all ages) KERRY CARDOZA

“My Good Hoe as It Bites the Ground Revenges My Wrongs, and I Have Less Lust to Bite My Enemies”

Named for the Ralph Waldo Emerson quote, Point Blank’s first show in their new West Town location brings the city’s upcoming summertime frolicking indoors. Each week, a different artist’s playful work will take over the grasslike floor, alongside related weekend programming. Depending on the day, visitors will find Matt Kaufman’s ceramic giant fingers worming their way through, Alexander Long’s magnificent acrylic cakes sitting pretty, or Aaron Nemec’s erotic hot glue sculptures goofing off. (Through 5/3, Point Blank, 1541 W. Chicago, Matt Kaufman shows 4/5–4/11, Alexander Long shows 4/12–4/18, Aaron Nemec shows 4/19–4/25, free, all ages) SHIRA FRIEDMAN-PARKS

“Instructions for Care”

Two years ago, a star flew across the sky, and two community quilting projects were born. Chicago-based artist Eve Emrich founded the Quilt Church, gathering cohorts of varied experience biweekly to create a collaborative quilt from shared fabric scraps. At the same time, Berkeley-based Cordy Joan organized the exchange project Transmissions Quilts, in which quiltmaking mirrors the social web of queer artistry: a quilt recipient is nominated; they sit down to record a conversation with a loved one; they choose three trans artists of any medium to translate the conversation into their craft; a quilter incorporates these pieces into a final quilt. “Instructions for Care” brings together these two projects’ dedication to quilts as a site of collective knowledge and queer care networks, strewn across Logan Square’s Gallery Wrightwood. (Through 5/9, Gallery Wrightwood at St. Luke’s, 3325 W. Wrightwood, free, all ages) SHIRA FRIEDMAN-PARKS

“I Used to Live in Chicago”

At Blanc gallery, Anefertiti Bowman curates a group exhibition that explores “memory, displacement, and cultural resilience” across the city’s Black neighborhoods. Featuring work by Norman Teague, Max Sansing, Steve Bravo, Sura Dupart, and Tyrue “Slang” Jones, the show will include furniture, large-scale painting, sculpture, and graphic storytelling. Be sure to check out the gallery’s Instagram for a peek at their robust accompanying programming, such as a somatics session led by artist BSA Gold. (4/10–5/24, Blanc, 4455 S. King, free, all ages) KERRY CARDOZA

A painting of a girl doing a backbend, underneath the legs of someone else. Only their jeans-clad legs are visible. The girl is wearing a green shirt and is being tickled in her armpits. She appears to be laughing. — Artist Berenice Vargas Bravo, whose work was featured on the *Reader*‘s April issue, shows new work at Andrew Rafacz.
Courtesy the artist Credit: Berenice Vargas

“Un patio particular”

Artist Berenice Vargas Bravo paints between Chicago, Mexico City, and Nantes, France. Her newest show, named for the children’s circle game (el patio de mi casa es particular. . . .), presents a tension-laced play space. Girls caught in the limbo between terror, rage, and mischief pause carefully, vividly against a stark blue sky. Bravo’s uneasy scenes of play encapsulate the baggage that seeps out from the house, onto the patio, and into the yard. Suspended in an intimate moment of public discomfort, the wide-eyed faces hold a relatable heaviness. There’s a dismal realization that this will linger within them for the rest of their lives. (4/10–5/30, Andrew Rafacz, 1749 W. Chicago, free, all ages) SHIRA FRIEDMAN-PARKS

“Tuneful Places”

Ireland’s Askeaton Contemporary Arts is collaborating with a number of local art institutions (Good Weather, Patient Info) for this year’s EXPO, in an ambitious cultural exchange program. At Co-Prosperity, six artists challenge ideas about geography and the state—seen through an Irish lens. In American Medley, John Carson looks at U.S. locations popularized in song, often shattering the myths embedded therein. And local artist Max Guy, of course, revisits his annual filming of the dyeing of the Chicago River—drawing attention to the city’s dwindling Irish population and “the ecological implications of the water’s flow.” (4/7-6/6, Co-Prosperity, 3219 S. Morgan, free, all ages) KERRY CARDOZA

At the center of a large white-walled gallery, is a tall grey plinth with two TVs atop it, facing in opposite directions. Surrounding the plinth is a circular curtain of cut, clear plastic strips, which hang to the floor. — Installation view, “Rituals for Field Transmissions,” Tala
Credit: Mikey Mosher

“Rituals for Field Transmissions”

Rising filmmaker josh brainin’s first solo exhibition is an exploration into identity formation, mediated through the ubiquity of digital technology. The show, curated by Youssef Boucetta, centers on a video installation composed of two TVs—facing in opposite directions—stacked atop a plinth. Personhood² takes inspiration from the trickster artists Adrian Piper and Bruce Nauman, two artists who revel in disrupting assumptions about perception and identity. Also on view are digital collages that aim to blur the boundaries of the virtual and the real. Some of the artist’s collages will be available in a limited-edition run of prints at the gallery. Brainin’s opening coincides with Tala’s second anniversary—so expect a full-blown party, with a whimsical cake courtesy of Dream Cake Test Kitchen. (4/10–6/6, Tala, 1644 W. Chicago, free, all ages) KERRY CARDOZA

“One’s Position (and a Route)”

If you were to guide someone around where you live, where would you take them? “One’s Position (and a Route)” combines several sound-driven installations exploring public space, part of Roman Susan’s ongoing Navigations project. Each week, the Edgewater gallery spotlights a different artist’s project, immersing the space in their respective soundscape. In April, Jared Brown and AJ McClenon’s fascination with a local hardware store and public library will overtake the space by jingle, alongside a shelf of gathered readings. John-Michael Korpal and Nina Montenegro will lead a guided walk through West Ridge’s Warren Park, asking what it means to be a tree. Also present in the gallery will be Christa Donner’s conversations with West Ridge Nature Park’s nonhuman residents; Eliza Fernand’s bathroom hotline for erotic experiences with the natural world; J Kent’s textile flowers exploring the labor of gender performance; JeeYeun Lee’s musings on the lakeshore’s contradictions; and Mark Diaz’s maze of Uptown alleyways. (4/17–6/6, Audible Gallery at Experimental Sound Studio, 5925 N. Ravenswood, free, all ages) SHIRA FRIEDMAN-PARKS

A large, vertical rectangular painting. Most of the composition is white and red arches, with heavy black shadows beneath them. At the bottom is a tiny skyline, with a strip of blue beneath that. At the very bottom is what looks like a thing road, with trucks and a bus traveling in opposite directions. — Roger Brown, *Lake Effect*
Courtesy Gray

“Roger Brown: Weathervane”

Gray’s retrospective of Chicago Imagist Roger Brown’s vivid fascination with cityscapes, ecological destruction, and absurdity comes just months after the School of the Art Institute’s (SAIC) controversial decision to sell the artist’s former home and collection. Brown left his unsold paintings, his house, and the two thousand art pieces within it to SAIC upon his death in 1997. In September 2025, SAIC relinquished Brown’s paintings and sold his home collection to the Kohler Foundation in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. The house was listed on Zillow as “a rare opportunity to completely renovate or to demolish the existing structure to make the land vacant and ready for development” (though this was later edited after community backlash). Gray announced their exclusive representation of Brown’s body of work shortly after. The never-ending bureaucracy plaguing dead artists continues, and the irony, considering the thematic ties in Brown’s work, is hard to miss. What more can you do but return to consider the art, the cornerstone of the chaos? (Through 6/13, Gray, 2044 W. Carroll, free, all ages) SHIRA FRIEDMAN-PARKS

A sunny pencil and crayon drawing of a city scene. In the back are large brown and yellow Chicago apartment buildings. In the front is a large yellow and green taxi and a purple car. Two suns shine in the sky. — Marvin Young (American, b. 1961), *Untitled*, 2025
Courtesy Arts of Life

“Impressions of a City: Drawings by Marvin Young”

To coincide with EXPO Art Week, Intuit Art Museum opens three exhibitions—solo shows by Marvin Young and Bill Brady, and a selection of recent gifts from the collection of Jan Petry. The solo offering from Young, a local artist who works at the progressive studio Arts of Life, is sure to be an explosion of color and an affirmation of life. A lifelong south-side resident, Young’s drawings pay tender tribute to Chicago—featuring sunny cityspaces, classic Chicago buildings, and people from all walks of life. (4/9–8/23, Intuit Art Museum, 756 N. Milwaukee, all ages) KERRY CARDOZA