The energy was palpable in the Windy City as it prepared for the latest edition of Expo Chicago, the city’s flagship art fair for a decade.
Booming post-pandemic, the city hosts a wide range of programs, including artist-led talks and tours, museum exhibits, satellite fairs (such as the Artist barely fair)public art installations (including art on the market)and pop-ups like the popular Roaming common art show, which opened to crowds in the Fulton Market area last night.
As Expo Chicago opens on Navy Pier today for a VIP preview, we’ve highlighted some of the hottest artists to watch at the fair this year.
patrick eugeborn
Patrick Eugene. Photographed by Sydney Foster. Image courtesy of Mariane Ibrahim.
WHO: A Brooklyn-born Haitian-American artist who delves deep into his family’s history to create evocative portraits that explore issues of migration. While the portraits are specific to Eugene’s Haitian ancestry and his many relatives who came to the United States in the 1960s and 1970s, his work reflects universal themes that are just as urgent today.
Situated at: Atlanta, Georgia
Introduced to : Mariane Ibrahim Gallery in Chicago in the personal exhibition “Patrick Eugène: 50 LBS”.
Prices: $10,500 to $48,000
Why you should pay attention: The title of the artist’s first solo exhibition after his recent signing with the Mariane Ibrahim Gallery, “50 LBS”, refers to the weight limit of checked baggage for air travel at departure points. This played a significant role in the travel of his family members to the United States from Haiti in the 1960s and 1970s, times of political turmoil and economic volatility in the country. “How do you live your whole life in what almost feels like an emergency, when it’s unexpected?” Eugene wondered to Artnet News as the show opened.
The striking portraits that populate the gallery do not necessarily represent specific individuals. “They’re mostly made up in my mind, but I focused on that era of the 60s and 70s,” he said, noting that when people made the trip from Haiti, they tended to wear their best outfits. “I wanted to make sure there was a certain level of elegance in all of these images.” In tribute to his mother, who came to New York when she was just 12, Eugene displayed the orange dress she wore that day in a glass display case alongside photos of her in a dress.
Notable resume line: After taking part in a group exhibition in 2021 at Gallery 1957 in Ghana, Eugène paused for a moment to reflect on the work he wanted to “bring out to the world”. Around the same time, he met gallery owner Mariane Ibhrahim and took part in an exhibition of two artists in her Paris gallery last December. This is his first solo exhibition at the gallery since signing with Ibrahim shortly thereafter.
Andre Griffo
Andre Griffo, The Supplier’s Gallery II (2023). Image courtesy of the artist and Galeria Nara Roesler.
WHO: A Brazilian artist whose grandiose and painstakingly detailed depictions of interiors and historical figures offer subtle critiques of power structures and the deliberate lies that often accompany them. Griffo’s work invites the viewer to pay attention to the smallest details.
Introduced to : Galeria Nara Roesler, Brazil and New York, at Expo Chicago
Prices: $30.00 to $60,000
Why should you pay attention: Among the works exhibited at the Expo, the painting The Supplier’s Gallery II is part of a series anchored in the Gallery of Providers of Santa Casa de Misericórdia do Rio de Janeiro, which exhibits the portraits of its benefactors from beginning of the 19th century to the present day. Some were later charged with unjust enrichment and property enslaving people, and in some cases to receive political favors. Griffo’s work takes a critical look at this small group that set up a charitable system with its own rules and policies and which, due to its longevity, was able to set up its own system of ethical values and promote the interests of part of Brazilian high society.
“The reversal of scales, where the painted portraits are much larger than the human figures in the composition, can be understood as an analogy for a narrative of oppression, as the slaves are unable to stand against the archaic and burdensome tradition in which they are inserted,” according to a statement from the gallery.
Notable resume line: Griffo, who holds a degree in architecture and urban planning, uses his background to create spaces where references to historical and contemporary contexts coexist.
Following: Griffo is set to have a solo exhibition at the Casa Museu Ema Klabin in Rio in 2024. In addition to working on opening a cultural space in Rio with artist Marcia Falcão, he is working on an upcoming book about his work, published by Act Editora and is expected to be published in September.
Annie Rabbit
Annie Rabbit, Falls) (2023). Image courtesy of the artist and Miles McEnery Gallery.
WHO: An artist whose paintings display a mind-blowing mix of styles ranging from digital imagery to elements taken from nature and body parts that seem to exist in otherworldly landscapes. The result is a fascinating hybrid of the abstract and the representational, or what one gallery described as residing “in a world of multiplicities”.
Situated at: Los Angeles
Introduced to : Miles McEnery Gallery, New York, at Expo Chicago
Prices: $9,500 to $55,000
Why you should pay attention: Lapin’s philosophy is perfectly summed up in this recent painting falls), specially designed for display at the Expo. According to the artist: “I imagine painting not as a representation of a place or a thing, but rather as an image of our desire to understand our world, which is built and defined over time, like the contours of our historical accounts and our myths.”
Lapin, who earned his MFA from UCLA, has moved a lot during his youth. She was born in Washington DC, spent much of her childhood in Kentucky, then moved to Japan when she was 16. The question “What is reality?” consumed his thoughts and influenced his artistic creation.
Following: A solo exhibition at Miles McEnery in the fall of 2024.
Siji Krishnan
Siji Krishnan, Mustache Family (2019). Image courtesy of the artist and Kohn Gallery, Los Angeles.
WHO: An artist born in Kerala, India, whose work evokes the timeless saying of the Upanishads vasudhaiva kutumbakamwhich means “the world is one family”.
Situated at: Cochin, India
Display at: Kohn Gallery, Los Angeles, at Expo Chicago
Prices: $60,000 to $80,000
Why you should pay attention: Krishnan achieves his sought-after works by meticulously preparing canvases with layers of fine rice paper and numerous watercolor washes that impart a supple, singular patina. According to the artist: “I often feel that the pale, authoritative surfaces are like many layers of our own memories.”
Notable resume line: In 2019, Krishnan was artist-in-residence at Koganecho Art Center in Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan.
Pieter Jennes
Pieter Jennes, Een ouder wordende man kruipt het dak niet op, (2023) © Pieter Jennes; Photo by Joost Joossen fotografie; Courtesy of the artist and Nino Mier Gallery.
WHO: Contemporary Belgian artist who draws inspiration from the work of 1920s Flemish painters such as Jean Brusselmans and Gustave De Smet, as well as James Ensor, Otto Dix and Georg Grosz.
Situated at: Antwerp, Belgium
Introduced to : Nino Mier, Los Angeles, Brussels, New York and Marfa, at EXPO Chicago
Prices: $12,000 to $30,000
Why you should pay attention: Jennes’ intriguing figurative paintings are both playful and ambiguous, filled with oversized, almost cartoonish figures and symbols that suggest a deeper open narrative. (The artist counts African masks and folklore, as well as the cinema of David Lynch and Werner Herzog, as sources of inspiration.) The artist will have a solo spotlight at Nino Mier’s Expo stand.
Following: A solo exhibition at Galerie Sofie Van de Velde in Antwerp, Belgium
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