Chicago dealers say the art capital of the Midwest is experiencing something of a renaissance as events like Expo Chicago raise the profile of the city’s experimental art scene and its connection to other local cultural traditions – like music, architecture and food – in Chicago and beyond.
Expo Chicago’s 2023 edition, its tenth, will feature booths from more than 170 galleries, the largest number of attendees in the fair’s history. (Its predecessor, Art Chicago, drew more than 200 exhibitors at its peak.) Last year’s edition marked the Expo’s return to Navy Pier after two years of postponements and virtual programs due to Covid. -19.
Expo will feature booths from familiar galleries such as Kavi Gupta, Corbett vs. Dempsey, Monique Meloch, Rhona Hoffman and Gray, who have been mainstays of the Chicago market for decades. But dealers say a new generation of galleries are exerting their influence on both the local market and wider culture.
“There’s a movement that’s happened in Chicago in a lot of cultural circles that’s achieved a really big place in the art world,” says Kavi Gupta, who founded her gallery in 2000. She now has three pitches in the city and one in the lake. Michigan beach town of New Buffalo. “There’s a freedom artists have here that’s interesting compared to the highly commercialized art markets because nobody’s looking over your shoulder here.”
Along with the city’s leading art universities – foremost among which is the School of the Art Institute of Chicago – constantly bringing new cohorts of young artists to the local scene and the strong support of the many major art institutions in Chicago’s cultural ecosystem also benefits from a lower cost of living compared to other arts hubs like New York and Los Angeles, according to John Corbett, who founded Corbett vs. Dempsey with Jim Dempsey in 2004.
“We have a stellar art scene, architecture, cuisine and theater – pretty much everything any big city has, except we’re nicer because we’re in the Midwest.”
Monique Meloche, gallery owner
“There’s more experimentation in Chicago, potentially where there’s less stakes in terms of what might push galleries to be more conservative. So those are all forces and factors that shape the reality of the scene. artistic here,” says Corbett. Merchants say creatives working in Chicago’s art, music, architecture, theater and food industries often influence each other or experiment in other fields, which contributes to the interdisciplinary artistic flavor of the city.
“The more people discover Chicago, the more people want to come back,” says Monique Meloche, who founded her eponymous gallery in 2000 with an exhibition in her Chicago home. “We have a stellar art scene, architecture, cuisine and theater – pretty much everything any big city has, except we’re nicer because we’re in the Midwest.”
Bullish on experimentation
Local dealers also credit the city’s collecting class with their adventurous tastes and willingness to take risks with untested and emerging artists.
“There’s a misconception that part of the Midwestern mentality might be a little safer — and that’s really not the truth,” Meloche says.
One of the things that separates Chicago collectors from their counterparts in other cities is that they’re not as trend-driven, says Emma McKee, chief of staff at Mariane Ibrahim Gallery, who has since moved to Chicago. Seattle in 2019. “The work feels more esoteric – lots of fiber, lots of clay, a bit off the beaten path. Chicago has always had a very deep history in this kind of collecting. The gallery does not participate in the Expo Chicago this year, focusing instead on opening its first solo show with Brooklyn and Atlanta-based painter Patrick Eugene, who recently joined the gallery’s roster, at its main West Town space.
Emanuel Aguilar, who in 2015 opened the Patron Gallery with Julia Fischbach in the Noble Square district, sees a new generation of collectors who support “thorough and demanding practices” Courtesy of Patron Gallery
The city also benefits from a new generation of young collectors supporting “thorough and demanding practices”, says Emanuel Aguilar, who co-founded the Patron Gallery in 2015 with Julia Fischbach. “They’re willing to take risks and really immerse themselves in art and a particular practice in a way that I haven’t experienced in other cities,” he says.
The Expo has had a powerful effect on the Chicago art market by attracting thousands of visitors to Navy Pier – around 30,000 last year and 38,000 in its last pre-pandemic edition in 2019 – and there by encouraging them to explore the city’s galleries. “Ten years ago, we never would have thought that an out-of-town client would regularly fly in for openings,” Meloche says. “Chicago is on the radar and not just once a year, at the art fair.”
McKee says Chicago always has “an element of surprise” and it’s “unexpected how amazing the city is until you really experience it for yourself.” She adds, “That’s why the Expo is so valuable to the city, because it allows for this kind of spontaneous interaction.”
Among the first Expo attendees is Anthony Gallery, owned by Isimeme “Easy” Otabor, a Chicago native who was an influential figure in streetwear and music before opening the gallery in 2019. The gallery focuses on contemporary artists and bridges the gap between art and other industries to foster greater inclusion.
The Anthony Gallery booth will feature a solo presentation by Henry Swanson, whose work is inspired by cartoons, comics and his childhood in Dallas. The same week as the fair, the gallery will open a large new space in Chicago’s West Loop, opening it with a solo exhibition of the playful, bulbous sculptures by Japanese artist En Iwamura.
A Covid bump
Chicago’s art market has largely rebounded from the Covid-19 pandemic shutdowns, according to local dealers who say they have already conducted much of their business online with out-of-town clients; the time people spent inside their homes may have actually encouraged them to buy more art and made residents more interested in local galleries.
An installation of the work of Maia Cruz Palileo at the Monique Meloche gallery Photo: Daniel Stephen Miller
“Covid has been a real kind of growing moment for many galleries in Chicago; during Covid we had some of our busiest openings,” says Claire Warner, who co-founded Volume Gallery in 2010 with Sam Vinz. “Life kind of slowed down and people were using art and going to Chicago galleries more as a source of entertainment or a source of connection to the local art scene in a way they didn’t have before. .”
Warner says she’s seen “a huge movement of people” moving out of town to second homes or buying property outside of Chicago. Volume had to develop new shipping lines to places like Aspen and the Hamptons, as opposed to its typical pre-pandemic shipments to New York or Los Angeles.
While some galleries closed permanently during the Covid-19 shutdowns, many Chicago spaces managed to pivot and stay open. “I think people bend down and find a way out,” Dempsey says. “If you happened to have a full tank of gas when this happened, you could still drive a little. The people looking for a gas station were probably the ones who really had a hard time finding their way around.
