This fall, the action is in Chicago’s art galleries. Here are 10 shows to not miss
The fourth annual Chicago Exhibition Week kicks off Monday with more than 50 participating galleries opening their doors for art through the weekend. Last year’s Chicago Exhibition Week attracted 10,000 attendees over three days.
Produced by Gertie, a contemporary art platform started by Abby Pucker, the week’s highlight is a series of opening receptions on Wednesday and Thursday, when major blue-chip, mid-sized and many non-traditional spaces invite the public in to see exhibitions by the likes of Jaume Plensa, Clotilde Jiménez and Brendan Fernades.
But not all the action is in and around the West Loop. A new exhibition space called Te-Qu is creating space for artists with non-traditional entryways into the art world in Little Village, while the Latinx Festival of the Arts, produced by Zhou B. Art Center during Hispanic Heritage Month, runs through Nov. 15. Even the School of the Art Institute of Chicago is hosting a fall exhibition celebration on Wednesday.
Pucker said the expanded Exhibition Week is a good opportunity for Chicagoans and those intimidated by the art world to sample the scene, even if they have never visited a gallery. “Being curious is so underrated,” Pucker said.
If you’re out of town or too busy to experience this year’s Chicago Exhibition Week, fear not: Many participating galleries are keeping the exhibitions that open this week through the fall. Some shows will be open well into the new year.
Here are 10 gallery shows and events not to miss this fall:
“I’m never coming back to New York,” made in 2016 by artist Ryan Gander.
Jack Hems/Courtesy Lisson Gallery
“82 Nights Only,” featuring several artists at Gertie Hub
Where: 400 N. Peoria St.
When: Through Dec. 13
Combining comedy with contemporary art, this 12-week exhibition features rotating experiences, performances and screenings. “82 Nights Only” is an attempt to disrupt the fixed exhibition format and change the stigma of a stuffy art show, said Gertie’s head of programming, partnerships and membership, Chanelle Lacy.
Featured artists include Nyeema Morgan, Ken Kagami, Chicago favorite Pope.L, and many more.
You’ll get a totally different experience every night of the exhibition, Pucker and Lacy said. It’s a show “about comedy and art” that includes over 20 artists.
The opening night reception on Wednesday will feature New York-based artist and ventriloquist Sophie Becker. Becker will be joined by Athens-based artist and writer Aristotelis Nikolas Mochloulis.
“Los Varones” by Clotilde Jiménez
Photo by Ivo Loyola. Courtesy of the artist and Mariane Ibrahim.
“Éramos silencios” by Clotilde Jiménez at Mariane Ibrahim Gallery
Where: 437 N. Paulina St.
When: Through Oct. 31
Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, and raised in Philadelphia, Clotilde Jiménez describes his worldview as “bifocal,” and that’s evident in all of his work.“Éramos silencios” draws on a family secret. The man he’d known his entire life as his Tío Juan was revealed to be his biological grandfather. The two deepened their relationship even more after the revelation. That paternal relationship, improved over many visits and months-long stays to the island, allowed Jiménez to develop a “racial vocabulary” that flips the American experience entirely on its head.
Look out for pieces such as “Los Varones,” which depict his Tío Juan, grandfather Gabriel and grandmother Renée Jiménez, and “Invitación al Altar,” inspired in part by Mexico City modernist mural art, where the artist now lives and works.
Oranges grow all over Puerto Rico, but the ones in Mayagüez are particularly important to Jiménez. The fruits appear across many of the works in “Éramos silencios,” especially in self-portraits.
“Noise See V” by Brendan Fernandes
Courtesy of the artist and Monique Meloche Gallery
“The Noise Will Sound” by Brendan Fernandes at Monique Meloche Gallery
Where: 451 N. Paulina St.
When: Through Oct. 24
Brendan Fernandes is not easily categorized: He blends visual art with dance, design, textiles and music to create multi-sensory experiences, blending his own curiosity with experimentation.
“As a young kid, I was always dancing and drawing and painting,” he told WBEZ in May.
Fernandes’ work will be featured at several events this fall. Meloche’s midsized West Town gallery will showcase “The Noise Will Sound,” the Kenyan-Canadian artist’s latest series of film photographs. Figures are draped in checkered Shuka cloth, worn by the Maasai people of Kenya. The featured textiles were commissioned by the Fabric Workshop and Museum in Philadelphia in 2025 and, for “The Noise Will Sound,” were performed as a duet, with dancers hiding and revealing each other through movement.
The artist will also debut a series of paintings on Belgian linen. Fernandes incorporated hand-painted elements, stains and stitches across this latest body of work to invoke movement.
Slightly north, on select dates, Fernandes will reprise a group dancework called “Score for the Murphy Auditorium,” a semi-improvisatory contemporary dance involving seven performers inside the Driehaus Museum.
“Obvara Vessel” by Lola Ayshia Ogbara
“Human-Nature,” featuring several artists at The Franklin
Where: 3522 W. Franklin Blvd.
When: Through September 2027 by appointment
Humans have long relied on the natural world for survival. In this exhibition at power couple Edra Soto and Dan Sullivan’s outdoor gallery space, The Franklin, artists question what it means that nature does not need us to survive and contend with the idea that human interests influence what happens to our forests and oceans.
The exhibition features Chicago-based artists such as Norman Teague, co-founder of blkHaUs Studios, Andres L. Hernandez, Carlos Salazar-Lermont, Hai-Wen Lin and Jasjyot Singh Hans, Lola Ayisha Ogbara, Monika Plioplyte and Jay Heikes.
A curated collection of sounds, movement and visual art, the show is also an official part of Gertie’s Chicago Exhibition Week. Participating artists will be present for a guided tour, led by Soto, during the opening reception on Thursday.
“Beyond Silence (Julia)” by artist Jaume Plensa
“Beyond Silence” by Jaume Plensa at GRAY Chicago
Where: 2044 W. Carroll Ave.
When: Through Dec. 19
Jaume Plensa, the 71-year-old artist behind the Crown Fountain in Millennium Park (you know the one, with all the faces spitting out streams of water), has deep ties to Chicago — and to the late dealer Richard Gray’s West Town gallery, in particular.
Plensa, from Barcelona, Spain, opened his first solo exhibition there in 1996. “Beyond Silence” marks his tenth at GRAY. His latest exhibition is rooted in two large carved wooden sculptures, “Beyond Silence (Julia)” and “Beyond Silence (Maria).”
Each sculpture measures 28 feet in length. Installed alongside the large, architectural structures are three more from a new series called “Clouds.” Those seven-foot pieces combine cast iron with granite for a contrasting appearance. And at the center of the exhibition, smaller bronze works from Plensa’s “Twilight” series sit at approximately 20 inches tall.
A still from Karimah Ashadu’s 2025 film “MUSCLE.”
“Tendered” by Karimah Ashadu at The Renaissance Society
Where: 5811 S. Ellis Ave.
When: Through Nov. 1
If you haven’t visited The Ren yet, this is the season to go to the adventurous exhibition space on the University of Chicago campus. Karimah Ashadu’s solo exhibition at The Ren mixes film with installation. Her moving images are rooted in a West African and European experience. Ashadu grew up between Nigeria and the United Kingdom, and today resides and works between Lagos, Nigeria and Hamburg, Germany.
A major piece of Ashadu’s show at The Ren includes the U.S. debut of “MUSCLE,” an approximately 22-minute documentary-style film that tells the story of bodybuilders training in Lagos’ slums. The film is accompanied by several new works that draw on the places and people presented in “MUSCLE.” For many of the bodybuilders, the sport is less about looks and more about labor and self-investment.
Ashadu’s work at The Ren is being presented in tandem with Ashadu’s “Machine Boys” at the Art Institute of Chicago.
“Swiss Are People Lonly” by Pope.L
Courtesy of Corbett vs. Dempsey
“No Thing Skin Sets” by William Pope.L at Corbett vs. Dempsey
Where: 2156 W. Fulton St.
When: Through Oct. 31
The late William Pope.L’s presence will be felt at the opening night of this year’s Chicago Exhibition Week, with the artist’s first posthumous exhibition at Corbett vs. Dempsey in Fulton Market.
The collection includes the major interactive, multimedia sculpture and projection installation “I Machine,” which Pope.L worked on while he lived and worked in Chicago until he died in 2023. The show also takes a look at Pope.L’s little-known stint as a post-punk musician. He was the lead singer of the 70’s-era Afro new wave band John Waine while pursuing art as a student.
The exhibition will feature a double CD of previously unheard music made from 1975 to 1983, when he was in the band with guitarist Brian McCormick.
“Promised Land” by Gordon Cheung, is made with newspaper, ink and acrylic gel on salt cloth
Courtesy of Kavi Gupta Gallery
“Consensual Halluci/nation” by Gordon Cheung at Kavi Gupta Gallery
Where: 835 W Washington Blvd Fl. 1
When: Through Nov. 21
Like many of us, sculptor Gordon Cheung grew up during the start of the Digital Age. And he’s embraced AI-generated images as he grapples with capitalism and advancements in technology in his work.
Born in Hong Kong and raised in London, Cheung’s practice is rooted in a concept he calls the “technosublime,” which lives at the intersection of globalization and the natural world. The artist is known for using pages of the Financial Times to create his renowned scholar rocks (or spirit stones) that he covers with metallic colors, sand, digital imagery and varnish.
Scholar rocks, or gongshi, are stones typically appreciated by Chinese scholars for meditation and inspiration. In Cheung’s hands, a juxtaposed version of the stones appears, informed by the increasing amount of technological waste.
(images: dropbox.com/scl/fo/i2g8a5cqfzttuckm36tt2/AD2YSZPLuh36xeKGUiyrJnw?rlkey=xd28b8vhhumurybxxrtt9aj4b&st=wzyrb9hy&dl=0)
Zhou B. Art Center opened in Bridgeport in 2004.
Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times
“Cartographies of Belonging,” featuring several artists at the Zhou B. Art Center
Where: 1029 W. 35th St.
When: Sept. 18 through Nov. 15
Produced by the OH Art Foundation, the Latinx Festival of the Arts features dozens of artists in a new collective exhibition called “Cartographies of Belonging,” which explores how our lives are shaped by geography, migration, cultural memory and tradition.
The show includes the work of more than 50 local and national artists, including Melisa Celaya, Flannery Barney, José Rosa and many more.
Each of the participating artists is showcasing work that ties in with the themes of heritage, identity and resilience, while acknowledging that the desire to belong somewhere is a universal human experience.
Gabriel Villa’s solo exhibition opens Sept. 18.
Courtesy of OH Art Foundation
“Poetic Devices” by Gabriel Villa at Storefront Gallery
Where: 3314 S. Morgan St.
When: Sept. 18 through Oct. 10
Another highlight of the Latinx Festival of the Arts is this solo exhibition featuring the pop art stylings of Chicago-based artist and muralist Gabriel Villa. Born and raised near the border region around El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, the artist’s pop art style is inspired by his everyday life in the Pilsen neighborhood and the South Side of Chicago.
Classic cars, public housing, tires and other objects are constants throughout Villa’s work, crowning subjects in portraits such as “The Poet.” Keep your eyes peeled for other concept portraits such as “The Butterfly Catcher” and “The Visionary,” which draw on the artist’s experiences in a border town and are meant to be read as poems with multitudes.
Many of Villa’s works have been shown at the National Museum of Mexican Art in Pilsen, where he once directed the museum’s youth arts program, Yollicalli Arts Reach.