By Jason Foumberg with contributions from Lee Colon
Breakout Artists is our annual selection of Chicago’s best emerging artists. The 2012 selection is dedicated to artists who collaborate—with the community, with other artists, and with the city itself. Their medium is ephemeral, their message is inclusive. Public and performance art practices are an exciting way to re-envision how the city operates socially, culturally and geographically.
Every week Newcity’s art section dives head first into this city’s vast art scene, but the Breakout Artists issue gives us a chance to step back, survey the city in total, and reflect on the history and future of Chicago art. The seven artists here represent the forward momentum of contemporary art, and they were chosen to offer you—reader, maker, thinker—our picture of the new.
Click the page numbers below to see each of this year’s Breakout Artists. For previous editions, click here.
Art 50 2023: Chicago’s Artists' Artists Every single artist seems to know and care about every single other artist. This is a signature element of art in Chicago—a powerful sense of community that transcends the competitiveness and careerism that undermines other places.
