The Chicago Artists Coalition has announced that it will launch a yearly exhibition of new Chicago art to run concurrently with EXPO Chicago, the International Exposition of Contemporary & Modern Art. “The Annual: An Exhibition of New Chicago Art” will be an unique opportunity for art enthusiasts and collectors to learn more about the work of young and upcoming Chicago artists and collect new works. Each year, the show will be arranged by two guest curators with intimate knowledge of Chicago’s most relevant and rising art makers.
“The Annual will offer a fresh, of-the-moment look at the concerns and practices of today’s emerging generation of Chicago artists and makers,” said Claudine Isé, lead curator of the inaugural exhibition. Artists featured include Kiam Marcelo Junio, Alfredo Salazar-Caro, Susy Bielak, Noël Morical, Macon Reed and Michelle Anne Harris. A comprehensive list of participating artists will be made available in early August.
A gallery talk organized around the exhibition will offer deeper insight into the state of contemporary art in Chicago, highlighting a variety of multidisciplinary local artists. “The works represent a range of material and stylistic approaches—including digital and those involving considerable handmade labor,” said Isé in an interview with Newcity.
Macon Reed. “Incantation,” 2015. Digital photographic print, 41 x 61 in.
The goal of the exhibition is to “create an accessible context where individuals can connect with other local and international collectors and artists, as well as provide an entry point for the first-time buyer. The exhibition also helps to support our mission, as individual collecting is crucial to sustaining the art marketplace,” said Caroline Older, Executive Director of the Chicago Artists Coalition, in a press statement.
Isé, a Visiting Clinical Assistant Professor in the School of Art and Art History at University of Illinois, Chicago (UIC) and former executive director of Woman Made Gallery, will be joined by assistant curator Alexandria Eregbu. Eregbu was highlighted in Newcity’s “Breakout Artists 2015: Chicago’s Next Generation of Image Makers” and was previously a HATCH Curatorial Resident at the Chicago Artists Coalition.
This year marks EXPO Chicago’s fourth season at Navy Pier, showing artwork from over 140 galleries and arts organizations from around the world. Taking place from September 17 to 20, the exposition offers curators, collectors and art lovers the chance to experience a dynamic range of contemporary and modern artworks and programs. A complimentary shuttle will run from Navy Pier to the intersection of Carpenter and Fulton Market, one block north of the Chicago Artists Coalition. The Annual exhibition and its corresponding programs will be open to the public. Interested parties are invited to an opening breakfast on Friday, September 18, and a gallery talk with the curators on the evening of Saturday, September 19. (Whitney Richardson)
“The Annual: An Exhibition of New Chicago Art” will take place at Chicago Artists Coalition, 217 North Carpenter, from September 18-20, 2015.
Elliot Josephine Leila Reichert is a curator, critic and editor. She is the inaugural Curator of Contemporary Art at the Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University. She was formerly Curatorial Fellow at the Chicago Artists Coalition, Art Editor of Newcity and Assistant Curator at the Block Museum of Art, Northwestern University.
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