Art Top 5: August 2019

Laura Aguilar, Plush Pony #15, 1992, Gelatin silver print, 14 x 11 inches. Courtesy of the Estate of Laura Aguilar and the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center. © Laura Aguilar.

1
Laura Aguilar: Show and Tell
(National Museum of Mexican Art)
This must-see retrospective of the late Mexican-American photographer includes tender self-portraits and documentary work of the Los Angeles Latinx and LGBTQ communities.
Through August 18

2
Chicago Works: Assaf Evron
(Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago)
The Chicago artist’s first solo U.S. museum exhibition includes two projects that examine how the influence of cultures meanders through space and time.
Through February 16, 2020

3
Go Down Moses
(Museum of Contemporary Photography)
Writer Teju Cole’s first foray into curation plumbs MoCP’s collection to create “a visual tone poem of contemporary America,” and shows that the freedom has always been a constant struggle.
Through September 29

4
Love All Potatoes
(The Franklin)
Jim Duignan, Claire Pentecost and Melissa Potter use the outdoor gallery as a garden laboratory. In addition to planting and growing a variety of heirloom potatoes, the artists lead a series of eco-conscious programming.
Through September 7

5
Cross Currents/Intercambio Cultural
(Smart Museum)
This group exhibition, the result of a Chicago-Havana artist exchange, explores how place and Latinx identity manifest in the context of fraught U.S.-Cuba relations.
July 11-August 18