If design matters, if contemporary art is central to who you are, then what’s set to happen in Chicago this September is a must-see. EXPO CHICAGO has a Sept. 20 – 23 run down at Navy Pier’s Festival Hall – and the folks who cherish great style, different ways of looking at the world, will be there.
The International Exposition of Contemporary/Modern Art and Design will be showcasing 100 top galleries, as well as some 20 “younger,” adventurous galleries. The buzz seems brilliant so far, even though the first EXPO CHICAGO hasn’t happened yet.
The galleries signed up for the expo reads like a proverbial who’s who: David Zwirner from New York, Galerie Karsten Greve of Cologne, Paris and St. Moritz; Galerie Buchholz of Berlin, Cherry and Martin of Los Angeles and Cardi Black Box of Milan. You get the idea.
The aim of all this? “We set out to re-establish Chicago as a preeminent art fair destination,” says Art Expositions, LLC President and Director Tony Karman. He labels the roster of galleries that have signed on as “extraordinary,” and sees the Navy Pier experience as “the opportunity to open the fall arts season with a great international fair in America.”
This is one of those events that exerts its own gravitational pull, attracting programming from more than 40 partner institutions. Look for material from – among others – Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, the Smart Museum of Art, the Chicago Children’s Museum, ArtTable and the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis.
This is not a deal for dealers only. General admission is open Thursday Sept. 20 from noon till 7 p.m., Friday Sept. 21 from 11 in the morning until 7 in the evening, Saturday Sept. 22 during the same hours, and Sunday Sept. 23 from noon through 6 p.m.
All of this artistic ferment, this creative rubbing of shoulders, takes place at a time of year that’s picture perfect in the Windy City.
Story by Jerry Chandler
(Image: Bernt Rostad)
