2026 - Frieze Art Expo Chicago

 


Art Expo will probably always show enough to keep me entertained for three hours on a Saturday afternoon, even if it never again fills Festival Hall. As seen above, about 50 feet has been walled off this year at the eastern end where I used to enter. 

Two of my favorite galleries were gone, Vallarino ( 20th Century) and Forum
 (mimetic),  But another favorite, Arcadia(romantic mimetic), has returned after a long absence, so I wasn’t totally disappointed.

As in recent years, there was a remarkable difference this year between the work of white male artists (fun, silly, abstract ) and all the others (serious, figurative). Though, of course, there were exceptions.

Many things put a smile on my face.
But nothing here to suggest that life can be meaningful and important.


Chase Lock

  

Chase Lock

Chase Lock

Chase Lock

Chase Lock, b. 1989 North Dakota, 

With a background in graffiti, this dude was the funnest and silliest.
The texture of thick paint, a prominent feature, has not been captured by my photos.

He was shown by Avant Gallery, (Miami) which is 
“ Known for a focus on accessibility, innovation and market”. 

I can see why.




Emma Stone-Johnson



Emma Stone-Johnson, detail 


Emma Stone-Johnson

It’s party time.


Detail

Detail


Michael Reafsnyder


This is the third year I’ve noticed his work, and now you can call me a fan.

He’s found a way to bottle excitement.

Makes me feel so refreshed.
This was my favorite piece in the show


Ushio Shinohara, b. 1932, Two Monsters and the Woman, 1981,  32 x 52



Hidenori Ishii

Franklin Evans,  69 x 54, 2026

Ethan Greenbaum, 2025, 35 x 47


H

Felix R. Cid, b. Madrid, 1956, 80 x 157



Candida Alvarez


One of my favorite local painters has now joined Gray Gallery to show her in New York.
( this piece is far from my favorite)




Timory Dodge

I’ve seen him in many Art Expos as well,
and no, this lyrical piece is hardly silly.


Pooja Pittie, detail


Pooja’s watery world of passion 


Kim Piatrowski

I’ve always admired her vigor, but this large, mystical piece is the first one I’ve really  liked



John Little (1907-1984)

Just a little more serious than the contemporary paintings



Lindsay Adams ,  60 x 60, Moon Whispers and Waves that Glow, 2026

Robert Natkin (1940-2010)



Lee In Seob



This Korean painter is more subdued than than the Americans in this show



Gabrielle Garland

A haunted house?

Her views of suburban architecture are always so much fun.




Like this one most 
It feels like an actual place I might visit.
Though I never get this drunk.


Matthew Cornell, b. 1964

Sunday morning coming down.



Ahhhh, America


Eunjun Kim, Locations of God once clear, 2022
Oil and mother of pearl.

Reminds me of Japanese lacquer screens

35 x 52 “


Michael Gregory, Drift, 59 x 48”, 2025






Taylor Simmons


So, is he on a cross or not?

Taylor Simmons

Taylor Simmons


A positive consequence of Kerry Marshall




David Antonio Cruz

THOSETREASURESTHATYOUKEEPJUSTOUTOFREACH,THEYCOMEANDGOINTRUCKLOADS,BUTNOONESTOPSTOSEETHEM, 2022
oil, acrylic, and ink on wood panel
72 x 122 x 2 in (total)

I’ve seen this artist doing these tributes to his gay scene several times in Chicago.

Wonderful figure painting, but can't he move on to another theme?





Khalif Tahir Thompson
Glenn Resting, 2026
Oil, Acrylic, Handmade papers, on canvas
(59 x 82 5/8 in)

Nathaniel Oliver, Would you believe me if I told you, 84 x 72


Good paintings about men who are doing nothing more than being black.


O’Neil Scott

This one is more aspirational.


Israel Agboola Oladapo
Lady in the Field
Charcoal, oil and acrylic on linen 78 x 58 inches
ALLOUCHE GALLERY





Justin Liam O’Brien



Justin Liam O’Brien

Not great..... but at least not ordinary.
And these people are actually doing something positive with their minds.




Chika Idu
This is how we meet
Oil on canvas 60 × 72 inches
2025

Perfect above a lakeside bar.




HUGO MCCLOUD (American, b. 1980, Palo Alto)

Visible exertion, 2024

single use plastic mounted on panel painting: 84x 60

inches 



Frank Hyder,  b. 1951
Club Lido, 1974
Oil on canvas
54 x 44 in

A young dude painting the world he knew.
Provocative clothing meets bored expression in a bar. 
Hello Manet.



Aliza Nisenbaum

El Taller, Queens Museum, 2023

Oil on linen, diptych 95 x 75 inches each



a cheerful piece not as childish as the young people depicted/



Sangwon Lee,  b. 1978

soooo relaxing






Richmond Barthe
Steveadore

Back when identity art lionized its subject.







Marion Perkins (1908-1961)
Untitled, c.1950 marble
23 1/4 x 5 1/2 x 51/2 inches

Architectural with inner mystery.
A caricature with dignity.

Art for a temple that regretfully is yet to be built.




Seonwook Park

Drunken form glass sculpture.
Deceptively casual.



Ejiro Fenegal
Holding Strong I!
Bonded Marble
40 × 17 x 15 inches
2026

No, she's not a great sculptor or even a good one.
But I like the devotional subject matter.



Kehinde Wiley

Kehinde Wiley


It’s painful to see a talented, anonymous sculptor serving the vision of a joyless conceptualist.





Gerard Mas (Spain; born 1976)
Party horn lady 2026
Hand-painted polychrome resin; 2! x 15 x 10

But it’s  no less painful to see talent self directed towards silliness.




Jane D’Haene

Born in Korea, but definitely an American potter.


But maybe I could live with this.
Florid and melancholy, like the memory of a romance.

Nicholas Africano


This Daphne felt better than the photo might suggest.
Lighthearted.





Beauford Delaney (1901-1979)
Untitled (Night Light), c.1970 oil on canvas
19 1/2 × 24 inches 
Estate stamp
$950,000.00


investment grade artj
And a good painting, too.


,

Torkwase Dyson, b. 1973

Graphic energy for the eye,
Identity theory for the artworld.






This and the pieces that follow are associated with the new Obama Center.
Artists were not idtifued.



Cheerful is good


*********

As a postscript to the exhibit, we wandered into a lecture space to take advantage of the cushy sofas in back.

The panel discussion centered on an upcoming triennial art event in St. Louis that purports to investigate what issues the public wants art to address and then commissions outside artists to install things around the city.

Not sure whether this project is typical, but here’s the first one I found from the last event:


 Theorem, no. 3 contemplated and assumed control of institutional and repressive state apparatuses through its logic, as apparatus. The artist employed a careful approach that prioritized the trust and anonymity of participants in no strings transmissions of the official currency of the United States of America. The linguistic actions of Theorem, no. 3 included an unauthorized Presidential Letter of Apology, where Stovall, through artistic license, assumed the position of President of the United States of America and wrote an unauthorized public apology for the crimes against humanity committed by the U.S. Government and its designees between 1526 and 1968.



Public Art is currently just as polarized as American politics.  There are entrepreneurs for phony patriotism as well as cultivated resentment. None of it is uplifting.  Quite the reverse.


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