EXPO CHICAGO 2017

Each year EXPO CHICAGO kicks off the fall art season worldwide. EXPO Chicago is the International Exposition of Contemporary & Modern Art. In a city historically known as an architectural paradise, EXPO CHICAGO can be credited for putting Chicago back on the map as a major art fair destination. Conde Nast Traveler recently described EXPO Chicago as shaping up to rival Frieze.

Held at Navy Pier, EXPO CHICAGO attendees can expect a variety of comprehensive programming and concurrent events throughout the city. This year Chicago has boldly acknowledged the relationship between architecture and art by overlapping two momentous fairs: the Chicago Architecture Biennial and EXPO Chicago.

EXPO CHICAGO 2017 will host 135 galleries. These galleries come from 58 cities from 25 different countries making this EXPO’s largest global showing yet according to ARTNEWS.

Tony Karman, EXPO CHICAGO Director, told ARTNEWS this year’s lineup reflects the international partnerships, collaborations, and programming that EXPO has nurtured and fostered over the last several years. Perhaps EXPO’s vigorous programming and momentum is what led Gagosian to exhibit this year after a long hiatus from Chicago art fairs.

We are enthusiastically looking forward to seeing galleries with whom we have strong relationships with as well as meeting new artists and forming ties. Suzanne Lovell Inc. is especially looking forward to seeing new works by artists we are pleased to include in our portfolio.

Chief among them are Iván Navarro’s drums, one of which we recently installed in in the foyer of a Miami residence. Navarro’s drums are showstoppers are will surely draw a crowd to Galerie Daniel Templon.

EXPO PROFILE, which is dedicated to single-artist and thematic installations, will be R & Company. R & Company represents a group of historical and contemporary designers. We look forward to seeing new work by R & Company designers the Haas Brothers and Johnny Swing.

A /DIALOGUES discussion not to be missed is “Cultural Cargo” featuring artist Paola PIVI and Sarah Thornton, writer and sociologist of culture.

We have recently proposed one of Paola PIVI’s bears for a client and look forward to seeing these magnificent feathered bears again.

EXPO’s IN/SITU program was curated by the Centre Pompidou Foundation’s former curator of American Art and curator-at-large, Florence Derieux. IN/SITU will be devoted to large-scale and site-specific work. The title for this year’s sector will be “Chronopolitics.”

As Dereiux explained to ARTNEWS, the artworks this year will all share an approach to the position and influence of how time is measured today’s various social, political, and cultural structures. The artists will challenge the conditions that disrupt our expectations of time and progress.

This designated sector for large-scale works is the perfect place for work by Manish Nai, Hiroshi Senju, and Troika.  While different in their techniques and subject matter, the work by these artists is breathtakingly beautiful and wonderfully detailed.

Bernar Venet, represented by Paul Kasmin Gallery, will be exhibiting as part of the IN/SITU OUTSIDE, a program dedicated to large-scale outdoor artwork installations. No stranger to large-scale sculptural works, Venet regularly uses Cor-ten steel for his pieces. Cor-ten is a weathering steel favored by many artists, Louise Nevelson among them, when producing epically sized sculptures in outdoor venues.

For those unable to attend EXPO, there will be plenty of public art installations throughout the city. OVERRIDE is a billboard project initiative presented by EXPO CHICAGO and the City of Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events.

By positioning artwork within these enormous public fixtures, artists are able to push the contextual boundaries how art is viewed in today’s instant and visual culture.

By placing these large-scale artworks on billboards, Chicago reaffirms that art and architecture inform one another. Billboards, traditionally used for advertising, are common fixtures mixed in with architecture in cities and are a common aspect of urban planning.

In this OVERRIDE series, it will be fascinating to see how Matthew Brandt and David Shrigley seamlessly integrate their creative designs into the city skyline of Chicago.

During EXPO CHICAGO galleries throughout Chicago will have their own events and extended hours. This offers clients a more intimate opportunity to become acquainted with individual galleries and their artist’s treasured offerings.

Building these personal relationships and visiting Chicago’s leading galleries has greatly contributed to making EXPO CHICAGO one of the foremost art fairs in North America.

Through our strong relationships with Kavi Gupta Gallery, Suzanne Lovell Inc. has included two stunning works by Claire Sherman in our client portfolio. And through our friendship with Carrie Secrist Gallery, we were invited to preview new artwork by Anne Lindberg. The Anne Lindberg we previewed now graces the home of a Florida client.

By regularly attending gallery openings,  art fairs, and nurturing relationships with galleries we are well poised to offer our clients the finest works of art.

Embodying the energy of EXPO CHICAGO will be an extraordinary performance titled Here Hear Chicago. It will feature Nick Cave’s Soundsuits in an environment designed by Jeanne Gang of Chicago’s vaunted Studio Gang architecture firm. This performance during Vernissage will undoubtedly be a major subject of conversation, and Instagram, throughout EXPO.

This striking collaboration between performance artist and sculptor Nick Cave and renowned architect Jeanne Gang underlines Chicago’s view that art and architecture have a significant and informative relationship.

The Architects Newspaper has confirmed all music during the performance will be Chicago jazz musician Kahlil El Zabar. After brainstorming together and separately, Cave and Gang developed a plan for the performance. All of the Soundsuits Cave has designed will be silver, allowing them to have mirror-like qualities that will reflect details of the environment designed by Gang.

When considering the environment, Gang was inspired by cultures who historically had open performance spaces. Drawing inspiration directly from Navy Pier, Gang studied the buoys on Lake Michigan marking the waterways surrounding the pier that juts out 3,300 feet. With the buoys constantly in motion, Gang aimed to achieve the same movement on land.

Gang studied how an object has an impact from movement, physically and visually, while remaining balanced in height and weight. We can expect Gang’s environment to include objects that will be soft, large-scale with buoyant movement, and capable for Cave’s dancers to integrate into their performance.

Gang’s designed objects and environment will be able to adapt to each performance by Cave and even other locations of Navy Pier to accommodate other EXPO programming.

Suzanne Lovell Inc. has proposed Nick Cave’s incredibly detailed Soundsuits. Artwork by Nick Cave always makes an impression and we are delighted to view his creative pieces in person.

In addition to the EXPO CHICAGO programming, the city will be abuzz come Saturday, September 16th, when the second annual Chicago Architecture Biennial opens.

Singing Stones at the Roundhouse of the DuSable Museum of African American History is an exhibition that is attracting art and architecture crowds alike. Opening Tuesday, September 12th, and ending Sunday, October 29th, it’s not to be missed.

For more information on the Chicago Architecture Biennial, please visit our blog for highlights and event details. Be sure to follow us on Instagram as we attend EXPO CHICAGO and the Chicago Architecture Biennial!