Andrew Rafacz Gallery, Elise Seigenthaler Gallery, Western Exhibitions, and Document Gallery

Join Joanna Pinsky on an exploration of Chicago’s West Town galleries beginning with an exhibition of mysterious landscapes and still lifes by Michelle Wasson at Andrew Rafacz Gallery. Soft and infused with light, the images are either melting away or evolving into focus. In the same gallery, we’ll see embroidered paintings by Soheila Kayoud depicting demon-like figures from Middle Eastern mythology.

Next, we visit the newly-opened Elise Seigenthaler Gallery to see Housewarming, a four-person exhibition of paintings and sculpture connected to different aspects of the home environment while thematically celebrating the gallery’s first exhibit. 

Moving from interior spaces to work about the built environment, we will investigate Spaces for People, Systems for Spaces. This group show at Western Exhibitions, features 15 artists from across the country who make art about architecture ranging from cities, buildings, and structures to urban planning. 

Our tour concludes at Document Gallery with an elegantly-installed two-person exhibition of photographs that carefully pair works by Jimmy DeSana and Paul Mpagi Sepuya. From different generations, both artists use inventive photography to engage with queer bodies and the politics of representation.