10 Art Shows to See in Chicago This Summer
Blessedly, despite the corn sweat, the city’s gallery and museum scene is eager to provide fresh work for the Midwestern mind.
For some working artists, summer in Chicago is a time to get into the (stiflingly hot) studio; others might prefer to participate in an idyllic residency in some charmed lakeside Wisconsin or Michigan town. Blessedly, despite the corn sweat, Chicago’s gallery and museum scene is eager to provide fresh work for the Midwestern mind.
The city’s summertime pride is certainly accompanied by an enthusiasm for the work of local emerging artists, seen in spaces like Prairie and Hans Goodrich. The sweltering heat also brings a simmering interest in local history and political positioning, as is the case at the National Museum of Mexican Art and Logan Center Exhibitions. And on the South Side, the long-awaited Obama Presidential Center has finally been unveiled, bringing over 28 newly commissioned works to the public. Maybe Chicago summers are ultimately the season of attention; a time to notice the city while it’s noticing itself.
Joe Feddersen: Urban Drama
Volume Gallery, 1700 W Hubbard St, Chicago
June 13–July 25
Combining Indigenous iconography and basketmaking traditions with contemporary scenery, Colville artist Joe Feddersen’s solo show brings a reverence for form within its larger social commentary. Pert linen sally bags — a centuries-old Plateau basket design for gathering roots — are the backbone of the show, adorned with woven linework subjects that reappear in an adjacent wall installation and framed prints. Imagery moves between decidedly modern and timeless, from box trucks to buffalo, coalescing into a sharp observation of the fixtures making up our urban surroundings. Feddersen is also offering a vision of change, as in “Protest Basket No. 2” (2025), which depicts a buzzing crowd of human-animal protestors with empty signs, leaving the viewer to fill in the blank.
Richard Hull: After All, Paintings and Prints
Western Exhibitions, 1709 W Chicago Ave, Chicago
June 12–August 15
Off the heels of a vivid exhibition of 100 ink drawings of cats at local watering hole Rainbo Club, Richard Hull’s After All, Paintings and Prints is a reminder of the longevity and significance of the Chicago-local artist. Featuring older prints and more recent paintings in a retrospective-adjacent style that some might fear is a career gravestone, the show is actually a celebration of vision. Hull’s ever-evolving ability to see layers, breaks, and movement in seemingly simple subject matter results in a cartoonish expressionism that complicates ways of viewing and opens avenues to pure feeling. “Duet” (2023) pictures two figures of bulging limbs and fleshy parts sitting in quiet company — a delightfully awkward and honest way of showing a deeply human experience.
Nick D’Alessandro: Universal September
Prairie, 2055 W Cermak Ave, Chicago
June 20–August 2
Nick D’Alessandro’s slender loosely woven textiles flutter softly along the walls of Prairie, surprisingly delicate despite their somewhat grotesque surface treatments. The works, sculptural in their verticality, are fairly consistent across each iteration, due in part to the table loom D’Alessandro uses, which dictates the width of each strip and gestures towards industrial textile production. Each strip of fabric has undergone a process that altered its appearance, from being dyed with cyanotype to being buried outdoors for months. The contrast between commercial production and contamination is sharp, upending the labor-produced commodity through destructive aftercare.
