All posts tagged: EXPO CHICAGO

Dealers Doing Brisk Business at ‘More Intentional’ Fair

Dealers Doing Brisk Business at ‘More Intentional’ Fair

Published by Jenni Sidey

Tears of joy are not the first thing you expect to hear about at art fairs, but that was the order of the day for Tennessee artist Annie Brito Hodgin at Thursday’s VIP preview at the thirteenth edition of Expo Chicago (April 9–12), where she is showing her paintings with Red Arrow Gallery. “It’s the artist’s first time showing outside Nashville and her first time showing at an art fair, and she’s here with us,” gallery director Ashley Layendecker told ARTnews. Raised in a Southern Baptist fundamentalist Christian culture, the artist paints surreal modern interpretations of Biblical passages, populated entirely with versions of herself. “She works out of her kitchen and is raising three children,” Layendecker added.  Related Articles The tears came when it was revealed that one of her paintings went to the Bennett Collection (founded by Steven Alan Bennett and Elaine Melotti Schmidt, retired from careers in corporate law and education), which created a fund to buy works from the fair by women-identifying artists painting women in a realist style; acquisitions will go …

Expo Gets a New Satellite

Expo Gets a New Satellite

Published by Jenni Sidey

Collector Mirka Serrato was walking her dog through Chicago’s affluent Gold Coast neighborhood when she came across Ramiro Verdugo, the groundsman tending to the garden at an imposing neoclassical residence. Both Latin American, they hit it off. She was looking for a place to live, and an apartment was available. She ended up living there very happily for about three years before she moved to Dallas, where she’s closer to her family, in her native Mexico. But she wasn’t ready to let go of the Windy City, not entirely. “Leaving Chicago was not an option,” she told ARTnews in an interview. “Seeing the place empty after all it gave to me was torture.” Serrato has a day job in PR but studied at the Sotheby’s Institute, and she resolved to turn the place into a venue for an art show or event. Then she went looking for the right person to help her. She met Jonny Tanna, founder of London’s Harlesden High Street gallery (the rare such business that has a manifesto), at a party …

Expo Chicago Names Exhibitors for 2026 Edition

Expo Chicago Names Exhibitors for 2026 Edition

Published by José Betancourt

Expo Chicago has named the over 130 exhibitors that will participate in its upcoming 2026 edition, scheduled to take place April 9–12 at Navy Pier. Last November, when the fair announced the promotion of Kate Sierzputowski to director and the appointment of Essence Harden as curator, it also promised a smaller floor plan. That is now borne out in the just-released exhibitor list, which represents nearly a 25 percent smaller fair than the 2025 edition. The slimmed down fair is meant to provide “a more focused, intentionally scaled format, designed to deepen engagement for seasoned collectors, first-time visitors, and regional audiences alike,” per a release. Related Articles The exhibitors lined up for the fair include leading galleries like Karma, Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, Nara Roesler, Night Gallery, Vielmetter Los Angeles, Monique Meloche, Patron, Bockley Gallery, and Tern Gallery. The 2026 edition will also introduce a partnership between Expo Chicago and the Obama Presidential Center (OPC), set to open later this year. As part of that collaboration, Louise Bernard, the director of the OPC’s museum,will curate two …