Wafaa Bilal Asks What it Means to be Arab in America

CHICAGO — Though Wafaa Bilal was born in Iraq and is based in New York, his survey at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Indulge Me, can be called a homecoming of sorts. In 2007, the accomplished yet underrated artist captured the art world’s attention with...

A Moving Encounter With the Art of Bernard Williams

CHICAGO — Nearly every summer in Chicago and its surrounding suburbs, some genuinely dumb public art is trotted out for the entertainment of visitors and residents alike. Sometimes it’s life-size fiberglass cows, other times giant butterflies. The most dreadful ones...

Chicago Nonprofit Celebrates a Decade of Serving Unhoused Artists

CHICAGO — Do people need art? I know I always have, as something to enjoy, discuss, learn from, be puzzled by, and sometimes create. Obviously, I need food, shelter, and clothing first, but beyond that, art has given me a myriad of ways through which to engage with...

The First Homosexuals Is a Defiant Celebration of LGBTQ+ Life

CHICAGO — The history of art, stated curator Jonathan D. Katz, “is both the world’s largest archive of the history of sexuality and its least tapped.” This may be a good place to begin to unpack the immense, important, ambitious, challenging, and intellectual...

10 Exhibitions to See in Chicago This Summer

CHICAGO — Experts are warning that Chicago is heading towards a hotter-than-usual summer. And while I’m no climatologist — just an art historian — I can tell you one thing: The city’s already simmering like a pressure cooker. With oppressive political tensions, major...

What Were Federal Agents Doing at a Puerto Rican Museum in Chicago?

Federal agents paid an unexpected visit to the National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture (NMPRAC) in Chicago earlier this week in what the museum has described as a “targeted” attempt to intimidate staff and visitors ahead of a lineup of Latine cultural...