Back to school, back to work, back to art! Beach season ends in five minutes, so get thee to a museum or gallery full of stuff that reinvigorates the senses, turns on the brain and opens one up to new encounters, foreign ideas and novel worldviews. Chicago fields a plethora of possibilities this fall.
Ground Floor 2026
So named because it fills the first story of the Hyde Park Art Center, but also for giving emerging artists an entrée to the Chicago scene, the city’s freshest biennial presents some of the best and brightest recent grads of the city’s many MFA programs. With especially exciting offerings from Emma Difani, naakita f.k., Mauricio López F. and Te Palandjian. Want to know what’s upcoming in art world trends? Look here. Through Nov. 1 at the Hyde Park Art Center, 5020 S. Cornell Ave., hydeparkart.org
“Lee Miller: Fearless”
How many lives did Miller lead? Landing in Paris at 20, she worked behind and in front of the camera, pioneering daring Surrealist modes, starring as a fashion icon, portraying Picasso and Chaplin. She ran commercial photography studios, got involved in Egyptian modern art, then documented the atrocities of World War II as an official correspondent for Vogue. Later she became a chef and gardener. “Fearless” comprehensively surveys the output of a woman brilliant at everything and unafraid to try anything. Through Dec. 7 at the Art Institute of Chicago, 111 S. Michigan Ave., artic.edu
“Kenzi Shiokava”
Shiokava, who died in 2021 shortly before turning 83, lived and worked for decades in a warehouse in Compton, California, filled to the brim with castoff materials found in the streets and in junk shops. From them he assembled sculptures and reliefs large and small, none as glorious as the totems he carved from telephone poles, driftwood and rail ties, of which dozens are on view in this, his first solo museum show. To be with them is to stand in a forest, a temple. Through Jan. 31, 2027, at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, 220 E. Chicago Ave., mcachicago.org
“Mary Cassatt: After Impressionism”
Anyone who cares anything about the representation of women, caretakers and children (which ought to be everyone) should see this show. The Art Institute marks the centennial of Cassatt’s death, the only American to exhibit with the French Impressionists, with over 75 of her lush, flat paintings; ephemera from an ambitious mural commissioned for the 1893 World’s Fair; and my favorites, her Japonisme prints of 1890-91. Sept. 6 to Jan. 3, 2027, at the Art Institute of Chicago, 111 S. Michigan Ave., artic.edu
“Mernet Larsen: Situational Awareness”
Long before Minecraft rendered everything boxy and gridded, Larsen was doing it with paint and brush on canvas, tackling everyday circumstances from diaper changing to corporate meetings, having a drink to reading in bed. That sounds basic, but the vertiginous, surrealistic way Larsen depicts people and scenes is anything but, as explored here via a focused selection of 20-odd paintings made since 1986. Prepare to reconsider the ordinary. Sept. 10 to Dec. 18 at the Arts Club of Chicago, 201 E. Ontario St., artsclubchicago.org
“If Emmett Till Lived: Freedom on American Ground”
Photographs by more than 110 artists from the Museum of Contemporary Photography’s collection visualize the life Emmett Till might have led, and the world that might have been, had he not been murdered back in 1955. A collaboration between Harvard professor Sarah Elizabeth Lewis and Rev. Wheeler Parker Jr., Till’s cousin and the last surviving witness to his kidnapping, as well as dozens of civic and cultural leaders invited to select the included images. Sept. 10 to Dec. 19 at the Museum of Contemporary Photography, 600 S. Michigan Ave., mocp.org
“Slow Dance”
What might it look like to reject the speed, the progress, the efficiency, the instantaneity of being alive today? Cally Spooner, Gordon Hall and four other artists challenge these imperatives through performance, painting, sculpture and video that practice waiting, reject competition, embrace fatigue and lean into failure. Hopefully participation will be possible; we need it badly. Sept. 12 to March 21, 2017 at the MCA Chicago, 220 E. Chicago Ave., mcachicago.org
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“82 Nights Only*”
The art world generally takes itself way too seriously, so thank goodness for the occasional exhibition that swings comedically the other way. With an ever-changing roster of artworks and performances, including by Lee Lozano, Fischli & Weiss and Nyeema Morgan, the humor promises to be diverse, structural, aesthetic, open-ended, a little bit wicked and occasionally baffling. No one gets every joke, and that’s OK. Sept. 16 to Dec. 13 at The Gertie Hub, 400 N. Peoria, gertie.co
“2026 Veteran Art Triennial: Resisting the Long War”
One way to defy war and militarism has always been creatively, be it brilliant legal maneuvering, inventive acts of protest or good old visual art making. All have been explored in the previous two incarnations of this ambitious, brave exhibition series, which remains as painfully timely as ever. Centering affected communities, from war veterans to Black freedom fighters, the occupants of borderlands to incarcerated artists, this year’s triennial includes hundreds of ceramic cups by Gulf War vet Ehren Tool, life-size quilted portraits by Dorothy I. Burge, and so much more, in exhibitions at the Elmhurst Art Museum, Chicago Cultural Center, Hyde Park Art Center and Walls Turned Sideways. Sept. 12 to Feb. 25, 2027; for individual venue dates and details, visit resistingthelongwar.online
“Yuan Goang-Ming: Everyday War”
Taiwan may not be in an active war, but it suffers a severe ongoing state of tension, claimed by China as its territory and regularly subject to military incursion. Goang-Ming channels this situation in an immersive, multi-gallery installation featuring a dinner table shaken by unseen threats; a film presenting the hauntingly empty streets of Taipei during air raid siren tests; and another that documents the aftermath of an explosion in the artist’s living room. Adapted from his critically acclaimed installation for the Taiwan Pavilion of the 2024 Venice Biennale. Sept. 25 to Dec. 19 at Wrightwood 659, 659 W. Wrightwood Ave., wrightwood659.org
Lori Waxman is a freelance critic.