Expo Chicago is a truly international affair with exhibits from 170 galleries, hailing from 75 cities, 29 countries and countless individual artists. A stunning display of modern and contemporary art for sale filled the main hall of Navy Pier, with a strong emphasis on contemporary paintings, drawings, photos and mixed media wall works. Attending with my husband, and “Myth Maker” partner, Andy Moerlein, it was our first time visiting this fair and we enjoyed the scale, scope and variety of the artwork on display.
We attended Expo Chicago on opening night and met Lavaughan Jenkins at the gate. He is one of our favorite artists who launched his career in Boston. Jenkins toured us through his new paintings on view at the Vielmetter Los Angeles booth. The way that he layers the paint to build up his figures in low relief is one of the signature techniques of his work, which seamlessly melds painting and sculpture. The space-time continuum is visually compressed through his memory portals that dominate the compositions.
What was new in Jenkins’ works were the palettes of violet, burgundy, gold and orange. We were lucky to see his new work in Los Angeles at the Vielmetter Gallery Greenhouse space last week, and to see his recent show, “Rooted in Transit: Nick Fagan and Lavaughan Jenkins,” that was on view in April at Abigail Ogilvy Gallery in Boston.
Vielmetter wound up being our favorite booth, featuring a dazzling duo of drawings by Rob Pruitt. We caught his 2018- 2019 solo show, “Rob Pruitt: Devotion,” at the California African American Art Museum. The scale, craft and sub- ject matter of his work is without equal. We were delighted when the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston selected him for their 2019-2021 Banner project in the main exhibition hall and brought his work to an East Coast audience. His new work, “Monster” is his best one yet. The scale, color choices and application of the shimmering gold paint worked well with the contrasting silly subject matter and drop-dead serious gaze emanating from the stuffed animal head/masked figure that invited further reflection.
Vielmetter also had a diptych of new work by April Bey, with two of her signature photo collages hung on walls covered in neon fur from floor to ceiling. We saw her cur- rent solo show at Vielmetter Los Angeles in early April, “I Know All About What You Want to Know All About,” on view through May 18, with a much larger immersive installation. We were thrilled to spy one of her tapestries of “Colonial Swag” in the booth’s back room that so expertly inverts the colonial gaze. We hope to see more of her work in Boston and beyond.