Our Art Picks are created in collaboration with The Visualist, Chicago’s leading visual arts calendar, and cross-promoted through Windy City Times, one of the longest locally-published LGBTQ weeklies with a national reach. Click here to get our Art Picks and latest articles delivered to your inbox monthly.
This is a growing list, so check back often for new additions.
April Art Picks
March 30 – June 23
Goat Island Archive: We Have Discovered the Performance by Making It
Chicago Cultural Center 78 E Washington St, Chicago Rooms
Free
March 28- April 11, 2019
35th Chicago Latino Film Festival
AMC River East , Chicago, 322 E Illinois St
$10-110
Up through May 12
Andrew Bearnot: Fruiting Bodies
Leather Archives & Museum 6418 N Greenview Av
Free with admission, Free on Thursdays
Wed, April 3, 6:30-8:30pm
AJ McClenon with Angel Bat Dawid
Threewalls: 2738 W North Ave
Free
Thurs, April 4, 5:30-7:30pm
Undesign the Redline Exhibition
National Public Housing Museum: 625 N Kingsbury St
Free
Thurs, April 4, 6-8pm
Public Newsroom 102: Reporting on Race and Riots—1919 to Today
Experimental Station: 6100 S Blackstone Ave
Free
April 5-17
The 24th Annual Asian American Showcase
Gene Siskel Film Center of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago: 164 N State St
Free
Fri, April 5, 6-8pm
Genevieve Gaignard: Black White and Red All Over
Moniquemeloche: 451 N Paulina St
Free
Sat, April 6 – May 8
Deathless-ness; 10,000 Works (Eyes & Teeth Dept.)
Elephant Room Gallery: 704 S Wabash Av
Free
Sat, April 6, 5-9pm
GOT IT FOR CHEAP
Western Exhibitions: 1709 W Chicago Ave
Free
Sat, April 6, 6-9pm
Yvette Kaiser-Smith: On seeing: one point
Ignition Project Space: 3839 W Grand Ave
Free
Sat, April 6, 6-9pm
Raul Ortiz: GRID-locked on Grand
Ignition Project Space: 3839 W Grand Ave
Free
Sat, April 6, 7-10pm
Jillian Hansen-Lewis: Borrowed Lamps (applause for my friends)
Roman Susan: 1224 W Loyola Ave
Free
Sat, April 6, 8:30-11:30pm
John Corbett: Pick Up the Pieces
Constellation Chicago: 3111 N Western Ave
Free
Sun, April 7, 10am-8pm
Body + Camera 2019: The Un/Certain Body
Chicago Cultural Center: 78 E Washington St
Free
Sun, April 7,
Azadeh Gholizadeh: Oh Swallow Where Do You Live In Winter?
Apparatus Projects: 2639 W Ainslie
Free
Sun, April 7, 3-7pm
Nazia Kazi: Islamophobia, Race, and Global Politics
The Seminary Co-op Bookstores: 5751 S Woodlawn Ave
Free
Mon, April 8, 7:30-9pm
Sappho’s Salon: 4 YEAR ANNIVERSARY SHOW
Women & Children First Bookstore: 5233 N Clark St
Free
Tue, April 9, 6-7:30pm
Fo Wilson and Chelsea Frazier
Hyde Park Art Center: 5020 S Cornell Ave
Free
Wed, April 10, 5-6pm
Jennifer Reeder
Art Theory and Practice: 1880 Campus Dr, Kresge Hall 1515, Evanston
Free
Wed, April 10, 6-7:30pm
Amina Ross: Black Hair, Intimacy and Touch
Arts Incubator: 301 E Garfield Blvd
Free
Wed, April 10, 6-7:30pm
Aruna D’Souza
Gallery 400: 400 S Peoria St
Free
Wed, April 10, 6-7pm
Laurie Simmons with Genevieve Gaignard, Cyrus Dunham, and Hannah Baer
Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago: 220 E Chicago Ave
$8-15
Wed, April 10, 6-8pm
Damaged Goods & FOBia
Chicago Cultural Center: 78 E Washington St
Free
Wed, April 10, 8-10pm
Ça Twiste à Poponguine
Comfort Film: 2579 N Milwaukee Ave
Free
April 11-12, 2019
Black Speculative Arts Movement (BSAM) Chicago
Chicago State University: 9501 S King Dr
Free
Thur, April 11, 5-7pm
Birmingham, Alabama, 1963: Dawoud Bey/Black Star
Museum of Contemporary Photography: 600 S Michigan Ave
Free
Thur, April 11, 5-7pm
Carlos Javier Ortiz and David Schalliol: Chicago Stories
Museum of Contemporary Photography: 600 S Michigan Ave
Free
Thur, April 11, 6-9pm
Los Adioses
National Museum of Mexican Art: 1852 W 19th St
Free
Thur, April 11, 6-9pm
Rear View Mirror Sessions with Duane E Powell: Eugene McDaniels
Green Line Performing Arts Center: 329 E Garfield Blvd
Free
Thur, April 11, 6-8pm
Contested City: From Lower East Side of NYC to West Side Chicago
Jane Addams Hull-House Museum: 800 S Halsted St
Free
Thur, April 11, 7-8pm
Halal If You Hear Me: Book Launch
Poetry Foundation: 61 W Superior St
Free
Thur, April 11, 7:30-8:45pm
Jacob Tobia Skype Q&A
Volumes Bookcafe: 1474 N Milwaukee Ave
Free
April 12-14, 7pm
GRUNT Festival Chicago
Links Hall: 3111 N Western Ave
$20
Fri, April 12, 12:30-1pm
Library Book Club: Shane McCrae
Poetry Foundation: 61 W Superior St
Free
Fri, April 12, 5-8pm
Danny Giles: The Thing and its Double
Chicago Artists Coalition: 2130 W Fulton St
Free
Fri, April 12, 5:30-9:30pm
Aspartame, Citral & Rayon
LITHIUM: 1932 S Halsted St, STE 200
Free
Fri, April 12, 5:45-10pm
Textured Translations: A Night of Performances
Ground Level Platform: 2001 S Halsted St
$15-30
Fri, April 12, 6-10pm
Sam Kirk: The Alchemy of Us. A Journey of Identity.
Chicago Art Department: 1932 S Halsted St
Free
Fri, April 12, 6-10pm
Joseph Josue Mora: Clearance
Chicago Art Department: 1932 S Halsted St
Free
Fri, April 12, 7-9:30pm
Found God in Myself: Black + Latina Portraiture, Praise Dance and Testimony
Rootwork Gallery: 645 W 18th St
Free
Fri, April 12, 7-10pm
The Right Swipe
Chicago Filmmakers: 5720 N Ridge Ave
Admission is pay what you can
Sat, April 13, 1-7pm
ASIA//TECHNICS
SAIC Maclean Ballroom: 112 S Michigan Ave
Free
On view through April 13
Alejandro Acierto: The Dead Are Not Altogether Powerless
Boundary: 2334 W 111th Pl
Free
Sat, April 13, 4-6pm
Middle Eastern Poetry Festival
Poetry Foundation: 61 W Superior St
Free
Sat, April 13, 6-8pm
Raúl Ortiz: in Nature
One River School Art + Design Evanston: 1033-1035 Davis St, Evanston
Free
Sat, April 13, 6-10pm
Selected Works
Happy Gallery Chicago: 902 N California Ave
Free
Sat, April 13, 7-8pm
Intermissions: Eglė Budvytytė
The Renaissance Society: 5811 S Ellis Ave, 4th Floor
Free
Sat, April 13, 7-10pm
Elena Ailes: mmmmmmummmmmm
Adler & Floyd: 3537 S Western Blvd
Free
Sun, April 14, 3-4pm
Jonathas de Andrade with José Esparza Chong Cuy
Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago: 220 E Chicago Ave
Free
Sun, April 14, 2-5pm
In the Company of Black Closing House Party
Chicago Cultural Center 78 E Washington St, Chicago Rooms
Free
Sun, April 14, 4-7pm
Hương Ngô: In the Shadow of the Future
4th Ward Project Space: 5338 S Kimbark Ave
Free
Tue, April 16, 5-7pm
Camila Pasquel: Intimate Discomfort
Transpace Gallery, 468 W Beaufort St, Normal, IL
Free
Tue, April 16, 6pm
Disability Art Showcase and Maker-Space
Access Living: 115 W Chicago Av
Free
Tue, April 16, 6-7:30pm
Fred Wilson: Afro Kismet
The Block Museum: 40 Arts Circle Dr, Evanston
Free
Tue, April 16, 7-9pm
Special Englewood Event / Performances and Memorial Ceremony
Woods Academy Playground: 6206 S Racine
Free
Tue, April 16, 6-8pm
Folayemi Wilson and Norman Teague
Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago: 220 E Chicago Ave
Free
Tue, April 16, 8-10pm
16 Story Club South Side x Chicago Zine Fest: Artifact
Co-Prosperity Sphere: 3219 S Morgan St
Free
Wed, April 17, 6-8pm
Low Strung & Border’d
Chicago Cultural Center: 78 E Washington St, Chicago
Free
Wed, April 17, 6-7:30pm
Decolonizing Museums
DePaul’s Center for Religion, Culture, and Community: 2333 N Racine Ave
Free
Wed, April 17, 7-10pm
Auto-Erotic: Female Sexuality in the First Person
The Block Museum: 40 Arts Circle Dr, Evanston
Free
Wed, April 17, 8pm-12am
Andrei Tarkovsky: The Mirror
Bedsheet Cinema: 1914 N Spaulding Ave
Free
Thurs, April 18, 6-9pm
Saturnine
Chicago Manual Style: 1927 W Superior St
Free
Thurs, April 18, 7-8pm
Last Days of the Man of Tomorrow
Logan Center for the Arts: 915 E 60th St
Free
Thurs, April 18, 7-9pm
Rob Pruitt: The Obama Paintings
Stony Island Arts Bank: 6760 S Stony Island Ave
Free
Thurs, April 18, 7-10pm
Hana-Bi
Filmfront: 1740 W 18th St
Free
Thurs, April 18, 8-10pm
Grown Folks Stories (Hyde Park)
The Silver Room: 1506 E 53rd St
$0-5
Fri, April 19, 6-9pm
Saturnine
Chicago Manual Style: 1927 W Superior St
Free
Fri, April 19, 7:30-9pm
Joel Hall Master Class and Legacy Event
Logan Center for the Arts: 915 E 60th St
Free
Fri, April 19, 7-10pm
CAKE Art Auction 2019
826Chi: 1276 N Milwaukee Av
$10-15
Fri, April 19, 7-9pm
Soledad Fatima Muñoz // ZRL
Comfort Station Logan Square: 2579 N Milwaukee Ave
Free
Fri, April 19, 7-9pm
April Queer Genre Fiction
Gerber Hart Library and Archives: 6500 N Clark St
Free
Fri, April 19, 8-10pm
IMPACT Exhibition 2019
Zhou B Art Center: 1029 W 35th St
Free
Sat, April 20, 6-7pm
History in the Making: An Archival Collaboration between Chicago
Dance History Project and Joel Hall Dancers & Center
Joel Hall Dancers & Center: 5965 N Clark St
Free
Sat, April 20, 10am-5pm
Space Travel for Dancers
Dovetail Studios: 2853 W Montrose Ave
$65-75
Sat, April 20, 1-8pm
Creating Justice: Celebrating Art In People’s Movements
Oakton Community College: 1600 E Golf Rd, Des Plaines,
Free, RSVP
Sun, April 21, 4-7pm
Hương Ngô: In the Shadow of the Future
4th Ward Project Space: 5338 S Kimbark Ave
Free
Tue, April 23, 6-7:30pm
Maria Gaspar: Speech Acts
Gallery 400: 400 S Peoria St
Free
Tue, April 23, 7-9pm
CHIPRC’s Zine Club: Everything’s Gone Green Edition
Quimby’s Bookstore: 1854 W North Ave
Free
Tue, April 23 + 30, 6:30-7:30pm
OTV Screenwriting Workshops
Reunion Chicago: 2557 W North Ave
Free
Wed, April 24, 7-9pm
In the Yard: #LetUsBreathe Open Mic
Breathing Room: 1434 W 51st Street
Free
Wed, April 24, 8-10pm
Agnès Varda: Daguerréotypes
Comfort Station Logan Square, 2579 N Milwaukee Ave
Free
Thurs, April 25, 5-6:30pm
Eve L. Ewing: Into a Daybreak
The Center for the Study of Gender and Sexuality: 5733 S University Ave
Free
Thurs, April 25, 5:30-7:30pm
Chicago Dance History Project • Spring Affair
Virgin Hotels Chicago: 203 N Wabash Ave
Free
Thurs, April 25, 6-7pm
Indigenous Prosperity and American Conquest
Newberry Library: 60 W Walton St
Free
Thurs, April 25, 6-8pm
Possible Mediums
Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts: 4 W Burton Pl
Free
Thurs, April 25, 7-9:30pm
Black Lab
OGGI, Chicago: 2451 S Oakley St
$10
Thurs, April 25, 6-8pm
Eric J. Garcia: The Bald Eagle’s Toupee
DePaul Art Museum: 935 W Fullerton Ave
Free
Thurs, April 25, 6-8pm
New Age, New Age: Strategies for Survival
DePaul Art Museum: 935 W Fullerton Ave
Free
Friday April 26, 6-8 PM
In The Receiving Room
Flood’s Hall: 1515 E 52nd Place, 3rd fl
Free
Fri, April 26, 8:30-10am
Kristen Kaza: Inclusive
Low Res Studio: 1821 W Hubbard St. #203
Free
Fri, April 26, 9pm-2am
DJ Rashad Memorial Party
East Room: 2354 N Milwaukee Av
$10
Fri, April 26, 5-7pm
Cathy Hsiao: M ㄅ V ㄍ M ㄍ ㄇ ㄒ III: BAD BUDDHA, 嫦娥
McLean County Arts Center: 601 N East St, Bloomington, IL
Free
Fri, April 26, 5-7pm
2019 Emerging Illinois Artists
McLean County Arts Center: 601 N East St, Bloomington, IL
Free
Fri, April 26, 6-8pm
Jan-Henry Gray, Xandria Phillips, mai c doan
Women & Children First Bookstore: 5233 N Clark St
Free
Fri, April 26, 7-8:30pm
Still Here: Torture, Resiliency and the Art of Memorializing: Closing Reception
Arts and Public Life: 301 E Garfield Blvd
Free
Sat, April 27, 10:30am-2:30pm
Annual Book Sale
Gerber Hart Library and Archives: 6500 N Clark St
Free
Sat, April 27, 11-11:30am
Circles and Squares: Natives, Colonists, and Maps
Newberry Library: 60 W Walton St
Free
Sat, April 27, 11am-2pm
ChiTeen Lit Fest Featuring Eve L. Ewing
1104 S Wabash Ave
Free
Sat, April 27, 12-4pm
Chicago Black Social Culture Map: Early Chicago House Edition
DuSable Museum of African American History, 740 E 56th Pl
Free
Sat, April 27, 12:30-1:30pm
Marc Lamont Hill and Barbara Ransby: Media and Democracy
UIC Forum: 725 W Roosevelt Rd
$10-26
Sat, April 27, 2-3pm
Tracy K. Smith
Harold Washington Library: 400 S State St
Free
Sat, April 27, 6-9pm
Alberto Aguilar: moves on human scale
Gallery 400: 400 S Peoria St
Free
Sat, April 27, 6-10pm
Bad Ass Women of East Garfield Park
GAG: 3528 W Fulton Blvd, Chicago, IL 60624
Free
Sat, April 27, 7-9pm
Stomping Grounds
National Museum of Mexican Art: 1852 West 19th St
$5
Sat, April 27, 9:30am – 3pm
Borderlands and Latino/a Studies Mini Conference
Newberry Library: 60 W Walton St
Free
Sat, April 27, 7:30-9:30pm
Bi-Queer Poetry and Open Mic
The Hatchery: 135 N Kedzie Ave
Free
Sat, April 27, 9-1am
Black Magic Kickback / Rent Party
Breathing Room: 1434 W 51st Street
$5 donation
Sat, April 27, 8-10pm
James Hoff
Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts: 4 W Burton Pl
Free
Sun, April 28, 7-9pm
UIC MFA Thesis Screening
Filmfront: 1740 W 18th St
Free
Sun, April 28, 7-9pm
Danez Smith
Poetry Foundation: 61 W Superior St, Chicago, IL 60654
Free
Tues, April 30, 8pm-12am
America: A Hymnal with Bethany Collins
Smart Museum of Art: 5550 S Greenwood Av
Free
Tues, April 30, 6-8pm
Jonas Becker
Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago: 220 E Chicago Ave
Free
Tues, April 30, 7-8:30pm
Frank DeCaro: Drag History
The Den Theatre: 1331 N Milwaukee Ave
$60 for shortlist membership+ ticket cost
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Featured Image: From Alberto Aguilar’s show “moves on human scale” at Gallery 400, opening April 26th. It’s the artist’s first large-scale survey that “explores how his various life roles and surroundings have shaped a searching, inquisitive practice that is grounded in, and produces, a radical everyday.” Photo courtesy of Gallery 400.
