The Chicago Show

Lynn Basa, Leslie Baum, Phyllis Bramson, Jason Branscum, Judith Brotman, Robert Burnier, Dee Clements, William Conger, Laura Davis, Ese Ametri Gagoh, Diana Guerrero-Maciá, Steve Husby, Sam Jaffe, Kelly Kaczynski, Michael Kaysen, Anna Kunz, Olivia Schreiner, Joe Scott, Edra Soto, Shonna Pryor, Tony Tasset, Ann Toebbe, Selina Trepp, Nathan Vernau, Christine Wallers, Justin Witte Ortega y Gasset Projects is pleased to present The Chicago Show, a group exhibition featuring artists from Chicago, curated by OyG Co-director Clare Britt. Chicago’s artists, who have relocated from all over the world, experience the city as an industrial and vibrant landscape, and carry with them the weight of its history and the pulse of experimentation. Grown from harsh topographies of prairie and factory, the city gives birth to unique artistic voices that thrive in ambiguity while delicately balancing a coexistence of nature and technology. In this tension, we find a dialogue not just between forms, but between ideologies: the rigid structures of the city versus the infinite openness of nature. The "otherworldliness" inherent in this show is also a product of Chicago’s unique geography. The city, positioned on the edge of the prairie, with the lake stretching endlessly to the east, offers a peculiar kind of atmospheric space—both dreamlike and grounded in reality. This exhibition invites viewers to consider the evolution of abstraction through a distinctly Chicagoan lens, one infused with an irreverence toward tradition and a deep connection to place. It is an invitation to think about abstraction not just as a visual form, but as a metaphor for the ongoing exploration of our relationship to the world, to nature, and to each other.