Chicago’s largest art event, Expo Chicago, is returning to Navy Pier April 9-12. And while this year’s fair is smaller, its new director, Kate Sierzputowski, says the event is going to feel “a little bit more intentional.”
In the mix are 130 galleries from at least two dozen countries, down from last year’s nearly 200 featured galleries. This year’s fair is the third iteration since global arts conglomerate Frieze added Expo to its portfolio in 2023.
Many local gallerists and art collectors said 2026 feels like the year attendees will truly feel the “Frieze effect” on the art fair. For starters, it has new leadership. Sierzputowski is successor to Expo Chicago founder Tony Karman, who stepped down from his role as director last May. He founded the contemporary and modern art fair in 2012 and launched it as a descendant of Art Chicago, a fair that ran from 1980 to 2011.
The floor has also been “refined,” said Sierzputowski. The fair made a “controversial” decision to cut out booths from not-for-profit groups this year, resulting in fewer exhibitors, explains longtime Chicago gallerist and art dealer Monique Meloche, who sits on Expo’s selection committee. That means that groups like the Chicago Artists Coalition aren’t exhibiting this year.
Some insiders hope the new floor plan and fewer galleries will result in more engagement between audiences and galleries and artists, representing such art-forward cities as Paris, London and Tokyo, but also Seoul and Busan in South Korea; Lagos, Nigeria; Taipei, Taiwan, and Nassau, Bahamas.
So far, disruptions in international artist travel due to visa issues haven’t surfaced, said Expo Chicago leadership. But art has always responded to the moment, said Expo Chicago’s curator Essence Harden.
“I don’t know if it’s resolved by the fair,” Harden said. “I don’t think it is, but it does allow for, hopefully, another way of relating and being with each other. It’s still art and people still make it and it’s still one of the most essential human qualities of our species.”
What to expect from Expo Chicago 2026
As in previous years, Expo Chicago will set up inside Navy Pier’s Festival Hall through curated sections. “Focus” highlights emerging artists. “Profile” features projects from international galleries like 47 Canal and Matéria.
At Expo itself, expect a good mix of blue-chip galleries and mid-career artist galleries, as well as a solid Chicago footprint.The talk series Dialogues is back again. One highlight will be an April 10 panel featuring School of the Art Institute of Chicago fashion professor Nick Cave, whose work is currently on exhibition at the Smithsonian. Artists Devin T. Mays and Miriam Stoney join a discussion moderated by Gertie’s director of curatorial affairs, Garteth Thomas Kaye, on April 12 on Chicago’s connection to Vienna, Austria. Spoiler: It’s not just hot dogs that came about as a result of collaboration between the two.
On April 9, Aliza Nisenbaum, who was commissioned to work on a mural for the Obama Presidential Center, will appear on a panel alongside other artists tapped to create work for the new center.
About a dozen Chicago galleries will be featured, too. Document in West Town will showcase works from local and international artists, from a dye sublimation print by French-Caribbean artist Julien Creuzet, to an archival pigment print, “Coming to the Commons 4,” by University of Chicago professor Laura Letinsky.
Gray Chicago will bring work from the artist Torkwase Dyson to the Expo Chicago floor, said Valerie Carberry, Gray’s president and CEO. The gallery will also be featured in a special section curated by the Obama Presidential Center.
What’s new this year?
Even though it does not open to the public until Juneteenth, the Obama Presidential Center will offer a preview of its collection through “Evolution” and “Embodiment,” two exhibitions curated by Dr. Louise Bernard, founding director of the center and the Obama Foundation’s vice president.
Materials will be sourced from the soon-to-be-open museum’s art commissions, alongside models of the presidential center. Bernard said partnering with Expo helps bridge the gap between the construction of the campus and the forward-looking vision behind it.
“We really think about that idea of humanism and the role of empathy and how we are all connected,” Bernard said.
The Obama Center display includes a collaboration between Regen Projects and Anton Kern Gallery, based in Los Angeles and New York City, that will feature 13 of Nisenbaum’s oil and watercolor paintings to warm audiences up for her big mural reveal.
“They’re studies or different things that relate to the mural that [Nisenbaum] made,” said Shaun Regen, of Regen Projects. “It’s like a love letter to learning, to reading, to literature, to the humanities and also to Chicago.”
Local artists to keep an eye on
Art fairs are all about sales, and Expo will offer plenty of works on offer. Here are names of local artists to watch that popped up in interviews with exhibiting gallerists and local art collectors.
- Faheem Majeed is a Chicago-based sculpture and installation artist with deep ties to the South Side. His work has been displayed at the Museum of Contemporary Art, and he is a co-director of the Floating Musuem.
- Yvette Mayorga is a young, Mexican-American artist who specializes in a style she calls “Latinx-oco,” in homage to first-generation life. Much of her work is playful and bright pink, and she holds a degree in painting and anthropology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her work will be on display at Meloche’s booth.
- Pedro Montilla is a painter from Bogotá, Colombia, who currently lectures at SAIC. He usually creates tapestries by painting on fique fabric (a material used to transport coffee and produce), connecting his Andean heritage with modern techniques.
- Luke Agada is a painter and drawer from Lagos, Nigeria, who graduated from SAIC in 2023. His work has been exhibited worldwide, and he was named Newcity’s Breakout Artist of 2024.
- Laura Letinsky is a Canadian-born photographer and sculptor best known for her decaying still lifes. She is a professor at the University of Chicago’s visual arts department.
Tips for aspiring art collectors
Publicist Beth Heller and her husband have been collecting art together for more than 25 years. She said aspiring art collectors should look out for galleries that offer payment plans for artwork, to avoid fronting the full price of the work.
Aron Gent, of Document, said that attendees shouldn’t stop at visiting Expo: If they find a gallery or artist they like at the art fair, he encourages them to visit the gallery for themselves. “A lot of people will come to town from the suburbs or surrounding area and go to Expo … but not really go and explore,” Gent said. “You really need to invest in your curiosity with contemporary art and go to these physical brick-and-mortar spaces.”
Meloche recommends checking out the “Focus” section first, where typical exhibitions include art from younger, up-and-coming artists and galleries at more attainable prices.
Tommy Reyes, owner of Gallery19 and longtime Expo attendee, recommends looking for galleries selling prints of artwork that are usually cheaper than buying the real thing.
“Don’t think of it as an investment,” Reyes adds. “Think: Do you love it? If there is a connection, then that piece is meant for you.”
Beyond EXPO Chicago
Plenty happens in Chicago outside of Navy Pier in the weeks ahead.
Seven minutes from Navy Pier, a new art fair called Neighbors is operating as a satellite to EXPO from April 8 to 12. Founded by arts patron Mirka Serrato, the fair will take place inside a historic apartment in the Gold Coast. London’s Harleson High Street and Chicago’s Shanghai Seminary are participating.
Barely Fair, an artist-run fair happening in McKinley Park, kicks off April 3 and runs through the 19th. The fair will present 24 global and local exhibitors, including Galerie Noah Klink from Berlin, Ortega y Gasset Projects in Brooklyn, and Chicago’s own Hans Goodrich.
Citywide, several ancillary events and installations will pop up, including “OVERRIDE,” which will feature artworks on digital billboards and informational panels on bus stops and street signs through April 19. Featured Chicagoans include Aimée Beaubien and Hattie Lee Mendoza.
For fairgoers looking for opportunities to mix and mingle in neighborhoods, South Side Night is set to take place in Hyde Park, Bronzeville and the nearby areas on April 7, while Art After Hours on April 10 features extended hours and programming at several exhibiting Chicago galleries. Some, such as Les Enluminures, are hosting a show on rare Medieval manuscripts at their Downtown space.
And in the West Loop, Intuit Art Museum is hosting a dance party on April 10 at City Hall Events (838 W. Kinzie St.). Tickets are $75 per person.
