Current
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Elefante
Leopoldo Goût October 3 - December 31, 2024 Leopoldo Goût is an artist, writer, and filmmaker who works across mediums to capture the ephemeral: an abstract and figurative clash with memory and humanity, with chaos. Born in Mexico City, Goût grew up among poets, musicians, explorers, activists, filmmakers, scientists, and visual artists. Their stories and ideas inspired Goût,... Read more -
Correnteza
November 14 - December 31, 2024 Povos is proud to present Correnteza, the latest solo exhibition of textile, glass, and neon works from Brazilian sculptor Carolina Pereira de Almeida. Diaristic, contemporary self-portraits are wrought in contrasting mediums that illustrate life’s intrinsic dualities. Correnteza, opening Friday November 15th, will be the artist’s second solo presentation with the Gallery.
Pereira de Almeida’s first solo exhibition with Povos in Summer 2023, Fuzzy Memories, explored themes of memory, dreams, and the subconscious. Her signature integration of glass and textile persists in Correnteza, wherein Pereira de Almeida embraces the comfort of contrast—fiber versus glass; figurative versus abstract; emotional versus rational thought; static versus dynamic. This pointy duality reflects a universal truth that has preoccupied the artist as of late: life is hard, but humans are soft. Correnteza, the Portuguese word for “Current”, or “Flow”, indicates a present rootedness, but also a submission to–and acceptance of–change.
Pereira de Almeida draws deeply from her childhood in Araraquara—a small town nestled in the São Paulo countryside—her teenage years navigating the hectic energy of São Paulo, and nearly a decade of life in the United States. First arriving in Santa Barbara, a small coastal town in Southern California, Carolina weaves a blend of Brazil, California, and Chicago into her work. Together, these places form her sense of home, an ever-present part of her identity.
Correnteza serves as a continuation of the artist's persistent exploration of anxiety, belonging, duality, and the fluid nature of the creative process. This time looking forward instead of backwards, Pereira embraces the idea that If you surrender to the current, you can ride it.
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Past
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繁荫 Fán Yīn
繁荫 Peike (裴可) - Hiromi Murai - Yichao Liu (刘艺超) - Edward Hongyi Jia (贾弘毅) September 13 - November 2, 2024 繁荫 ( Fán Yīn ) is a state of mind that evokes the lush, protective shelter provided by a dense cover of leaves. It symbolizes the abundance of nature, and its role as a sanctuary for life. And while there is no direct English translation for this Chinese word, Fán... Read more -
Breaking Bread
Thérèse Mulgrew - Wendy S. Rolfe, August 30 - September 28, 2024 Breaking Bread is a mother-daughter dual exhibition celebrating a family history of painting and congregation through the prism of child-like wonder and curiosity.
Thérèse Mulgrew and her mother, Wendy S. Rolfe, work in distinct artistic languages. Mulgrew’s photorealistic paintings celebrate a lingering fascination with shared meals and rituals, paying specific attention to the object. Her vignettes thrive in discretion. Rolfe, in contrast, employs a louder, more surrealistic symbolic library. Patterns, figures and animals with expressive eyes are set against traditional landscapes, evoking the playful imagination of a child.
Rolfe’s works reflect her perennial pursuit of childlike wonder and imaginative perspective, edified by her lifelong study of spirituality and theology. Conversely, Mulgrew’s works mirror latent observational reflections. Her undistorted moments, adult as they may be, are informed by the nights she spent playing around the frequent dinner parties her parents hosted. From the perch on her Rolfe’s lap, she watched the ways their guests navigated the tables her mother set—both literally and figuratively. Collectively, Rolfe’s perennial pursuit of innocence amplifies Mulgrew’s long lens of familial tradition. In bringing their distinct iconographies to the party collaboratively, they create with Breaking Bread a new memory both as artists and as family.
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The Night You Love Me
Diego De la Rosa July 12 - August 30, 2024 Povos is thrilled to present The Night You Love Me, a collection of paintings by Toronto-based, Venezuelan artist Diego de la Rosa. This is the artist's first presentation with the gallery, as well as his first solo exhibition in the United States. With The Night You Love Me, De la... Read more -
Fights
William Schaeuble June 7 - July 27, 2024 CHICAGO (June 5, 2024) – Povos is thrilled to present Fights , William Schaeuble’s anticipated second solo presentation with the gallery, a body of work exploring conflict in all of its absurdity. Documenting and questioning fights of different sorts and magnitudes, Schaeuble once again draws from his autobiographical reservoir to... Read more -
Birds of No Feather
Julia Signe - 600 W Van Buren St May 10 - July 6, 2024 'Bird People' emerged, one way or another, as Chicago-based Norwegian-American artist Julia Signe’s creative sanctuary. Inspired by the uncanny and the power of symbols, these figures became intimate reflections, representing a pursuit of freedom and personal growth. In layered, imaginative landscapes, they explore vulnerability's transformative power, emphasizing the importance of... Read more -
Back To School
An exploration of contemporary Midwestern surrealism - Povos Downtown 600 W Van Buren St April 12 - May 3, 2024 Featuring work from:
Eleonore Zurawski
Julia Signe
Griffin Plumer
William Schaeuble
Carolina Pereira
Abraham Cone
Kate Morrick
Ashkon Haidari
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Te Dire Quien Eres
Isabella Mellado - 1541 W Chicago Ave April 10 - May 25, 2024 Te Diré Quien Eres is a solo show of paintings, photographs, and small works by Isabella Mellado. The works in this show are to the artist as sigils are to the witch, and are a visual exploration of self-actualization through relationships—coven, platonic, romantic, familial & self. The title of this... Read more -
The Digs Chicago Burrow
November 10 - December 16, 2023 Devina Dhawan
Serena Hocharoen
Zoe Minzenberger
Rachel Boswell
Jayne King
Kimberly Williamson
Dara Schuman
Paulina Lucyna
Laura Botham
Isa Suárez-Sikes
Brianna Freitag
Natalie Wagner
Lexi Thorstenson
Zita Brizzi
Fawn Penn
Ingrid Nelson Read more -
Under the Cherry Moon
Ashkon Haidari (b. 1991) is a Chicago artist. September 22 - October 28, 2023 Drawing on a deep relationship with ancient history as well as his Persian heritage, Ashkon tells contemporary stories. In layered spaces that reference centuries of graphic art, he contributes uniquely to the legacy of surrealism. Ashkon has shown for over 10 years nationally. His work has been exhibited recently in... Read more -
Hubert Neal Jr: Thoughts and Prayers
Produced in collaboration with IV Gallery LA July 7 - 30, 2023 In the artist’s first Chicago solo show, Hubert Neal Jr. comes home from Los Angeles with a strong statement reflecting on the state of the world. In his unique graphic language, he illustrates historical and personal experiences of hope, atrocity, and celebration. Hubert Neal Jr. is a Chicago artist that... Read more -
The Space Show / Fuzzy Memories
William Schaeuble, Griffin Plumer, Eleonore Zurawski / Carolina Pereira June 2 - July 2, 2023 Gallery 1: The Space Show In the front room, new works inspired by the vastness, strangeness, danger and intrigue of outer space. Featuring new painting work--and vastly different approaches--from Povos mainstays William Schaeuble, Griffin Plumer, and Eleonore Zurawski. Gallery 2: Fuzzy Memories Carolina Pereira makes her Povos debut with Fuzzy... Read more -
Tony Fitzpatrick : The Lunch Drawings
with Hannah Chavez, Sierra Severson, Owen Spryszak, Messejah Washington April 12 - May 21, 2023 TONY FITZPATRICK (b.1963) is a Chicago-based artist best known for his multimedia collages, printmaking, paintings, and drawings. Fitzpatrick's work are inspired by Chicago street culture, cities he has traveled to, children's books, tattoo designs, and folk art. Fitzpatrick has authored or illustrated eight books of art and poetry, and, for the last two years has written a column for the Newcity. Fitzpatrick's art appears in the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, the Met, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, and the National Museum of American Art in Washington, DC. The Neville Brothers' album Yellow Moon and the Steve Earle's albums El Corazon and The Revolution Starts Now also feature Fitzpatrick's art. In 1992, Fitzpatrick opened a Chicago-based printmaking studio, Big Cat Press. Before making a living as an artist, Fitzpatrick worked as a radio host, bartender, boxer, construction worker, and film and stage actor. Read more -
Bloom: a spring group show
March 3 - April 2, 2023 Povos Announces Inaugural Exhibition at New West Town Location, First of 2023
Bloom features the work of 31 artists examining spring in landscapes real and imagined.
Povos is thrilled to announce Bloom, the inaugural exhibition in the gallery’s new location at
1541 W Chicago Ave. Bloom includes work from 31 artists, the vast majority of whom are young, emerging artists local to Chicago and the Midwest.
In the words of Tolstoy, “spring is the time of plans and projects.” Bloom examines spring as a period for rebirth and growth both pictorially and symbolically, the first fruits of several months of labor that gallerist Lucca Colombelli put into renovating a new home for Povos and its artists in West Town. With Bloom, the gallery welcomes not only a forthcoming change in weather, but a new season of growth.
Colombelli’s focus on landscape and nature for his first curatorial adventure at Povos’s new location is fitting for the landscape artist, whose own work, “Sun Sets on Winter” is included in the show alongside faces familiar to long standing followers of the gallery and its impressive roster of highly emergent young artists: William Schaeuble, Eleonore Zurawski, Madeleine Finley, Griffin Plumer & Benito Quas Longoria, who makes his Povos debut with Bloom in
anticipation of a solo show later in the year.
"I think it is always a win when a group of artists get together and pull something off,” Colombelli said. “With Povos’s recent move to West Town, I am honored to be among some of the biggest Chicago names in art dealing. It feels like we have a seat at the table." The formation and transcription of narrative within those interpretations serve to guide viewers naturally through the new, 2300 square foot space. The gallery’s clean, minimalist aesthetic brings the lush texture and chroma of these myriad landscapes, real and imagined, into sharp relief.
Daylight savings is just around the corner and Chicagoans have been teased with false spring long enough; despite what the forecast may promise (or threaten), a new season has commenced at Povos. Read more -
Ties Between
Madeleine Finley & Eleonore Zurawski December 9, 2022 - January 25, 2023 Examining the limitations of media, Ties Between confronts painting as a process for processing. Through our lives we gradually abstract our experience only to encounter pareidolia in self-reflection. The difficult beauty of painting is the threat of denouement. The pressure of decision enforces some finality upon those otherwise aggressively fluid... Read more -
Work In Progress
Anthony Adcock November 18 - December 4, 2022 Anthony Adcock: Work in Progress is the second installment of a traveling solo exhibition, opening on Friday, November 18th at Povos Chicago from 5-9pm. Povos is proud to host this unique show following the successful first installment of the exhibition at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Povos Collaborated with Anthony Adcock... Read more -
Passage
Griffin Plumer October 7 - November 13, 2022 A sleepless dream. New works from Griffin Plumer highlight sleep and its parallels to death. Read more -
This is Dedicated to____
Ashkon Haidari September 1 - 30, 2022 Povos is proud to present 6 new works from Chicago artist Ashkon Haidari (b 1991). Come experience the large oil works in this 10 day exhibition. Read more -
inside Games Outside Games
WILLIAM SCHAEUBLE August 5 - September 18, 2022 Cats, birds, and the rest of the crew continue on their Schaeublian odyssey and engage in a fierce exploration of space in a spaceless universe, finding plenty of games to play along the way. A new body of work from William Schaeuble introduces us further to how his characters deal... Read more -
Hommage
Photographic works by Julius Adorsu July 21 - 31, 2022 Julius Kwasi Wisdom Adorsu is a photographer, model, and mixed media artist based between Chicago and South Africa. Read more -
Fables
Group show Curated by Lucca Colombelli & William Schaeuble June 8 - July 18, 2022 Welcome to the worlds of 18 local artists. Traverse the odd and magical, the dark, soft, and the generally strange. Enter and form narratives in a space unburdened by reason and unweathered by time. What will you learn? Read more -
Bimbofication Sensation
Juan Arango Palacios & Kevin Sabo April 8 - May 22, 2022 Bimbofication Sensation was a wildly popular duo exhibition featuring works by Juan Arango Palacios and Kevin Sabo. Reflecting on notions of gender identity, femininity, and a queer experience, these works personify the artists' expression of the inner-self. Heavily influenced by Drag culture, these paintings flaunt notions of extravagance and boldness.... Read more
