Cover Art: Nereida Patricia | Cover Design: Dan Streeting
Our annual Breakout Artists edition has come full circle.
We launched it in 2004, timed to align with the city’s then-predominant art fair, Art Chicago, which took place every spring. We thought it made perfect sense to amplify the city’s emerging artists when the art fair brought collectors, curators and aficionados together in pursuit of discovery.
In 2012, that fair ended its run and EXPO Chicago launched, but its September dates meant that the largest art event of the year no longer aligned with Breakout Artists. Until now. After pandemic postponements over the last couple of years, EXPO Chicago is now a springtime affair.
We could not be more thrilled to see the return of EXPO Chicago this April, with its jolt of cultural energy and the chance to connect with new ideas and images. And we’re teaming up with Chicago Artists Coalition, 2130 West Fulton, for a Breakout Artists Exhibition that will launch during the art fair and then run through May 26.
I’ve been working on the story about the Usina de Arte in this issue since last September; I am pleased to hear that Brazilian artist Denise Milan, a central figure in that narrative, will be in town for EXPO Chicago. We’re hoping to work with James Choi on the Chicago premiere of his documentary film about her, “Engage Earth,” that weekend, but arrangements are still tentative. Please keep an eye on Newcity Today, our daily email newsletter, for the details.
And, because April is not busy enough, our new film, Michael Glover Smith’s “Relative,” will have its Chicago premiere at the Midwest Film Festival at the Gene Siskel Film Center on April 5.
The convergence of three passions—art, film and Brazil—that first week in April is giving us spring fever.
But it’s a fever tempered by the cloud of despair that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has brought onto the world. Artist Nick Merlock Jackson has collaborated with a friend in the war zone for a unique and sobering perspective in this issue, “DMs from Kyiv.”
BRIAN HIEGGELKE
Look for Newcity’s April 2022 print edition at over 300 Chicago-area locations this week or subscribe to the print edition at Newcityshop.com.
IN THIS ISSUE
DMs from Kyiv A conversation with a friend in the war zone
Sugar High Getting lost in the tropical paradise of Usina de Arte
Breakout Artists Meet the new generation of creators
Poetry Supermoon in April
And so much more…
Related Stories
Editor's Letter: April 2021 Of the 132 Breakout Artists before this year, forty-two have gallery representation, which is a status accorded to a select few artists.
Editor's Letter: April 2023 This is the twentieth time we've published a Breakout Artist edition and we'll have the companion public exhibition of Breakout Artists, which this year opens April 12 at the Chicago Artists Coalition (CAC) space.
Editor's Letter: December 2022 As we end this year, we want to thank all of you for your continuing readership and support. You're the engine fueling us.
