Art Exhibitions

Top Row: Cultural Impact Award was given to Lavett Ballard; work by Dwight White and Marryam Moma. Middle Row: Pigment’s Allison Casselberry and Patricia Everett with Norman Teague; Cow Horn Sculpture by Teague, Paul Bacardi Smith’s Watermelanin. Third row: Chicago in Indy; Work by Lavett Ballard and Nyzere Dillon. The 6th Annual BUTTER Fine Art Fair returned to Indianapolis Labor Day Weekend, continuing its evolution as one of the country’s most consequential artist-centere

Heads/Hearts/Hands by Candace Hunter and In the Land of the Free by Reggie McFly. Both works are headed to museum exhibitions. Flag reinterpretations from Candace Hunter snd Reggie McFly move to museum exhibitions Two artists whose work has moved through Pigment International's galleries are now commanding national attention. Candace Hunter, whose piece Heads/Hearts/Hands from Glory! Glory! — Pigment's exhibition reimagining the American flag through Black artists' eyes — has

What if the Black home could be read as a museum—one filled not with objects behind glass, but with the furniture we inherit, photographs we keep, textiles we make, books we read, and traditions we pass from one generation to the next? That question sits at the center of AfroBohemian Home: An Installation by Zsudayka Nzinga, opening September 2 at the Gregory Allicar Museum of Art at Colorado State University. Curated by Louise Cutler, the exhibition transforms the gallery in

Improvisations in Color” brings new works by the Ethiopian-born painter to Oakland, marking the centennial of jazz legend John Coltrane OAKLAND, CA — Thelma Harris Art Gallery welcomes summer's close with its signature White Linen Afternoon on Saturday, August 22, from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m., celebrating the opening of Improvisations in Color: Wosene Worke Kosrof Celebrates Coltrane. The exhibition, on view through October 25, presents a new body of work by the internationally acc

Monetta White, executive director of MoAD (bottom right) visited Chicago last week Monetta White, Executive Director of the Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD) in San Francisco, brought her vision for Black artistic economic empowerment to Chicago this summer, meeting with Pigment International and a gathering of local artists and arts leaders, including Monique Brinkman-Hill, Executive Director of the South Side Community Art Center.  White's visit centered on building na

Top: Barrett Keithley, Cassandra Wilson, Patricia Andrews-Keenan and Edo; Middle: Edo; Bottom: Ruby Simmons and Gyamfuah Melisiziwe; Right: Jesse Howard. Photos by Tafari Melisiziwe The conversation continues at REVOLUTIONARY, Pigment International's thought-provoking summer exhibition at Vjosa Café & Events. Curated by P. Andrews-Keenan, the exhibition features an extraordinary roster of painters, photographers, and mixed-media artists whose work examines 250 years of Black

Top left - Patricia Andrews-Keenan, September Gray and Diane Dinkins Carr; Revolutionary opened at Vjose Cafe and continues through August 15; Middle row - Sculptor Joseph Kersey, great uncle of Anita Mauro board member of Chicago Sculpture Exhibit. The public art group is celebrating its 25th Anniversary. More scenes from Revolutionary - Phyliss North and Audra Wilson; and bottom row the Simmons - D.E., Ruben and Ruby. New Pigmented merch includes our bucket hat. Orders your

C.O.L.O.U.R.S and Smile Like You Mean It by Edo See His Work This Friday at Revolutionary Among the most intellectually compelling bodies of work in Pigment International's upcoming exhibition Revolutionary, opening July 17 at Vjosa Cafe & Events in Chicago's Bridgeport neighborhood, is C.O.L.O.U.R.S., a new series of work by Chicago artist Eddie ‘Edo’ Santana White. The exhibition explores the ongoing evolution of Black resistance, identity, and self-determination across Am

The Reluctant Ribbon Merchant by Jesse Howard and Patrice Lumumba by Candace Hunter are works in Revolutionary opening July 17th at Vjosa Cafe and Events. Pigment International opens REVOLUNTARY, a bold new group exhibition on July 17 at Vjosa Cafe and Events, 1010 W. 35th Street in Bridgeport. The show runs through August 15th REVOLUNTARY is an extension of Pigment’s February 2026 exhibition Glory! Glory!, which drew national attention for its exploration of the American fl

Blooming Through It by Ingrid Mathurin and bottom work by Alexandria Eregbu. The Art of Blackness at Block 37 is a celebrated exhibition platform that continues its mission of amplifying Black artists while creating space for dialogue around identity, history, and the future. Curated by LaShun Tines, Justin Dwaun Redding, and Anefertiti Bowman, this year's exhibition asks audiences to consider what emerges when truth is honored, memory is preserved, and imagination is embrace

Top left: The Musicians by Loïs Mailou Jones and right God Help America by Maria-Lana Queen. Bottom left Serve and Protect by Kim Rice and Blk Study Apparatus by Nnaemeka (Emeka) Ekwelum. Photos courtesy of Knowhere Art Gallery and the participating artists. This summer, Knowhere Art Gallery on Martha's Vineyard presents two compelling exhibitions that examine Black history, artistic lineage, and the tensions that continue to shape American life. Located in the heart of Oak B

Harmonica & Thelonius by Chris Devins Where music ends, and painting begins, Chicago artist Chris Devins refuses to draw a line. On Friday, July 17, Devins will debut his oil painting “Harmonia and Thelonius” at Bridgeport Art Center’s prestigious 4th Floor Gallery as part of Color Songs: Musicians as Visual Artists, an exhibition curated by Dr. Yaoundé Olu running through September 4, 2026. The work belongs to Devin’s ongoing series “Into the Black,” a body of work committed

Work by Jamele Wright, Sr., Preston Sampson, and Gabrielle Torres will be featured in What the Eye Beholds. Curator September Gray brings a landmark group exhibition to Chicago, exploring perception, memory, and the human experience What the Eye Beholds is a compelling group exhibition presented by Atlanta based September Gray Fine Art Gallery opens in Chicago in July. Curated by September Gray, the show brings together seven visionary contemporary artists whose work interrog

Ted Ellis is now curator at the Amistad Renowned artist and creative historian Ted T. Ellis has been appointed Registrar | Curator of the Amistad Research Center at Tulane University — one of the most significant appointments in recent memory for the institution widely recognized as the world's largest independent archive dedicated to Black history. This month’s appointment marks a powerful convergence of artistic legacy and institutional stewardship. Ellis brings to the role

Danny Simmons - 1953 - 2026 Daniel Dwayne Simmons Jr. — abstract expressionist painter, poet, published author, and philanthropist — passed away on June 14, 2026, at the age of 72. For those who knew his work, not just his famous last name, the loss is seismic.  In New York, he was the oldest Simmons brother — the quiet one who watched Russell build Def Jam and Joey become Rev Run of Run-DMC — while he built something altogether different: a life in paint, a gallery, a movem

The opening of Mickalene Thomas' Beneath the Moonlight at the Shepherd in Detroit. Pigment International recently went to Detroit for the opening of Beneath the Moonlight, a solo exhibition of new work by Mickalene Thomas, presented by Library Street Collective at the Shepherd — a breathtaking arts center carved from a 1912 Romanesque Revival church in Detroit's East Village neighborhood. For more than two decades, Thomas has cultivated a signature visual language rooted in p

Wooden quilts by Jean-Marcel St. Jacques will be part of a fundraising auction by Blacks in Green (BIG) on Juneteenth. On Friday, June 19, 2026, the Woodlawn & South Lakefront Tourism Center in Chicago's Obama Presidential District will host a special Juneteenth Wine, Cheese & Storytelling Fundraiser celebrating history, resilience, and the transformative power of art.  The evening will feature the unveiling of three new works by renowned New Orleans artist Jean-Marcel St. J

Top row - Work by Kayla D. Smith, Jennifer Warren and Erin Gleason; bottom - Work by Jacqueline W. Nuzzo by Harlem Henderson Bodies Luminous, now showing at Chicago’s Women Made Gallery, highlights the multi-dimensional work of 30 women and non-binary artists. It serves as a much-needed critique of androcentrism, both within and beyond museum-superstructure settings, and assesses its role in defining the aesthetic and social value of visual art. This recontextualization of wo

Six Featured Artists Bring Depth, Beauty, and Cultural Legacy to Hyde Park Pigment International will again be exhibiting at the 57th Street Art Fair, one of the city's longest-running fairs, on June 6 & 7. Now in its fourth year at this beloved Hyde Park institution, Pigment's exhibition is a celebration of the country's 250th Anniversary — a showcase of the depth and breadth of our artists. The fair runs Saturday, June 6, from 11 am–6 pm and Sunday, June 7, from 10 am–5 pm.

Nathaniel Mary Quinn's A Love Letter to My Mother at the National Public Housing Museum RUN — don't walk — to experience Chicago native Nathaniel Mary Quinn's first solo museum exhibition at the National Public Housing Museum (NPHM). A Love Letter to My Mother is precisely what its title promises: a deeply personal elegy to the woman whose faith made an artist. Quinn grew up in the Robert Taylor Homes, once the largest public housing complex in the country. What opened as an