On Wednesday, September 19th the much-anticipated expoChicago, debuted at Navy Pier in Chicago. The opening preview for this largely contemporary fair attracted a crowd of 3,000 visitors. Among the 100 international galleries were four METRO dealers.

Hill Gallery had a large booth with contemporary and modern masters by Louise Bourgeois, Mark Di Suervo, David Smith, and Bob Thompson. I also spotted a couple of Bill Traylors on this wall.

Tim Hill with a di Suervo sculpture

Carl Hammer + Marilyn

The centerpiece of Carl Hammer Gallery‘s booth was an eye-catching Warhol-style Marilyn by Cameron Gray– assembled from hundreds of photos of flowers.  His booth also featured works by C.J. Pyle, Martin Ramirez and Henry Darger – among others.

Frank Maresca with Kathy Murphy of Art + Auction

Ricco Maresca Gallery had an eclectic mix of work, including: large-scale photographs by Tim Freccia, drawings by Martin Ramirez and George Widener, color photographs by Amanda Means and a Calder painting. The centerpiece of his booth was a stunning blue assemblage of anodized aluminum ball chains by Alice Hope.

Pace Prints’ affiliate, Pace Gallery, was there with this beautiful Antoni Tápies painting as well as works by such artists as Kiki Smith, Sol LeWitt, Joel Shapiro and Maya Lin.

In January these dealers will exhibit at METRO in a much smaller physical environment but in a fair with a much greater diversity of material, which will lend a very different sort of texture to their works!