SKIN + MASKS with Kavi Gupta Gallery

EXPO CHICAGO, the international exposition of contemporary and modern art, and The Magnificent Mile® Association, with Kavi Gupta Gallery, announce the presentation of the third iteration of SKIN + MASKS, curated by Vic Mensa and Chanelle Lacy. The group show will feature a variety of emerging and established Chicago-based contemporary artists and will be on view through April 2023 at 535 N Michigan Avenue on Chicago’s iconic Magnificent Mile.

As part of a continued effort to bring invigorating visual art to Michigan Avenue that included Nick Cave and Bob Faust’s Rapt on the Mileinstallation last Fall, The Magnificent Mile Association has again partnered with EXPO CHICAGO to expand art offerings for residents and consumers in a new collaboration brought to life with Kavi Gupta Gallery.

For his curatorial debut, Vic Mensa deploys a seminal text by Antilles-born author Frantz Fanon (b. 1925 — d. 1961) as a foundation for a group art exhibition aimed at decolonizing art beyond the politics of visibility. In his 1952 book Black Skin, White Masks, Fanon presented a psychoanalytical tour-de-force, exposing how colonization weaponized skin as an agent of alienation, imposing an existential divide on people. SKIN + MASKS features work by a range of Chicago-based contemporary artists who, like Fanon, are striving to understand and express the meaning of identity not from the vantage point of White gaze, but from the perspective of individual realities.

Mensa, a Grammy-nominated rapper, author, singer, visual artist, activist and NAACP Image Awards nominee, is also the founder of SaveMoneySaveLife, a Chicago-based, philanthropic non-profit organization operating at the intersection of art, entertainment and sustainable social change.

“SKIN + MASKS is a cultural conversation spanning bandwidth of race, identity and art, created in collaboration with Kavi Gupta Gallery,” said Vic Mensa. “Since its launch in July, it has seen multiple different iterations, and we are ecstatic to expand it into its next existence as a limited engagement installation on Michigan Avenue. With this new moment in the life of SKIN + MASKS, we look to develop the show’s conceptual framework while spotlighting even more brilliant work from some of the same, and some different, Chicago creators.”

“SKIN + MASKS has served as a community centered incubator of expansive conversation and radical performance since its debut this summer. The gallery prides itself on amplifying diverse voices and partnering with Vic Mensa on this show has not only brought more seats to the table, but broadened the table itself,” said Chanelle Lacy. “I could not be more thrilled to join as co-curator of this next iteration of SKIN + MASKS in ongoing support of our mission to provide elevated platforms, such as the Magnificent Mile, for diverse communities of artists both emerging and established that are often overlooked or marginalized.”

“We are proud to be collaborating with the Magnificent Mile Association, Kavi Gupta Gallery and the curators, Vic Mensa and Chanelle Lacy, to present this groundbreaking contemporary art exhibition,” said Tony Karman, President | Director, EXPO CHICAGO.  “This limited engagement installation on Michigan Avenue is a wonderful addition to Chicago’s great Magnificent Mile, showcasing to the world the work of emerging Chicago-based artists and the rich artistic talent that is active in our great city today.”

“Art, architecture and engaging experiences contribute to the magic that is created daily on The Magnificent Mile,” said Kimberly Bares,President and CEO of The Magnificent Mile Association. “We are thrilled that this group art exhibition will be on display for Chicago residents and visitors to enjoy, and that the works are available for people to add to their own collections.”

Acclaimed established and emerging artists featured in the show include AFRICOBRA co-founder Gerald Williams, Nikko Washington, Mia Lee, Thelonious Stokes, Lola Ayisha Ogbara and more.

The exhibition will run through the tenth anniversary edition of EXPO CHICAGO (April 13 – 16) and present programming during EXPO ART WEEK to engage artists featured in SKIN + MASKS. The exposition’s tenth anniversary edition will celebrate a decade of bringing leading modern and contemporary art from around the world to Chicago, solidifying the city’s place as an international art hub and a convener for global perspectives and creativity. The 2023 edition of the fair will feature more than 140 exhibitors, in addition to bringing more than 80 curators and countless artists, collectors and creatives from around the world to Navy Pier’s Festival Hall.

SKIN + MASKS is made possible through the collaboration by EXPO CHICAGO and The Magnificent Mile Association with Kavi Gupta Gallery. Special thanks to the City of Chicago for sponsorship. This program is also sponsored by the American Rescue Plan.

For more information on SKIN + MASKS, please click here.