Toronto-based Patel Brown presents the witty, humorous work of duo Michael Dumontier and Neil Farber, which explores language, taxation and knowledge. The gallery sold several works on the first day, including a painting valued between $20,000 and $25,000, an $8,000 sculpture and several smaller works.
Equally successful at Focus was Superposition’s presentation of Helina Metafaria’s latest work. The booth features hand-cut mixed media collages, a chiseled bronze crown, ceremonial staff in wood and bronze and a single-channel video recording of the live performance, all within the artist’s ongoing investigation of diasporic identity and ancestral heritage at the intersection of archival, collective and political memory research. The center found one of the bronze sculptures, Crown (Makeda)price of $20,500, and another illustration, Staff (Betiri)valued at $18,500, it was placed in a private collection.
Strong demand on the main floor
A lot of sales were also reported by retailers presenting in the main section throughout the day. Karma of New York and Los Angeles drew attention to the floor with Kathleen Ryan’s “bad fruit” sculptures, where, like today’s vanitas, luxury is traded for tension and decay. The gallery is sold out Bad Lemon (Adrift) again Bad Orange (Deep Blue) (2026) for $150,000 and $135,000 respectively, while all works by Jeremy Frey were placed, including three flatweaves priced between $30,000 and $55,000 and five basket relief prints priced between $18,000 and $30,000.
In direct contrast, the Los Angeles titan Night Gallery showed one of its best artists, Robert Nava, presenting a whole booth of new, electric works where the native of East Chicago continues his accurate work of mythopoiesis through amazing characters. The gallery placed several works on the first day, priced between $40,000 and $200,000. “Our presentation is very exciting for Robert. He grew up outside of Chicago, and visiting the Art Institute (now holding many of his paintings in its collection) and the Field Museum were in order. These institutions provided his first exposure to ‘Art,’ “Brian Faucette, the gallery’s executive director, told the Observer, noting the great connection of work between Imma and Nava. “The cross-fertilization of fine art, pop culture, outsider art, and psychedelia that was at the core of the Hairy Who artist is deeply present in Robert’s famous transformations.”
Among the heavy hitters from the Brazilian ecosystem, Nara Roesler doubled down by participating simultaneously in EXPO and SP-Arte—something the New York gallery director described as “always worth” the effort. The gallery sold three acrylic and oil on canvas works by Brazilian artist Elian Almeida for $22,000, $22,000 and $18,000. Almeida’s naturalistic approach creates an impasto dense with accumulation as he seeks to appropriate and rewrite colonial narratives. The gallery also exhibited the work of Monica Ventura—in porcelain, bronze, wood and gold leaf, valued at $7,000—her biomorphic ceramics explore femininity through ancestral techniques and embodied experiences.
Coming off the show after a remarkable growth in one year of operation, the Miami-based Opa Gallery exhibited a group of new works by the self-taught, Geneva-based, Cameroonian-born artist Maurice Mboa, who, with his metal-sculpted canvases, creates a rich visual atmosphere infused with his brand of animism. Priced between $50,000 and $60,000, the works quickly attracted a lot of interest, following a nearly sold-out show at the gallery earlier this year. The gallery also presents the canvas paintings of French artist Tess Dumon, whose layered compositions convey the psychological shift created by her experience as the mother of an autistic child. Costing around $25,000, these poetic spaces feel intimate and expansive, with a universal sensibility that connects the personal with the universe.
This edition also marked the first official joint presentation of justice between Marc Straus and Swivel Gallery, following their recent collaboration. The collaboration takes place in a large central booth in the main stage, where the two dealers conduct a carefully organized intergenerational dialogue about the material, including artists from both programs and new works by Amy Bravo, Kiah Celeste, Alejandro García Contreras, Lucia Hierro, Otis Jones, Márton Nemes, Sant Saman Annetaut, Marietante, Antonio Nemes, Edgar St. Watt. The gallery put up a few smaller works on the first day and hoped to close the talks with a few more ambitious works in the coming days. Local establishments that anchor the Chicago scene year-round also did well, reporting fewer sales at VIP previews. Patron installed one of Chicago artist Lindsay Adams’ new abridged poems for $32,000, ahead of her solo opening the following week at Sean Kelly’s in New York, following a sold-out show in Los Angeles last year.
The gallery also sold a Caroline Kent painting valued between $15,000 and $45,000 and several densely visible monochrome abstracts by Miao Wang valued between $9,000 and $15,000. Also a standout were the abstract, figurative works of Alice Tippit—described by the artist as “visual poetry”—that build on the abstract language of her current museum exhibit at the DePaul Art Museum before it closes, with prices ranging from $8,500 to $15,000.
Chicago powerhouse moniquemeloche also had a strong first day, placing important new works by Yvette Mayorga, paired in a bright yellow space, next to two paintings by David Shrobe in a shared conversation with traditional painting and art history. In the evening, the gallery confirmed the sale of several works by Sheree Hovsepian and several paintings by Luka Agada. “We had the pleasure of meeting many directors and museum directors in our area, and it was a very active first day at the exhibition,” Meloche told the Observer, and noted the crowding of the gallery in recent days, with out-of-town curators and museum groups visiting their current exhibition of Cheryl Pope’s living spaces.
WRITING, now a regular at major fairs including Art Basel and Frieze, is equally pleased with the new direction of the exhibition center under Sierzputowski’s leadership. “Our first day at EXPO was a success. We were impressed with Kate’s leadership and the energy she brought to the show. It’s a busy week for the city, and we’re proud to be a part of it,” said gallery partner, Sybille Friche. The gallery sold a new work based on the photographs of Paul Mpagi Sepuya, Negative (P1400105) (2024), and one of the set night scenes by Dabin Ahn, Four Seasons: Spring (Seoul, Chicago) (2026), part of the same series the South Korean, Chicago-based artist is currently presenting a solo exhibition at the gallery.
Good Weather is another fast-growing gallery that has built a reputation for a program of exploration both within the Chicago ecosystem and beyond. Presented in a focus section alongside Detroit-based What Pipeline, the gallery featured a solo presentation by Dylan Spaysky, Girls (2026)—a large sculptural installation in a life-size woven wicker basket—from a private collector for $40,000. Straddling between high and low culture, Spaysky offers a witty yet unsettling commentary on the decorative choices, consumption and accumulation with which we construct who we are.
