Art has always been a medium for individuals to leave a piece
of themselves behind. A signature, a story, a vision imprinted
on the world. In Edition 13 of THE OG, we celebrate artists who transcend the traditional boundaries of painting by creating work that pushes the limits of their medium and leaves an indelible mark on our collective cultural consciousness.
OSGEMEOS transform cities into vibrant dreamscapes, infusing imagination into public spaces and redefining how we engage art
in daily life. José Parlá captures the beauty of time and memory through textured works that layer surfaces in stories of resilience and transformation. Bisa Butler reimagines portraiture with vibrant quilted masterpieces, honoring history and bridging generations through bold, emotive storytelling. Anthony Akinbola elevates
the everyday through materials like durags, transforming the familiar into previously unseen narratives.
The artists of Edition 13 remind us that to leave a mark doesn’t necessarily mean using a brush on canvas. It means reshaping the world around you, transforming the materials and spaces available to create something that demands to be remembered.
As you turn these pages, we hope their stories inspire you to leave your mark–something lasting, meaningful, and wholly your own.
Edition 14
FEATURED
FEATURED
THE
DIGGS
At The Digs, ceramics becomes a medium of collective learning and personal transformation. Founded in 2020 by artists Fawn Penn and Zoe Minzenberger, the Chicago-based studio offers a radically open and collaborative space for artists working with clay. The 6,000-square-foot facility hosts classes, residencies, and a unique open-layout workspace that encourages peer learning and cross-pollination. Artists are invited to problem-solve, share techniques, and build alongside one another—an intentional departure from the isolating myths of solitary studio practice. As the founders put it, The Digs is about creating something “you haven’t seen before,” rooted in pace, process, and mutual respect. It’s a space where memory lives in material, and where the future of ceramics is shaped together, one piece at a time.
GERTIE
& My Grandma
Gertie began with a lunch and a life lesson. When Abby Pritzker sat down with her grandmother, civic leader Cindy “Mama” Pritzker, she didn’t expect to walk away with the founding philosophy of her next major project. But Mama’s advice was clear: stop thinking about yourself and find purpose in others. That conversation planted the seed for Gertie, a platform focused on creative convening, civic experimentation, and cross-sector community building. From artist talks in neighborhood bars to the launch of Chicago Exhibition Weekend, Gertie is redefining what inclusive cultural infrastructure looks like. It operates on the belief that authentic relationships—not institutions—are the engine of transformation. Gertie is both a tribute to Chicago’s civic history and a roadmap for its creative future.
MONIQUE
MELLOCHE
For 25 years, Monique Meloche has operated with a singular curatorial vision: put the artist first. From her early exhibitions in her own home to a decade of programming in Chicago’s Wicker Park, Meloche has championed work that’s experimental, socially resonant, and sometimes, impossible to sell. But it’s this trust in artists and their ideas that has earned her a reputation as one of the city’s most forward-thinking gallerists. Meloche helped launch the careers of now-household names like Rashid Johnson and Ebony G. Patterson, and she continues to support a roster of artists whose practices are rigorous, political, and deeply rooted in craft. Her story is one of risk, endurance, and curatorial integrity in a rapidly shifting art market. This year’s anniversary exhibition, 25!, brings together artists past and present in a rare group show that celebrates the long arc of commitment and community.
ART ON
THE MART
With 34 high-powered projectors and a facade the size of two football fields, Art on the Mart transforms downtown Chicago into an open-air cultural landmark. Under the leadership of Executive Director Cynthia Noble, the project blends the monumental with the intimate—featuring work from international stars like Nick Cave and Barbara Kruger alongside local students, dance companies, and designers. But beyond its visual spectacle, Art on the Mart represents a bold curatorial statement about access, civic life, and the future of public art. Noble, a museum veteran, has built a model of thoughtful curation within a private-public partnership, ensuring community representation through advisory boards and neighborhood engagement. At a moment when cities are rethinking how public space functions, Art on the Mart offers a luminous, democratic answer: bring the art to the people, and let it speak for itself.
ROBERT
NAVA
Painter Robert Nava builds mythologies out of memory, mischief, and the raw emotional charge of line. Known for his riotous canvases of monsters, angels, and dreamlike hybrids, Nava embraces the spirit of childhood imagination without sacrificing conceptual depth. Trained at Yale and raised in East Chicago, he draws from both art-historical canon and personal history—filtering his influences through a distinctly irreverent, expressive style. His monsters are part-seraph, part-graffiti, part-psychic excavation, appearing in vivid acrylics and energetic mark-making that resist easy interpretation. Nava’s practice is as much about play as it is about reckoning—with violence, vulnerability, and the weight of tradition. His recent return to oil painting in After Hours signals a new chapter in his evolving mythopoeia: deeper, darker, but no less electric.
OBAMA
PRESIDENTIAL CENTER
The Obama Presidential Center isn’t just a monument to a presidency—it’s a testament to place. Set in Jackson Park, on Chicago’s South Side, the 20-acre project aims to serve as both civic institution and neighborhood resource. Executive Vice President Mike Strautmanis, himself a South Side native, has spent the past decade ensuring that the Center reflects the community’s needs, hopes, and history. From affordable housing advocacy to youth programming and major public art commissions, the Center is redefining what legacy infrastructure can look like. Anchored by the Obamas’ belief in full, multidimensional lives, it invites visitors to explore identity, activism, and the power of ordinary people to create extraordinary change. This is more than a building—it’s a place for dreaming, gathering, and growing together.
NATHANIEL
MARY QUINN
Nathaniel Mary Quinn’s portraits fracture, reassemble, and confront. Working in a signature style that blends charcoal, gouache, and oil into collage-like compositions, Quinn creates faces that hold pain, power, and deep personal memory. Born and raised in the Robert Taylor Homes, he survived abandonment, grief, and economic hardship to become one of today’s most respected contemporary artists. His rise—from teaching by day in Bed-Stuy to showing with Gagosian—is the product of relentless discipline, an unshakable inner vision, and a commitment to telling the truth of lived experience. His upcoming Gagosian solo show will be his first composed entirely of oil paintings, drawing influence from Alice Walker, Romare Bearden, and the emotional undercurrents of his own story. For Quinn, art is not about arrival—it’s about becoming.
MUSEUM OF
CONTEMPORARY ART CHICAGO
For over five decades, the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago has remained a vital force in shaping the city’s—and the world’s—contemporary art discourse. Under Madeleine Grynsztejn’s directorship, the museum has doubled down on its dual commitment to bold curatorial practice and deep community engagement. Through landmark retrospectives like Forothermore by Nick Cave and upcoming exhibitions with artists like Paul Pfeiffer, the MCA continually finds ways to push boundaries and provoke dialogue. Grynsztejn’s leadership has also reimagined the museum’s physical and civic architecture, from artist-designed gathering spaces to a renewed focus on social practice and hyper-local collaboration. Whether presenting Yoko Ono or Amanda Williams, the MCA makes one thing clear: art that matters is art that listens, responds, and evolves.
NICK CAVE
& BOB FAUST
Facility is more than a studio—it’s a purpose-driven ecosystem shaped by artist Nick Cave and designer Bob Faust. Located in a converted warehouse on Chicago’s Northwest Side, Facility operates as a hybrid space for creation, exhibition, and radical community engagement. Its storefront windows have become a dynamic site for public-facing installations, while the building itself pulses with collaborative projects, mentorship, and cross-institutional partnerships. From exhibitions with Arts of Life to Faust’s architectural intervention for the Intuit Art Museum, Facility exemplifies how space can be both physically expansive and emotionally porous. Grounded in the belief that art can be a tool for belonging, Cave and Faust have created not just a space, but a philosophy: make room, make change, and never forget who you’re building it for.
SIX ARTISTS
SHAPING THE VISUAL LANGUAGE OF CHICAGO
In Remixing Reality, six of Chicago’s most dynamic artists—Brandon Breaux, Brendan Fernandes, Esperanza Rosas, Julian Gaines, Sydnie Jimenez, and Yvette Mayorga—redefine what it means to create from identity. Each artist blends personal narrative, cultural critique, and aesthetic experimentation to challenge the limits of genre and tradition. From sculpture to streetwear, performance to hyperfeminine painting, their practices speak to Chicago’s layered creative ecosystem: one rooted in resilience, risk, and radical self-expression. Together, they form a portrait of a city that doesn’t just reflect culture—it creates it. Featured in HYPERREAL, a collaborative exhibition between THE OG and BAPE, these voices map new futures through myth, memory, and material.