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@the_arts_of_life
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Hi my dears, join us this evening from 5-8 for the opening of 𝒲𝒶𝓁𝓀𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝑜𝓃 𝒶𝓃 𝒜𝒾𝓇𝓎 𝑅𝑜𝒶𝒹 guest curated by @annakunzchicago and @carie_lassman. The show features works by:

Marcelo Aguilar – Melina Ausikaitis – Rick Briggs – Rosanna Bruno – Robert Burnier – Abraham Cone – Veronica Cuculich – Sam Filicky – Erol Scott Harris – Holly Holmes – Julia Klein – Alysha Kostelny – Ingrid Yi-Chen Lu – Laura McManus – Aya Nakamura – Hubert Posey – Brian Reed – Lucy Walsh – Chris Viau

Closing hours with the curators:
November 6, 2026
5:00 – 8:00 pm by @circlecontemporary

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2 days ago

Jacket of unwanted paintings Aitis/Mausikaitis. Thanks to amazing artists Maria Reyes & Brian Wells as well as a number of unknown daubers for their canvases.

walking on an airy road at Circle Contemporary opens tonight _ Friday, October 2nd, 5-8pm

curated by Carie Lassman and Anna Kunz and also exhibiting work by Marcelo Aguilar, Rick Briggs, Rosanna Bruno, Robert Burnier, Abraham Cone, Veronica Cucalich, San Flicky, Erol Scott Harris, Holly Holmes, Julia Klein, Alysha Kostelny, Ingrid Yi-Chen Lu, Laura McManus, Aya Nakamura, Hubert Posey, Brian Reed, Lucy Walsh, and Chris Viau.

2010 W Carroll Ave, Chicago taken in Arts of Life by @circlecontemporary

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2 days ago

Death Magic opens this Friday 5-8pm guest curated by Ryan M. Pfeiffe ☠️🕯️🪄 taken in Arts of Life by @circlecontemporary

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2 months ago

Honeybun opens tonight at @ulcchicago join us for the reception 🥳 taken in Union League Club of Chicago by @circlecontemporary

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2 months ago

DEATH MAGIC opens this Friday 8/7 at Circle Contemporary @circlecontemporary - @the_arts_of_life

Thank you to @sick_nchutzenhofer @intuitartmuseum @kinseyinstitute and @corbettvsdempsey without whose generous support this exhibition would not be made possible.

- - -

Pray, carve, bleed, sing. Insist that to look death in the face, ritually and repeatedly, is how one kisses life on the lips. This is magic understood plainly: not sleight of hand, but the discipline of transformation, and religion in its most degraded form.

The sacred, in this view, is not piety but rupture: sacrifice ecstasy laughter daemonic entities and the corpse. Death here is not simply a subject but a method. Art becomes the site where the restricted economy of production and survival is deliberately breached, where a sovereign act of wasting oneself - bleeding, praying, dancing, carving toward no useful end - recovers a continuity between beings that ordinary, bounded selfhood forecloses. The works gathered here stage exactly this breach: each refuses the discreteness the self is supposed to maintain, offering itself instead as a willful expenditure, a controlled burn of the prairie’s boundary - on the border where the living meet the dead.

Beneath that scorched wound runs a river. Death is not an event waiting at the end of a life but a force already coursing through it. A pure differentiation, the self already a multiplicity being continuously undone and reassembled beneath its own name. This current treats the human not as a form to be preserved but as a threshold to be laughed at, dissolved, desire & death fused into a single accelerant burning through identity toward what is on the other side. This exhibition's icons are not meditations on mortality, they are remnants of mortality’s discharge, operations and apparatuses built by hand and by body to run the current of death through the self on purpose - not to master it, but to see, however briefly, who or what rears its head from beneath the surface.

@ronathey_4
@rachael.bos
@monikaplioplyte
@69jamiedude
@sunraarkestraofficial
@jeanwilsonwolf
@mariaevanik
#albertzahn
#norbertkox
#johnserl
#marquisvonbayros
#sunra taken in Arts of Life by @circlecontemporary

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2 months ago

Hi folks,

Tomorrow is the last day to catch Wild Thing GUEST CURATED BY PIA SINGH, we will be hosting closing hours from 5-8pm, be there or be ⬜️.

Featuring works by:

Elena Ailes – Chris Austin – Sayera Anwar – Cecilia Beaven – Renata Berdes – Chris Bradley – Zachary Cahill – Isamu Guy Conners – Mari Eastman – Sam Filicky – Joshi Radin Flores – Rosemary Hall – Erin Hayden – Lucy Cash and Mark Jeffery – Lawrence M. – Allyson Packer – Jasmeen Patheja – Carol Pyes – Tongji Philip Qian – Kellie Romany – D. Rosen – Alex Scott – Jacqueline Surdell – Chris Viau – Jean Wilson
 Since 2020, Meta’s algorithm has been flooded with snippets of interspecies empathy- animals in different states of crisis have begun to display “human-like” behavior. From birds caring for pregnant felines, to horses rearing rabbits, or the story of a raccoon and dog forming a lifelong bond… existing (and surviving) stressors of climate catastrophe, war, and urban degradation, we quietly watch primates hug one another, refuse abandonment despite human threat, touching and protecting one another in ways that exceed the human affective awareness.

Wild Thing traces these parallel trajectories and continuities, not just between the bipeds and beasts, but more broadly, within the worlds of artists. Seeking visions and eccentricities from Arts of Life’s studio artists paired with contemporaries of our time, Wild Thing will explore the evolution of all animals, some beasts, and other mutants (some more mutant than others) to explore what remains to be learned from our fellow species. At a time when less-than-human empathies and kindness seem to exceed more-than-human cravings for interplanetary domination, worldly greed, and bloodlust, several artists collectively scratch at the uncanny zone between human-animal-nature, questioning hierarchical notions of humans being ‘higher’ or more evolved in our understanding, in the scala naturae. by @circlecontemporary

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3 months ago

Hey folks join us tomorrow, 5-8 we’ll be doing a feral little walk through of the current show guest curated by @pia_singh9. “Animals first entered the imagination as messengers, as promises.” -John Berger, Why Look at Animals?

Softening the opposition between man and “animal”, several pairings in this group exhibition argue against the exploitation and subjugation of who or what have come to be perceived as “others”

Join us for an artist-curator walkthrough of Wild Thing this Friday, June 12th, between 6-7.30 pm. Anticipate an unruly and untamable plurality of tempers and utterances 🐾

[Work detail- Lawrence M.’s ‘Untitled (Firebelly Toad and Yellow stickers), offset lithograph and stickers on paper, 8.5x 11”, available by request] by @circlecontemporary

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4 months ago

Hi folks,

Many, Many Thanks to all who came out for the opening of our current exhibition Wild Thing GUEST CURATED BY PIA SINGH, on view through July 10th.

Please reach out to cc@artsoflife.org for appointments.

Featuring:

Elena Ailes – Chris Austin – Sayera Anwar – Cecilia Beaven – Renata Berdes – Chris Bradley – Zachary Cahill – Isamu Guy Conners – Mari Eastman – Sam Filicky – Joshi Radin Flores – Rosemary Hall – Erin Hayden – Lucy Cash and Mark Jeffery – Lawrence M. – Allyson Packer – Jasmeen Patheja – Carol Pyes – Tongji Philip Qian – Kellie Romany – D. Rosen – Alex Scott – Jacqueline Surdell – Chris Viau – Jean Wilson
 Since 2020, Meta’s algorithm has been flooded with snippets of interspecies empathy- animals in different states of crisis have begun to display “human-like” behavior. From birds caring for pregnant felines, to horses rearing rabbits, or the story of a raccoon and dog forming a lifelong bond… existing (and surviving) stressors of climate catastrophe, war, and urban degradation, we quietly watch primates hug one another, refuse abandonment despite human threat, touching and protecting one another in ways that exceed the human affective awareness.

Wild Thing traces these parallel trajectories and continuities, not just between the bipeds and beasts, but more broadly, within the worlds of artists. Seeking visions and eccentricities from Arts of Life’s studio artists paired with contemporaries of our time, Wild Thing will explore the evolution of all animals, some beasts, and other mutants (some more mutant than others) to explore what remains to be learned from our fellow species. At a time when less-than-human empathies and kindness seem to exceed more-than-human cravings for interplanetary domination, worldly greed, and bloodlust, several artists collectively scratch at the uncanny zone between human-animal-nature, questioning hierarchical notions of humans being ‘higher’ or more evolved in our understanding, in the scala naturae.

Guest curator hours:
June 12th, 2026
5:00 – 8:00 pm. by @circlecontemporary

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5 months ago

REMINDER!!! Our intrepid guest curator @madelinegallucci will be hosting EXPO walkthrough hours for their exhibition The Threshold Varies this Saturday April 11th, from 5-8 pm.

RADAR is pleased to present The Threshold Varies, a group exhibition featuring artists who engage in perception as something that is variable, contingent, and unstable.

Artists include Elizabeth Allen-Cannon, Michael Cuadrado Gonzalez, Ben Gould, Paul Heyer, Katrina Jackson, Will Krauland, Lawrence M., Susan Pasowicz, Forrest Frederick, Noelia Towers, and Lucy Walsh.

@the_arts_of_life
@circlecontemporary !

@aallenc
@pichael_
@benegould
@paulhigher247
#katrinajackson
@see4eva
#LawrenceM.
@susan_pasowicz
@forrestfrederick
@noeliatowers
@lucy_kid_danger_walsh_12_

Special thanks to @latitudechi and @documentspace for the printing and mounting assistance.

RADAR is a curatorial platform supporting artists and their practices in the Midwest, founded by @madelinegallucci. Learn more at radarmidwest.com

—
Saturday, April 11th from 5:00-8:00pm
During EXPO ART WEEK, join guest curator Madeline Gallucci—artist and founder of RADAR—for an inside look at the exhibition The Threshold Varies. Gallucci will share insights into the curatorial framework behind the exhibition and discuss RADAR’s mission to support Midwest artists through emerging and collaborative initiatives.

The Threshold Varies brings together 11 artists who treat perception as something that is variable, contingent, and unstable. Featuring Elizabeth Allen-Cannon, Michael Cuadrado Gonzalez, Ben Gould, Paul Heyer, Katrina Jackson, Will Krauland, Lawrence M, Susan Pasowicz, Forrest Frederick, Noelia Towers, and Lucy Walsh, the works in the exhibition operate between containment and overflow, hovering at the limits of visibility and testing how intensity becomes legible. by @circlecontemporary

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6 months ago

Hi my dears,

We are very excited to be presenting our next exhibition opening tomorrow Friday March 13th from 5-8 pm.

RADAR is pleased to present The Threshold Varies, a group exhibition featuring artists who engage in perception as something that is variable, contingent, and unstable.

Artists include Elizabeth Allen-Cannon, Michael Cuadrado Gonzalez, Ben Gould, Paul Heyer, Katrina Jackson, Will Krauland, Lawrence M., Susan Pasowicz, Forrest Frederick, Noelia Towers, and Lucy Walsh.

@the_arts_of_life
@circlecontemporary !

@aallenc
@pichael_
@benegould
@paulhigher247
#katrinajackson
@see4eva
#LawrenceM.
@susan_pasowicz
@forrestfrederick
@noeliatowers
@lucy_kid_danger_walsh_12_

Special thanks to @latitudechi and @documentspace for the printing and mounting assistance.

RADAR is a curatorial platform supporting artists and their practices in the Midwest, founded by @madelinegallucci. Learn more at radarmidwest.com

—
Saturday, April 11th from 5:00-8:00pm
During EXPO ART WEEK, join guest curator Madeline Gallucci—artist and founder of RADAR—for an inside look at the exhibition The Threshold Varies. Gallucci will share insights into the curatorial framework behind the exhibition and discuss RADAR’s mission to support Midwest artists through emerging and collaborative initiatives.

The Threshold Varies brings together 11 artists who treat perception as something that is variable, contingent, and unstable. Featuring Elizabeth Allen-Cannon, Michael Cuadrado Gonzalez, Ben Gould, Paul Heyer, Katrina Jackson, Will Krauland, Lawrence M, Susan Pasowicz, Forrest Frederick, Noelia Towers, and Lucy Walsh, the works in the exhibition operate between containment and overflow, hovering at the limits of visibility and testing how intensity becomes legible. by @circlecontemporary

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7 months ago

Hi folks,

Join us this Friday February 27th, 5-8 for the closing of 𝘔𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘙𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 curated by @danbyhanburger

The show features works by:

Sonya Bogdanova – Kacie Lees – Melissa McClung – Susan Pasowicz – John Phelan – Carol Peyes – Tim Stone – Kevin Stuart – Amy Vogel
 
In the late 1970s, Canadian media theorist Marshall McLuhan posited two types of sensory-cultural paradigms: visual and acoustic space. According to McLuhan, we in the industrialized West live in visual space. We transitioned to this during the time of the Greeks, and it was reinforced during the Renaissance. He writes that, since, “Western civilization has been mesmerized by a picture of the universe as a limited container in which all things are arranged according to the vanishing point, in linear geometric order.”
He continues, “Such is the power of Euclidian or visual space that we can’t live with a circle unless we square it.”
Acoustic space, he contends, existed for hundreds of thousands of years prior (and still outlives the Greeks in certain cultures). “The world was multicentered and reverberating,” he writes. “It was gyroscopic. Life was like being inside a sphere, 360 degrees without margins; swimming underwater; or balancing on a bicycle.” Acoustic space does not represent things “one-at-a-time” with the “uniform ethos of the alphabet.” Rather, it “comes to us from above, below, and the sides.”
This is not merely a morphological concept. McLuhan implies that whichever paradigm a culture accepts determines in large part that society’s “perception of sanity.” Optical, linear logic tends towards hierarchy, exclusion, and—McLuhan ventures—even violence: “something is either in that space or not.” I think this determination is political in an age of division and persecution.
So this exhibition is a thought experiment: is visual art doomed to visual space? Can visual artists escape the vanishing point and capture the multicentered and reverberating, non-hierarchical aspects of acoustic space? by @circlecontemporary

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7 months ago

Hi folks,

Join us tonight 5-8 for the opening of 𝘔𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘙𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 curated by @danbyhanburger

The show features works by:

Sonya Bogdanova – Kacie Lees – Melissa McClung – Susan Pasowicz – John Phelan – Carol Peyes – Tim Stone – Kevin Stuart – Amy Vogel
 
GUEST CURATOR: Danny Floyd is an artist, researcher, curator, and educator based in Chicago. He holds a BFA in Photography from RISD, an MA in Visual & Critical Studies, and an MFA in Sculpture, both from SAIC. He is an Assistant Professor, Adjunct of Visual & Critical Studies, and the Undergraduate Division at SAIC. He also served as the Exhibitions Director for ACRE. Since 2013, he has been an active part of Chicago’s artist-run space community through two programs, Ballroom Projects and Adler & Floyd. He has held curatorial residencies with ACRE and Chicago Artists Coalition. He was also awarded the Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation Curatorial Fellowship in 2017. He has attended studio residencies at ACRE; AS220 in Providence, RI; Earthbound Moon in Eugene, OR; The Residency Project in Pasadena, CA; and The Roger Brown House in New Buffalo, MI. He began his teaching career in 2010 at a self-proclaimed “postmodern art camp” in Western Massachusetts for children aged 11 to 16 whose freewheeling ethos of interdisciplinary experimentation still informs his teaching and art-making. by @circlecontemporary

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8 months ago