10 Standout Artworks Discovered at Expo Chicago 2023
The tenth edition of the Midwest fair returned to the city’s famed Navy Pier with 170 galleries representing 36 countries and 90 cities around the world
By Paul Laster
Ricardo Gonzalez at Asya Geisberg Gallery
Born in Mexico City but schooled in Spain and the States, Ricardo Gonzalez is best known for his humorous, graffiti-like, expressionistic drawings and paintings, which he creates in a self-taught, Art Brut style. Exploring automatic drawing, urban wall scrawls and childish doodles, he’s made witty canvases and works on paper with a minimal number of marks. His simple series of cat paintings at Asya Geisberg Gallery captured the domesticated feline creatures let loose on city streets—prowling for birds and mice or just seeking another cat fight. His 2023 painting Approaching Cats (one of our favorites in the group of five new canvases that the gallery brought to the fair) expressively portrays a pair of cats with glowing eyes threateningly coming towards the viewer. Since it’s such a powerfully painted canvas, however, it probably didn’t scare any collectors away