APAA’s Top Picks From EXPO Chicago 2026
EXPO CHICAGO 2025. Photo by Casey Kelbaugh Associates.
The spring art fair season is underway, and APAA advisors have curated a selection of must-see works from this year’s EXPO Chicago. The fair kicks off with a VIP Preview on Thursday, April 9, and is open to the public through Sunday, March 12. Learn more here.
Thank you to our advisors for sharing their top picks from EXPO Chicago 2026.
Advisor Top Picks from EXPO Chicago 2026
Aliza Nisenbaum, Huipil, 2026
“Aliza Nisenbaum’s portrait of Huipil captivated me at first glance. Her signature swaths of color define the portrait's angles, contours, and highlights with a rhythmic, almost musical energy. The flattened perspective and bold outlines echo Henri Matisse, yet the psychological presence feels distinctly contemporary, rooted in the Mexican-born artist’s own visual traditions. At the heart of her practice are the connections she builds with her sitters and communities, honoring both individual identity and shared cultural ties.”
Oil on linen
24 × 24 inches
Presented by Regen Projects and Anton Kern Gallery
Alma Thomas, Sunrise On the Earth, 1971
“Alma Thomas’ stunning Sunrise on the Earth from 1971 is an exceptional example of the most sought-after works realized by the artist. This stunning painting is part of the artist’s Space Paintings series, celebrating the astronaut’s view from space. Appreciating NASA’s achievements and the Apollo moon missions, this remarkable painting seems particularly timely with the launch of Artemis II. ”
Acrylic and graphite on canvas
24 7/8 x 24 7/8 inches
Presented by Michael Rosenfeld Gallery
Robert Nava, Small Friend Group, 2024
“My pick for EXPO Chicago is Robert Nava’s Small Friend Group, presented by Night Gallery. Nava’s work is a particularly apt choice for this fair, given the artist’s upbringing in Chicago. Drawing from prehistoric cave paintings, Egyptian antiquities, video games, and pop culture, he creates his own mythology within his energetic and playful compositions. Layering oil stick, graphite, acrylic, and spray paint, Nava produces imaginative, creature-filled paintings that I am always thrilled to see. The geese and the rabbit here feel very appropriate for the beginning of spring.”
Acrylic and grease pencil on paper
30 x 23 inches
Framed: 33 x 25 inches
Presented by Night Gallery
Kerry James Marshall, Untitled, 2009
“One of the most exciting works on view at Expo Chicago is this Kerry James Marshall study for his iconic 2009 painting from the collection of the Yale University Art Gallery. Kerry James Marshall (b. 1955, Alabama) interrogates Western art history—from the Renaissance to 20th-century American abstraction—challenging and recontextualizing the canon to include themes and subjects that have historically been omitted. His artistic mastery has helped address what he calls “the lack in the image bank” by foregrounding Black figures in his paintings. In this composition, Marshall engages a long-standing art historical tradition of images about image-making, depicting a woman of color as a portrait painter—a role historically denied to both women and people of color. Her sustained, direct gaze draws the viewer into the composition, projecting confidence and asserting a challenge to entrenched, codified notions of gender, race, and identity.”
Ink on paper
37 1/2 x 46 1/2 inches
Presented by Casterline Goodman
Dylan Spaysky, Girls, 2026
“I’m looking forward to seeing more of Dylan Spaysky’s distorted, unprecious mirrored works, but what should really stand out (literally) is a new work, Girls. Four figures are simply made of rattan, twine, and fruit peels, but their personalities are still expressed through hairstyles and poses. The work explores themes of consumption, fashion, and what exactly it takes to create individuality.”
Rattan wicker, twine, tulle, raffia, clementine peel, paint, wood, glue, wire
4 × 84 × 48 inches
Presented by Good Weather, Chicago/Little Rock and What Pipeline, Detroit
McArthur Binion, dna:study, 2026
“Last October, I saw McArthur Binion’s work included in Minimal, a brilliantly curated and scholarly exhibition at the Bourse de la Commerce in Paris. Within this global survey of artists engaged with the grid, Binion's paintings were a quiet revelation. Long excluded from the Minimalist canon, Binion's work has only come into full view recently, marked by his inclusion in the Venice Biennale in 2017. This recent painting from Binion's DNA series—in which an oil pastel grid is overlaid on a substrate collage of facsimiles from Binion's personal datebook—stopped me in my tracks. Binion is an incredible colorist, but these particular shades of blue are rarely seen in his work.”
Ink, oil paint stick and paper on board
40 x 48 x 2 inches
Presented by Richard Gray Gallery
