Gallery 400

Join us Thurs., June 18, 3–4 p.m. for the virtual tour of 𝑴𝒚 𝑴𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝑴𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒊𝒏 in collaboration with the UIC Disability Cultural Center (.dcc).

This tour takes you through Carolyn Castaño’s debut solo exhibition in Chicago, paying close attention to the materials she employs (gold foil, appliqués, watercolors) to address the disappearing glaciers in the Colombian Andes.

Multi-disciplinary artist William Estrada () joins Castaño () in a discussion on the conceptual and formal underpinnings informing the exhibition. Our staff will offer detailed verbal descriptions of each piece discussed during the tour. A recording of the tour will be available later for those unable to attend the livestream.

Photo by Jonas Mikosch Müller-Ahlheim.

Join us today, Fri., May 29, 6–8 p.m., for the opening reception of 𝑴𝒚 𝑴𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝑴𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒊𝒏.

On her featured monumental paintings that blend visual and historical sources such as the Wiphala flag and 19th-century travelogues and cartographic surveys by European colonial explorers, Castaño says, “My work proceeds from a painted base layer evoking painters like Frederic Edwin Church, whose painting Heart of the Andes, 1859, was a sweeping homage to these landscapes. The pieces…immediately interrupt that Euro-centric way of looking at these sublime landscapes by introducing collaged textiles in patterns inspired by traditional Andean textiles or the infographic color-coding of climatological heat maps.”

Image: Carolyn Castaño, This is Dedicated to the One I Love- El Cerro de La Plaza, 2026. Watercolor on watercolor paper.

This Sat., May 30, in collaboration with Armstrong Auctions, select archival prints of Pop, Chicago Imagist, and Conceptual artists from Landfall Press will be auctioned on Artsy to support our programmatic vision.

Images: Vito Acconci, Wav(er)ing Flag, 1989.
Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Wrapped Statues, 1989.
Ed Paschke, Pump, 1989.

Join us Fri., May 29, 6–8 p.m. for the opening reception of Carolyn Castaño’s debut solo Chicago exhibition 𝑴𝒚 𝑴𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝑴𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒊𝒏.

𝑴𝒚 𝑴𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝑴𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒊𝒏 is named for Castaño’s relationship with the mountains of her native Colombia, personifying the mountains as elders and mothers. Across paintings and mixed-media work, Castaño unpacks the myths and folklore surrounding the Andean volcanic glaciers, such as El Nevado del Ruiz and Volcán Nevado de Santa Isabel. Her vibrantly patterned paintings contrast with the landscape’s diminishment due to climate change, extractive industries, and urbanization.

Image: Carolyn Castaño, Cumanday: El Nevado del Ruiz, 2023. Watercolor and gouache on paper collaged with acrylic, sequin appliqués, and fringe on canvas.

In collaboration with John Michael Kohler Arts Center and Tufts University Art Galleries, join us tomorrow, May 21, 6–7:30 p.m. in Room 1100 of the UIC Architecture and Design Studios for the publication launch party of 𝑯𝒐𝒘 𝒅𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒘 𝒂 𝒃𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒌 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒐𝒘…

Contributing author Amanda Cachia will discuss her essay in the publication alongside related scholarship from her recent book, 𝑯𝒐𝒔𝒑𝒊𝒕𝒂𝒍 𝑨𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒔: 𝑫𝒊𝒔𝒂𝒃𝒊𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒚, 𝑴𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒏𝒆, 𝑨𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒔𝒎 (2025).

In a recent interview on the book with BOMB Magazine, Cachia notes that, “Amanda Cachia: Curating itself has undergone quite an evolution in the last thirty years. Originally curators had come in to care for collections. The irony is that they might have been caring for objects, but they weren’t really caring for bodies that would come into the space of the museum. My interest is in how we care for bodies without being so fixated on ‘curing’ them.”

Exhibition co-curators and publication co-editors Tanya Gayer and Laurel V. McLaughlin will present an overview of the 𝑯𝒐𝒘 𝒅𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒘 𝒂 𝒃𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒌 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒐𝒘…, its design by Body & Forma, essays and featured artworks by Yani aviles, Chloe P. Crawford, Nat Decker, Jeff Kasper, Carly Mandel, Jeffrey Meris, and Libby Paloma. The exhibition is on view at the Kohler Arts Center through Oct. 4, 2026

Image: Jeffrey Meris, March On to Glory, 2023. Courtesy Tufts University Art Galleries.

Opening Fri., May 29, 6–8 p.m. is Los Angeles-based artist Carolyn Castaño’s 𝑴𝒚 𝑴𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝑴𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒊𝒏.

In her debut solo Chicago exhibition, Castaño presents paintings, watercolors, and works in other media exploring the disappearing glaciers of Colombia’s Andean glaciers.

Monumental and smaller-scale works play on early representations of Andean landscapes, from the botanical collections and studies of Alexander Von Humboldt and romantic landscape paintings such as those of Frederic Edwin Church, to more documentary/cartographic representations from the Comisión Corográfica, a mid-19th-century survey of the area that was to become Colombia.

Organized by Director and Chief Curator Lorelei Stewart.

Image: Carolyn Castaño, Chundua – Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, 2023. Watercolor and gouache on paper collaged with acrylic, sequin appliqués, and fringe on canvas.