EXHIBITIONS

Arts + Public Life

2025

About the Artist

the undercommons:

New Work by Brandon Carlton

April 18-August 30, 2025

Gallery hours: Thursday-Saturday, 1PM-5PM

Arts + Public Life presents the undercommons, the first solo exhibition by painter Brandon Carlton. Through his distinctive approach to stylized figuration, Carlton explores the complexities of contemporary Black life, using portraiture and spatial composition to evoke intimacy, distance, and presence.

Taking inspiration from The Undercommons: Fugitive Planning & Black Study by Fred Moten and Stefano Harney, the exhibition engages with their concept of the undercommons—a space of "fugitive sociality," where collective life unfolds beyond dominant structures. Carlton’s figures inhabit ambiguous realms—neither entirely confined by structure nor completely unbound by freedom. In these carefully orchestrated spaces, they embody a continual negotiation of identity, asserting agency and evoking the enduring presence of historical memory.

Carlton’s approach draws from the layered surfaces of Alex Katz and David Hockney, as well as Jordan Casteel’s nuanced portrayals of community and everyday encounters. Through gesture, color, and composition, his work reimagines presence, offering new ways of seeing and understanding Black life beyond fixed narratives.

Brandon Carlton’s practice is rooted in self-definition and a commitment to honest representation. His guiding philosophy—“You gotta love yourself”—is not just a personal mantra but a framework for engaging with the world. For Carlton, self-acceptance is foundational to his artistic process, shaping how he portrays the nuances of identity, intimacy, and personal evolution.

Born in Baltimore, Carlton’s early exposure to construction work alongside his mother introduced him to the materials and textures that continue to inform his practice. His paintings challenge narrow representations of Blackness by embracing the full spectrum of skin tones and lived experiences, moving beyond simplistic binaries. Merging figuration with his background in streetwear and modeling, he constructs portraits that exist between memory and imagination. His work draws from a wide range of influences, from the stylized realism of Alex Katz and David Hockney to the everyday humor and surrealism of animated television.

For Carlton, painting is both a creative and existential necessity—an ongoing process of self-determination. His work resists easy categorization, instead offering layered narratives that reflect the complexity of contemporary Black life.

Read The Undercommons: Fugitive Planning & Black Study by Fred Moten and Stefano Harney

PAST EXHIBITIONS

2024

Remembering Ghosts

2024 Artists-in-Residence Exhibition

November 1- December 14, 2024

Remembering Ghosts, the culminating exhibition for APL’s 2024 Artists-in-Residence cohort, features work by Ayanah Moor, Candace Hunter, and Johnaé Strong. This exhibition critically examines the intersections of history, memory, and identity as the artists navigate the residual traces of the past within the present. Through diverse media and conceptual lenses, the works presented in this exhibition explore the complexities of historical erasure, resilience, and the spectral influence of collective and personal memory. By engaging the ethereal, Remembering Ghosts asks viewers to consider how past narratives continue to influence modern society. It encourages contemplation on acts of reclamation and memory to reimagine futures.

In partnership with the Center for the Study of Race, Politics & Culture, Arts + Public Life supports individual artists through the Artists-in-Residence program by advancing the opportunities available to underrepresented artists in the Chicago and national arts scenes. The ten-month paid residency program provides space, materials, and stipends, eliminating barriers to participation. During this program, artists have access to rehearsal, performance, and exhibition space at the Arts Incubator in Washington Park and access to the academic and research resources of the University.

Abstract black and white portrait of a person with afro hairstyle, featuring stylized facial features and geometric shapes.

Elizabeth Catlett (1915-2012) , Black Girl, 2004, Lithograph, Courtesy of the Samella Lewis Collection

OF HER BECOMING: ELIZABETH CATLETT’S LEGACY IN CHICAGO

June 14- August 31, 2024

Of Her Becoming highlights the printmaking, work, and impact of influential artist and activist Elizabeth Catlett (1915–2012) within an important site in Catlett’s career: Chicago’s South Side. Curated by Sheridan Tucker Anderson, the exhibition showcases an array of Catlett’s lithograph and woodcut prints alongside works by contemporary Black women printmakers from the South Side, Angela Davis Fegan, Krista Franklin, and Rebel Betty.

Of Her Becoming sheds new light on the significance of Catlett’s time on Chicago’s South Side, how this period revolutionized her artistic practice, and how her practice still impacts artists and community organizers on the South Side.

Presented at Arts + Public Life’s (APL’s) Arts Incubator Gallery, an important community keystone of APL’s Arts Block, Of Her Becoming engages the neighbors of APL, the youth enrolled in its programs, as well as the local and regional artistic and scholarly communities. This exhibition and related programs offer lessons for today from Catlett’s legacy of advocating, through her artwork, for the well–being and advancement of her communities.

Arts + Public Life is honored to be a part of Art Design Chicago, a citywide collaboration initiated by the Terra Foundation for American Art that highlights the city’s artistic heritage and creative communities.

OF HER BECOMING: ELIZABETH CATLETT’S LEGACY IN CHICAGO is funded by the Terra Foundation for American Art. and supported by Landau Traveling Exhibitions, Los Angeles, CA

I Brought You Flowers | Te Traje Flores

new work by Marcela Torres

March 15 - May 4, 2024

I Brought You Flowers/Te Traje Flores is a site that considers the cultural resonance of gifting flowers as acts of nurturing within BIPOC communities.

Inspired by Nahua and Mayan codices and contemporary writing that breaks down their logographic terms. Flowers symbolize places and names, the exhibition explores the profound connection between botany, our ancestral heritage, and the act of giving. Central to the exhibit are ceramic pieces cradling flowers, each representing a spectrum of recipients: flowers to ourselves, xochitl to our ancestor, flores to the earth weaving a rich tapestry of interconnectedness and reconciliation.

2023

Black is the Color of the Cosmos

New works by 2023 Artists-in-Residence:

Jess Atieno, Shani Crowe, and Gloria Talamantes

A triptych image featuring three individuals in separate panels. The left panel shows a smiling person with short hair in an outdoor setting. The middle panel is a black-and-white close-up of a person wearing glasses, resting their chin on their hand, showcasing long nails and a ring. The right panel depicts a person with long hair in a casual outdoor setting. On the far right, text reads 'BLACK IS THE COLOR OF THE COSMOS' alongside logos for the University of Chicago Arts, Arts + Public Life, and CSRPC.

October 20th- December 8th, 2023

Black is the Color of the Cosmos is the culminating exhibition of the 2023 cohort of the Arts + Public Life (APL) and the Center for the Study of Race, Politics, and Culture (CSRPC) Artists in Residence program. Produced during a ten-month residency at the Arts Incubator in Washington Park, each artist reflects on themes of iconography, identity, and tactility through, public art, photography, and single-channel video as medium.

In partnership with the Center for the Study of Race, Politics & Culture, Arts + Public Life supports individual artists through the Artists-in-Residence program by advancing the opportunities available to artists who are underrepresented in the Chicago and national arts scenes. The ten-month paid residency program provides space, materials, and stipends, eliminating barriers to participation. During this program, artists have access to rehearsal, performance, and exhibition space at the Arts Incubator in Washington Park and access to the academic and research resources of the University.

You Remember Frank London Brown

Curated by Adrienne Brown, Eve L. Ewing, Korey Williams, Angela Orokoh

June 9th-August 4th, 2023

At Arts + Public Life (301 E Garfield Blvd)

Portrait of a smiling man with a suit against an orange background.

You Remember Frank London Brown explores and celebrates the legacy of Frank London Brown through the movements he shaped, the music he loved, the art he made, and the connections he held with those who loved him.

Supported by the Center for the Study of Race, Politics, and Culture, in part by a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Drawing of Frank London Brown, by Joan Powers, n.d., courtesy of the Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection of Afro-American History and Literature