ABSTRACT CONCEPTS :: Sept 6 - 27, 2025
OPENING :: Sat. Sept 6 / 7:00 - 10:00 pm

Beyond shape, form, color and gesture, the work in this show expresses concepts that engage in a larger dialogue about issues and ideas important to the artists. The messages match, mirror and surmount the aesthetics of the visual image with subtext and contexts that address politics and philosophy, symbols and language, history and religion, location and geography, and other themes that challenge convention.

Abstract Concepts presents more than just pretty pictures. It features non-figurative imagery whose full meaning lies well beyond the art’s surface. It invites viewers to interpret and engage with the artwork on many levels.

DECAYGING: A Memento Mori Exhibit :: Oct 11 - Nov 1, 2025
OPENING :: Sat. Oct 11 / 7:00 - 10:00 pm

The Memento Mori (Reminder of Death) emphasizes the sweetness/ripeness of being in the latter stages of life; concluding a timeline; nearing the end of usefulness; fulfilling life’s purpose.

Funerary and death-marking have been a part of human cultural, civic and religious traditions throughout time. The memento mori has been a recurring subject in art-making since before the Egyptian recordings in the Book of the Dead or Flemish and Dutch painters codified memorial reminders of human mortality in vanitas still-life paintings or Japanese dancers exemplified the Nihilism and emptiness of death in Butoh performances; because mortality is ever-present. The artists in this exhibit posit new perspectives on death, life and the value of their integration.

Agitator hosts weekly & monthly recurring classes, creative workshops, figure drawing sessions and more. Visit our calendar listings for details, dates and registration information.

FIGURE TUESDAYS - Live Figure Model Drawing :: Tuesdays, weekly

GALLERY SITTING - Free Jazz Jams :: 2nd Thursdays, monthly

ARTISTS SALON - Critique Sessions :: 3rd Wednesdays, monthly

THE CHICAGO NOISE - Free Jazz Orchestra :: 3rd Thursdays, monthly

STUDIO SUNDAYS- DIY Art Projects & Demos :: Sundays, weekly