Annie Lapin | artnet news

5 Standout Artists at Expo Chicago 2023, From Patrick Eugène’s Stirring Portraits of Immigrants to Annie Lapin’s Otherworldly Landscapes

Here are our top picks to watch out for in Chicago this weekend.

13 April 2023 | Eileen Kinsella

The energy was palpable in the Windy City during the lead-up to the latest edition of Expo Chicago, the city’s decade-old anchor art fair.

In full post-pandemic swing, the city is hosting a wide range of programming, including artist-led talks and tours, museum shows, satellite fairs (such as the artist-run Barely Fair), public art installations (including Art on the Mart), and pop-ups like the popular roving Art in Common show, which opened to crowds in the Fulton Market neighborhood last night.

As Expo Chicago throws open its door on Navy Pier today for a VIP preview, we highlighted just a few of the most buzzed-about artists to watch at the fair this year.

Annie Lapin

Who: An artist whose paintings display a mind-jolting mashup of styles from digital imagery to elements plucked from nature and body parts that seem to exist in otherworldly landscapes. The result is a compelling hybrid of the abstract and representational, or what one gallery described as residing “in a world of multiplicities.”

Based in: Los Angeles

Showing at: Miles McEnery Gallery, New York, at Expo Chicago

Why you should pay attention: Lapin’s philosophy is encapsulated perfectly in this recent painting Fall(s),  made especially for display at Expo. According to the artist: “I imagine painting not as a representation of a place or thing, but rather an image of our longing to understand our world, which builds on and defines itself over time, like the contours of our historical narratives and myths.” 

Lapin, who received her MFA from UCLA, moved around quite a bit during her youth. She was born in Washington D.C, spent a good part of her childhood in Kentucky, and later moved to Japan at the age of 16. The question of “What is reality?” consumed her thoughts and influenced her art making.

Up next: A solo show at Miles McEnery in fall 2024.