3418 W Armitage Ave Logan Square

Kaylan Billings

Was born and raised in California. In 2022, she moved to Chicago to attend the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC), earning her bachelor's degree in 2024. Primarily a painter, her practice often incorporates sculptural elements to create a symbiotic relationship between material and concept.
The works on display are inspired by Jeff Koons’ *Bourgeois Bust*, reimagined through a female perspective. Her *Romance 1–7* series explores the eroticism of touch and romantic intimacy through abstracted close-ups that reflect her personal experience. *False Idols* directly challenges Koons. As a student, Billings felt both intimidated by his success and disillusioned by the impersonal nature of work produced under his name. In response, she used imitation materials—plastic pearls, fake gold leaf, and acrylic paint—to emphasize the contrast between appearance and authenticity. Through this reappropriation, she reclaims artistic agency and questions the reverence for male-dominated narratives in contemporary art.

Yuliya

Is a Ukrainian-born disabled artist based in Chicago. For more than ten years, she created medical guides, tech and science stories, blogs, videos, and podcasts. Now she makes beaded art using traditional Ukrainian techniques and modern patterns. Yuliya learned how to weave on a loom as a child—but forgot it all until 2023, when looking for a way to reconnect with her culture. In 2024, she started showcasing her work while working as a health reporter—then transitioned to being a full-time artist. Yuliya's beading has been featured at several Chicagoland galleries' group exhibits, as well as local art shows, markets, and artisan stores.

Jane Thorn (b. 1986)

Is a painter and writer exploring themes of transition, narrative, liminality, light, and reflection. Her deeply diaristic self-portraits are a fantasy and science-fiction steeped chapter in the autofictional tradition of Frida Kahlo, Paula Rego, and Sasha Gordon, and her moody and personal still-lifes and cityscapes evoke moments of stillness amidst change. Born in Nashville, Jane Thorn has lived in New Orleans, Wuhan, Portland, and Glasgow, and is currently based in Chicago. She holds a JD from Loyola University Chicago School of Law and a Masters in Fine Art Practice from the Glasgow School of Art.

Jacob Watson

Is a multidisciplinary artist, educator, and designer with a background in theatre and a more recent visual arts practice in live model drawing. He has acted, directed, designed sets, and taught with arts organizations across Chicago, including Theatre Unspeakable, Raven Theatre, Redmoon, Piven Theatre Workshop, Urban Gateways, and Erasing the Distance. He is currently co-writing a new play about the sensation of awe. Jacob holds a B.A. in Theatre from Northwestern University and an Ed.M. in Arts in Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. His creative practice and research have been supported by the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events and the Faber Residency in Olot, Spain.

Mauricio Santamaria

Paint markers are a decisive medium. They splat their own creative freedom while rushing me along the way. Calm gestures are done quickly, shapes are broader, and shadows bolder. It forces me to move on from the details and to look at the bigger picture.
Some of the men I draw are actually quite small in person, but, at this speed, my hand makes them larger than life. The result is pieces that include my love for heavier men. Over the last two years I've been a part of a local community of gay men drawing other gay men. The space nurtured a side of my art that did not need to be explained or even defended to a heteronormative audience. The craft and technique stood out, meanwhile, drawing men in jocks, thongs, and fetish gear just became an every day occurrence. Paint markers were not my first choice but they are the most compatible with how I draw. I am slow and detail oriented, but, the marker will rush me along by squirting and spilling along the page. Sometimes I'll do the details first with the thickest marker to get them out of the way. The marker makes the tiny decisions for me so I can focus on the bigger picture.

Brianna

Is an artist from McHenry, and uses her love of the obscene and unusual to express the sexualities of herself and those around her in her artwork. She often plays in cheeky themes, and likes to use imagery that others might find uncomfortable or awkward to talk about. Sex and sexuality is often found in many art forms throughout history, but Brianna likes to use much more obvious interpretations of these themes.

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Allison Lodato

I’m a self taught artist inspired everything from studio ghibli to junji ito, Van Gogh to modern tattoo art. My work mostly explores the female figure and experience. I believe that dark, mature and/or uncomfortable art is necessary.

Isabella Kinnick

Is currently a student enrolled at the School Of the Art Institute of Chicago. An artist who sticks mainly with materials 2-D in nature, with components building themselves out of traditional mark-making materials such as ink, paint, and graphite, collage. A style defined with fluid movements, vivid colours, and graphic line work that sucks you into a world of whimsy, energy and perhaps just a little bit of chaos. Isabella's work combines the flirtatious and fun, with complexities that lie beneath the layers or marks that often deal with themes of personal identity, love, heartbreak, and documentation of the whirlwind of her own unique human experience that has been the first twenty years of her life, and continues each and every day will my passion, purpose, and play guiding her to create as much as she can.

Jessina Jana

Their work is rooted in themes of feminine power, body positivity, and the untamed beauty of self-expression. She creates provocative characters—sometimes scary, sometimes sensual— that hold space for fantasy, vulnerability, and strength to coexist.
At its core, her work celebrates the primal and the magical, the real and the imagined—exploring spirits that live in the space between shadow and liberation.

Her work is rooted in themes of feminine power, body positivity, and the untamed beauty of self-expression. She creates provocative characters—sometimes scary, sometimes sensual— that hold space for fantasy, vulnerability, and strength to coexist.
Her work celebrates the primal and the magical, the real and the imagined—exploring spirits that live in the space between shadow and liberation.

I base a lot of my work on womanhood. My collages are a prime example of that. I take something that’s always been so male oriented, like play boy, and turn it into the art for the female gaze. I want to show women as they truly are, as goddesses.

Kelsey Skelton

Exploring the depths of mental illness, womanhood, and human behavior through a surrealist lense to escape into a fantasy world portrayed through art for connection.