November 30, 2016 | Feature Features National
The Gallerist
When Efrain Lopez moved to Chicago from his native New York City in August of 2012, he was ready for a serious change. “I wanted to take some time to think about what direction my life was going in,” says Lopez, who previously worked in the nonprofit sector. Soon, Lopez found himself jetting around the world staging pop-up art galleries in locales like Berlin, Stockholm and South America. Hoping to start a new cultural conversation back in the Midwest, he launched his eponymous gallery in Ukrainian Village in September 2015. “It was really important for me to carve a space that’s unique to the voice I want the gallery to have,” says Lopez, noting that 60 percent of his roster consists of emerging international talents. Still, he’s grounded in Chicago, and soon Efrain Lopez Gallery will be divided into two platforms, with one reserved exclusively for young local artists (first up: Lesley Jackson, whose exhibition Walking With Rilke begins Jan. 6). “As a young gallery,” says Lopez, “you have to keep evolving.”
Styling by Michael Favia; Clothing Courtesy of Mankind Chicago
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