Rekindling Sparks
Gabriel Martinez
Opening Night Thursday, April 24, 2025 | 5:00–8:00pm
General Admission
For the 2025 edition of Expo Chicago Contemporary Art Fair, Bill Arning Exhibitions (BAE) will present Rekindling Sparks, a solo booth of photo-based conceptual works by Philadelphia-based Cuban-American artist Gabriel Martinez . Martinez, who derives his works from queer archives and subcultural erotic histories, has maintained a decades-long professional relationship with Arning, who curated the artist’s first New York project at White Columns in 1995. For Expo Chicago, artist and curator will reconceptualize Sparks in a Dark Room , a significant installation Martinez presented in 2024 at Chicago’s Leather Archives and Museum (LA&M). The installation drew parallels between Martinez’s art and life, and the late queer Filipino Chicago-based artist Etienne,whose work forms the core of LA&M’s collection. Martinez’s works, presented in LA&M aspart of a freewheeling installation, taped to the wall and tucked into bathrooms, have been reimagined for Expo Chicago in a more museum-ready form.
Bill Arning Exhibitions LLC
3 Hudson Street
Kinderhook, NY 12106