Purchase Prizes

Northern Trust Purchase Prize

Each year EXPO CHICAGO and Presenting Sponsor Northern Trust select artworks from the fair’s EXPOSURE section– featuring galleries ten years and younger– to be purchased for an institution’s permanent collection. Since 2013, the award was gifted to one institution, but in 2022 it expanded to three U.S. institutions located in East, West and Midwest regions. Previous institution recipients include The Art Institute of Chicago; The Arts Club of Chicago; Block Museum of Art, Northwestern University; DePaul Art Museum, DePaul University; Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago; Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg; Pérez Art Museum; Portland Art Museum; Saint Louis Art Museum; Seattle Art Museum; Smart Museum of Art, University of Chicago; Speed Art Museum; Walker Art Center. 

The 2024 Northern Trust Purchase Prize has been awarded to three national institutions: High Museum of Art; the Milwaukee Art Museum; and the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego.

“Northern Trust is committed to fostering culture and art within our communities, and nowhere is this more evident than in our Purchase Prize gifts. We are proud of our support for emerging contemporary artists, and are thrilled to be able to share these works with such notable museums.”
— John Fumagalli | President, Central Region, Northern Trust Wealth Management

Awarded to the High Museum of Art:

Natia Lemay, To All Who Have Come to Dwell In This House, 2024
Oil and acrylic on canvas
60 x 60 in.
Courtesy of the artist and WILDING CRAN GALLERY, Los Angeles
 
Exhibitor: WILDING CRAN GALLERY, Los Angeles

Awarded to the Milwaukee Art Museum:

Michelle S. Cho, Corolla, 2022
Pewter cast of space between fit tires from a sedan and truck 
24 x 8 in.
Courtesy of the artist and Fragment,  New York
 
Exhibitor: Fragment, New York

Awarded to the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego:

Braxton Garneau, Pitch Lake (Pietà), 2024
Asphalt and acrylic on canvas with raffia
60 x 60 in
Courtesy of the artist and Efraín López, New York
 
Exhibitor: Efraín López, New York

BARBARA NESSIM ACQUISITION PRIZE AND CURATORIAL TRAVEL AWARD

The Barbara Nessim Acquisition Prize and the Barbara Nessim Curatorial Travel Award with Independent Curators International (ICI) are fully funded by Barbara Nessim, an artist recognized for her longstanding support of women in the arts. This year, the acquisition prize has donated an artwork to the DePaul Art Museum. The artwork was selected by a committee composed of Barbara Nessim, Mary Dinaburg, and DePaul Art Museum Curator Ionit Behar and Director Laura-Caroline de Lara.

Stavroula Coulianidis, Independent Curator and founder of STAV, was named the 2023 receipt of the Barbara Nessim Curatorial Travel Award, an annual travel grant of $3,000 awarded to support the curatorial practice of one woman curator attending the Curatorial Forum. 

Natani Notah, Flesh Freedom, 2022
Mixed media drawing and collage on archival paper
22 x 30 in. 
Courtesy of the artist and DOCUMENT, Chicago, Lisbon

Exhibitor: DOCUMENT, Chicago, Lisbon

Natani Notah, Grabbing for Land, 2022
Mixed media drawing and collage on archival paper
22 x 30 in
Courtesy of the artist and DOCUMENT, Chicago, Lisbon

 Exhibitor: DOCUMENT, Chicago, Lisbon

Maria Sulymenko, Untitled, 2023 
Watercolor on paper 
12 2/5 x 9 4/5 in 
Courtesy of the artist and Voloshyn Gallery, Kyiv

Exhibitor: Voloshyn Gallery, Kyiv

Maria Sulymenko, Untitled, 2023 
Watercolor on paper 
12 5/8 x 9 7/8 in.
Courtesy of the artist and Voloshyn Gallery, Kyiv

Exhibitor: Voloshyn Gallery, Kyiv

21c MUSEUM HOTELS CIVIC ACQUISITION PRIZE

The inaugural 21c Museum Hotels Civic Acquisition Prize at EXPO CHICAGO builds upon the strong partnership of the two organizations since a 21c Museum Hotel opened in Chicago in 2020. Founders Laura Lee Brown and Steve Wilson, alongside 21c’s Chief Curator Alice Gray Stites, have selected two works that highlight the power of art to foster civic and community engagement for 21c’s permanent collection. The initiative continues the mission of 21c, North America’s only collecting museum dedicated solely to art of the 21st century, to emphasize accessibility and engagement with art of this century throughout the country.

Slimen Elkamel, Catching You, 2022
Acrylic on canvas
74 4/5 x 47 1/5 in.
Courtesy of the artist and NIL Gallery, Paris
 
Exhibitor: NIL Gallery, Paris

Azita Moradkhani, Iran, 2024
Colored pencil on archival paper pulp body cast with branch
14 x 13.5 x 5 inches
Courtesy of the artist and Jane Lombard Gallery, New York
 
Gallery: Jane Lombard Gallery, New York

MACERICH'S FASHION OUTLETS OF CHICAGO PURCHASE PRIZE FOR THE COLLECTION

As part of its ongoing sponsorship of EXPO CHICAGO, Macerich’s Fashion Outlets of Chicago presents its inaugural Purchase Prize for THE COLLECTION: Where Art Meets Fashion, the shopping center’s multifaceted contemporary art program featuring a collection of curated site-specific artwork. For 2024, leadership from Fashion Outlets of Chicago have commissioned a new artwork to join THE COLLECTION.

Michael C. Thorpe, House Lou Jones Built, 2024
Quilting cotton, batting, thread
50 x 80 in 
Courtesy of the artist and Anthony Gallery, Chicago
 
Exhibitor: Anthony Gallery, Chicago

LA CREMA LGBTQIA+ PURCHASE PRIZE

The inaugural La Crema LGBTQIA+ Purchase Prize has acquired two artworks from the 2024 edition of the exposition by an LGBTQIA+ artist. The artworks have been purchased for La Crema’s permanent collection at their estate winery in Sonoma County, California.

Nereida Garcia-Ferraz, Ella Esperando (She’s Waiting), 2023
Oil on Stonehenge paper
30 x 22 1/2 in.
Courtesy of the artist and Spinello Projects, Miami

Exhibitor: Spinello Projects, Miami

Nereida Garcia-Ferraz, Ella Detras de Ti (She’s Behind You), 2023
Oil on Stonehenge paper
30 x 22.5 in.
Courtesy of the artist and Spinello Projects, Miami

Exhibitor: Spinello Projects, Miami