2019 Northern Trust Purchase Prize

Stephen Reily, Director of the Speed Art Museum at Northern Trust Purchase Prize Announcement, EXPO CHICAGO 2019.

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. Learn more about the Northern Trust Purchase Prize artists and gallery recipients below.

2019 Northern Trust Purchase Prize Recipients & Winners


The 2019 Northern Trust Purchase Prize has been awarded to the national institution: Speed Art Museum

As Presenting Sponsor of EXPO CHICAGO, Northern Trust will purchase the annual gift of artwork from the EXPOSURE section of the exposition, which features galleries ten years and younger. This will be the first year that the prize awards an institution outside of Chicago, signaling the program’s development and a shift in focus to the greater Midwest region.

The EXPOSURE section, installed on the main floor of the exposition, features solo and two-artist presentations represented by galleries ten years and younger. Focusing on a curated selection of emerging artists, EXPOSURE 2019 exhibitors were curated by Naima Keith | Vice President of Education and Public Programs at Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) 

Speed Art Museum

Speed Art Museum acquired the painting Extinguishers by Summer Wheat from Shulamit Nazarian, Los Angeles, and four archival prints including Lazy Equation, Long Division, II, Connect the Dots, and Perimeter by Kameelah Janan Rasheed from NOME, Berlin.

"Our third year in the curated EXPOSURE section of EXPO CHICAGO far exceeded our expectations. Our presentation of new works by Summer Wheat and Cammie Staros was very well received by curators and collectors, with sales by both artists. We were excited for Summer Wheat to receive the 2019 Northern Trust Purchase Prize for her painting Extinguishers, which was acquired by The Speed Art Museum in Louisville, Kentucky. It was also incredible to see Wheat’s paintings as part of EXPO CHICAGO’s OVERRIDE billboard project, as well as projected on Art on theMART's 2.5 acre façade. EXPO did a tremendous job attracting curators from around the country, and we were pleased to reconnect with local clients and so many others that traveled for the fair."
— Seth Curcio | Shulamit Nazarian

"EXPO CHICAGO has been a great experience for us. Really well planned and organized, we met a lot of collectors and institutions. Thanks to Tony Karman and Stephanie Cristello for making this moment happen. Thanks to Kameelah Janan Rasheed for the success she gave to the gallery, through her dedication to the arts and her practice."
— Luca Barbeni | NOME Gallery