Monique Meloche Gallery

United States — Art Gallery

451 N Paulina Street
Chicago, IL 60622

Phone: +1 (312) 243-2129

Email: info@moniquemeloche.com

Instagram: @moniquemeloche

Monique Meloche Gallery is a contemporary art gallery founded in Chicago in 2000 by Monique Meloche. The gallery began with an exhibition titled Homewrecker, presented in Meloche’s home, before opening its first public space in 2001. From the outset, its program has emphasized diverse artistic voices and practices, with a particular interest in artists whose work addresses social, political, and cultural questions. The gallery represents emerging, mid-career, and established artists working across a wide range of media.

Its exhibition program is characterized by conceptually driven presentations that bring together painting, sculpture, photography, video, installation, and other forms of contemporary practice. Rather than maintaining a narrowly defined medium-based program, the gallery places emphasis on the ideas and perspectives behind the work. Photography has appeared regularly within this broader program, including artists who use the medium to examine identity, representation, politics, history, and contemporary culture. It is therefore part of the gallery's interdisciplinary activity rather than a separate photography department or collection.

A significant aspect of Monique Meloche Gallery's work is its support of artists at earlier stages of their careers. The gallery has built its reputation in part through identifying artists before they become widely recognized and providing opportunities for their work to reach collectors, curators, and institutions. Its program has included artists from Chicago as well as an international group of practitioners, reflecting the city's position within the wider contemporary art network.

The gallery also places considerable emphasis on curatorial and institutional relationships. Its artists' work is presented not only through exhibitions in Chicago but also through international art fairs and collaborations with museums and other cultural institutions. These activities provide additional contexts for understanding the practices represented by the gallery and help connect artists with audiences beyond the commercial gallery setting.

More than two decades after its founding, Monique Meloche Gallery continues to operate from Chicago with a program centered on contemporary art in multiple forms. Its history is closely connected to the development of artists whose practices engage with current social and political concerns, while its exhibitions provide space for painting, sculpture, photography, installation, and other experimental approaches. The gallery's emphasis on inclusion, emerging talent, and institutional dialogue remains central to its activities.

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Live at the Gallery

Brendan Fernandes: The Noise Will Sound

alarmClosing on October 24, 2026
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Monique Meloche Gallery presents Brendan Fernandes: The Noise Will Sound, on view from 17 September through 24 October 2026, marking the artist's third solo exhibition with the Chicago gallery. Born in Nairobi in 1979 and raised in Canada, Fernandes works at the intersection of dance and visual arts, addressing race, queer culture, migration, and collective movement through hybrid forms that blend ballet, protest, and performance. The exhibition centers on Noise See, a series of photographs shot

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