The best art exhibits to see in Chicago in March

Whether players are shooting aliens or mowing down soldiers, violence and video games go hand in hand, which is why the latter is often used as a scapegoat for real-world occurrences of the former. The Video Game Art Gallery presents an exhibition that unpacks the aestheticization of violence in games, showing how artists and developers use weapons and combat in brutal, beautiful and meaningful ways.

Working with foam, cardboard, glue and paint, artists Lori Nix and Kathleen Gerber construct intricate dioramas that depict decaying urban landscapes. The duo photographs these pieces with an 8 x 10 camera, creating detailed photographs that blur the line between fantasy and reality. The “Empire” series of photos depicts a world that is facing the consequences of climate change and explores how humanity's architectural achievements are surrendered to nature.

Singapore-raised artist Phoebe Chin considers the ways in which we understand the natural world through a series of installations entitled “Can Cacti Fall In Love, Or Batatas Trace Their Slips?” Her work explores why we assign human characteristics and traits to plants by acknowledging the nomenclature and visually interpreting its meaning.

In 1989, acclaimed artist Keith Haring came to Chicago to create a gigantic 488-foot-long mural in collaboration with 500 Chicago Public School students. After remaining on display at Midway Airport for several years, 36 panels of the mural will return to the Loop, going on display in the Chicago Cultural Center alongside a selection of Haring's photographs, correspondences, designs and his now-iconic drawings.

Chicago artist Jay Turner (better known as LIE) mixes spray-painted street art with traditional styles such as watercolors and pencil drawings. “Bloom” marks his second solo show at Vertical Gallery, featuring new work that includes images of animals and birds contrasted with images of flowers, motorcycles and classic cars.

Chicago-based painter Anna Kunz explores the properties of color and light through this installation at the Hyde Park Art Center. Combining screens, paintings, fabrics and sound, the work immerses viewers in a vibrant spectrum of hues that can be experienced from various perspectives in the gallery.

International artists Aboubakar Fofana, Lala Meredith-Vula, Britta Marakatt-Labba and the late Maria Lai unpack the connected nature of seemingly-unrelated objects and places in this group show, which collects photographs, installations and more. 

Filter Photo presents its annual spring exhibition, culled from submissions to its open call for photography. Juried by April M. Watson, curator of photography at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, “Context 2018” includes work by more than 30 artists.

English designer Max Lamb has created designs for more than 400 seats during his relatively young career, using a variety of materials to fabricate chairs, stools and benches that balance form and function. "Exercises in Seating" collects some of his most ambitious and understated designs, presented alongside photographs, maquettes, tools and videos that illustrate how they were made. If you want to see even more chairs on display, make sure you check out “The Art of Seating” at the Driehaus Museum.

The Intuit presents a survey of outsider art originating from Wisconsin in “To Be Seen and Heard,” which collects work from Prophet William J. Blackmon, Josephus Farmer, Simon Sparrow, Albert Zahn and Eugene Von Bruenchenhein. Made up of more than 50 paintings, photographs, sculptures and reliefs, the exhibit features signs and religious imagery by Blackmon, Zahn's intricate carvings and photographs by Bruenchenhein.

The latest exhibit at the Ed Paschke Art Center looks back on the career of its namesake local artist, displaying a collection of work from his 40-year career selected by his daughter Sharon. "Mixed Media" includes some of Paschke's drawings and paintings but also includes never-before-seen sculptures, prints and lithographs. Everything in the exhibit comes from the Art Center's permanent collection, which includes a recreation of Paschke's studio.

In her first U.S. exhibition, Nigerian artist Otobong Nkanga uses drawings and tapestries to explore the mining industry in Africa and the ways in which the harvested raw materials are used throughout the world. Adorned with shimmering embellishments that mimic the qualities of minerals like mica, Nkanga's work unpacks the often violent manner in which resources are obtained from Africa and follows them to the West, where they are repackaged and sold to consumers in the form of beauty products, electronics and more.