A new exhibit celebrates Chicago's dive bars

Chicago has world-class museums, Michelin-starred restaurants and Wrigley. But ask most locals where they feel at home and they'll probably point you toward a neighborhood dive bar.

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That's the inspiration behind "Cash Only: An Ode to Dive Bars," a new group exhibition opening July 10 at Art City in Lincoln Park. Running through August 14, the show pays tribute to the neon signs, battered bar stools, sticky floors and colorful regulars that have long made Chicago's corner taverns some of the city's most important (and memorable) gathering places.

The exhibition arrives at a moment when "third spaces"—the places outside home and work where communities naturally form—are disappearing across the country. Through paintings, photography, sculpture, neon works and immersive installations, local artists explore why dive bars remain one of the last places where conversations happen face-to-face instead of through a screen.

"We love Chicago's dive bar culture," NEW Gallery founder Joe Sikora said in a statement. "There is something special about a place where people can step out of their daily routines, their 9-to-5s, and let loose."

That sentiment is echoed by participating artist Lexi Alvarado, who notes that the bars themselves, not the booze, keep her coming back. "I'm not even a drinker, but I'm a regular at many Chicago dive bars," Alvarado said in a statement. "It's not about alcohol for me. It's about community."

The show will also launch Short Pours, a companion video series created with Art on Tap Chicago that features artists discussing the neighborhood bars that inspired their work.

For Chicagoans, the exhibition is likely to spark memories of favorite watering holes, from cash-only taverns with ancient Schlitz signs to dimly lit bars where everybody somehow knows your name by your second visit. In a city where the neighborhood bar has long doubled as a living room, Cash Only makes the case that these institutions deserve to be celebrated not just as places to grab an Underberg, but as works of culture.

"Cash Only: An Ode to Dive Bars" opens July 10 at Art City, 1400 N. Halsted St, and runs through August 14. For more information, click here.