A&D

6/24–7/23 As Our Story Opens. Judith Brotman stitched a drawing on every single page of Homer’s ancient epic poem The Odyssey, her threads pulling out monsters and morphological abstractions from the text. Here, the evocative tale of love and war is populated with Brotman’s characters and narrative shapes. 619 S. Wabash. colum.edu/adgallery

BERT GREEN FINE ART

Through 6/25 Barron Storey has drawn cover art for Time and National Geographic, but his gallery work is made in the tradition of graphic novels—think abstract narratives and broad brushstrokes—as if paint could take on the powers of a radioactive villain. 8 S. Michigan. bertgreenfineart.com

BRIDGEPORT ART CENTER

6/17–8/5 Dialogue Chicago: Full Force. The 15th anniversary of sculptor Sarah Krepp’s artist-community forum provides a moment to appreciate the work of those she’s identified as having an “aggressive studio practice,” forging materials like iron and clay. 1200 W. 35th. bridgeportart.com

CARRIE SECRIST

Through 6/25 Whitney Bedford. The emerging Los Angeles–based oil painter specializes in nature’s propensity for random destruction and beauty. Bedford finds special power in scenes of shipwrecks and icebergs as well as moody mists reminiscent of British romanticist J.M.W. Turner. 835 W. Washington. secristgallery.com

CATHERINE EDELMAN GALLERY

Through 7/1 Heroes. Photographer Francesco Pergolesi portrays everyday people as “heroes” in a new series of portraits, placing laborers and small merchants alone in the context of their work (for example, a fruit shop or gas station). Dramatically lit as if on theater sets, common folks transform into kings and queens. 300 W. Superior. edelmangallery.com

ED PASCHKE ARTS CENTER

Through 6/13 Life Reflected. Hyperrealist Jeanette Pasin Sloan masters the art of painting reflective surfaces, such as silver goblets and chrome barware—a near-impossible technical feat. 5415 W. Higgins. edpaschkeartcenter.org

EFRAIN LOPEZ

6/24–7/24 French photographer and sculptor Julie Escoffier turns her attention to the invention of photography and the concurrent birth of paleontology,. The creative investigation results in an enigmatic puzzle of images and objects. 901 N. Damen. efrainlopezgallery.com

GALERIE F

6/10–19 Cities. Nate Otto’s aerial views of crowded cityscapes, drawn in colored marker on wood, appeal to architecture buffs, Lego champions, and those who just like to stare out airplane windows. Inspired by the façades of Chicago, Otto’s structures delight in geometric order and imagination. 2381 N. Milwaukee. galerief.com

JEAN ALBANO

6/3–7/23 Margaret Wharton. Best known for her work in Chicago in the 1970s, Wharton deconstructed gender-specific objects such as kitchen chairs, rolling pins, and baseball bats, and reassembled them as sculptural forms. Rarely on view, her whimsical works are united for a memorial survey exhibit. 215 W. Superior. jeanalbanogallery.com

LINDA WARREN

6/25–8/13 Joseph Noderer. For his sixth solo exhibit at the gallery, Noderer keeps his eye and paintbrush on the back country of his Texas home, affording luscious strokes of weed-green and brilliantly scrawled beards. 327 N. Aberdeen. lindawarrenprojects.com

THE MISSION PROJECTS

Through 6/25 Mudroom. Austen Brown continues research into North Dakota’s Bakken Formation and its 40,000 miners. Brown displays video, audio, and sculptural artifacts to reveal the values at stake in domestic oil extraction. 1431 W. Chicago. themissionprojects.com

REGARDS

6/4–7/16 Garden Show. This exhibit questions the nature of urban parks. Do they really provide a public benefit, or are they stained by dirty histories of land use and pollution? 2216 W. Chicago. regardsgallery.com

RHONA HOFFMAN GALLERY

Through 8/13 The Flesh Is Yours, the Bones Are Ours. One hundred years ago, more than a million Armenians perished in a genocide in the former Ottoman Empire. In this exhibition, local artist Michael Rakowitz builds sculptures out of dog bones, mimicking the architectural decorations of an Armenian artisan and his Turkish apprentice. 118 N. Peoria. rhoffmangallery.com

RICHARD GRAY

Through 6/25 Magdalena Abakanowicz. The acclaimed Polish sculptor, whose 106 headless bodies are on permanent display in Grant Park, brings figures from her Crowd and Mutant series indoors. The brutal, beautiful pieces reference the artist’s experience growing up in postwar Poland under Soviet control. 875 N. Michigan. richardgraygallery.com

ROMAN SUSAN

6/11–7/23 No Diving. The storefront gallery’s sunken floor resembles a conversation pit, that “once-trendy and novelty-driven architectural space for social exchange,” say curators Allison Lacher and Jeff Robinson. Here, they recast the neighborhood gallery as a social event space where art objects spur dialogue. 1224 W. Loyola. romansusan.org

ROOTS & CULTURE

Through 6/18 Hand of Mouth. This exhibit pairs Chicago painters Ron Ewert and Erin Washington for their shared approach to image-making and presents disparate cultural emblems, such as bodybuilders and ouroboros, as future ruins. 1034 N. Milwaukee. rootsandculturecac.org

SHANE CAMPBELL GALLERY

Through 7/11 Anthony Pearson. The Los Angeles–based sculptor produces minimalist abstractions with refined materials such as bronze and silver. In the formalist tradition, Pearson clearly adores his materials, caressing delicate linework out of black plaster and using textures intended to tickle the mind. 2021 S. Wabash. shanecampbellgallery.com

SOUTH SIDE COMMUNITY ART CENTER

Through 7/2 SAIC 150th/SSCAC 75th Joint Anniversary Exhibition. An exhibit featuring Archibald Motley, Margaret Burroughs, Eldzier Cortor, AfriCOBRA, and others highlights the relationship between two important Chicago institutions in the education of black artists. (SSCAC was the first black art museum in the U.S., and its founders graduated from SAIC). 3831 S. Michigan. sscartcenter.org

THOMAS MCCORMICK

6/17–8/13 How Much Land. An adventurous group show of new work by Chicago-based artists focuses on what curator Jessica Cochran describes as “tactical painting,” or canvases that pointedly upset traditional painting. 835 W. Washington. thomasmccormick.com

WESTERN EXHIBITIONS

Through 6/25 Marshall Brown. The Chicago-based architect heading the Navy Pier redevelopment makes collages in which he cuts up and remixes buildings to create urban sculptures. 845 W. Washington. westernexhibitions.com