Prairie, Chicago Gallery That Put Conceptualism Ahead of Commercialism, Closes After Nearly a Decade

Prairie, a Chicago gallery that helped put a range of cutting-edge artists on the path to success, will close after nine years.

The gallery announced its closure on Friday by revealing that its forthcoming exhibition, a group show called “Retrospective,” would be its final one. “This will be our last show,” the gallery wrote on Instagram.

Founded in 2017 by Tim Mann and Jack Schneider as an artist-run space, the gallery had a name that referred to “the ecosystem that thrived in and around Chicago prior to the region’s colonization and industrialization,” per a description written for a prior edition of Chicago Exhibition Week. It sought to show art in a setting that was “free from the pressures of commercial viability.”

While many galleries have closed in response to the pressures of the art market, Schneider said Prairie’s shuttering had little to do with money.

“We were never a market-oriented space,” Schneider said on Monday. “I think an artist friend of ours, Mira Dayal, recently used the phrase ‘commercially irreverent’ to describe her practice, and I think that pretty perfectly describes our program and approach. We never expected to turn a profit, and we never did. We only ever, through occasional sales, fundraising, and occasional grants, raised just enough money to run the program itself.”

The shuttering had been planned for a year, Mann added, calling the occasion “a nice celebratory moment to close on.”

The gallery had a reputation for pinpointing noteworthy talents during the earliest stages of their careers.

Isabelle Frances McGuire, whose beguiling sculptures of witches struck a chord at the recent Whitney Biennial, had her first solo show ever with Prairie, in 2017. André Magaña, a standout of the 2026 edition of MoMA PS1’s Greater New York quinquennial, had his second-ever one-person exhibition with Prairie, in 2019.

Kira Scerbin, Craig Jun Li, Max Guy, Katz Tepper, ASMA, ektor garcia, and Amina Ross also showed with the gallery.

Mann said that Priairie was founded in his and Schneider’s studio with a tradition of edgy alternative spaces in mind. Drawing influence from Chicago outfits such as New Capital and Queer Thoughts (which later moved to New York and became influential there), Prairie showcased a range of artists whose work might not have fit neatly into the commercial ecosystem. The relatively low cost of rent in Chicago helped, he added.

Schneider said that he and Mann planned to continue their work together. “We want to do curatorial work, just outside the guise of an artist-run space,” he noted.