Gallery Spotlight: Homey Gallery

Gallery Spotlights are posts about randomly selected* art venues in Chicago

Adrienne Tarver

Homey Gallery is just what the name says, homey.  The exposed brick, beige painted walls and hardwood floors feel as though you have wandered into someone’s private home. Paintings rest on tables, sculptures sit on coffee tables and you may even relax on the couch if you please.  The only signifier of this home’s artistic ambitions is the amount of artwork covering every surface.

It’s a cozy casual space tucked just beneath the El tracks where one can comfortably peruse art and imagine what it might look like in your own home. That is exactly the vision owner, Michael LaConte had when he started Homey Gallery – to give the collector an “idea of what an original art collection would look like in [their] home.”

LaConte started the gallery five years ago when he saw how much interest people had in the art he exhibited on the walls of his two Chicago restaurants, Lucca’s and Cornelia’s.  Though he no longer owns the restaurants, he continues to show some of the artists he once exhibited there in his new gallery space.

The gallery has grown three fold in its Lincoln Avenue spot since it’s beginning and now displays approximately 35 artists at a time and spotlights one artist through bimonthly exhibitions. The artists range from emerging to established, local to international and the work varies from abstract painting to figurative sculpture and everything in between.

LaConte began showing abstract painter Paul Lorenz four and a half years ago after seeing his work in San Francisco.  Lorenz exhibits internationally and has found popularity in LaConte’s gallery here in Chicago.  Another popular artist for the gallery is former set designer, Roger Bole.  Originally from Detroit, Bole now calls Chicago his home and shows his urban landscape paintings almost exclusively though Homey Gallery.

Currently on exhibit are the landscape paintings of artist Andrea Harris who is not only a painter, but also a runner who has had the honor of carrying an Olympic torch.  Her paintings are quiet birch tree forest scenes in soft grays and greens. They are displayed scattered amongst the gallery space in an exhibition that integrates her paintings with the other work in the gallery.

Alongside Harris’ paintings you’ll find historic collectibles, pieces from the Chicago’s World’s Fair and decorative furniture pieces for your home. This is a unique way to hang an exhibition and LaConte finds that it eases the experience for the novice collector while allowing their imaginations to relocate the painting to their own home.

His focus for the gallery is on “home and garden” allowing a collector looking for original works to find eclectic treasures for any space whether indoor or outdoor.  In the summer, the gallery focuses more on outdoor sculpture and home-wares like artistic garden planters while in the fall and winter they display more indoor furnishings, décor and paintings.

Homey’s atmosphere is far from its white cube counterpart and there is something to fit almost every home.

Upcoming on the Homey Gallery calendar is a silent auction in late August featuring 100 works including sculptures, photography, paintings and home goods all starting at 20 percent of the original price.

Home Gallery is located at 3656 North Lincoln Avenue in Chicago.  Andrea Harris’ paintings will be up through mid-June. The gallery hours are: Tuesday – Saturday 11 am – 6 pm and Sunday 12 pm – 5 pm.

*Gallery spotlights are chosen based on a lottery, which we document by videotape, in order to be transparent and truly random. 10 were chosen out of a pool of 350.