PATRON is a contemporary art gallery in Chicago founded in collaboration by Julia Fischbach and Emanuel Aguilar. PATRON is founded on the defining characteristics of a patron of the arts, that is, a person chosen, named or honored as a special guardian, protector or supporter. With this foundation set as a cornerstone, the gallery hopes to open new and traditional avenues of helping audiences of patrons from all walks of life engage and find access to contemporary art.
With a combined experience of 38 years within the Contemporary Art industry between Fischbach and Aguilar, PATRON serves as a platform for the promotion and celebration of the values and stories that are important to us as patrons of art ourselves. PATRON is proudly a family of artists and professionals that consists of a majority of women and a diverse collective of voices from all places and walks of life. Our dedication to continuing to support and promote this diversity and reflection of our contemporary world is priority in the position as cultural workers.
For our artists, we strive to secure and develop institutional support through exhibitions and acquisitions. Recent museum exhibitions include Alex Chitty at the Museum of Contemporary Art; Bethany Collins at Frist Art Museum, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Montgomery Museum of Fine Art, and the Speed Art Museum; Mika Horibuchi at the Richard H. Driehaus Museum; Jennie C. Jones at the Arts Club of Chicago, and the unveiling of her first major public sculpture as part of Ground/Work at The Clark Art Institute; Harold Mendez at The Logan Center for the Arts and ICA LA; and Caroline Kent at Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, among many others. Recent notable acquisitions include Greg Breda by the Columbus Museum of Art and the Studio Museum in Harlem; Bethany Collins by the Speed Art Museum, Van Every/Smith Galleries at Davidson College, the Peabody Essex Museum, and the Block Museum at Northwestern University; Caroline Kent by DePaul Art Museum; Myra Greene by the Block Museum at Northwestern University; Jennie C. Jones by the Perez Art Museum and The Morgan Library & Museum; Harold Mendez by the Whitney and the Minneapolis Institute of Art; Melanie Schiff by the Art Institute of Chicago; and Liat Yossifor by the Hammer Museum.
