In conjunction with the exhibition Expanding Narratives: The Figure and the Ground, Pigment Intl. presents a salon that examines the depth, breadth, and global impact of the Black aesthetic and the creative expressions of all people of color.

The panel features gallery owner Monique Meloche and artist Solomon Adufah. 

FREE, but space is limited. Please register in advance. 

Presented by Pigment Intl.

About the presenters

Monique Meloche grew up immersed in the art of the deal, via her car-salesman father in Windsor, Ontario, but never intended to combine art with commerce. Armed with degrees in art history from the University of Michigan and a master's from the School of the Art Institute she spent her early career at the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Rhona Hoffman Gallery, and Kavi Gupta Gallery in Chicago before opening her namesake gallery in 2001. Over the years Monique has played pivotal roles in the careers of artists like Rashid Johnson and in 2011, founded what quickly became a successful venture called Gallery Weekend Chicago, to make the city a global destination for contemporary art.

Born and raised in Ghana, Solomon Adufah is a self-taught Chicago-based artist. He has successfully taken what started as a drawing hobby and forged it into a professional artistic career. Solomon's mission is to open the world’s eyes to the positive wonders of Africa through his paintings and dispel the negative perception created by an American media lens which often focusses on war, poverty, and famine. Using his artwork as a tool to react to this narrative, Solomon celebrates African culture through portrait paintings like his Homeland Series: which captures the essence of subjects he meets during his travels to Africa.