Inside the world of Chicago artist Laura Lee Junge and her upcoming exhibition
Jackson Junge Gallery, an acclaimed artistic space in Wicker Park, will be hosting an upcoming exhibition on March 6. Themed around the concept of duality, the gallery will have 24 artists create diptychs, which are two artworks put together to convey one message. The artworks will be shown together from March 2 to April 19, with co-owner Laura Lee Junge exhibiting two of her pieces alongside other Chicago artists.
Scattered throughout Junge’s studio are several large abstract paintings, two of which will be chosen for display as diptychs at the exhibition. The curving paint on each canvas both contorts and connects the pieces, juxtaposing color as a symbol of duality.
Tucked away on the second floor of a quiet West Side warehouse, Junge focuses on her art without distraction. Electronic pop music radiates through the studio, filling her with energy to match the colorful waves of paint she splatters and slides across the canvas. Her loose clothing is freckled with paint, a side effect of such passionate artistry. As she narrows in on the canvas to begin on details, her dog sleeps pleasantly beside her paints.
At a first glance, the two-room studio appears as if a tornado of creativity ran through it. Dried paint speckled across the floor, covering every inch so that the concrete can barely be seen. Floor-to-ceiling wooden shelves line the walls, stuffed to the brim with art supplies. Every corner filled with unfinished canvases, leaning against one another in an upright pile.
A chaotic scene, until you look closer to notice the ambitious organization that supports the space. Each shelf with canvases of the same size. Paint splatters in perfectly neat circles to match a nearby piece. Works in progress that share a theme. A studio of dedicated creativity, furnished to provide every possible outlet to create the art that brews inside Junge’s mind.
“I don’t know what it would be like to not have an idea,” Junge said, “Sometimes it’s just the energy to do it all or the desire to do it, but the ideas are always there.”
Creations currently in progress were the main focus of attention in the room. Resting on the easel as a possible contender for duality is a large abstract piece, popping with vibrant blues and reds. On the left side of the room, also propped on an easel, is another abstract painting flowing with various shades of blue and a hint of orange. Leaning against the wall behind it sits a twisting carnival man with little cartoon figures peeking around him in paint.
The three pieces represent Junge’s philosophy on balancing passion and commercial demands as an artist. By doing two or three projects to bring in money and then one project for herself that aligns with her interests. Abstract works and playful Chicago bar scenes tend to be popular sellers for Junge, as shown by her awards at numerous art shows across the country. She was also one of Choose Chicago’s artists of the year in 2025. However, the dream-like surrealist figures agree more with Junge’s aspirations.
This mindset on creative balance originated as advice from a married couple who mentored Junge as a young art student. Melissa Snyder would hold therapy sessions at her husband Craig’s recording studio, which is where Junge originally got to know them. While working with Melissa, she learned from Craig about the two-to-one ratio with creative work.
“He’ll write jingles, he’ll write songs for commercials – [he] has no problem doing that,” Junge said, “[He was] always trying to learn from those things and then apply that to another project that maybe he wants to work for on his own.”
“I’ve never minded taking on commissions, because every time I do something I say, ‘Oh, you’ll learn from this,’’’ Junge said, connecting the advice to her own life. “As long as I stay true to that spirit of maybe [later] doing something that I want to do. So, I feel like that’s kinda helped me make a living as an artist.”
As a successful gallerist, Junge continues to follow this work model by remaining dedicated to projects that inspire her.
“Even when I went to school, I knew that I kind of wanted to create more psychological narrative paintings [and] surrealism,” Junge said, “For me, they always have a huge message in them.”
The personal pieces Junge creates include her Warriors series, which depict various faces with a whimsical and almost psychedelic perspective. Each painting represents the deeper side to an individual. Who they are once you look past external cues, such as what clothes someone may wear or what they look like.
“I always felt like, you know, [when] you look at somebody, everybody kind of makes judgments about who they are, what they do, and have no idea maybe what they’ve been through in life,” Junge said. “Everybody’s had all their own personal battles, and they turn us into the warrior that we are.”
Each warrior has a crown of miniature winged figures, bringing up connotations of victory through the paint. “They stand for each of the little battles that turned you into this bigger person,” Junge said of the symbolism.
“To me, they are kind of a statement [that] we become stronger by the battles that we’ve fought and to maybe be a little bit more aware when you are saying things about people.”
Junge’s warriors are available for view and purchase at the Jackson Junge Gallery, as both original canvas and prints. As an in-house artist, they sit in a permanent section of the gallery beside her other abstract work.
In contrast to the seclusion of Junge’s studio, the Jackson Junge Gallery is wide with open space, supported by clean white walls and light wooden floors. Original artworks by various local artists hang throughout the gallery, with small prints available nearby for those not ready to purchase a large scale piece yet. Special exhibitions like Duality reside in the corner, where they come alive next to the floor-to-ceiling windows that open the gallery out to Milwaukee Avenue. Walkers passing by get a clear view of the art inside, which draws in curious customers and viewers alike.
Jackson Junge Gallery represents many Chicago artists, from painters to photographers and everything in between. Founded in 2009 by Junge and her husband, Chris Jackson, the gallery has grown to become a staple in Chicago’s art scene.
“Sixteen and a half years later, we’re thriving and showcasing a lot of local artists,” Jackson said. As co-owner of the gallery, Jackson runs the operations and works as the proprietor to acquire and show new artwork.
“We try to cultivate as many different young talents,” Jackson said. “We get a lot of creatives that come through here, and it’s a space that should promote creativity.” This is shown by a section of the gallery’s mission statement, which states: “We are passionate about promoting emerging and established artists, and we take pride in featuring work that pushes the boundaries of traditional art forms.”
The gallery is welcoming to artists and art appreciators alike, which is what originally attracted Marisa Taravella to work as a gallery assistant nearly three years ago.
“I always knew that this was the industry that I wanted to be in, but kind of always struggled with how the art world can be very snooty, prestigious [and] intimidating,” Taravella said. “But what I really love about this place and what drew me to this gallery was the fact that the mission is to make art accessible for people and not so scary.”
A portion of Taravella’s role at Jackson Junge Gallery is to assist with curating the exhibitions, such as Duality. She was one of the four judges who selected artwork to display in the exhibition, narrowing down the hundreds of submissions into the 24 artists that will be shown.
“The exhibition is kind of a loose theme, even though it’s specific in what we were looking for. The artists interpreted that in a lot of different ways.” Taravella said. “That’s actually my favorite thing about the show, was the different interpretations of it and being able to show that.”
To fully encompass the theme of Duality, the Wicker Park gallery will be showing diptychs, which are two separate artworks that are paired together to create a common message. As Kaitlyn Miller, the gallery director for Jackson Junge, said they work as two paintings functioning as one.
“A lot of the pieces explore yin and yang, opposites, one thing saying something else,” Miller said.
Contemporary painter Bumpy Wilson explored this theme differently with his diptych “Choice Beef II.” His two pieces represent the same scene but through wildly different artistic styles.
“Duality is what defines us,” Wilson said. “You can make choices and that develops who you are.”
“This diptych provides a visual representation of how choices can define an artist in their style,” Wilson said. While both paintings depict a cow grazing in a pasture, the pieces convey very different perceptions about who Wilson is as an artist.
“I wanted to take a common motif of mine, cows, and present them in two different styles. One being in sort of my more natural, simplistic style, and the other being more abstract, which is where my art career blossomed from.” Wilson said.
As Miller said about “Choice Beef II,” “I think pieces like his are interesting because they’re exploring how an artist can create in multiple forms while still creating a consistent shared message between the two.”
While Wilson interpreted Duality through style, photographer Dan Gemkow took the exhibit thematically with his pieces “Watching | Watched.” Both are 35-millimeter black and white images developed in a dark room. The combination of the portraits beside one another conveys an eerie scene of two individuals looking at one another through a window.
“I sort of created this narrative between these two people who I photographed on different days.” Gemkow said. He originally just wanted a portrait of the man on the street, without any story attached.
“He’s iconic. He has a look, that sort of punk-rock icon look. And I just wanted to take his picture,” Gemkow said. “But it doesn’t fit with anything else that I do.”
“I had to figure out a reason for having to just take a straight-up portrait like that.” Gemkow said, which is how he came up with the idea for pairing the images to create a story. “And I figured, well, I’ll have him looking at somebody.”
Forming this narrative between the photographs was relatively experimental for Gemkow, as was the inversion of the colors for the female portrait.
“That was kind of how I was working at the time, doing lots of dark room experimentation,” Gemkow said about the process. “Inverting the tonal range when possible, playing with re-exposing and developing prints into light and seeing what happens.”
“I thought that effect achieved the narrative that I was trying to build between these two portraits,” Gemkow said. The man is clear in the black and white image, while the woman is warped, suggesting she is perceived in an altered way.
Duality is in both the physical inverse of color and the interpreted perspectives. Despite being taken 20 years ago, the photographs still resonate in a modern-day lens.
“Both are black and white, but it looks abstracted,” Miller said. “It’s focusing on the viewpoints and how we see women versus men.” As depicted in the photographs, perceptions of women are often skewed in image, but the same standards do not apply to men.
“I find ones like that really interesting because that does have a very clear message through a really subtle way of producing a photograph,” Miller said.
“Some of them are aesthetic and truly beautiful to look at,” Miller said while commenting about the entire exhibition. “But some of them, like those two examples, really do have a deeper meaning that really kind of put a little bit of a heavier emphasis into the exhibit.”
Both of these diptychs, along with Junge’s pieces, will be available for view and purchase at the Jackson Junge Gallery from March 2 to April 19. The opening reception, held on March 6, will be a celebration of duality in artwork — with 24 artists exploring the concept through various styles and methods.
While Junge has yet to decide which of her abstract pieces will best fit with the theme of duality, there is no doubt her artwork will stun at the exhibition.
“When she puts her mind to something, there’s no stopping her,” Jackson beamed about his wife. “I think earlier I said the word can’t, and that’s just not a word that she ever would have in her vocabulary.”
“That drive is something that inspires me to this day,” he said.
Header Image by Erin Kindred
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