Exhibitions:
Spring it to me
Spring It To Me was a multidisciplinary event held at The Empty Bottle, featuring live music, comedy, poetry readings, and a range of local vendors and independent presses in celebration of the arrival of spring.
Nathan Doty participated as a featured artist, presenting a table of work throughout the evening that included original pieces and printed editions available for sale. Situated within a broader network of Chicago’s independent creative community, his presentation functioned as both exhibition and active engagement space, emphasizing direct exchange between artist and audience.
The event reflected the energy of Chicago’s DIY art scene, where performance, publishing, and visual art intersect in an accessible, collaborative environment shaped by immediacy and community.
April 21st 2026
P-P-PUNK2
P-P-Punk 2 is the second installment in an ongoing exhibition series dedicated to the raw energy and ethos of punk. Organized by local artist , this exhibition brings together a community of makers whose work embodies punk’s visual language and uncompromising spirit and DIY aesthetics
More than a stylistic nod, the work in P-P-Punk 2 channels punk as an active force—messy, confrontational, and alive. These artists embrace imperfection, distortion, and immediacy, rejecting the precious in favor of the direct. Hand-drawn graphics, rough textures, zine-inspired layouts, and irreverent imagery collide to create a space that feels closer to a basement show than a traditional gallery.
February 13th— February 28th 2026
NO MORE PARADES: INTERUPTED JOY
"No More Parades: Interrupted Joy“ is a group exhibition featuring artwork that was originally intended to be included in an October 2025 Halloween inspired parade, but due to the heightened intensity surrounding ICE and “Operation Midway Blitz" in Chicago, the gallery made the decision to back out amid safety concerns. This exhibition features those pieces, although many of the artists altered their designs and took the opportunity to create more detailed works. Each piece, on 20x24 archival foam board, is work created as a response to what was initially an open call celebrating Chicago visual artists which then turned into a response about that celebration being cancelled. Art can inspire, uplift, provoke and connect us and this exhibition does all of that.
January 16th — February 14th 2025
10X10 (2025)
TEN by TEN is an annual celebration presented by Jackson Junge Gallery, showcasing the diversity, creativity, and passion of the Chicago arts community. Featuring works in a uniform 10” x 10” format, the exhibition forms a striking visual grid that highlights a wide range of styles and mediums. As an open-submission show, TEN by TEN invites artists of all backgrounds and experience levels to participate, offering an unfiltered snapshot of contemporary artistic expression both within Chicago and beyond.
November 3rd 2025 — January 11th 2026
WREATH ISSUE #3
Founded in December 2024 by Kat Thanopoulos, WREATH Literary Collective is a print magazine and literary community dedicated to showcasing emerging voices across poetry, prose, and visual art. Through submissions-based publishing alongside workshops, readings, and community programming, WREATH creates an interdisciplinary space for artistic exchange and collaboration.
Nathan Doty is featured in WREATH’s third issue, with work appearing in the publication as well as on both the front and back covers. The issue is currently available in print at Quimby's Bookstore in Wicker Park.
SABR TOOTH TIGER ISSUE #1
Sabr Tooth Tiger Magazine is a Chicago-based literary magazine dedicated to showcasing poetry, prose, and visual art from emerging and established creatives worldwide. Rooted in a conceptual framework that explores “sabr” (patience), “tooth” (the pulse of the body), and “tiger” (the courage of the spirit), the publication seeks to bridge the animal and the divine through contemporary artistic practice.
The first issue was released in September 2025 and featured work by Nathan Doty, presenting two of his works within the publication. His inclusion situates his practice within a broader dialogue of interdisciplinary artists engaging with themes of embodiment, introspection, and emotional strength.
Released December 4th 2025
TENDRILS
Tendrils was the BFA Senior Fine Arts Exhibition presented by the School of Visual Arts at Columbia College Chicago, featuring work by 12 BFA candidates who developed individual thesis bodies of work over the course of a year. The exhibition was supported by Larry Lee.
The title Tendrils was collectively chosen by the participating artists as a conceptual framework for the show. A tendril is a thin, winding structure used by climbing plants to attach to supports and grow toward light. This idea served as a shared metaphor for the exhibition, reflecting themes of growth, connection, and the ways artistic practices extend beyond individual boundaries while remaining interwoven with external influences.
Across a range of media and approaches, the works in Tendrils explored these ideas through distinct but interconnected perspectives.
May 9th— June 6th 2025
wreath ISSUE #2
WREATH Literary Collective is a print magazine and literary community founded in December 2024 by Kat Thanopoulos. Centered around submissions-based publishing, the magazine brings together poetry, prose, and visual art while fostering spaces for collaboration through workshops, readings, and community events.
Nathan Doty is featured as an artist in WREATH’s second issue, presented through an accompanying exhibition at Good Mood Tattoo. The publication is currently available in print at Quimby's Bookstore in Wicker Park.
BFA Open studios
The Columbia College Chicago Senior BFA Open Studio is a one-night exhibition featuring the work and studio spaces of the 2025 graduating seniors in the Fine Arts program. Designed as a preview of the students’ forthcoming senior thesis exhibitions, the event offers visitors a unique opportunity to engage with works in progress and gain insight into the creative processes shaping each artist’s practice. By opening their studios to the public, participating artists invite audiences into the environments where their ideas are developed, explored, and brought to life.
April 25th 2025
P-P-Punk
P-P-Punk is the first installment in an ongoing exhibition series dedicated to the raw energy and ethos of punk. Organized by local artist , this exhibition brings together a community of makers whose work embodies punk’s visual language and uncompromising spirit and DIY aesthetics
More than a stylistic nod, the work in P-P-Punk 2 channels punk as an active force—messy, confrontational, and alive. These artists embrace imperfection, distortion, and immediacy, rejecting the precious in favor of the direct. Hand-drawn graphics, rough textures, zine-inspired layouts, and irreverent imagery collide to create a space that feels closer to a basement show than a traditional gallery.
December 13th— February 7th 2025
porous salon
Porous Salon was a group exhibition presented at Porous Gallery, a privately run gallery space located on the campus of Columbia College Chicago. The exhibition brought together work from a range of students, transforming the gallery into a densely layered environment of diverse artistic practices and mediums.
Nathan Doty participated in the exhibition with his work Clocked, presented alongside a wide selection of student work that collectively shaped the visual and conceptual atmosphere of the salon-style installation.
The exhibition emphasized openness and experimentation, allowing individual works to exist in dialogue with one another.
April 20th— May 4th 2023
HIDDEN HALLWAYS
Hidden Hallways is a group exhibition curated, produced, and installed by the Class of 2025 Fine Arts program at Columbia College Chicago. The exhibition brings together newly created works developed in response to a shared formal premise: each participating artist was provided with a frame of varying dimensions and invited to produce a piece specifically for the exhibition.
Working within this collective structure, the artists explore a wide range of materials, processes, and conceptual approaches. While unified by the physical parameters of the frame, the exhibition emphasizes the individuality of each artist’s interpretation, revealing the ways constraint can generate experimentation, dialogue, and unexpected connections. Hidden Hallways reflects the diversity of emerging practices within the program while highlighting the collaborative spirit of its graduating class.
November 22nd— December 14th 2025
10×10 (2024)
TEN by TEN is an annual celebration presented by Jackson Junge Gallery, showcasing the diversity, creativity, and passion of the Chicago arts community. Featuring works in a uniform 10” x 10” format, the exhibition forms a striking visual grid that highlights a wide range of styles and mediums. As an open-submission show, TEN by TEN invites artists of all backgrounds and experience levels to participate, offering an unfiltered snapshot of contemporary artistic expression both within Chicago and beyond.
November 4th 2024 — January 12th 2025
SURREAL SALON
Surreal Salon was a salon-style exhibition presented at Jackson Junge Gallery in Wicker Park, organized in celebration of the gallery’s 15th anniversary. The exhibition featured floor-to-ceiling installations of artwork throughout the space, bringing together works that explore surreal imagery, dreamlike logic, and imaginative visual narratives.
The presentation emphasized an immersive viewing experience, with artworks densely installed to encourage layered encounters between pieces and viewers within the gallery environment.
Nathan Doty’s work Out of Time was included in the exhibition and installed in a prominent position adjacent to the exhibition title, situating the piece within the central visual and conceptual framework of the show. Through its surreal and temporal themes, the work contributed to the exhibition’s broader exploration of altered perception and imaginative interpretation.
October 1st— November 10th 2024
delaware
Delaware is Nathan Doty’s first solo exhibition, presented at Porous Gallery, an independently run gallery space located on the campus of Columbia College Chicago. Featuring a series of digital collages and drawings rendered as large-format fine art prints, the exhibition explores memory, place, and personal history through layered and fragmented imagery.
Rooted in recollection and nostalgia, Delaware reflects on the experiences and relationships that shape identity over time. Doty uses visual storytelling as a way of preserving fleeting moments and honoring the people whose presence continues to inform who we become. The works navigate the emotional tension between growing older and remaining connected to one’s origins, considering memory not only as documentation of the past, but as a means of staying grounded in the present.
Named after Delaware, Ohio — the town where Doty grew up — the exhibition serves as both a personal archive and a closer look into where we have been and where we are going.
April 26th— May 9th 2024
10X10 (2023)
TEN by TEN is an annual celebration presented by Jackson Junge Gallery, showcasing the diversity, creativity, and passion of the Chicago arts community. Featuring works in a uniform 10” x 10” format, the exhibition forms a striking visual grid that highlights a wide range of styles and mediums. As an open-submission show, TEN by TEN invites artists of all backgrounds and experience levels to participate, offering an unfiltered snapshot of contemporary artistic expression both within Chicago and beyond.
November 1st 2023 — January 7th 2024
DARK MARKET (2023)
Dark Market was Shop Columbia’s annual Spotlight Exhibition, a curated presentation of work by Columbia artists centered on themes of the macabre, the spooky, and the magical. The exhibition took the form of a market-style installation featuring a wide range of handmade works, including art prints, zines, books, stickers, enamel pins, patches, and soft sculpture, creating an environment that celebrated Halloween-inspired and one-of-a-kind artistic production.
Nathan Doty participated in the 2023 iteration of Dark Market, presenting a limited run of his ERROR 404 screen prints. Following the conclusion of the exhibition, the Shop Columbia team retained interest in the work and ultimately custom-framed select prints for continued display within the space.
October 9th— November 2nd 2023
Nathan Doty’s work is included in a permanent public art installation in the lobby of the building at 618 S Michigan Avenue in Chicago. As part of a curatorial initiative led by faculty within the building, artists were selected to contribute work for a newly renovated space designed to establish a lasting visual program for visitors and occupants.
Doty’s contribution, a digital drawing created several years prior, was selected for permanent display and now exists as part of a broader installation featuring work by multiple local artists. The project transforms the lobby into a shared visual environment, where individual works collectively shape the character and atmosphere of the space.
Permanent Installation