1431 W. Hubbard St., Ste. 201, Chicago, IL 60642
By advance appointment only. Please email contact@chicagoartistscoalition.org
01.29
Isaac Couch, Sangwoo Yoo
Friday, December 19 2025 from 5-8pm
Isaac Couch Sangwoo Yoo
Francine Almeda
Chicago Artists Coalition presents a three-person exhibition by 2024-26 Artist Residents Isaac Couch and Sangwoo Yoo, curated by 2024-26 Curatorial Resident Francine Almeda.
The opening reception will be on December 19 from 5-8pm.
About Curators
Francine Almeda is a Chicago-based Filipina-American gallerist, independent curator, cultural producer, writer, and DJ. She is the Founder and Director of Tala, an independent contemporary art space and gallery with a multitudinous program containing a library and atrium marketplace. Prior to this, she founded Jude Gallery, an artist-run project and exhibition space which ran from 2021-2024. As a gallerist, Francine builds community-based platforms for artists that encourage transdisciplinary experimentation of all mediums with the goal of proposing new realities. Her practice nurtures new methods of collaboration in order to expand the capacities of art as a caretaking tool. With a focus on conceptual, narrative-driven curatorial projects, and public programming, Francine supports QTBIPOC artists at all stages of their career. She has spoken and sat on panels across Chicago, including the Arts Club of Chicago, Soho House Chicago, and The Silver Room. She was a participant in the ICI’s Curatorial Seminar (2022), and is currently a Curatorial Resident at Chicago Artists Coalition (2024-2026).
Image: Tala Inaugural Show Installation Shot - Credit: Steven Piper
Headshot: Steven Piper
About Artists
“I tend to work with my hands versus my fingers as I question the traditions of both hard work and Haute Couture. I mirror the violence seen around us by physically tearing, burning, stapling, knotting and puncturing materials that tie back to my identity. To find myself I must destroy what I am given. Being from Western KY, a place that values hard work in the traditional sense, I am drawn to explore heavy materials and ideas within a reconstructive fashion practice. I aim to rebuild an understanding of the places I live within and the identity imposed upon me.”
Originally from Western KY, where corn is farmed and coal is mined, Isaac Couch has brought his southern perspective to the northern city of Chicago where he lives and works. After receiving a Bachelor's degree in Merchandising Apparel and Textiles in 2019 from the University of Kentucky, he went on to earn his Masters of Design at SAIC in 2021. Following graduation, he was awarded the 2021 Luminarts Fashion Fellowship, the 2021 Fashion Council Fellowship, and the 2023-24 Arts Club of Chicago Fellowship. He has shown work with the Weinberg Newton Gallery in Chicago, the Lexington Art League back in his home state, the Comfort Station in Logan Square, and the Co-Prosperity Sphere.
Image: Isaac Couch, HANDS DOWN, 2022, Installation at the Lexington Art League /// Image Credit: Jakob Green
Headshot: Max Li
Sangwoo Yoo, born in Seoul, is an artist driven by the intention to reawaken modern senses and aims to engage with social realities and the environment through the ecological cycles of materials. He received his Master of Fine Arts in Sculpture at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in the United States and Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Seoul in Korea.
Yoo was the recipient of the 2024 Eldon Danhausen, 2025 Anderson Ranch Arts Center, 2024 MASS MoCA Residency Fellowship, which was fully sponsored by the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and has been nominated for both the AICAD Post-Graduate Teaching Fellowship and the MFA Fellowship in Painting and Sculpture. He won the second-place award in the 2023 William and Dorothy Yeck Award, and was the grand prize winner of the Hoguk Art Exhibition in Korea in 2016. His works have been displayed in renowned Korean institutions such as The War Memorial of Korea, the United Nations Peace Memorial Hall, the Yanggu Humanities Museum, and the ChunCheon National Museum. One of his pieces is currently part of the collection at The War Memorial of Korea in Seoul.
Moreover, Sangwoo is scheduled to participate in the 2024 EXPO CHICAGO with sponsorship from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and has held several solo exhibitions at Comfort Station Gallery, SITE Gallery in Chicago, Dos Gallery, and Red Brick Gallery in Seoul.
Image: Sangwoo Yoo, Portrait of Loss (dust), 2024, Discarded Christmas tree, Variable Dimension
