Magic Hour Gallery is an alternative exhibition space located at 661 W. Lake Street, a boutique office building in Chicago's Fulton Market neighborhood. Dedicated to showcasing emerging and underrepresented artists, the gallery creates a distinctive cultural amenity within the building, and within the neighborhood's broader landscape of design, food, and art.
The gallery takes its name from the "magic hour," the brief period of transformative light at dawn and dusk. That fleeting moment, when familiar surroundings are cast in something new, is a fitting metaphor for the gallery's mission: light and time do not simply illuminate, they alter perception. Magic Hour treats artwork the same way, as a record of the moment in which it was made, carrying both visible and invisible traces of the world it came from.
Presenting three shows a year, Magic Hour is committed to championing artists from Chicago and beyond who deserve greater visibility. This commitment begins with CXW, the gallery's inaugural exhibition, bringing together a group of artists whose work reflects the cultural shifts, personal histories, and social atmospheres of their time.
Magic Hour is supported by KWILL Merchant Advisors, landlord of and tenant in the building. KWILL counsels evolving businesses through management consulting, commercial real estate, and capital investment, and shares in Magic Hour's belief that art and enterprise can shape a neighborhood together.