Cheryl Pope (b.1980, Chicago, IL) is an interdisciplinary visual artist who questions and responds to issues of identity as it relates to the individual and the community, specifically in regards to race, gender, class, history, power and place. Her practice largely emerges from the act and politics of listening while her recent material draws upon personal memories. Referencing the iconic works of French Post-Impressionist, Intimist, and Imagist painters, Pope's work poetically captures the deeply personal and cinematic complexities of love, loss, and the human experience.
Solo exhibitions include tba, moniquemeloche, Chicago, IL (2026); Cheryl Pope: No Place Better Than The BODY, in collaboration with moniquemeloche, Easy Does It Curatorial Space, Los Angeles, CA (2024); Variations on a Love Theme, moniquemeloche, Chicago, IL; Ulrich Museum of Art, Wichita, KS (2022); BASKING NEVER HURT NO ONE, moniquemeloche, Chicago, IL (2019); Cheryl Pope: Not Without a Fight, Rockford Art Museum, Rockford, IL (2019); SPEAKLESS, Galleria Bianconi, Milan, Italy (2018); TRUTH BE TOLD., Andres Guerrero Gallery, San Francisco, CA (2018); I’VE BEEN HEARD, Fort Gansevoort, New York, NY (2017); Watch Your Step, moniquemeloche, Chicago, IL (2016); (UN)TOLD, Central Utah Art Center, Salt Lake City, UT (2016): COMMUNITY IS BUILT ON EMPATHY, Kenyon College, Gambier, OH (2016); Objects for Listening, Ontario College of Art, Toronto, Canada (2016); SIDE by SIDE, Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, MA (2016); Art of Americas, Denver Biennial, Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, Boulder, CO (2015); From Within, Poetry Foundation, Chicago, IL (2015); Unfolding the Folds, Harold Washington College, Chicago, IL (2015); Museo Arte Gallarate, Gallarate, IT (2014); Speculum Speculorum, Mark Moore Gallery, Culver City, CA (2014); Just Yell, moniquemeloche, Chicago, IL (2013); (In)Voluntary Acts, Julian Navarro Projects, Mandragoras Art Space, New York, NY (2012); Matter of Fact, Emerson Dorsch, Miami, FL (2011); A Silent I, On the Wall, moniquemeloche, Chicago, IL (2011).
Group exhibitions include (Upcoming) Tainted Love, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, London, UK (2026); F*ck Art, Museum of Sex, Miami, FL (2026); Get in the Game: Sports, Art, Culture, Crystal Bridges, Museum of American Art, Bentonville, AR (2025); Strike Fast, Dance Lightly: Artists on Boxing, Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, FL (2024); Get in the Game: Sports, Art, Culture, SF MoMA, San Francisco, CA (2024); Resistance Training: Arts, Sports, and Civil Rights, Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum, East Lansing, MI (2023); Hoop Dreams: Basketball and Contemporary Art, Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY (2023); Unmasking Masculinity for the 21st Century, Kalamazoo Institute of the Arts, Kalamazoo, MI (2022); She Says: Women, Words, and Power, Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art, Virginia Beach, VA (2021); The Long Dream, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL (2021); Stance and Fall: A Wavering World, MARTa Herford Museum, Herford, DE (2019); Ace: Art on Sports, Promise, and Selfhood, University Art Museum, Albany, NY (2019); River Assembly, Floating Museum, Chicago, IL (2017); I AM THE MANY, The White House, Washington, DC (2015); CHICAGO STATEMENTS, Biennale, Elmhurst Art Museum, Elmhurst, IL (2015); Shift Shape, Defibrillator, Chicago, IL (2011); Through the Looking Glass, Evanston Art Center, Evanston, Chicago, IL (2011); War as Art/Art as War, The Morgan Conservatory, Cleveland, OH (2009); Artist as Teacher/Teacher as Artist, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL (2008).
Highlights and Collections
Pope’s work is in the collections of the Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville, FL; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL; UBS Art Collection, New York, NY; Seattle Art Museum, WA; Honolulu Museum of Art, HI; Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, CA; Poetry Foundation, Chicago, IL; DePaul University Art Museum, Chicago, IL; Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD; United States Embassy, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic; The Jackson West Memorial Hospital, Miami, FL; and The Ulrich Museum of Art, Wichita, KS. She has been the recipient of several awards and fellowships, including the Public Artist Award, Franklin Works, Minneapolis, MN (2017); Selected Artist, Year of Public Art, Chicago Cultural Center, IL (2017); Mellon Fellowship, Kenyon College, Gambier, OH (2016); and 3Arts Award, Chicago, IL (2015).