Tiger Strikes Asteroid Chicago

Come by and check out our current show on Saturday! It's a Muscle: Rex Delafkaran and Colleen Keihm Gallery hours: 12-4pm Photo by Tom Van Eynde @rex_delafkaran @ckeihm @tsa_chi @manacontemporary_chicago #tigerstrikesasteroid #tigerstrikesasteroidchicago

It’s a Muscle: Rex Delafkaran & Colleen Keihm Come by tomorrow to see new work by @rex_delafkaran and @ckeihm ! Gallery hours: Saturday, 12-4 pm (or by appointment-email chicago@tigerstrikesasteroid to schedule) Tiger Strikes Asteroid Chicago Mana Contemporary 2233 S. Throop, #419 Photos by Tom Van Eynde and courtesy of the artists. @manacontemporary_chicago @tsa_chi #tigerstrikesasteroid #tigerstrikesasteroidchicago

Celebrating 17 years, we take a moment to look back at some of the exhibitions that have shaped our journey. Today we are reflecting on Bryana Bibbs: Places (Edition 1). This diaristic exhibition brought together handwoven works from Bibbs’s “Journal Series,” created during her travels across the U.S. Rooted in care and storytelling, the project extended into a public workshop inviting survivors of domestic violence to share their experiences through weaving, foregrounding art as a space for healing and collective reflection. What you see here is just one expression of a larger vision. By contributing as little as $5/month, you help sustain a model that prioritizes generosity, risk-taking, and collective exploration, fueling many more possibilities to come. Our goal is to get 60 new patrons this month! Go to patreon.com/tigerstrikesasteroid to join! #tigerstrikesasteroid #fundraiser #tigerstrikesasteroidis17 @tsaphilly @tsa_ny @tsa_la @tsa_chi @tsa_gvl @bryanabibbs @thewewereneveraloneproject

Seventeen years in, we’re reflecting on a few exhibitions from our history that feel especially meaningful today. Today we are reflecting on Eric Von Haynes: Drawn Through Restraint. Blending exhibition and residency, this interactive project centered on “slow media” and community engagement. Through hands-on Risograph workshops and collaborative making, Von Haynes fostered a space where design became a tool for connection, reflecting his broader commitment to mutual aid and grassroots cultural production. If this exhibition resonates with you, consider becoming a Patron. Even $5/month helps nurture a platform committed to critique, risk, and collective imagination, where multiple paths through and beyond the art world can take shape. Our goal is to get 60 new patrons this month! Go to patreon.com/tigerstrikesasteroid to join! #tigerstrikesasteroid #fundraiser #tigerstrikesasteroidis17 @tsaphilly @tsa_ny @tsa_la @tsa_chi @tsa_gvl @manny_suena @Flatlands_press

It’s a Muscle: Rex Delafkaran & Colleen Keihm Exhibition Dates: May 2 - June 13, 2026 Opening Reception: Saturday, May 2, 1-4pm Artists Conversation: Saturday, May 23, 2026, 2pm Tiger Strikes Asteroid Chicago is excited to present the two-person exhibition, It’s a Muscle: Rex Delafkaran & Colleen Keihm, which explores the body’s relationship to abstraction through photographic and sculptural works. It’s a Muscle brings together two new bodies of work by the Chicago-based artists to investigate the fluttering experience of being a body in space. The works in the exhibition foreground thresholds of gestural action or slippages between sight, touch, and movement. Through a collection of photograms, drawings, words, and objects, the artists present an ever-shifting state of perception that resists the tradition of the frame as a fixed position. Keihm’s colorful photograms, a darkroom process of one-off compositions exposed to light, reveal an openness to improvisation and playful form, enclosing and compressing sight-lines within a frame of light. This process-based practice, shaped by both structured limitations and quick edits, unfolds at a distinct pace in the dark. Delafkaran’s sculptures of wood, ceramic and wool activate the gallery’s floor and, through their attention to surface and silhouette, are a set of proposals for touch, play and interaction. Delafkaran's forms are in dialogue with Persian carpets and the wooden weights used in the 11th century Persian martial art zoorkhaneh. The artist is inspired by the body’s movements, the gendered socio-cultural space of practice, and her orientation towards these objects as an American Iranian. For this occasion, the artists will present a collaborative artist book, It’s a Muscle, with the support of exhibition partners @quimbysbookstore and @flatlands_press . The printed media includes drawings and written compositions that act like a key for the dialogues between their practices and the exhibition. The print will be available for free in the gallery while supplies last.

As we celebrate 17 years of work, we’re returning to some of our most memorable exhibitions along the way. Today we are reflecting on Andi Crist: Office Hours. As TSA Chicago’s second Open Call solo exhibition, Office Hours transformed the gallery through an ambitious, large-scale wall drawing that redefined the space. Crist’s dynamic installation marked a pivotal moment in her practice, signaling the emergence of a compelling new voice in Chicago’s contemporary art scene. Join us in building what comes next. A small monthly contribution goes a long way in supporting exhibitions and programs rooted in care, curiosity, and bold thinking, creating space for alternatives to dominant art world structures. Our goal is to get 60 new patrons this month! Go to patreon.com/tigerstrikesasteroid to join! #tigerstrikesasteroid #fundraiser #tigerstrikesasteroidis17 @tsaphilly @tsa_ny @tsa_la @tsa_chi @tsa_gvl @theandicrist

After a fun artist/curator Q&A yesterday, we had a cardboard art-making-blast, then we de-installed “I seem to be a verb.” Thanks all for your support! #caocc @tsa_chi @hollyacahill @debrakayes @manacontemporary_chicago

Tomorrow is the last day to see “I seem to be a verb.” Come check it out! I will be doing a exhibition walk-through fielding questions from the curator and organizer, Holly Cahill. Afterwards, we’ll have cardboard and supplies for you all to make some fun art!

Join us for the final week of Debra Kayes: I seem to be a verb. Gallery hours: Saturday, April 18, 12-4 pm Exhibition Walk-Through / Cardboard Painting Workshop: 2-3 PM Debra Kayes and Holly Cahill will discuss Debra's influences, process, and the background on the exhibition. Following the conversation in the gallery, there will be a cardboard art-making workshop for participants to create your own works. All are welcome! Feel free to bring any additional materials since supplies will be limited. @debrakayes @hollyacahill @tsa_chi @manacontemporary_chicago #tigerstrikesasteroidchicago #tigerstrkesasteroid #iseemtobeaverb

In honor of 17 years of programming, we’re highlighting a handful of exhibitions that continue to resonate. Today we are reflecting on put a bow on it. Bringing together a wide range of Chicago-based artists, this exhibition embraced the language of adornment, craft, and “girl stuff” as a site of power, play, and resistance. Expanding beyond the gallery, the project also culminated in a publication featuring contributions from artists and curators, extending its dialogue into print. Become part of the community that makes this work possible. Starting at $5/month, your support helps us continue cultivating projects driven by empathy, experimentation, and critical dialogue, opening up new ways of making and sharing art. Our goal is to get 60 new patrons this month! Go to patreon.com/tigerstrikesasteroid to join! #tigerstrikesasteroid #fundraiser #tigerstrikesasteroidis17 @tsaphilly @tsa_ny @tsa_la @tsa_chi @tsa_gvl @heartmattmorris @selinatrepp @losemycarkeys @Jay_Elaine @sarabeedee @samuraiceci

Wow! So many people came by today for Mana’s Open House!!! Love you all! 🌈 Next weekend is the last chance to see the show, and we will be doing a cardboard painting workshop and an exhibition walkthrough w Debra and the curator and organizer, Holly Cahill. Hope to see you then! @debrakayes @hollyacahill @tsa_chi @manacontemporary_chicago

As we celebrate 17 years of programming, we are highlighting a few of our favorite exhibitions from our history. Today we are reflecting on Sabina Ott: All Flowers Tell Me. Presented shortly after her passing, this exhibition honored the expansive and deeply imaginative practice of Sabina Ott. Working across painting, sculpture, and installation, Ott created vivid, immersive worlds that blurred the boundaries between abstraction and figuration, leaving behind a legacy that continues to resonate. Help us continue organizing shows like this one! For as little as $5/month, you can invest in an org that values radical empathy, generosity, critique, risk-taking, and imaginative thinking, and foster exhibitions and programming that reflect these values. Our unique model allows us to collectively explore and create not just one, but many alternatives to the mainstream art world. Our goal is to get 60 new patrons this month! Go to patreon.com/tigerstrikesasteroid to join! #tigerstrikesasteroid #fundraiser #tigerstrikesasteroidis17 @tsaphilly @tsa_ny @tsa_la @tsa_chi @tsa_gvl