What Is Karla Wong’s Journeys of Being at Intuit Art Museum?

Short answer

Karla Wong: Journeys of Being is on view at Intuit Art Museum, 756 N. Milwaukee Avenue, Chicago, through January 10, 2027. The solo exhibition presents large-scale oil paintings that weave Oaxacan culture and Day of the Dead iconography with Wong’s life as a trans woman of Mexican and Chinese heritage. Wong discusses the work in an artist talk on Saturday, November 7, at 1 PM, free with museum admission.

Key facts

• Who: Karla Wong, a Chicago-based painter born in 1974 in Veracruz, Mexico, who worked for ten years as a forensic and witness sketch artist before turning to oil painting.
• What: Journeys of Being, a solo exhibition of large-scale, vividly dreamlike oil paintings in the museum’s Douglas O. Robson Gallery.
• Where: Intuit Art Museum, 756 N. Milwaukee Avenue, Chicago, IL 60642.
• When: September 3, 2026 – January 10, 2027. Artist talk: Saturday, November 7, 1 PM.
• Hours and admission: Wednesday to Sunday, 11 AM to 6 PM. Adults $20; free for visitors 24 and under and for members. Saturday, November 14, is a free community day, 11 AM to 6 PM.

What will you see?

Portals, balloons and hidden apples. Wong’s vivid, dreamlike compositions evoke Victorian and Surrealist painting while staying entirely her own: traditional Oaxacan clothing and landscapes sit alongside subtle odes to Chicago landmarks, and recurring archways open onto mysterious places. Symbolic elements are encoded throughout: balloons represent the unborn, birds stand in for male genitalia, and apples and pears play forbidden fruit.

The museum’s associate curator Christina Stavros describes the paintings as “encoded with references to her life experiences as a Mexican immigrant and as a trans woman.” Themes of life and death, self-discovery and gender identity run through the exhibition, whose title works nod to both sides of Wong’s life: The Catrina Comes to Chicago (La catrina llega Chicago), Arriving to the Land of the Mezcal (Llegando a la tierra del mezcal), You Were Born to be Free (Naciste para ser libre).

Who is Karla Wong?

Wong was born in Veracruz, Mexico, in 1974 and graduated from the Benito Juárez de Oaxaca University of Law. A lifelong passion for drawing led her to a decade of work as a forensic and witness sketch artist for the general prosecution and justice department, drawing facial reconstructions and composites. Over time her art practice deepened, she connected with artistic communities in Chicago and Oaxaca, and she eventually traded pencils for oil paints. She now lives in the Chicago area and travels between her native and adopted countries.

How do you visit?

Intuit Art Museum is at 756 N. Milwaukee Avenue in West Town, open Wednesday to Sunday, 11 AM to 6 PM. Admission is $20 for adults and free for visitors 24 and under, members, Illinois teachers and visitors with disabilities; November 14 is a free community day. Unlike a commercial contemporary art gallery, Intuit is a museum and charges admission, and its approach to self-taught and outsider art is its own kind of cultural mediation. The artist talk with Christina Stavros on November 7 at 1 PM is free with admission.

FAQ

Until when is Karla Wong: Journeys of Being on view?

The exhibition runs through January 10, 2027, at Intuit Art Museum in Chicago.

When is the Karla Wong artist talk?

Saturday, November 7, 2026, at 1 PM, in the museum’s second floor galleries, in conversation with curator Christina Stavros. It is free with regular museum admission.

How much does Intuit Art Museum cost?

Admission is $20 for adults and free for visitors 24 and under and members. Saturday, November 14, 2026, is a free community day, 11 AM to 6 PM.

What are Intuit Art Museum’s hours?

Wednesday to Sunday, 11 AM to 6 PM.

About Antre

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Sources

• Intuit Art Museum, exhibition page for Karla Wong: Journeys of Being: dates, gallery, works and biography.
• Intuit Art Museum, artist talk event page and Plan Your Visit page: November 7 program, hours and admission.

More context: our guides to Arocha-Schraenen’s Gaining Perspective at moniquemeloche and Miller & Shellabarger’s Always Now at Western Exhibitions.