News — Patrick Hull

Skip the roses and chocolates. This Valentine’s Day, give the gift of art.

Jerome Tiunayan’s new holiday print release “Better Half” captures what love is all about: sacrifice, commitment and devotion. Commissioned expressly for Valentine’s gifting by Vertical Gallery owner Patrick Hull, “Better Half” (which showcases Tiunayan’s semi-autobiographical signature character and the boy’s canine comrade, a stand-in for the Chicago-based painter’s mini goldendoodle Mochi) is signed and numbered in an edition of just 25 copies, and sized at 16 by 20 inches — perfect for standard frames.

“Better Half” kicks off the Vertical Collectors Club series, which features exclusive seasonal-themed releases from the gallery’s favorite artists. In the latest installment of our web-exclusive interview series Five Questions with…, Hull pulls back the curtain on Vertical Collectors Club’s origins, and previews what’s coming next. 

Question 1: How did the Vertical Collectors Club concept take shape? 

Patrick Hull: It just seemed like a fun thing to do. I'm always looking for ways to stay in front of our collectors, and to grow our collector base. We've been doing print releases with our artists for years, but I've been wanting to do something a bit more organized, and this felt like the perfect time to do it. 

An artist creating an original work for a print release is a slightly different twist to how prints are usually done. Usually when a painting is created, it’s shown somewhere, and then a print is made at a later date. But “Better Half” was created for the sake of being a print. We’re also making the original painting available for purchase, which is another twist. I’ve been a collector for years, and I’ve never seen a release quite like this one.  

Question 2: Why did you launch the series with a Valentine’s Day-themed print, and why was Jerome Tiunayan the right artist for the job?

A print release needs a purpose. Tying the first release to an event like Valentine’s Day seemed like a clever idea, but I didn’t want a big heart on paper — not that that’s a bad thing, but I wanted to offer the kind of work I would frame and hang on my wall all year round. 

”Better Half” is Jerome’s first print release through a gallery. I knew he would take the Valentine’s Day idea and interpret it in his own artistic way, and he hit it out of the park with the very first image he sent me. It’s exactly what I was looking for. 

Question 3: Where will Vertical Collectors Club go from here? 

All releases in the series will be very limited, affordable editions priced in the $200 range or below — “Better Half” is $165, for example. We’re going to release a new print every six to eight weeks, and when people purchase this first print, we’re giving them the option to secure the matching edition number of the next one, which will be by Laura Catherwood.

As you can tell by the name, it’s a collectors club — right now, the focus is on prints, but eventually, we may offer something other than a print. It could be hand-finished editions, it could be objects, or it could be something entirely different. We’re keeping our options open, and making sure it remains an interesting project for the artists that we work with.

Question 4: Shifting gears, Vertical Gallery celebrates its 13th anniversary this year. What can collectors expect?

We always have a theme for our anniversary shows, and this one is pretty basic: it's 13 artists, and it opens on Friday, the 13th of March. Each artist is doing four works each. Some artists we haven't shown in over a year, some are the usual suspects you see frequently in our shows, and there's one new artist in the mix who’s never shown at Vertical, or even shown in Chicago before.

The exhibition will be at Jackson Junge Gallery in Wicker Park. It’s the first time we're doing an anniversary show at a different location. Partnering with galleries can really be a win-win: We're bringing our customers to them, and I'm sure there's gonna be a lot of their people viewing a Vertical Gallery show for the first time, too. 

Question 5: What else is in store for Vertical during the coming months?

We've got Collin van der Sluijs booked for July. We're partnering with Joy Machine Gallery for that. We’re doing a big group show at Frame Chicago in September — over 25 artists. And we just booked Aqua Art Miami once again, so we will be returning to sunny South Beach. We’re doing another group show like we did in December, and I’m just starting to put together the group of artists for that exhibition. It’s going to be another busy year.

Vertical Gallery is entering the next phase of its ongoing evolution: extending its exhibition programming directly to collectors all across the globe.

Beginning with this year's Aqua Art Miami, running December 3-7, Vertical will focus its sales and marketing efforts on art fairs, pop-up showcases and other destination events throughout the U.S. and abroad. In the first installment of our new web-exclusive interview series Five Questions with…, Vertical owner Patrick Hull reveals what’s next for the gallery, its artists and the collector community at large.

Question 1: What’s behind your decision to pivot Vertical’s business model?

Patrick Hull: I’ve always felt it was really important to be in front of people in different markets in order to grow the Vertical brand. We've been doing art fairs since day one, and in the past couple of years, we’ve done pop-ups in New York with Alex Face and Flog. We also did a pop-up in Indianapolis, and we showed 2CHOEY at the Urban Art Fair in Paris. 

We’re moving forward with this model, and our September group show ‘The Scenic Route’ was our last in our West Town Chicago location. In early December, we’re presenting 12 artists at Aqua Art Miami 2025, and we’re actively looking at different communities for future exhibitions. We’re still confirming our 2026 programming slate, but we return to Chicago in March to present our 13-Year Anniversary Show with our friends at Jackson Junge Gallery, and we’re bringing Collin van der Sluijs back to Chicago in July in partnership with Joy Machine Gallery. 

Question 2: Why is this the right time to leave your West Town space?

It’s about serving an evolving global collector community. De-emphasizing the role of a fixed physical location is what’s best for our artists and collectors, and for myself. I love what I'm doing — I've been doing this for 12 and a half years now — and I'm really excited about this change in direction.

Question 3: What does this new approach mean for collectors?

It’s a new world of bringing art directly to more people, and allowing them to discover things on their own. 

I feel it's very important to see art in person. You have to love what you see to own it. We’ve always had a great online presence — we take as many photos as we can, and try to make the digital experience as interactive as possible. But online photos never capture the art’s true essence. Now we can be in many different places at once. 

Question 4: What does it mean for artists?

It's gonna be great for artists. They're no longer showing in just one space, or in just one market. Wherever they’re based and wherever they want to show their work, we can partner with them to put together the right plan. There are so many opportunities to figure out what we can do together to grow both of our businesses. 

Question 5: What are you going to miss most about West Town?

I’ll miss our monthly exhibitions — especially the openings, and seeing so many familiar faces. 

Beyond that, it's hard to say what I'm gonna miss, because Vertical is not going away. We’re not leaving the Chicago art community. We're still going to be having shows in Chicago, so I'm going to see our local collectors and artists there. We’re just doing more shows in other places. I can't wait for people to see the work we’re presenting at Aqua.