Michelle Grabner is an artist, writer, and curator based in Oak Park, Illinois. She is a professor and Chair of the Painting and Drawing Department at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She is also co-director of The Suburban, an artist-run project space that she initiated in 1998 together with the artist Brad Killam, which hosts international artists and projects, including Dave Muller, Katharina Grosse and Luc Tuymans. The Suburban is dedicated to giving the artist complete control over what they choose to produce and exhibit. A regular contributor to Artforum, X-tra, Art-Agenda and many other publications, Grabner is also the co-editor of The Studio Reader (University of Chicago Press, 2010). Grabner also develops independent curatorial projects, including 25 years of Talent at Marianne Boesky Gallery in 2011 and Inheriting Matisse: The Decorative Contour in Contemporary Art in 2002 for the Rocket Gallery in the U.K. She is represented by Shane Campbell Gallery, Chicago and Anne Mosseri-Marlio Gallery, Zurich; she has participated in numerous group shows across the U.S. and in Europe.