ShadowBoxX Gallery owner Michael Voss met Nigerian artist Johnmark Toluwase Agbabiaka virtually through the Chicago-based Connect Residency in 2024, where artists have an opportunity to network and mentor one another.
As they began to communicate and learn more about each other’s place in the art world, Voss hatched the idea for an exhibit of African art at his gallery in Waukegan. They began working to put it together.
“I knew Johnmark’s work was very strong and no one had ever done anything like that here in Waukegan before,” Voss said. “He shipped the work here in those tubes,” he added, pointing to several cylindrical plastic containers. “It was overwhelming when it all came together.”
Essence: Survival Through Connection opened on Feb. 21 and continues through March 14 at the ShadowBoxX Gallery in downtown Waukegan, featuring 24 works by Black artists — seven from Nigeria and one from Waukegan.
Walking into the gallery, visitors will see a wall with four paintings, then turn right into the main exhibit room, where there are 20 more works of art, including some mixed-media pieces with paint and fabric.
“The opening was overwhelming,” Voss said. “We had 200 people come through here the first weekend. More keep coming. These are very attractive prices.”
Voss said the works of art range in price from $1,000 to $3,000, with most being in the $2,000 range. One has sold already, and there is interest in more. All will remain on the gallery’s walls through the end of the show.
Along with the artwork Agbabiaka put together from his six Nigerian colleagues, paintings by Trotter Alexander of Waukegan are part of the show. Alexander was part of a later cohort of Connect Residency who Voss got to know.
Alexander said his journey with art began when he was 4 as a way to express himself, and it is now his full-time occupation. Realizing he was able to display his emotions through art, he hopes he can pay it forward.
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“I know if I can express my emotions through art, I can do it for others,” Trotter said. “A lot of people don’t know how to express their feelings. I use my art to do that. The more I can do that, the more successful I will be.”
One of Trotter’s paintings in the show is entitled “Olu,” depicting a clothing designer of the same name. The image shows him in aviator’s garb with a biplane flying overhead. The line is dedicated to Bessie Coleman.
“His collection is based on Bessie Coleman, the first Black aviator,” Trotter said. “He uses clothes as a tool to tell a story. I was able to learn more about her. He had another one with Jackie Robinson shirts.”
Two paintings by Agbabiaka, “The Journey of No Return I” and “The Journey of No Return II,” show a boat with heavy clouds above. Voss said the boats are on the Atlantic Ocean heading west from Africa into a life of slavery in Haiti or Jamaica.
“This is the last time they will see their homeland,” Voss said. “The focus is really on the dark clouds, not the boat. They’re being sent away from their homeland.”
“Here I Linger,” painted by Ezechukw C G Blu, the lone female artist in the show, is the first piece of art people see when they walk into the gallery. Voss said the woman in the picture is “trying to get away from trauma.”
Another of Agbabiaka’s contributions is the picture of an eagle aloft with multiple verses from Chapter 40 of the Book of Isiah in the Bible behind the large bird. Voss said it is about freedom and restoration.
“A lot of the artists are very religious,” Voss said.
The gallery is open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursdays through Sundays.