Art Opening: Shane-Jahi Jackson—Paying Dues & Other Floral Committments

Join us for a vernissage celebrating the opening of Chicago-based American visual artist Shane-Jahi Jackson’s new exhibition: Paying Dues & Other Floral Committments, curated by Juelle Daley, on display in the Eleanor Wood Prince Salon from June 5–August 6, 2025.

Guests will hear from the artist before exploring the exhibition over a complimentary glass of French wine.

Doors at 6:00 p.m. Brief speaking program at 6:30. Please enter via 54 W Chicago Ave. Non-alcholic options will be available.

Il y a des fleurs partout pour qui veut bien les voir.

- Henri Matisse

Paying Dues & Other Floral Committments is an invitation to explore the parallel universes of Jackson and French painter, sculptor, and graphic designer Henri Matisse. Much as Matisse’ paintings are composed of four or five colors that entrent en collision les unes avec les autres, Jackson’s manner of developing his floral tableaux is to built on a system of collage, interlaid with textual work and a rich use of primary colors. And just as Matisse felt that “il faut que la peinture serve à autre chose qu’à la peinture,” Jackson, in his artistic and creative outbursts on canvas, seeks to memorialize the intimacy that exists within African-American families ——they deserve all the flowers.

Artist Statement

Bodies for me are containers of stories. My artistic practice as a painter is to unveil them on canvas. I am a self-taught artist that honed my skills over the course of many years and who intentionally seeks to focus on the Black experience using portraiture and abstraction. I use painting as a tool to bear witness to our lives, our strengths and fragilities. In my work, I portray family, children, friends and still-life floral bouquets as symbols of “paying dues” to them.

As a child, I doodled endlessly, and it represents the initial phase of my painting process. It is the moment I practice “unbridled freedom” by doodling, exploring, and improvising abstract ideas before integrating the figure on the canvas. A central feature of my work is the use of Orbs, which represent blood cells that lay bare the idea about the circularity of life and our bloodline’s connection to our ancestors. I also make use of the classical techniques of portraiture but introduce decorative abstraction, shapes and mix-media collage. My overall practice communicates an ancestral story about vulnerability and resilience that implores the viewer to embrace the figures on the canvas and to help save them for cultural erasure.

About the Artist

Shane-Jahi Jackson

Shane-Jahi Jackson was born in Denver, Colorado in 1987. He is a self-taught artist and has exhibited in the Midwest at various venues and most recently at the University of Chicago, Reva & David Logan Arts Center in 2023, with Voices through the Orb and in 2024, and Generations: Opaque Mirrors of Beauty at the Saint Kate Arts Hotel in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

He has two upcoming solo exhibitions, at the Oak Park Public Library this summer and at Epiphany Center for the Arts in Chicago in the fall. He lives and works in Morris, Illinois and is represented by D-Squared Art & Company.

Click hereto find his Instagram page.

Queries may be sent to [email protected].