Last week, I had the pleasure of attending EXPO Chicago, where contemporary art curators and artists from across the world gather in the city to share their work. This year, the artists delivered some of the best work I’ve seen in a long time.
The amount of diversity and the sheer global scale that the EXPO had cannot be understated. Let me be frank: my initial thought when art events boast global rosters is that they often focus on Europe, seemingly forgetting about Africa, South America, and Asia. I was pleasantly surprised to see artists and curators from South Korea, Japan, Mexico, and many other countries at this year’s fair.
to the artist, and the Richard Beavers gallery. Photo by Toby Brogsdale
(1983)”, (2025) Photo by Toby Brogsdale
Houston’s Mitochondria Gallery is a great example. The gallery’s mission is to support artists across Africa and the African diaspora by giving them a global platform. The booth showcased work by Nigerian artists Chika Idu and Ejiro Fenegal, who focus on very different aspects of the Black diaspora.
Chika Idu’s paintings immediately caught my eye because they are incredibly colorful and detailed. The booth featured his “Swimmers” collection, which shows Black children jumping into bodies of water. His work focuses on community in constant motion and questions what kind of world we’re leaving for the next generation. Water becomes symbolic, connecting people to each other and to the earth.
Fenegal’s sculptures, in contrast, blend the lines between history and the present. Inspired by traditional Nigerian feminine hairstyles, her marble figures are lifelike and carefully crafted without becoming uncanny.
Idu and Fenegal’s work both reflect something I found throughout EXPO: a strong sense of the personal. I saw art made by real people with memories, ideas, and perspectives on their communities. Especially in an age of AI-generated images, these works carry history, passion, and humanity.
This idea of individuality is also present in Maya Fuji’s work with Charlie James Gallery. Each acrylic painting is based on an hour of the artist’s life from a single day, rendered in a cartoonish style influenced by anime and manga. Her first-generation Japanese American background plays a role in the imagery, which is filled with detail.
Although these are only a few examples, they are some of the biggest reasons to consider going to EXPO Chicago next year. It can be overwhelming – one attendee described it as physically exhausting – but it remains a strong indicator of the kinds of art and artists shaping the global current moment.
This article was printed in our May 2026 print issue alongside “Big Changes Do Not Make a Better Show” by Egor Goryachikh.
