Overview
For Art Basel Miami Beach 2021, Stephen Friedman Gallery brings together works by key artists from its programme in a presentation that includes painting, sculpture, textile and drawing. Featuring Marina Adams, Melvin Edwards, Tom Friedman, Wayne Gonzales, Jim Hodges and Deborah Roberts (American); Mamma Andersson (Swedish); Leilah Babirye (Ugandan), Yinka Shonibare CBE RA (British-Nigerian), Denzil Forrester (British-Grenadian), Jonathan Baldock, Sarah Ball, Holly Hendry and David Shrigley (British); Jeffrey Gibson (Choctaw-Cherokee); Juan Araujo (Venezuelan); Tonico Lemos Auad and Luiz Zerbini (Brazilian).
Highlights include a solo presentation of new paintings on paper by Leilah Babirye from the artist’s ‘Kuchu Ndagamuntu (Queer Identity Card)’ series. These vibrant portraits encompass progressive ideas regarding alternative forms of kinship, community and LGBTQI activism. Babirye imagines an international utopia of queer Ugandans, liberated from the homophobia and oppression that blights her homeland. This presentation follows the artist’s acclaimed solo exhibition at the gallery in June 2021 and participation in Coventry Biennial with Denzil Forrester.
For Art Basel Miami Beach 2021, Stephen Friedman Gallery brings together works by key artists from its programme in a presentation that includes painting, sculpture, textile and drawing. Featuring Marina Adams, Melvin Edwards, Tom Friedman, Wayne Gonzales, Jim Hodges and Deborah Roberts (American); Mamma Andersson (Swedish); Leilah Babirye (Ugandan), Yinka Shonibare CBE RA (British-Nigerian), Denzil Forrester (British-Grenadian), Jonathan Baldock, Sarah Ball, Holly Hendry and David Shrigley (British); Jeffrey Gibson (Choctaw-Cherokee); Juan Araujo (Venezuelan); Tonico Lemos Auad and Luiz Zerbini (Brazilian).
Highlights include a solo presentation of new paintings on paper by Leilah Babirye from the artist’s ‘Kuchu Ndagamuntu (Queer Identity Card)’ series. These vibrant portraits encompass progressive ideas regarding alternative forms of kinship, community and LGBTQI activism. Babirye imagines an international utopia of queer Ugandans, liberated from the homophobia and oppression that blights her homeland. This presentation follows the artist’s acclaimed solo exhibition at the gallery in June 2021 and participation in Coventry Biennial with Denzil Forrester.
The gallery also exhibits new paintings by Jeffrey Gibson following the announcement of his representation in September 2021. One work ‘FEEL MY HEAT I’M A MOMENT BEHIND’, depicts two individuals dressed as savages with the barrel of a rifle pointed at them. Rendered in vivid colours and rhythmic patterns, Gibson uses a psychedelic palette which incorporates Native American geometric designs. Framed by a beaded border, the composition evokes processes of contextualisation and cross-cultural exchange. Gibson’s solo exhibition at deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum is on view through March 2022.
Also on view is ‘Beekeeper Girl’ by British-Nigerian artist Yinka Shonibare CBE RA. This new sculpture of a child inspecting a hive frame is part of a series that explores global warming and its impact on the natural world. Shonibare employs Victorian-style costume made from his signature ‘batik’ fabric to signify the economic and political ties that connect diverse cultures. In place of her head is a hand-painted globe: a symbol of universal identity. Shonibare is this year’s curator of ‘Reclaiming Magic’, the RA Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts, London.
A recent painting of Kingston’s nightclub scene by Denzil Forrester which captures a subject that has endured throughout four decades of his practice. The British-Grenadian artist is included in Ralph Rugoff’s major survey exhibition ‘Mixing It Up: Painting Today’ at Hayward Gallery and ‘Life Between Islands: Caribbean-British Art 50s – Now’ at Tate Britain, London.
Other highlights include a large-scale work by Marina Adams, whose first exhibition at the gallery took place earlier this year. A selection of colourful works on paper by David Shrigley are presented to coincide with his eighth solo exhibition at the gallery and in advance of his major survey exhibition at K Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul, South Korea in December 2021. Also on display is a new painting by Sarah Ball which explores themes of gender and identity, ahead of her solo show at the gallery in January 2022; an early painting by Deborah Roberts, coinciding with her touring solo exhibition at MCA Denver, Colorado, USA and a historical painted sculpture by Melvin Edwards that combines personal symbolism with formal abstraction.
Installation Views
