Overview
Stephen Friedman Gallery presents the first solo survey of Jeffrey Gibson in the UK.
Gibson’s work fuses his Choctaw-Cherokee heritage with references that span club culture, queer theory, fashion, politics, literature and art history. The artist’s multi-faceted practice incorporates painting, performance, sculpture, textiles and video and is characterised by vibrant colour and pattern.
Six new mixed-media paintings, two large beaded punching bag sculptures and a beaded bust are included in the exhibition. In these works, Gibson combines Indigenous artisanal handcraft – such as beadwork, leatherwork and quilting – with narratives of contemporary resistance in protest slogans and song lyrics. The artist harnesses the power of these materials to activate overlooked narratives, while embracing the presence of historically marginalised identities.
Stephen Friedman Gallery presents the first solo survey of Jeffrey Gibson in the UK.
Gibson’s work fuses his Choctaw-Cherokee heritage with references that span club culture, queer theory, fashion, politics, literature and art history. The artist’s multi-faceted practice incorporates painting, performance, sculpture, textiles and video and is characterised by vibrant colour and pattern.
Six new mixed-media paintings, two large beaded punching bag sculptures and a beaded bust are included in the exhibition. In these works, Gibson combines Indigenous artisanal handcraft – such as beadwork, leatherwork and quilting – with narratives of contemporary resistance in protest slogans and song lyrics. The artist harnesses the power of these materials to activate overlooked narratives, while embracing the presence of historically marginalised identities.
Gibson explains: “I am drawn to these materials because they acknowledge the global world. Historically, beads often came from Italy, the Czech Republic or Poland, and contemporary beads can also come from India, China and Japan. Jingles originated as the lids of tobacco and snuff tins, turned and used to adorn dresses, and now they are commercially made in places such as Taiwan. Metal studs also have trade references and originally may have come from the Spanish, but also have modern references to punk and DIY culture. It’s a continual mash-up.”
Pop music is also one of the primary points of reference in Gibson’s practice: musicians are his elders and lyrics are his mantras. His paintings synthesise geometric patterns inspired by North American Indigenous aesthetic histories with the lyrics and psychedelic palette of disco music.
Gibson’s latest solo show, ‘The Body Electric’ opened at SITE Santa Fe, New Mexico, in May 2022. The artist features in collections around the world including The Museum of Modern Art, Smithsonian Institution, Whitney Museum of American Art and National Gallery of Canada.
Thursday Preview 13 October - Saturday 15 October: 11am - 7pm
Sunday 16 October: 11am - 6pm
NW1 4NR
London, UK
Installation Views
JEFFREY GIBSON, b. 1972, American
Jeffrey Gibson fuses his Choctaw-Cherokee heritage and experience of living in Europe, Asia and the USA with references that span club culture, queer theory, fashion, politics, literature and art history.
Recent solo exhibitions include ‘The Body Electric’ at SITE Santa Fe, New Mexico (2022); ‘INFINITE INDIGENOUS QUEER LOVE’, deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, Lincoln, Massachusetts (2021); ‘To Feel Myself Beloved on the Earth’, Benenson Center, Art Omi, Ghent, New York (2021); ‘When Fire is Applied to a Stone It Cracks’, Brooklyn Art Museum, Brooklyn, New York (2020); ‘The Anthropophagic Effect’, New Museum, New York City, New York (2019) and ‘Like a Hammer’, Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, Madison, Wisconsin (2019).
For the Toronto Biennial 2022, Gibson presented an evolving installation featuring fifteen moveable stages at Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Other recent group exhibitions include ‘Collecting – A Love Story: Glass from the Adele and Leonard Leight Collection’, Speed Art Museum, Louisville, Kentucky (2021); ‘Crafting America’, Crystal Bridges, Bentonville, Arkansas (2021); ‘Monuments Now’, Socrates Sculpture Park, Queens, New York (2020); ‘Duro Olowu: Seeing Chicago’, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Illinois (2020) and The Whitney Biennial, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City, New York (2019).
Works can be found in the collections of Denver Art Museum, Denver, Colorado; Eiteljorg Museum, Indianapolis, Indiana; High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts; The Museum of Modern Art, New York City, New York; National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Canada; Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, California; Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington; Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC and Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City, New York, amongst others. Gibson is a recipient of numerous awards, notably a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship (2019), Joan Mitchell Foundation, Painters and Sculptors Grant (2015) and Creative Capital Award (2005).
