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    in Street Art

    “EU-TOPIA” by Etnik in Imola, Italy

    Urban artist Etnik recently worked on a new wall for Restart Urban festival in Imola, Spain. The mural entitled EU-TOPIA represents a mix among Etnik big open architecture shapes and an internal machinery which represents the floating beating heart of the city. It is a collaboration between Etnik and Diste, a young artist based in Turin.
    Etnik is considered as one of the most active and accomplished urban artist in Italy. Etnik emerged as a graffiti-slinging street artist in the vibrant early ’90s, before integrating all facets of his into a versatile practices of canvas, sculpture, installations, and massive mural work into a holistic approach. He has experienced and assimilated the transition to post-graffiti and Street Art. From 2001 his style started to evolve into geometrical and architectural forms with letterings and a mixture of urban landscapes.
    Scroll down below for more images of the artwork.

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    25 Shows to See Across the US as Museum’s Reopen, From Jacob Lawrence at the Met to ‘Flores Mexicanas’ in Dallas

    As museums across the US dust off the cobwebs and reopen to the public, an exciting slate of exhibitions is on offer at venues from New York to California, Texas to Ohio. Some institutions have been able to extend their spring shows, while others are opening eagerly anticipated summer blockbusters a little late.
    Here’s what is on our must-see list from coast to coast.

    “Marking Time: Art in the Age of Mass Incarceration” at MoMA PS1September 17, 2020–April 4, 2021

    Mark Loughney, “Pyrrhic Defeat” (ongoing). Courtesy of the artist and MoMA PS1.

    MoMA PS1 spotlights artwork made in US prisons and the harsh realities of mass incarceration. The exhibition features over 35 artists, some who have been in prison, some just making work on the subject, including Jesse Krimes and Sable Elyse Smith. The curators have updated the show during lockdown to include work made by artists in the show in response to the current crisis and its effects on prisoners.
    MoMA PS1 is located at 22-25 Jackson Avenue, Queens, New York; suggested admission is $10.

     “Harold Mendez: Let Us Gather in a Flourishing Way” at the ICA LASeptember 26, 2020–January 10, 2021
    Harold Mendez, At Night We Walk in Circles (2017). Courtesy of the artist.

    In Harold Mendez’s first Los Angeles solo museum show, some 20 works by the first-generation American are on view, showcasing his large-format photo-based works. The artist takes found imagery and uses a labor-intensive transfer process that includes adding elements relevant to contemporary sociocultural events. Mendez also creates three-dimensional works based on found objects.
    The ICA LA is located at 1717 East 7th Street, Los Angeles, California; admission is free.

    “The Salem Witch Trials 1692” at the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MassachusettsSeptember 26, 2020–April 4, 2021
    Tompkins Harrison Matteson, Trial of George Jacobs, Sr. for Witchcraft (1855). Photo by Mark Sexton and Jeffrey R. Dykes, courtesy of Peabody Essex Museum.

    The Peabody Essex offers a deep dive into the infamous Salem witch trials, which led to the deaths of 25 innocent men, women, and children, in 1692 and ‘93. Rarely exhibited original documents from the trial will be on view for the first time in 30 years.
    The Peabody Essex is located at 161 Essex Street, Salem, Massachusetts; general admission is $20.

    “Swoon: Seven Contemplations” at the Albright-Knox Northland, BuffaloSeptember 26, 2020–January 10, 2021
    Installation view of “Swoon: The Canyon: 1999–2017” at the Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati (September 22, 2017–February 25, 2018). Photo by Tod Seelie.

    Street artist Caledonia “Swoon” Curry is debuting her first stop-motion film at the Albright-Knox, where she’ll transform the galleries into one of her colorful, immersive environments filled with large-scale sculptural installations.
    The Albright Knox is located at 1285 Elmwood Ave, Buffalo, New York; admission is pay-what-you-wish.

    “A Perfect Power: Motherhood and African Art” at the Baltimore Museum of ArtSeptember 30, 2020–January 17, 2021
    Artist unidentified, Caryatid Headrest (early 20th century). Luba region, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Photo courtesy of the Baltimore Museum of Art.

    In central Africa, societies were traditionally matrilineal, families organized around the female line with women in a place of authority. This exhibition features some 40 objects featuring depictions of mothers and the female body in 19th and early 20th century art from these communities.
    The Baltimore Museum of Arts located at 10 Art Museum Drive, Baltimore, Maryland; general admission is free.

    “Jean Shin: Pause” at the Asian Art Museum San FranciscoOctober 3–November 10, 2020
    Installation view of “Jean Shin | Pause” (2020) at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco. Photo ©Asian Art Museum of San Francisco.

    The tiny mirrored pieces that cover Jean Shin’s works are actually slivers of discarded cell phones, and the spidery black tendrils the works sit atop are computer cables. “I began thinking about the Bay Area as the historical epicenter of both tech and the environmental movement,” the artist says of the site-specific commission, which uses e-waste to recreate the form of a traditional Chinese scholar’s rock.
    The Asian Art Museum is located at 200 Larkin Street, San Francisco; general admission is $15.

    “Howardena Pindell: Rope/Fire/Water” at the Shed, New YorkOctober 16, 2020–Spring 2021
    Howardena Pindell, Slavery Memorial: Lash (1998–99), detail. Courtesy the artist and Garth Greenan Gallery, New York.

    In this solo exhibition, Howardena Pindell debuts Rope/Fire/Water, her first video work in more than 20 years. The work grapples with the artist’s personal experiences with racism as well as historical data about lynchings and racist attacks, with Pindell speaking over archival photos of lynchings and the 1963 Children’s Crusade Civil Rights protest.
    The Shed is located at the Bloomberg Building, 545 West 30 Street, New York; admission is free through October 31, $10 thereafter.

    “Bruce Davidson: Brooklyn Gang” at the Cleveland Museum of ArtOctober 25, 2020–February 28, 2021
    Bruce Davidson, Untitled from Brooklyn Gang (1959), detail. Photo ©Bruce Davidson/Magnum Photos, courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art.

    Photographer Bruce Davidson’s first major project, “Brooklyn Gang,” is a documentation of the Jokers, a teenage street gang that ran rampant in 1950s New York. The Jokers ruled from their perch in Park Slope, now one of the most coveted enclaves of Brooklyn, but at the time a hotbed of restless young men born into poverty.
    The Cleveland Museum of Art is located at 11150 East Boulevard in Cleveland, Ohio; general admission is free.

    “Jacob Lawrence: The American Struggle” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New YorkThrough November 1, 2020
    Jacob Lawrence, We crossed the River at McKonkey’s Ferry 9 miles above Trenton … the night was excessively severe … which the men bore without the least murmur…-Tench Tilghman, 27 December 1776/Struggle Series – No. 10: Washington Crossing the Delaware (1954). Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

    For the first time in over 60 years, Jacob Lawrence’s little-known series “Struggle: From the History of the American People” (1954–56) has been reunited in this show traveling to the Met from the PEM. Painted at the height of the Cold War, the 30 works feature events from European colonization to World War I, depicting, as Lawrence described it, “the struggles of a people to create a nation and their attempt to build a democracy.”
    The Met is located at 1000 5th Avenue at East 83rd Street, New York; general admission is $25.

    “Ansel Adams in Our Time” at the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, ArkansasSeptember 19, 2020–January 3, 2021

    Ansel Adams, Inspiration Point, Morning, Yosemite 1976. Photo by Alan Ross, taken May 9, 1976 while Ansel was making Polaroid prints for his Portfolio VII.

    In this show organized by the MFA Boston, both the mastery of Ansel Ansel’s photography and the outsized influence he had on generations to come is on display. More than 100 Adams images capturing the natural beauty of the US are exhibited along with works by 24 other artists—both his 19th-century contemporaries and photographers working today who have been inspired by his work.
    Crystal Bridges is located at 600 Museum Way, Bentonville, Arkansas; general admission is free.

    “Picture the Dream: The Story of the Civil Rights Movement Through Children’s Books” at the High Museum of Art, AtlantaThrough November 8, 2020
    Bryan Collier, Untitled, All Because You Matter (2020), written by Tami Charles, collage. Collection of the artist.

    Honoring such watershed civil rights events as Rosa Park’s refusal to give up her seat on a segregated bus 65 years ago and Ruby Bridges integrating her New Orleans school 60 years ago, the High Museum has organized the first exhibition looking at the movement through children’s books. The show features over 80 prints, paintings, drawings, and other artworks.
    The High Museum of Art is located at 1280 Peachtree St Northeast, Atlanta, Georgia; general admission is $14.50.

    “Kiki Smith: River Light” at the Storm King Art Center, New Windsor, New YorkThrough November 9, 2020
    “Kiki Smith: River Light” at Storm King Art Center. Photo by Jeffrey Jenkins.

    This is the first US presentation of Kiki Smith’s new flag works. The circle of nine flags in hudson river (2020) are printed with cyanotypes based on film stills the artist took of the light glinting off the East River, which she has walked along daily for the last 30 years. The standalone flag of river light (2019) features a sunset photograph of the Hudson River shot from a passing Amtrak train. In both works, the way the wind catches the flag, letting it float in the breeze, is meant to echo the ripples and waves of the river.
    Storm King is located at 1 Museum Road, New Windsor, New York; general admission is $20.

    “Granville Redmond: The Eloquent Palette” at the Laguna Art Museum, Laguna BeachThrough November 15, 2020
    Granville Redmond, Sand Dunes. Courtesy of the Laguna Museum of Art.

    The Laguna Art Museum has had to close its “once-in-a-lifetime” show of California landscape painter Granville Redmond not once but twice as the state of California began reopening only to reimpose lockdown restrictions. The artist, who went deaf as a toddler after a bout of scarlet fever, painted both tranquil “Tonalist” compositions as well as bolder Impressionist scenes. His close friend, actor Charlie Chaplin, once said of Redmond’s painting, “Sometimes I think that the silence in which he lives has developed in him some sense, some great capacity for happiness in which we others are lacking.”
    The Laguna Art Museum is located at 307 Cliff Drive, Laguna Beach, California; general admission is $7.

    “Monet and Boston: Lasting Impression” the Museum of Fine Arts, BostonNovember 15, 2020–February 28, 2021
    Claude Monet, Grainstack (Sunset), 1891. Courtesy of the Juliana Cheney Edwards Collection.

    Claude Monet may not make one think of Boston, but the city’s art collectors were early adopters of the pioneering Impressionist, many traveling to France to meet him and purchase his work. The MFA has no less than 35 oil paintings by the renowned artist, many collected during Monet’s lifetime—but they haven’t been on view all at once in a quarter century, making this a once-in-a-generation display.
    The MFA Boston is located at Avenue of the Arts, 465 Huntington Avenue, Boston; general admission is $25.

    “i’m yours: Encounters with Art in Our Times” at the ICA Watershed, BostonNovember 18, 2020–May 23, 2021
    Henry Taylor, i’m yours (2015). ©Henry Taylor.

    In the aftermath of an unprecedented six months of protest, economic chaos, and the ongoing pandemic, ICA wants visitors to find works from within the collection that speak to them personally. The works are arranged in small galleries based on varying perspectives and themes.
    The ICA Watershed is located at 256 Marginal Street, Boston, Massachusetts; admission is free.

    “Taking Space: Contemporary Women Artists and the Politics of Scale” at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine ArtsNovember 19, 2020–April 11, 2021
    Faith Ringgold, Tar Beach 1990). ©Faith Ringgold/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

    This show takes into consideration the way in which female artists take up space, whether that be the physical presence of their bodies, space within a gallery, or simply as a woman moving throughout the world. Questions arise about the use of scale as an aspect of womanhood, and how space is gendered.
    PAFA is located at 118-128 N. Broad Street, Philadelphia; general admission is free.

    “Shaun Leonardo: The Breath of Empty Space” at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Artthrough December 22, 2020
    Shaun Leonardo, Freddie Gray (drawings 1–6), 2015. Courtesy the artist.

    Controversy erupted at Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland this summer when the museum cancelled a planned exhibition of Shaun Leonardo’s drawings of well-known incidents of deadly violence against Black and Latino men due to community concerns. But the show, which debuted at the Maryland Institute College of Art, has landed at MASS MoCA instead, and will head to the Bronx Museum of the Arts come the new year.
    MASS MoCA is located at 1040 MASS MoCA Way, North Adams, Massachusetts; general admission is $20.

    “Flores Mexicanas: Women in Modern Mexican Art” at the Dallas Museum of ArtThrough January 10, 2021

    Rosa Rolanda, Self-portrait (1939). Colección Andrés Blaisten, México, courtesy of the Dallas Museum of Art.

    When the Missouri History Museum agreed to lend Alfredo Ramos Martínez’s monumental painting Flores Mexicanas (1914–29) to the Dallas Museum of Art, allowing it to be displayed for only the second time in 50 years, the institution took the opportunity to stage this exhibition exploring different representations of women in early in 20th-century Mexican art. The painting, recently conserved, was originally a wedding gift to aviators Anne and Charles Lindbergh from Mexican president Emilio Portes Gil. Catch it alongside works by renowned Mexican artists such as Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, and David Alfaro Siqueiros.
    The Dallas Museum of Art is located at 1717 North Harwood, Dallas, Texas; general admission is free.

    “Monet and Chicago” at the Art Institute of ChicagoThrough January 18, 2021
    Claude Monet, Water Lily Pond (1900). Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago.

    Boston wasn’t the only city bit by the Monet craze in the late 19th century: Chicago’s art collectors also got in on the act beginning in 1888, when a French Impressionist group show served as his introduction to the city. The Art Institute in Chicago became the first US museum to purchase his work, in 1903. Today it boasts the largest collection of his work outside of Paris. The museum’s current show offers a fascinating history of Monet’s history with Chicago and its art lovers, including his unexpected presence at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, famously held in the Windy City. 
    The Art Institute of Chicago is located at 111 S. Michigan Avenue, Chicago, Illinois; general admission is $25.

    “Sanford Biggers: Codeswitch” at the Bronx MuseumThrough January 24, 2021
    Sanford Biggers, Khemetstry (2017). Photo courtesy the artist and Marianne Boesky Gallery.

    This is first exhibition dedicated to the quilt-based works Sanford Biggers has been making for the past 20 years. Drawing on African American history, the artist created these mixed media paintings and sculptures using pre-1900 antique quilts.
    The Bronx Museum is located at 1040 Grand Concourse, Bronx, New York; admission is free.

    “Betye Saar: Call and Response” at the Morgan Library & Museum, New YorkThrough January 31, 2021
    Betye Saar, Sketchbook page for Eyes of the Beholder (1994). Photo courtesy of the artist and Roberts Projects, Los Angeles, California; ©Betye Saar.

    LACMA’s stunning Betye Saar exhibition, featuring collages and assemblage sculptures that reclaim racist imagery, has finally landed in New York. The show includes works made in the late 1960s as well as a new piece made specifically for the occasion, as well as about a dozen of Saar’s colorful travel sketchbooks.
    The Morgan Library & Museum is located at 225 Madison Avenue at East 36th Street, New York; general admission is $20.

    “Shantell Martin: Words and Lines” at the Denver Art MuseumThrough January 31, 2021

    Shantell Martin © 2017. All Rights Reserved. Photo by Anton & Irene.

    The artist Shantell Martin (who earlier this summer called out companies for performative acts of solidarity during the Black Lives Matter protests) is taking over the Denver Art Museum with her signature black and white drawings. The show features an interactive installation that explores intersectionality and play.
    The Denver Art Museum is located at 100 West 14th Avenue Parkway, Denver, Colorado; general admission is $13.

    “Alien vs. Citizen” at the Museum of Contemporary Art, ChicagoThrough February 21, 2021

    Andres Serrano, Nomads (Payne) (1990). © 1990 Andres Serrano. Photo: Nathan Keay, © MCA Chicago.

    As the US moves increasingly to restrict immigration under merit-based policies that favor “aliens of extraordinary ability,” the MCA Chicago has organized a group show examining cultural biases and the role that they play in judging an individual’s worth. Featured artists include Glenn Ligon, Kerry James Marshall, Robert Rauschenberg, Christina Quarles, and Carrie Mae Weems.
    The MCA Chicago is located at 220 E Chicago Avenue, Chicago; general admission is $15, pay-what-you-can.

    “Trevor Paglen: Opposing Geometries” at the Carnegie Museum of Art, PittsburghThrough March 14, 2021

    Trevor Paglen, The Black Canyon Deep Semantic Image Segments (2020). ©️ Trevor Paglen. Courtesy of the artist and Altman Siegel, San Francisco.

    The Carnegie Museum showcases Trevor Paglen’s work on surveillance and artificial intelligence, including a new site-specific commission, photographs of people and objects bearing AI-generated labels, and a sculpture that functions as a wifi hot spot.
    The Carnegie is located at 4400 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; general admission is is $19.95.

    “Climate in Crisis: Environmental Change in the Indigenous Americas” at the Brooklyn MuseumThrough June 20, 2021
    Eskimo artist, Sperm Whale Tooth Engraved With Black Ash or Graphite (late 19th century). Photo courtesy of the Brooklyn Museum.

    In this show featuring sixty works spanning 2,800 years from cultures in North, Central, and South America, the Brooklyn Museum draws parallels between the decimating effects of European colonization on Indigenous communities and the modern-day impact of climate change on native communities.
    The Brooklyn Museum is located at 200 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn, New York; general admission is $16.
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    ‘Things Are Not Always What They Seem’: Watch Artist Yinka Shonibare Transform Dutch Textiles Into Magnificent Sculptures

    Over the course of his career, the London-based artist Yinka Shonibare CBE has made films, paintings, installations, and drawings that serve as “a critique of Empire” by disrupting notions of identity and culture.
    In an exclusive interview with Art21 as part of its flagship series, “Art in the Twenty-First Century,” Shonibare discusses his frequent use of batik Dutch wax print fabrics, which he drapes on headless mannequins (a nod to the use of the guillotine, and a purposeful omission of facial features that might indicate race).
    Shonibare describes the history of the fabrics, which were originally produced in Indonesia, but marketed to West Africa, where they found an eager consumer base.
    “I like the fact that the fabrics are multilayered,” he says in the video, which was recorded in 2009, adding that though they were made in East Asia, the fabrics have since been “appropriated by Africa, and now represent African identities.”

    Production still from the “Art in the Twenty-First Century” Season 5 episode, “Transformation,” 2009. © Art21, Inc. 2009.

    “Things are not always what they seem,” he adds at another point.
    The artist, who grew up in an affluent family, and whose great-great-grandfather was a Nigerian chief, also incorporates aspects of his personal life into his work, drawing on themes of disability, vanity, and class. In his work, he often presents contradictory viewpoints, as in his film Odile and Odette, a riff on the ballet Swan Lake.
    “What I’ve done is to blur the boundaries between the baddie [character] and the good one,” he tells Art21. “I’ve made them into one person.”
    On September 18, 2020, the 10th season of Art in the Twenty-First Century will debut on PBS, featuring three new episodes about artists across the globe.
    Watch the video, which originally appeared as part of Art21’s series Art in the Twenty-First Century, below.
    
    This is an installment of “Art on Video,” a collaboration between Artnet News and Art21 that brings you clips of newsmaking artists. A new series of the nonprofit Art21’s flagship series Art in the Twenty-First Century is available now on PBS. Catch all episodes of other series like New York Close Up and Extended Play and learn about the organization’s educational programs at Art21.org.
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    Calling It His Last Major Work, Gerhard Richter Unveils Kaleidoscopic Stained-Glass Windows at Germany’s Oldest Monastery

    The world-famous German painter Gerhard Richter has unveiled three stained glass windows at a Gothic monastery in Tholey, Germany.
    The monastery, which is believed to be the oldest in the country, revealed the monumental designs on Thursday, September 17, at the benedictine abbey, which houses 12 monks.
    The plan for the 30-foot-tall abstract painted works, which was first announced last summer, has been highly anticipated, especially because Richter, who is now 88, is undertaking fewer large-scale projects.
    Speaking to the German press on Wednesday in Cologne, where he resides, Richter confirmed that the project, which he was at first hesitant to take on, would “certainly” be his last large numbered artwork. (The artist numbers all of his works, the monastery windows ring in at 957.)
    He says he will now draw and sketch for exhibitions, among other “smaller” things.
    The three windows are a donation from Richter, whose works are among the priciest in the world. The cost of their execution has not been disclosed, but was managed privately by an investor, the abbey told Artnet News.
    Gerhard Richter’s new stained glass windows were unveiled in Tholey Abbey. Courtesy Tholey Abbey.

    In addition to Richter’s installation, the Munich-based Afghan artist Mahbuba Maqsoodi, who is of Muslim faith, has designed 34 figurative stained glass windows for the abbey, some of which were revealed this week. The remainder will be finished by Easter 2021.
    “To bring together Maqsoodi and Richter in the church was a risk, but the result is that all [the] colors have been found again. The church radiates harmony. Every time of day has a different light character,” Abbot Mauritius Choriol told the German press. “In these windows, you will always discover something new.”
    The abbey, which is first mentioned in documents dating back to 634 AD, was in near financial ruin only a decade ago. Its leaders now hope that its revamped architecture will bring people back to the faith.
    Richter did not travel to see the finished pieces for their unveiling, but said he was “amazed” by the outcome, which he had seen in photographs.
    Abbot Mauritius Chorio, right, and Wendelinus Naumann present the window designs of the world-famous artist Gerhard Richter at the Benedictine Monastery in Tholey. Photo: Harald Tittel/picture alliance via Getty Images.

    What is nearly certain is that the small town of around 2,500 people will have a new influx of art-lovers as soon as travel becomes easier. Some 100,000 guests were expected to visit the monastery in the first year, though the numbers will likely be lower due to travel restrictions.
    The large choir windows were handmade in nearby Munich at Gustva van Treeck, an esteemed glass workshop. Their colorful and psychedelic motifs were derived from Richter’s 1990 “Pattern” series.
    “These windows will provide the background for the entire liturgy,” Choriol said at the press unveiling. “I find it wonderful that the last secret, that is, the mystery of God, is not represented figuratively. Gerhard Richter always wanted people to think for themselves what they could find in his works.”
    It is not the artist’s first church window. At the Cologne Cathedral, Richter installed a large pixelated abstract design in 2007.
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    Ghanaian Artist Patrick Quarm Weaves Together Vibrant Tapestries That Reflect His Personal Experiences—See Works Here

    As galleries and art institutions around the world begin to reopen, we are spotlighting individual shows—online and IRL—that are worth your attention.

    “Patrick Quarm: Salvaged Imperial”through October 3, 2020 at Albertz Benda, New York

    What the gallery says: “The title of the exhibition is derived from Quarm’s practice of ‘collecting memories,’ which he refers to as salvaging: gathering his father’s stories of growing up in postcolonial Ghana, and accumulating his own experiences as a young man navigating multiple cultural and social spheres between Africa and the United States. ‘Imperial’ is a term the artist uses to describe his hybrid protagonists—constantly adapting, merging, and evolving throughout time and history.”
    Why it’s worth a look: In the Ghanian-based artist’s first New York solo show, Patrick Quarm literally weaves together aspects of his identity and experience as a Black man living in Africa and in the United States. The works are sculptural tapestries made from layers of paint and textiles; from the side, two distinct canvases are visible, while from the front, a singular cohesive image emerges.
    Quarm also uses African wax prints in his work, alluding to the complicated history of the fabric and its Dutch colonial legacy.
    “My task or my duty as an artist is to strip each layer after the other to bring clarity, to understand the past and how the past shapes the present,” the artist writes.
    What it looks like:

    Installation view, “Patrick Quarm: Salvaged Imperial” at albertz benda, New York.

    Patrick Quarm, BRUIT OF A SOVEREIGN (2020). Courtesy of the artist and albertz benda, NY.

    Patrick Quarm, LEDGER OF TRUTH (2020). Courtesy of the artist and albertz benda, NY.

    Patrick Quarm, LEDGER OF TRUTH (2020). Courtesy of the artist and albertz benda, NY.

    Patrick Quarm, INVINCIBLE DILEMMA (2020). Courtesy of the artist and albertz benda, NY.

    Patrick Quarm, BETHINK THYSELF (2020). Courtesy of the artist and albertz benda, NY.

    Patrick Quarm, BETHINK THYSELF (2020). Courtesy of the artist and albertz benda, NY.

    Patrick Quarm, YELLOW SISI (2020). Courtesy of the artist and albertz benda, NY.

    Patrick Quarm, YELLOW SISI (2020). Courtesy of the artist and albertz benda, NY.

    Installation view, “Patrick Quarm: Salvaged Imperial” at albertz benda, New York.

    Patrick Quarm, EYE OF THE BEHOLDER (2020). Courtesy of the artist and albertz benda, NY.

    Patrick Quarm, LACED BODY 1 (2020). Courtesy of the artist and albertz benda, NY.

    Patrick Quarm, LACED BODY 1 (2020). Courtesy of the artist and albertz benda, NY.

    Patrick Quarm, BARIMA (2020). Courtesy of the artist and albertz benda, NY.

    Patrick Quarm, LACED BODY 2 (2020). Courtesy of the artist and albertz benda, NY. More

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    Painter Ficre Ghebreyesus Was Beloved in His Native New Haven as a Chef. Now, He’s the Toast of the Art World—See His Works Here

    As galleries and art institutions around the world begin to reopen, we are spotlighting individual shows—online and IRL—that are worth your attention.
    “Ficre Ghebreyesus: Gate to the Blue”through October 24, 2020 at Galerie LeLong

    What the gallery says: “Borrowing the title from one of his works, “Gate to the Blue” suggests not only a color significant to Ghebreyesus, but also an opening to the boundless sea and sky, an entry point to the unknown, which was a constant in the artist’s life as a refugee who fled his native Eritrea to eventually settle in New Haven, Connecticut.
    “The artist was highly influenced by music and was a lover of the blues genre that originated in the journey of enslaved people over water and is rooted in African musical traditions and spirituality.”
    Why it’s worth a look: Within his New Haven community, Ficre Ghebreyesus was beloved as an adventurous chef and the co-owner of Caffé Adulis, and as a man with deep interests in poetry and music. A talented painter, he still had no aspirations to become the toast of Manhattan’s art world, and was content instead to work under the radar and share his work with those closest to him.
    In 2012, Ghebryesus died unexpectedly at just 50 years old, leaving behind around 700 canvases. Since then, his wife, the poet and president of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Elizabeth Alexander, has sought to share her late husband’s work with a wider audience, helping to arrange posthumous exhibitions of his work, eventually securing his estate’s representation with Galerie LeLong.
    A refugee from Eritrea, Ghebreyesus made works shine with color, pattern, and forms that he kept in his recollections of his birthplace, as well as from his travels in Sudan, Italy, and Germany. Water is a recurring motif, as is a staccato checkerboard pattern of pink and red. His largest work, measuring 16 feet by 8 fee, is The Sardine Fisherman’s Funeral, a busy affair featuring cherubs with fish-scale wings, an oversized fish, and a host of attendants huddled together alongside a man holding a shovel, all on a flattened picture plane that recalls an early Renaissance painting.
    What it looks like:

    Ficre Ghebreyesus, The Sardine Fisherman’s Funeral, (2002). Courtesy of the Estate of Ficre Ghebreyesus and Galerie LeLong & Co.

    Ficre Ghebreyesus, Zememesh Berhe’s Magic Garden (ca. 2002). Courtesy of the Estate of Ficre Ghebreyesus and Galerie LeLong & Co.

    Ficre Ghebreyesus, Horizon with Interred Figures (ca. 2002-07). Courtesy of the Estate of Ficre Ghebreyesus and Galerie LeLong & Co.

    Ficre Ghebreyesus, Tis Time to Seek Asylum (ca. 2007-11). Courtesy of the Estate of Ficre Ghebreyesus and Galerie LeLong & Co.

    Ficre Ghebreyesus, Gate to the Blue (ca. 2002-07). Courtesy of the Estate of Ficre Ghebreyesus and Galerie LeLong & Co.

    Ficre Ghebreyesus, Boat at Night (ca. 2002-07). Courtesy of the Estate of Ficre Ghebreyesus and Galerie LeLong & Co.

    Ficre Ghebreyesus, Mangia Libro (ca. 2007). Courtesy of the Estate of Ficre Ghebreyesus and Galerie LeLong & Co.

    Ficre Ghebreyesus, Seated Musician with Feathered Wing (2011). Courtesy of the Estate of Ficre Ghebreyesus and Galerie LeLong & Co.

    Ficre Ghebreyesus, Untitled (ca. 2002-07). Courtesy of the Estate of Ficre Ghebreyesus and Galerie LeLong & Co.

    Ficre Ghebreyesus, Boat (ca. 2002-07). Courtesy of the Estate of Ficre Ghebreyesus and Galerie LeLong & Co.

    Ficre Ghebreyesus, La Amistad (2002). Courtesy of the Estate of Ficre Ghebreyesus and Galerie LeLong & Co.

    Ficre Ghebreyesus, Nkisi (ca. 2011). Courtesy of the Estate of Ficre Ghebreyesus and Galerie LeLong & Co.

    Ficre Ghebreyesus, Red Hats and Balloons (ca. 2002-07). Courtesy of the Estate of Ficre Ghebreyesus and Galerie LeLong & Co.

    Ficre Ghebreyesus, Gate to the Compound (2006). Courtesy of the Estate of Ficre Ghebreyesus and Galerie LeLong & Co.

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