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 and Andreas Eriksson (Swedish);
Leilah Babirye (Ugandan), Yinka Shonibare CBE RA (British-Nigerian), Denzil
Forrester (British-Grenadian), 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 a new painting by Jeffrey Gibson following the
announcement of his representation in September 2021. ‘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.