For the latest edition of Frieze New York at The Shed, Lehmann Maupin will present a selection of new work by gallery artists Hernan Bas and Gilbert & George, as well as paintings by artist Dominic Chambers. Lehmann Maupin’s presentation at the fair will extend to the gallery’s 22nd Street location in Chelsea in the form of a curated showcase. With its close proximity to the fair, Frieze New York Annex will offer a selection of additional works by Bas, Chambers, and Gilbert & George, as well as a special viewing room dedicated to McArthur Binion and the artist's social justice mission and foundation Modern Ancient Brown, which upholds core pillars of the Frieze Vision & Justice Project.
At the Fair
As part of the fair presentation the gallery will exhibit two new free-standing paintings inspired by Art Deco room dividing screens. Bas began creating screens as part of an exploration of the domestic interiors of Pierre Bonnard and Édouard Vuillard, as well as the tradition of painting screens found in the Nabis school from the 1880s through the early 20th century. In recent years, Bas has gained widespread recognition for his compelling storytelling and cinematic compositions that take inspiration from science fiction novels, 19th century painting, fashion, and the artist’s own life experiences. “While I don’t consider the characters in my work to be self-portraits, in some way I do see a lot of myself in the things they find interesting.” Bas explains, “They are all typically alone in the middle of some adventure and that—in a nutshell—describes my childhood perfectly.” This presentation coincides with Choose Your Own Adventure, Bas’ first solo exhibition in Korea, on view at Space K, Seoul through May 27, 2021.
Also on view at Frieze New York and debuting in the United States for the first time is a selection from Gilbert & George’s newest body of work, NEW NORMAL PICTURES. In this series, the artist duo sets out on foot through London’s East End amidst the backdrop of the global pandemic. Provocative and packed with dark humor, the mixed-media works continue the artists’ decades-long quest to become a work of art themselves. Most recently, Gilbert & George were the subject of a major retrospective, THE GREAT EXHIBITION, 1971-2016, curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist and Daniel Birnbaum at Luma Westbau and Kunsthalle Zürich, Switzerland in 2020.
Lehmann Maupin will also present a selection of new figurative works by Dominic Chambers, whose practice explores various literary narratives, mythologies, and magical realism. A writer himself, Chambers places most of his subjects in moments of leisure and rest, reading a book or engaging in quiet contemplation. In these images, the environments surrounding his figures are intangible, their mutability meant to reflect the power of literature to transform our relationship with the world around us. In his Wash Paintings, including Gabriel's Resting Place (2021), the artist makes reference to the book The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B Dubois and one of its central themes- the veil. A product of racial injustice, the veil is a metaphorical lens through which black bodies are observed and experienced. Considering the words of Dubois, Chambers washes pre-constructed compositions with a thin veil of paint that partially obscures his figures and their environments, rendering a comprehensive view of the subject unobtainable. The results are paintings that have a strong relationship to art historical models, such as color-field painting, and gestural abstraction, in addition to contemporary concerns around race, identity and the necessity for leisure.
At the Gallery
Frieze New York Annex and Vision & Justice
Offering greater accessibility to its program, the gallery will triple its footprint through Frieze New York Annex at its 536 West 22nd Street location. Focusing on the artists featured at The Shed, this showcase provides expanded context for the works on view at the fair. Notably, the gallery will dedicate a section of the Annex to artist McArthur Binion in support of Frieze’s tribute to the Vision & Justice Project.
Publicly on view for the first time, Binion’s Modern:Ancient:Brown (2020) is a carefully-constructed grid composition combining collage, drawing, and painting to create minimalist patterns over an “under surface” of the artist’s personal documents and photographs. This painting borrows its title from the Modern Ancient Brown foundation, established in 2019 by Binion to support the intersection between the visual and literary arts in the Detroit community by providing artists of color a platform to tell their own stories. The foundation will launch a residency program in Summer 2021. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of this artwork will be donated to Binion's Modern Ancient Brown Foundation.
In addition, the gallery will screen a conversation between the artist and curator Diana Nawi on the occasion of the release of the monograph, McArthur Binion: DNA (edited by Nawi with contributions from Grace Deveney, Michael Stone Richards, and Franklin Sirmans). The conversation traces the evolution of Binion’s DNA series and autobiographical abstraction, and offers context for his trajectory within the cultural scenes of New York and Chicago.
Two curated viewing rooms will also be on view as part of Frieze New York Annex, featuring Ashley Bickerton’s recent Flotsam paintings and a small presentation of signature works by Arcmanoro Niles, Nari Ward, and Billie Zangewa.
