Lubaina Himid
10 Oct - 16 Nov 2013
LUBAINA HIMID
11 October - 16 November 2013
We are pleased to announce our inaugural exhibition at Warner Yard by Lubaina Himid.
Coming to prominence in the 1980s as a protagonist within the Black British Art Movement, Lubaina Himid has curated and taken part in pivotal exhibitions, research and writing. Since then, museum collections have held particular interest for Himid, as a space to address, reflect and challenge these containers of history, memory and hidden experiences.
Initially studying to become a theatre designer, the language of scenography is evident across Himid’s work - from the seminal pieces such as A Fashionable Marriage, 1987 through to large scale installations Naming the Money (2004), a work comprising 100 cut out figures. Criss crossing a multitude of references, painting and installation have become Himid’s preferred mediums to express questions around art, authorship, illusion and politics - often exploring issues surrounding Black identity. Conscious of the fact that painting has a history as adornment of architecture, homes, bodies and fabrics, often involving cultures and artists that are marginalised, Himid has situated her practice at the intersection between design and art and between Western and African artistic traditions. In her work she proposes historical narratives often excluded from mainstream accounts, giving names and voices to the unheard.
This exhibition will include Carrot Piece, 1985, a work initially exhibited in the 1980s at the ICA, London. The work, one of Himid’s signature cutouts, depicts a scene of two figures that plays out cultural and racial hierarchies of the past and today. Works from the series Kangas from the lost sample book, 2011/2012 were made whilst working with the textile department at the Whitworth in Manchester. Here she examined the gallery’s small group of 20th century East African kangas, taking photographs and making preparatory drawings. She has compared these with her own kanga collection, using the many patterns and motifs from both groups to make new work on paper.
Referencing the Swahili sayings or slogans found on traditional kangas this series of large paper works uses invented texts that evoke a sense of impending danger coupled with our dogged desire to survive. Tailor, Singer, Striker, Dandy, 2011 reinterpret West African fabrics held by Manchester Museums to express contemporary and historic male identity through appearance and clothes. Alongside these works there will be new drawings on paper and paintings on wood.
Recent exhibitions include: Keywords, Iniva, London travelling to Tate Liverpool in 2014, Moments That Matter, Harris Museum & Art Gallery , Cotton: Global Threads, Whitworth Art Gallery Manchester 2012-2013, Migrations, Tate Britain London, 2012 and Thin Black Line(s) Tate Britain London 2011/12. Her work is held by museum collections such as Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, Tate, Victoria & Albert Museum, The Arts Council Collection and Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester. She is currently Professor of Contemporary Art at the University ofCentral Lancashire.
11 October - 16 November 2013
We are pleased to announce our inaugural exhibition at Warner Yard by Lubaina Himid.
Coming to prominence in the 1980s as a protagonist within the Black British Art Movement, Lubaina Himid has curated and taken part in pivotal exhibitions, research and writing. Since then, museum collections have held particular interest for Himid, as a space to address, reflect and challenge these containers of history, memory and hidden experiences.
Initially studying to become a theatre designer, the language of scenography is evident across Himid’s work - from the seminal pieces such as A Fashionable Marriage, 1987 through to large scale installations Naming the Money (2004), a work comprising 100 cut out figures. Criss crossing a multitude of references, painting and installation have become Himid’s preferred mediums to express questions around art, authorship, illusion and politics - often exploring issues surrounding Black identity. Conscious of the fact that painting has a history as adornment of architecture, homes, bodies and fabrics, often involving cultures and artists that are marginalised, Himid has situated her practice at the intersection between design and art and between Western and African artistic traditions. In her work she proposes historical narratives often excluded from mainstream accounts, giving names and voices to the unheard.
This exhibition will include Carrot Piece, 1985, a work initially exhibited in the 1980s at the ICA, London. The work, one of Himid’s signature cutouts, depicts a scene of two figures that plays out cultural and racial hierarchies of the past and today. Works from the series Kangas from the lost sample book, 2011/2012 were made whilst working with the textile department at the Whitworth in Manchester. Here she examined the gallery’s small group of 20th century East African kangas, taking photographs and making preparatory drawings. She has compared these with her own kanga collection, using the many patterns and motifs from both groups to make new work on paper.
Referencing the Swahili sayings or slogans found on traditional kangas this series of large paper works uses invented texts that evoke a sense of impending danger coupled with our dogged desire to survive. Tailor, Singer, Striker, Dandy, 2011 reinterpret West African fabrics held by Manchester Museums to express contemporary and historic male identity through appearance and clothes. Alongside these works there will be new drawings on paper and paintings on wood.
Recent exhibitions include: Keywords, Iniva, London travelling to Tate Liverpool in 2014, Moments That Matter, Harris Museum & Art Gallery , Cotton: Global Threads, Whitworth Art Gallery Manchester 2012-2013, Migrations, Tate Britain London, 2012 and Thin Black Line(s) Tate Britain London 2011/12. Her work is held by museum collections such as Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, Tate, Victoria & Albert Museum, The Arts Council Collection and Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester. She is currently Professor of Contemporary Art at the University ofCentral Lancashire.