On View: Tavares Strachan, Gamaliel Rodriguez, and Kwesi O. Kwarteng
There's still time to catch all three of these NYC exhibitions
Tavares Strachan: Starless Midnight at Marian Goodman Gallery
I admit that I was only familiar with Tavares Strachan by name, not by his actual body of work. In fact, I'd gotten used to seeing his name in connection to exhibitions that were happening in other cities, so I'd kinda given up on seeing his work in person. Well, I'm happy to say that my wait finally came to an end. A few weeks ago, his exhibition, Starless Midnight, opened at Marian Goodman Gallery, and it's one to see.
The gallery notes: "Through an interconnected array of works comprising painting, sound, robotics, neon, marble, and hair, Starless Midnight is a testament to Strachan's multifaceted artistic practice, structured by a visual language of storytelling. Strachan's boldly inventive and ambitious work summons historical and cultural references, expressing the affinities, contradictions, and dependencies within oft-untold stories of historically marginalized individuals, places, and events, and finding the interstices between the disciplines of art, science, history, exploration."
What struck me most is the expansiveness of his practice, and the show made me think of Theaster Gates's career survey at the New Museum in 2022.
The other cool thing is the location itself. Where most galleries only have four white walls, Goodman has the space for an artist like Strachan to stretch out: rooms of varying sizes across multiple floors, which allows for the creation of distinct moments, such as the rooms dedicated to his work based on the word find puzzles his grandmother used to do.
I returned that weekend for a conversation between Tavares and the Brooklyn Rail’s editor Phong Bui and, as a bonus, had the honor of meeting artist Candida Alvarez.
Tavares Strachan: Starless Midnight runs through April 19.
Gamaliel Rodriguez: La Luz De Alante at Sperone Westwater
It's been wonderful watching the evolution of Gamaliel Rodriguez's practice. It's always thrilling to see the moment in an artist's practice when things really lock in. That's the feeling I had upon seeing Gamaliel's current solo exhibition at Sperone Westwater.
I love the high contrast aspect of his paintings. Trees and towers glow with incandescent halos of light. There's now a richness of brilliant, robust colors that serves to focus and direct the viewer's eyes. I think I'm especially drawn to Gamaliel's work because of my interest in photography, and his paintings have a kind of photographic quality to them.
Gamaliel Rodriguez : La Luz De Alante is on view through April 26.
Kwesi O. Kwarteng: Friendly Paths at Plato Gallery
Back in October, I had the pleasure of being introduced to Kwesi O. Kwarteng by Malaika Temba at Silver Art Projects, where they were both in residence. I subsequently brought a small group of collectors for a studio visit with them and several other artists in their cohort.
Fast forward to last week, and I was thrilled to see Kwesi’s solo show, Friendly Paths, at Plato Gallery. What’s great is to see his body of work on full display versus when we visited his studio and he was in the process of making his pieces. Now that the work is hung, the power and beauty of the work is abundantly evident. Kwesi creates these striking color and fabric juxtapositions that are serene, calm, and very painterly, and it’s a pleasure to see. And I’m excited to see where his explorations with three-dimensional work take him, as exemplified by the yellow piece, “Woven World (Yellow)” (2025).
Kwesi O. Kwarteng: Friendly Paths is on view through May 11.
News and other reading
Two galleries whose programs I respect—Welancora in Brooklyn and Luis De Jesus in LA—were announced as part of the new cohort of members of ADAA, the Art Dealers Association of America!
Rethinking the rules of art ownership via The Observer