Brice Arsène Yonkeu Brings Diaspora Dialogue to Gagosian Park & 75

Editor’s Be aware: This story is a part of Newsmakers, a brand new ARTnews sequence the place we interview the movers and shakers who’re making change within the artwork world.

For those who occur to walk previous Gagosian’s Park & 75 house this summer time and suppose, “Ah, sure, one other pristine blue-chip group present,” you could wish to circle again. “Ever So Current II: Between Residence and Elsewhere,” curated by unbiased curator Brice Arsène Yonkeu, is one thing completely different.

It’s the second installment of a two-part exhibition that started at dot.ateliers, the inspiration–cum–exhibition house launched by Ghanaian painter Amoako Boafo in Accra in 2023.

“Ever So Current” brings collectively 4 artists of African descent whose practices stretch throughout portray, photomontage, and assemblage. As Yonkeu advised ARTnews in a current interview, these artists could also be younger and rising, however they’re “full artists.” The result’s much less a themed showcase than a visible dialog—one which considers the diasporic self in all its fluid, shifting complexity.

Yonkeu, a cofounder of Bwo Artwork Gallery in Douala, Cameroon, is the primary curator invited to take part in dot.ateliers’ new residency program for curators, writers, and filmmakers. With “Ever So Current II,” he expands on the questions posed within the Accra present—about reminiscence, migration, and belonging—asking what stays “ever so current” within the work of diasporic artists as they transfer throughout borders, cultures, and time zones. The reply, right here at the very least, isn’t one factor however a tapestry of visible narratives and private histories.

ARTnews sat down with Yonkeu at Gagosian’s Higher East Facet gallery in the course of the present’s set up to speak about what carried over from Accra, how identification resists simplification, and why he sees curating as a type of dialog.

ARTnews: The present started in Accra and now it’s on the Higher East Facet. What do you suppose carries over between the 2 settings? Or is there one thing that will get misplaced in translation?

Brice Arsène Yonkeu: That’s an excellent query. In Accra, I used to be responding on to what the artists had created throughout their residency, and Accra—the town, its setting—had a robust influence on the work. This model in New York is a bit completely different. I wished to proceed the dialog however increase it. Right here, the artists usually are not essentially responding to a single place. They’re talking from and to many locations. What connects each reveals is the presence of one thing that lingers. That’s what I imply by “ever so current.” It’s what stays.

Let’s discuss concerning the artists. Emma Prempeh’s work stood out instantly to me. The ambiance, the sunshine, the brushwork—it feels so intimate.

Emma’s work may be very particular. Her mom’s life and recollections are central to her observe. One of many work within the present, Di sea have many ghost, was made after {a photograph} taken throughout her first go to to Saint Vincent, the place her mom is from. It was additionally her mom’s first time returning in over 40 years. So there’s this intergenerational return taking place—a loop. And the best way Emma makes use of gentle, texture, even schlag steel that oxidizes over time—it’s all a part of how she paints reminiscence.

There’s additionally this cinematic really feel. Such as you’re strolling right into a scene that’s already unfolding.

Precisely. That’s a giant a part of her visible language. And these days, she’s began portray extra landscapes—out of doors recollections, you would say. It’s a growth I’ve been very completely satisfied to see.

One other work that actually pulled me in was the piece by Josèfa Ntjam. There’s a lot packed in—you would stand in entrance of it for an hour and nonetheless discover new connections.

Josèfa works with photomontage, and the layering is unbelievable. She pulls from archives, historic pictures, household images. In a single work, she brings collectively Saku Ne Vunda, the primary African ambassador to the Vatican; Henrietta Lacks; and Harriet Tubman. It turns into this cartography of Black resistance—a constellation of reminiscence and protest and presence. And her method, the sublimation printing on aluminum, offers it this futuristic glow.

After which you will have Luke Agada, whose work may be very completely different—extra summary, however nonetheless emotionally charged. His drawings are my favourite a part of this present.

Luke’s work are about transformation. He was born in Lagos, moved to the U.S. for grad college, and his work embodies that in-betweenness. He was a veterinarian, really, and there’s an natural high quality to his varieties. He paints this psychological house—what Homi Bhabha may name a “third house.” You possibly can see traces of reminiscence, panorama, perhaps even structure. Nevertheless it at all times stays open.

Boafo’s work is probably the most figurative within the present, and likewise probably the most central—actually and metaphorically. Did you’re feeling any stress curating a present that features him, particularly because it’s his residency program?

To be trustworthy, I noticed it as a possibility. I’ve admired his work for a very long time. There was no stress—I curated the present after which despatched him photos as soon as it was put in. The work on this present is without doubt one of the most intimate I’ve seen from him. The determine’s arms are open, welcoming, but additionally barely divided. It’s as if she’s holding an area for us and reflecting it again on the similar time.

Whenever you’re curating a present that offers with identification, how do you keep away from falling into clichés?

That’s one thing I take into consideration on a regular basis. I don’t include a hard and fast concept of what identification is. I include questions. I’m within the complexity of diasporic expertise—to not simplify it, however to point out its layers. These artists are all saying one thing completely different. My job is to create an area the place these voices can resonate.

There’s a thread of reminiscence operating via the entire present. Was that one thing you deliberate, or did it emerge organically?

It was very natural. I began with a one-page curatorial transient—a top level view of concepts I wished to discover. From there, I thought of which artists may communicate to these concepts. After which, because the works got here collectively, new connections emerged. I at all times say that an exhibition ought to really feel like a guide. Every artist is a personality. Every work, a chapter. You stroll via, and the story unfolds.

And the very best half is: anybody can stroll in.

That’s what I really like about this house. The walk-in visitors is superb. Individuals from all walks of life are available, not simply the artwork world. I need exhibitions that talk to everybody—with out oversimplifying. That’s what retains it enjoyable. And significant.

For those who had been to do that present once more, or increase it one way or the other, is there something you’d do in another way?

I believe I would come with extra mediums—particularly sculpture. And I’d love to herald artists who’re pondering via concepts of transmission, particularly intergenerational ones. What does it imply to hold one thing ahead? To cross it down? There are such a lot of methods to construct on this exhibition. The themes aren’t fastened. They evolve with the artists, and with the locations we present them.

“Ever So Current II” is on view at Gagosian’s Park & 75 location now via August 8.