We are delighted to announce All of Civilisation on a Leaf, the first solo exhibition for Mannat Gandotra at Luce Gallery. A series of large-scale vibrant paintings will be on view beginning November 28th running through January 12th. Gandotra is a London-based painter who creates lyrical abstract paintings with a bold color palette, visible brushstrokes, and distinctive lines, all formed through spontaneous gestures. Her work is diaristic, visualizing her personal experiences and perceptive observations, imbuing a spectrum of sentiments onto the canvas. When viewed together, the paintings in All of Civilisation on a Leaf, seek to explore the complexity and intensity of our emotions by enveloping viewers in a seductive dissonance of form and pigment.
The exhibition's title, All of Civilisation on a Leaf, is borrowed from a painting she created earlier in her career that felt deeply relevant to this body of work. For Gandotra, this phrase served as a prompt, inspiring robust visual compositions that encapsulate the vastness and intricacies of our human existence, condensed and distilled until it finds a perch on a humble leaf, or in this case, within the confines of the canvas.
Growing like wild gardens, Gandotra’s forms flourish in chaos, with colors vying for attention, and lines dancing to silent tunes. Her works seem to capture moments of pure opposition, yielding equal parts creation and destruction, condensing and expanding. In her search for inspiration, she is drawn to unconventional details or elements out of place, such as a flowing river disrupted by protruding rocks or smooth wood grains interrupted by gnarly knots. Her objective is always to look beyond the symmetry and precision of traditional beauty, instead aiming to emulate and emphasize the imperfect imperfections in our world. To achieve this, she paints intuitively, allowing the fluidity of brushstrokes and pools of color to guide her toward compositions, forming a collaborative effort between creation and creator. In the studio, she often works on these paintings in groups simultaneously —like those on view here — giving them shared characteristics akin to siblings sharing the same womb.
In Asking for a Stampede (2023), garish pink, cobalt, and neon-orange shapes swirl in a sea of pale chartreuse and algae-green forms. The composition pulls towards and away from each side and corner, offering no clear orientation, granting freedom to the viewer for exploration in any direction. As the eye traverses the canvas, darker areas of saturated teal draw you deeper below the surface, encouraging contemplation. Meanwhile, brighter patches of lime green energize and excite, lifting your gaze to the shallow surface, and evoking a sense of anticipation. In this piece, echoes of Wassily Kandinsky's musicality and the pure expressionism forms of artists like Lee Krasner are evident.
Overall, this painting embodies a tension between light and dark, diaphanous and opaque, perhaps hinting at one element waiting for its moment to swiftly eclipse the other, as the title alludes. Yet, as with all of the artist’s titles, they are not meant to be narrative or conceptual. Rather she likens them to how we name children, where an individual’s name serves to identify them, rather than be used to define or express their entire story.
The strength of Gandotra’s work lies in how she communicates a genuine spontaneity by skillfully manipulating forms, line weight, and opposing colors, to guide the viewer towards feeling rare and powerful emotions reminiscent of fleeting joyful laughter or a fluttering heart in love.
Mannat Gandotra (b. 2001, New Dehli, India) is a London-based painter working in lyrical abstraction. A discerning observer, she draws inspiration from facets of her daily life and experience as a young British-Indian woman in search of the unconventional to create paintings that are lively, emotive, and saturated with color. Gandotra graduated with a BFA in 2023 from the prestigious Slade School of Fine Art, UCL in London. She has exhibited in the United Kingdom and the United States, and she’s currently a student of the Royal College of Art in London.
Luce Gallery is pleased to present Woven Memories, the much anticipated second solo exhibition with Brooklyn-based artist Ryan Cosbert. Including canvases hand-woven with mixed fabrics and knit pieces into her signature ‘tiles’, the exhibition will be on view beginning September 21st through November 5th. Cosbert’s distinctive tactile abstraction serves as a conduit to convey conceptual ideas deeply rooted in Black culture. In this series, the artist takes a scientific approach to explore the legacy of intergenerational trauma stemming from slavery, segregation, and urban violence. When viewed together, the paintings in Woven Memories channel protective ‘guardians’ from traditional African sculpture, seeking to trace the origins of inherited pain while also posing critical questions around the burden of past traumas on contemporary Black individuals.
Cosbert's thought-provoking exhibition title, Woven Memories, serves as a profound reflection of her extensive exploration into the realm of epigenetics. Epigenetics delves into the study of how an individual's behaviors and environment can trigger changes that impact the functioning of their genes. This research investigates how war, famine, sexual abuse, and systemic traumas such as racism possess the potential to send ripple effects through generations. These traumas may then lead to offspring inheriting altered brain chemistry, often resulting in compromised mental health and inflammation — a fundamental contributor to various diseases. With a remarkable body of work informed by thorough investigations into both historical and modern-day events within the African Diaspora, Cosbert brings to light and vividly portrays the origins of these previously concealed afflictions. In each artwork, the artist masterfully reveals how these invisible forces are intricately interwoven at the deepest cellular level, most notably through the incorporation of found objects. Broken watch faces and gears symbolize the inexorable passage of time, and bullet casings recall the violence, while infant diapers and pacifiers poignantly remind us of the inheritance passed down to the next generation.
In her captivating tondo painting The Void (2023), Cosbert skillfully paints a luminous backdrop, luring viewers into its embrace with a palette of blush fluorescent pinks and pale minty greens. Upon closer examination, the surface of the painting reveals an intricate landscape composed of mounds of square 'tiles.' These tiles are expertly crafted from recycled materials, including pulverized plastics, crushed dried flowers, and seashells, forming a grid-like structure with textures reminiscent of coral beds. Further energizing the composition are the prominent splatter marks of paint across the surface, a homage to the abstract expressionist action-painting style. However, it is the central motif that truly captivates the observer's attention — a spiral of fallen dominos that gracefully collapses toward the heart of the painting, echoing the circular shape of the tondo. This inclusion of dominos carries profound symbolism, serving a dual purpose. First, it harks back to their historical significance as objects of leisure deeply intertwined with African American culture, dating back to the era of the American Civil War. Second, it embodies the concept of the figurative "domino effect."
For Cosbert, this spiraling motion symbolizes the transfer of trauma, a force that affects individuals at various stages of life, relentless and inevitable. The dominos represent an unstoppable and interconnected chain reaction, much like the unfolding consequences of generational trauma. In this painting, the artist compels us to confront the unyielding nature of this force, urging us to acknowledge and grapple with the enduring legacy of trauma that shapes our lives.
Nevertheless, amidst even somber reflections, there is always a ray of hope. Just as epigenetic changes do not irreversibly alter one's DNA sequence, Cosbert artfully reminds the viewer that familial traumas need not permanently shape their life trajectory. Her artistic objective lies in imparting knowledge and nurturing the healing process for the profound ancestral wounds that persist. Through her work, she seeks to empower individuals with the strength to confront and transcend the burdens of the past, ultimately fostering a brightly-hued path towards healing and transformation.
Ryan Cosbert (1999, New York, United States) is a Brooklyn-based conceptual artist working in abstraction. Her work draws from her Haitian and Guyanese heritage, humanistic experiences, self-expression, political issues, and rigorously researched historical narratives of the African diaspora. Through her artistic practice, she skillfully explores the repercussions of subjugation and oppression experienced by the Black community, often shedding light on overlooked Black historical figures, shared experiences, and profound beliefs. Cosbert graduated with a BFA in 2021 from the prestigious School of Visual Arts (SVA) in New York City where she distinguished herself, receiving multiple honors including the Barnes Foundation Scholarship (2021) and the Chairman’s Merit Award (2017-21). Cosbert has exhibited throughout the United States and Europe, including a number of art fairs, Felix Art Fair in Los Angeles, CA; both NADA and Untitled Art in Miami, FL; Dallas Art Fair in Dallas, TX and 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair in London, UK and New York, NY. Additionally, her work has been acquired by numerous private collections and public institutions.
We are pleased to announce Traces of Me, the first solo exhibition for Collins Obijiaku with Luce Gallery. A series of new portrait paintings - all with his signature meandering charcoal line-work - will be on view beginning May 4 through July 21, 2023.
Obijiaku is a Nigerian-based painter who uses the tradition of portraiture to examine the depths, truths, and complexities of humanity. In each work, the artist paints quiet, composed figures, with expressive gazes, to directly engage the viewer. To further strengthen the allure and intimacy, Obijiaku draws a winding line—with no detectable beginning or end—that weaves throughout the sitter’s face and skin reminiscent of ‘mapping’ each person’s life journey. Together, the paintings in Traces of Me encourage viewers to contemplate the individuality of each person, as well as their distinct contribution to the diversity and complexity of the human experience.
This exhibition brings together a collection of portraits of people the artist has known since childhood. As the title Traces of Me hints, the paintings conceal a small element of the artist’s connection between him and each kindred spirit on view, a sentiment Obijiaku felt after working on the series. In every elegant composition, he observes an old friend, memorializing their likeness, and thoughtfully records their inner conviction of strength, hope, positivity, and intelligence. Although usually indifferent to incorporating symbolism into his work, his use of ochre yellow, in many of the paintings, references the artist’s nostalgic connection to the hue from childhood. He recalled that all the brightest students were selected for the yellow group — a color he still associates with intelligence to this day. While aesthetically pleasing, the true strength of Obijiaku’s work is how he marries observations of each sitter’s distinct mannerisms and expressions, with his meditative charcoal line work, to gently guide the viewer to see more deeply and encourage profound empathy.
In Portrait of Gladys (woman in blue dress) we see an elegant, young Nigerian woman donning a periwinkle blue dress. In a pale yellow room, she sits with her arms pressing downward, shifting her weight slightly left while leaning ever-so-slightly forward toward us, meeting our gaze directly. There’s a brief pause in her expression — her eyes slightly squinting— as if she’s examining us, rather than the other way around.
Her demeanor is calm and poised, while simultaneously exuding an inner confidence. For Obijiaku this confidence is particularly important to emphasize with his female sitters, as he seeks to change common misconceptions of women, and instead emphasize their power. Meandering throughout her face, across her chest, and cascading down each arm, Obijiaku’s signature charcoal lines create visual pathways for the viewer to explore. Working much like fingerprints or wrinkles, the lines identify her, as well as all the twists and turns of life. She knows who she is, where she’s been, and where she aspires to be.
Collins Obijiaku (b.1995) is a Nigerian-based visual artist working in portraiture. A self-taught painting and drawing artist, Obijiaku creates alluring portraits of individuals from his home country. In each work captivating gazes and skin permeated with charcoal line work resembling topographic maps, foster a deeper understanding of both the individual, and ultimately humanity as a whole. In 2019, Obijiaku was an artist-in-residence at Black Rock Senegal, the multidisciplinary residency program founded by artist Kehinde Wiley in Dakar, Senegal. Obijiaku’s works have been also exhibited at the Museum of African Diaspora in San Francisco and the National Gallery of Arts in Enugu in Nigeria. His international exhibitions throughout Africa, Europe, and the United States include a solo show with Roberts Projects in Los Angeles, California. Additionally, his work has been acquired by numerous private collections and public institutions, including the Dallas Museum of Art in Dallas, Texas.
Robert Davis will present in March his first solo exhibition in our gallery with a new body of work.With the use of unconventional materials like wine, beer, coffee or ash, and the combination of oil or oil-sticks, the artist uses elements that stimulate the ordinary life of every person to explore the boundaries between the different sensory perceptions related to the paintings in ways of optical perception combined with a more sensitive feeling that the materials reveal to the viewer.Representing gestural forms, the artist shifts the point of interest to how the materials used react with the canvases, burlaps, linens or leathers that are supports for the paintings. These reactions depend on the individual type of material. Every wine or beer, for example, contains a different and unique palette and feeling. This variety of substances is accompanied by the gestural nature of the sign. The act of painting has to be seen in the gesture of rubbing, brushing, pouring or scratching."When I start a painting I don't want any reference points. The whole thing evolves visually so that there are never any preconceptions. My paintings have a close relationship to drawing and structure, to direction and rhythm. I like wine. I also like coffee and cigarettes. Viewing a painting is much like consuming it. We take it in and then decide whether we like it or not. On the other hand, I understand that painting is nostalgic. I love period pieces. I draw on that nostalgia for my palette and titles. My use of colour is the one thing in my practice that refers clearly to something outside itself. Certain events, room, places, things that I have read, heard or experienced in any way can dictate choice of colour. Then again sometimes I just want to make a painting blue. This same sense of nostalgia also informs the collage paintings. Sometimes a photo falls into my lap and it does what it is supposed to do. It is simply enough to adhere it to the canvas and it exists as a complete thing".The artist’s additional incorporation of text, found images and unconventional materials acts as a break in intelligibility that calls attention to the code of modernist painting tropes. Naming Davis a code-breaker, however, misses the deeper impact of his work, which is all about affection. Updating Dubuffet's Materiologies, Davis uses base and addictive substances to gesture toward the real feeling of the world and our sense's inadequacy to understanding it. His titles are an important part of this, not just the name of a thing, but an indication of his serious and sentimental intentions."I know it's ok to be inspired by John Cougar Mellencamp as much as it is to be inspired by Malevich, I know it's ok to be a banker with a spray paint fetish, and I know when I'm looking at a Robert Davis painting I'm looking at something transcendent crafted from biblically elemental materials. Paintings made of wine and weed, coffee and cigarettes with their sacramental perfect linen below them, smears of history like Veronica's Veil above, the supports an altar for the marks". (V. Dermody)
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