Martin Puryear: Nexus @ Museum of Fine Arts Boston + Cleveland Museum of Art + High Museum of Art

Martin Puryear: Nexus

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

September 27, 2025 – February 8, 2026

Cleveland Museum of Art

April 12 – August 9, 2026

High Museum of Art

September 25, 2026 – January 17, 2027

For more than half a century, the preeminent sculptor Martin Puryear (born 1941) has captivated the public with works of astonishing beauty and elaborate craftsmanship, whose sources of inspiration range from global cultures and social history to the natural world. Co-organized by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA), and the Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA), Martin Puryear: Nexus is the first substantial survey of the artist’s work in nearly two decades. Assembling some 50 works from across Puryear’s career, the exhibition focuses on his use of a rich variety of materials and media—from sculptures in wood, leather, glass, marble, and metal to rarely shown drawings and prints.

After debuting at the MFA, where it is on view in the Linde Family Wing for Contemporary Art, the exhibition travels to the Cleveland Museum of Art from April 12 through August 9, 2026, followed by the High Museum of Art in Atlanta from September 25, 2026 through January 17, 2027. Martin Puryear: Nexus is accompanied by a catalogue produced by the Cleveland Museum of Art.

Martin Puryear: Nexus reflects the artist’s singular practice, one that combines the distinctive techniques of production with the formal histories he has encountered through a lifetime of movement, research, and study. The exhibition begins with works on paper from the early 1960s and follows Puryear’s subsequent innovations in form, material, and process. Rooted in new scholarship, Martin Puryear: Nexus illuminates the ways in which the artist’s unique vocabulary has been shaped by his enduring interests in global traditions of material culture, African American history, and the natural world.

“With this exhibition we are pleased to feature an exceptional artist of our time and powerful works that speak to Martin Puryear's creativity and exceptional craftsmanship, and the lifelong learning that has fueled his practice,” said Pierre Terjanian, the MFA’s Ann and Graham Gund Director. “The sculptures included in this survey extend a compelling invitation to engage with themes of culture, identity, and history. We are grateful to our colleagues at the Cleveland Museum of Art for their partnership in making this project possible.”

“Martin Puryear’s art is staggeringly beautiful and also moving in the way that it invites us to see with fresh eyes the world we inhabit,” said William M. Griswold, Sarah S. and Alexander M. Cutler Director, the Cleveland Museum of Art. “Given the remarkable range of aesthetic traditions, cultural histories, and techniques of making that Puryear integrates in his work, we are especially pleased to present his career retrospective at museums with comprehensive collections from around the world, and spanning thousands of years of history.”

Martin Puryear: Nexus - Exhibition Highlights

Martin Puryear, Self (1978, The Joslyn Art Museum)

One of Puryear’s most iconic sculptures, Self shows the importance of dynamic formal oppositions in the artist’s work. At once a dark monolithic mass, Self is light and hollow, enclosing a hidden interior volume. It was assembled piece by piece through cold molding, a technique that Puryear learned through boat-building and which he has integrated into some of his most celebrated sculptures.

Martin Puryear, Night and Day (1984, Nasher Sculpture Center)

A rarely exhibited work, Night and Day reflects Puryear’s enduring interest in natural manifestations of black and white, which divide the two halves of the work’s semicircular arch. One end of the arch sits on the floor, while the other hovers just above it.

Martin Puryear, On the Tundra (1986, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston)

Puryear’s interest in the natural world and ornithology are reflected in his creation of this cast iron sculpture, an abstracted form suggesting a falcon perched on a rock. It was partially inspired by a work from the MFA’s collection: a 1619 portrait of a gyrfalcon by the Mughal court painter Mansur (active around 1590­–1630). Mansur’s painting—a reproduction of which hangs in Puryear’s studio—was immediately compelling for him not only within the history of ornithological portraiture but also as a representation of geopolitical trade routes, as the gyrfalcon is not native to India and likely arrived via diplomatic trade channels from Europe. The exhibition also includes On the Tundra (Winter) (2022, collection of the artist), a recent iteration of the original sculpture in white marble.

Martin Puryear, Confessional (1996–2000, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston)

Composed partly of wire mesh covered with tar, this work evokes a hollow inner space that is visible and obscured at the same time. Its title suggests one possible reading, delineating the wooden platform as a place upon which a confessor—implicitly, the viewer—may kneel and “confess.” Confessional is included only in Boston’s presentation.

Martin Puryear, Big Phrygian (2010–14, Glenstone Museum)

This colossal sculpture is the most dramatic representation of Puryear’s sustained engagement with the lineage of the Phrygian cap. This headdress signified formerly enslaved people in ancient Rome and later became a symbol of resistance to persecution during the French and American Revolutions. In the exhibition it is shown alongside the etching Phrygian (Cap in the Air) (2012, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston).

Martin Puryear, Hibernian Testosterone (2018, courtesy of the artist and Matthew Marks Gallery)

This large, wall-mounted sculpture reproduces in full scale the 12-foot antlers of the Irish elk, an extinct species of deer common during the Ice Age. Scientists of the 1700s had a theory that its antlers—which likely evolved to help the species survive combat and demonstrate sexual prowess and whose growth was propelled by testosterone—contributed to its extinction as they eventually became too heavy for the animal to hold up. Martin Puryear distills this parable-like history from the animal kingdom into a straightforward visual statement, suspending the antlers from an inverted cross.

Martin Puryear, Aso Oke (2019, Jack Shear Collection)

Encountered by visitors before they enter the exhibition, this monumental sculpture, cast in bronze, borrows its form from the fila gobi, a ceremonial cap worn by the Yoruba people of Nigeria. The intricate open latticework is a recurring technique used by Martin Puryear throughout his career.

Martin Puryear, A Column for Sally Hemings (2021, collection of the artist)

One of Puryear’s few indoor site-specific sculptures, this was created for the US Pavilion at the 2019 Venice Biennale. Responding to the pavilion’s architecture, which was modeled on Monticello—the primary residence and plantation of Thomas Jefferson—the work’s fluted base echoes the Doric columns between which visitors passed to enter the exhibition space in Venice. The sculpture’s title refers to Sally Hemings (1773­–1835), the enslaved Black woman, with whom Jefferson had at least six children.

Martin Puryear: Nexus also features a film that documents Puryear’s most recent outdoor work Lookout (2023), a permanent site-specific commission for the Storm King Art Center. In Cleveland and Atlanta, additional film footage as well as prints, drawings, and documentation of other public commissions will also be on view, demonstrating how Puryear extends his studio practice into the public realm and maintains his commitment to craft and concept on a monumental scale.

Artist Martin Puryear

Over the past five decades, Martin Puryear has created a body of work based on abstract organic forms rich with psychological, cultural, and historical references. His labor-intensive sculptures are made by hand at his studio in upstate New York. They combine practices adapted from many different traditions, including wood carving, joinery, and boat building, as well as more recent technology. As a student, Puryear studied ornithology, falconry, and archery, and in the 1960s he volunteered with the Peace Corps in west Africa, where he was exposed to the region’s Indigenous crafts. Since then he has continued to travel extensively, observing a range of cultures and their unique approaches to object making. “I think there are a number of levels at which my work can be dealt with and appreciated,” he has said. “It gives me pleasure to feel there’s a level that doesn’t require knowledge of or immersion in the aesthetic of a given time or place.”

Martin Puryear was born in Washington, D.C., in 1941. His first one-person exhibition took place in 1968, and since then he has exhibited throughout the world, including public commissions in Europe, Asia, and the U.S. His work was featured in Documenta 9, and in 1989 he represented the U.S. at the Bienal de São Paulo, where he was awarded the festival’s Grand Prize. In 2007, the Museum of Modern Art in New York organized a survey of his work, which traveled to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. In 2015, the Art Institute of Chicago organized an exhibition of 50 years of his works on paper, which traveled to the Morgan Library and Museum in New York and the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C. Martin Puryear received a MacArthur Foundation award in 1989 and a National Medal of Arts from President Obama in 2011. In 2019 he represented the U.S. at the 58th Venice Biennale. His recent commissions include outdoor works at Madison Square Park, the Storm King Art Center, and the Deichman Library in Oslo.

Martin Puryear: Nexus - Exhibition Catalogue

Martin Puryear: Nexus is accompanied by an expansive and richly illustrated catalogue. Designed and published by the Cleveland Museum of Art, with distribution by Yale University Press, the publication is anchored by five essays authored by a new generation of scholars: Rizvana Bradley, Joan Kee, Emily Liebert, Michelle Millar Fisher, and Ugochukwu-Smooth Nzewi.

Martin Puryear: Nexus

Exhibition Catalogue Cover

Published by the Cleveland Museum of Art

Image courtesy Yale University Press

Artwork © Martin Puryear

240 Pages, 10.50 × 13.00 in, 212 color + b-w illus.

Published October 2025

Additional perspectives enter the book through series of responses to individual works, contributed by thinkers and makers from a range of disciplines, many of whom are long-time interlocutors of the artist. They include Nairy Baghramian, Alex Da Corte, Thelma Golden, Maya Lin, Kerry James Marshall, Julia Phillips, Charles Ray, and Billie Tsien. Alongside these contemporary perspectives, the catalogue features archival materials that have never before been published.

Martin Puryear: Nexus - Exhibition Curators

The exhibition is co-curated by Emily Liebert, Lauren Rich Fine Curator of Contemporary Art, Chair of Art of the Americas, Modern and Contemporary Art, The Cleveland Museum of Art, and Reto Thüring, Head of Culture at the Foundation for Art, Culture, and History in Winterthur, Switzerland and former Beal Family Chair, Department of Contemporary LArt at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston with Gabriella Shypula, Leigh and Mary Carter Director’s Research Fellow, The Cleveland Museum of Art. The MFA’s presentation is organized by Ian Alteveer, Beal Family Chair, Department of Contemporary Art with Daisy Alejandre, Curatorial Assistant, Contemporary Art. The High’s presentation is organized by Michael Rooks, Wieland Family Senior Curator of Modern & Contemporary Art.

MFA - MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS BOSTON

465 Huntington Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02115

www.mfa.org

Aichi Triennale 2025 @ Seto City - Exhibited artists

Aichi Triennale 2025

A Time Between Ashes and Roses

@ Seto City

September 13 — November 30, 2025

The Aichi Triennale 2025 presents 11 artists across nine venues in Seto City, the heartland of one of Japan’s ceramic industries, known for adopting new techniques and cultures over the centuries. 

Please note that the artworks illustrating this post are intended to illustrate the work of each artist, but are not necessarily those presented at the Aichi Triennale 2025.

Sasaki Rui

"Subtle Intimacy (2012-2022)" 2022

Photo: Yasushi Ichikawa

Formerly a public bathhouse frequented by pottery workers, Nihon Kosen hosts Sasaki Rui’s (b. 1984, Japan) newly commissioned large translucent glass work Unforgettable Residues (2025), enclosing plants preserved as ashes that were collected across Seto City. 

Robert Andrew

"Presence" 2019

Installation view: ‘Presence’ IMA Belltower 

Courtesy of the artist and Milani Gallery, Brisbane

Robert Andrew's (b. 1965, Australia) is a descendant of the Yawuru people, whose work investigates personal and family histories that have been denied or forgotten. Language in Buru (2025) and What Lies Within (2025), installed in the KASEN MINE CO., LTD., incorporate mechanical parts with Seto clay, and the layered mounds of earth slowly crumble, resembling the landscape of a clay quarry.

Adrián Villar Rojas

"Mi familia muerta (My Dead Family)" 2009

Photo by Carla Barbero

Adrián Villar Rojas (b. 1980, Argentine) is well known for his large-scale and site-specific installations. His work is exhibited at the former Seto Fukagawa Elementary School.

 

panpanya

「家の家」（7/8ページ）単行本『商店街のあゆみ』 2022 ※確認中

所収

panpanya (b. undisclosed, Japan) is a manga artist who has been active on the web, at doujinshi (self-published works) conventions and other outlets since the 2000s. The artist exhibited in Seto at Matsuchiyokan (3-3 Suehirocho, Seto City - About a 15-minute walk from Owari Seto Station on the Meitetsu Seto Line)

Michael Rakowitz

"The invisible enemy should not exist (Lamassu of Nineveh)" 2018

Photo: Gautier DeBlonde

© Courtesy of the Mayor of London 

Michael Rakowitz (b. 1973, USA) takes over the UMEMURA Shoten, a wholesale store still operating today specializing in tea ceramics, to present seven panel works from the series The invisible enemy should not exist (Northwest Palace of Kalhu) (2023), made from materials such as Arabic newspapers and food packaging, reflecting the story of Mesopotamian artifacts lost after the war that parallels the history of his Jewish family emigrating from Iraq to America. 

Oki Junko

"anthology" 2023

FUJI TEXTILE WEEK, Photo by Kenryou Gu

Oki Junko’s (b. 1963, Japan) anthology (2025) transforms the space of Mufuuan with a mass of red fabric embroidered into a spiral and suspended from the ceiling. Its threads connect to one hundred thousand donated needles, which stick out from the clay beneath. The work conjures up the ‘thousand-stitch belts’ held together with a thousand red stitches that were made for Japanese soldiers.

Miverva Cuevas

"The Trust" 2023

Courtesy of Kurimanzutto Mexico, New York

Shaikha Al Mazrou

"Accordion Structure" 2022

Minerva Cuevas (b. 1975, Mexico) and Shaikha Al Mazrou (b. 1988, UAE) exhibited their artworks at the Seto City Art Museum.

Maitha Abdalla

"EVAPORATING SUNS" 2023

Maitha Abdalla (b. 1989, UAE) and the duo Selma & Sofiane Ouissi (b. 1975 & 1972, Tunisia) presented their works at the Seto Ceramics and Glass Art Center. Emirati multi-disciplinary artist, Maitha Abdalla’s practice combines film, photography, sculpture, painting, drawing and performance.

Tomiyasu Yuma

"The Doom" 2021

Photo: Masanobu Nishino

Courtesy of Art Front Gallery

Tomiyasu Yuma (b. 1983, Japan) creates works that explore the boundary between reality and unreality, using as motifs unseen things and matters that have not been scientifically elucidated, such as psychic and paranormal phenomena and dreams.

Seto City

Photo courtesy of the Aichi Triennale Organizing Committee

Seto City

Photo courtesy of the Aichi Triennale Organizing Committee

About Seto City

Seto City is located roughly 20km north-east of central Nagoya, with a population of approximately 130,000. It is surrounded by low mountains and has more than a thousand years of tradition of pottery and ceramics. Blessed with an abundance supply of high-quality clay, the city’s ancestors established it as a ceramic capital by flexibly adopting new techniques and cultures. The city’s name is indeed the origin of the word seto-mono, a synonym for ceramics. In 2017, Seto was registered to Japan Heritage as part of Rokkoyō (the Six Ancient Kilns) along with Tokoname, Echizen, Shigaraki, Tamba, and Bizen. Today, numerous ceramicists and creatives are producing new works every day in kilns and studios in the city. The pottery city’s unique characteristic can be seen everywhere, such as walls and fences built with potter’s tools and bridge rails decorated with ceramics. 

AICHI TRIENNALE

aichitriennale.jp

2025 Annual Exhibition @ The Campus, Hudson, NY - A platform for expansive thought and free-ranging artistic expression

2025 Annual Exhibition

The Campus, Hudson, NY

Through October 26, 2025

The Campus presents its second annual exhibition, on view through October 26, 2025. Organized by Timo Kappeller, this exhibition stretches over 35 rooms and the surrounding grounds of the former Ockawamick School in Claverack, NY, newly revived as a dynamic venue for contemporary art. As in the 2024 edition, The Campus seeks to build community and foster dialogue in upstate New York, and many of the included artists have ties to the region. Performances and programming are scheduled throughout the run of the exhibition.

A diverse group of artists has been invited to respond to the spatial rhythm of the site and layer new meaning atop existing associations and touchstones. Thirty solo and duo full-room installations anchor the show alongside focused group presentations of painting, photography and ceramics. These site-responsive activations, recently created artworks, and historical reevaluations were developed through a yearlong process-led and artist-driven curatorial strategy. Rather than situating these works within a thematic framework, The Campus functions as a platform for expansive thought and free-ranging artistic expression.

Selected highlights:

Recent large-scale paintings by Rita Ackermann take earlier work as a starting point to reexamine a scene from multiple angles. Relationships between bodies of work, camera and picture plane, and abstraction and figuration are layered in a state of continual flux.

Corydon Cowansage’s murals and paintings suffuse a former classroom with hypnotic color and sensual shapes, straddling the space between biological and botanical imagery.

Rarely seen sculptures by Ming Fay explore the symbolic resonance, shape, color, and texture of fruits, seeds, seashells, and other nature-inspired hybrid forms—enlarged to invite both encounter with and appreciation of the natural world.

Katharina Grosse, known for large-scale site interventions, has conceived two adjoining silk-draped rooms in visual dialogue with mirrored works by Daniel Buren and improvisational sculptures by Arlene Shechet.

Exploring the unknowability of his own body, Naotaka Hiro presents a bronze sculpture along with a pair of new paintings—maps of a body’s workings as it grapples with the painting’s surface from above and below.

Char Jeré’s layered installation draws on Afro-fractalist theory, her own autobiography, and a background in data analytics to examine the ways in which the built networks of our world enact a complicated relationship between race and technology.

A group of vibrant soft sculptures by Marta Minujín epitomize her ongoing pursuit of a radically dynamic and temporal art, implicating the body of the artist, the viewer, and the body politic.

Drawing sessions hosted by Oscar Murillo Studio took place throughout the opening weekend (end of June), and visitors of all ages were invited to draw freely on canvases in a celebration of collective spirit. The canvases will go on to become part of a collaborative artwork for the 36th São Paulo Biennial.

Naudline Pierre debuts new paintings and works on paper in a large former classroom, inviting viewers to step into her immersive and otherworldly landscapes that situate personal mythology and transcendent intimacy alongside canonical narratives of devotion.

Dana Schutz and Ryan Johnson—partners in life and studio—present an exchange between their practices, combining Schutz’s paintings with Johnson’s sculptural forms in a spirited interplay.

Kiki Smith’s dreamlike photographs, sculptures, and textile works illustrate a multifaceted reflection on how the literal and symbolic meanings of light and sight affect the human condition.

A compelling group of sculptural wooden wall works by Richard Tuttle, recently made in New Mexico and on view for the first time, offer insight into the artist’s ongoing investigation of material and form.

An immersive, museological display by Francis Upritchard features sculpture and works on paper that tread the line between realism and fantasy, fusing her idiosyncratic blend of references from literature, ancient sculptures, burial grounds, science fiction, folklore, miniatures, and frescoes.

Participating artists include: Rita Ackermann, Lisa Alvarado, Jean Arp, Tauba Auerbach, Trisha Baga, Ranti Bam, Ernie Barnes, Huma Bhabha, Blinn & Lambert, Katherine Bradford, Daniel Buren, William Copley, Corydon Cowansage, Sarah Crowner, Carmen D’Apollonio, Michael Dean, Mark Dion, Hadi Falapishi, Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian, Ming Fay, Jason Fox, Magdalena Suarez Frimkess, Vanessa German, Ann Gillen, Jan Groover, Katharina Grosse, Nicolás Guagnini, Daniel Guzmán, Maren Hassinger, Cynthia Hawkins, Paula Hayes, Lena Henke, Naotaka Hiro, Marcus Jahmal, Xylor Jane, Ann Veronica Janssens, Char Jeré, Ryan Johnson, Allison Katz, Byron Kim, Zak Kitnick, Andrew Kuo, Alicja Kwade, Dr. Lakra, Jim Lambie, Liz Larner, Margaret Lee, Fernand Leger, Richard Long, Liz Magor, Sylvia Mangold, Marta Minujín, Oscar Murillo, Aliza Nisenbaum, Mary Obering, Virginia Overton, Paul Pfeiffer, Naudline Pierre, Charles E. Porter, Nancy Rubins, Dana Schutz, Nancy Shaver with Wolf, Arlene Shechet, Dana Sherwood, Elias Sime, Skuja Braden, Kiki Smith, Monika Sosnowska, Vivian Suter, Toshiko Takaezu, Cynthia Talmadge, Richard Tuttle, Francis Upritchard, Nari Ward, Lawrence Weiner, Jordan Wolfson, Stanley Wolukau-Wanambwa, Molly Zuckerman-Hartung.

The Campus is owned and operated by a consortium of six galleries: Bortolami, James Cohan, kaufmann repetto, Anton Kern, Andrew Kreps, and kurimanzutto. 

The exhibition is curated by Timo Kappeller, Artistic Director of The Campus. Curatorial team: Jesse Willenbring and Shira Schwarz. Embracing a collaborative model, the galleries have turned an abandoned former school building into a platform for cultural exchange.

THE CAMPUS 

341-217 Hudson, NY

www.thecampusupstate.com

2025 Annual Exhibition @ The Campus, Hudson, NY, June 28 - October 26, 2025

Nigerian Modernism @ Tate Modern, London - This Major Exhibition traces the development of modern art in Nigeria with 50 artists and 250 artworks across 50 years

Nigerian Modernism 

Tate Modern, London

9 October 2025 - 11 May 2026

Uzo Egonu 

Stateless People an artist with beret, 1981

© The estate of Uzo Egonu. Private Collection

Ben Enwonwu

The Durbar of Eid-ul-Fitr, Kano, Nigeria, 1955

© Ben Enwonwu Foundation. Private Collection

Bruce Onobrakpeya,

The Last Supper, 1981

© Reserved. Tate Collection

Tate Modern presents the first UK exhibition to trace the development of modern art in Nigeria. Spanning a period from indirect colonial rule to national independence and beyond, Nigerian Modernism will celebrate an international network of artists who combined African and European traditions, creating a vibrant artistic legacy. The exhibition presents the work of over 50 artists across 50 years, from Ben Enwonwu to El Anatsui. They each responded to Nigeria’s evolving political and social landscape by challenging assumptions and imagining new futures, reclaiming Indigenous traditions to create a new African vision of Modernism. Featuring more than 250 works, including painting, sculpture, textile, ceramics and works on paper from institutions and private collections across Africa, Europe and the US, it offers a rare opportunity to encounter the creative forces who revolutionised modern art in Nigeria.

Nigerian Modernism - List of artists: Jonathan Adagogo Green, Tayo Adenaike, Jacob Afolabi, Adebisi Akanji, Justus D. Akeredolu, Jimo Akolo, El Anatsui, Chike C. Aniakor, Abayomi Barber, Georgina Beier, Alexander “Skunder” Boghossian, Jimoh Buraimoh, Avinash Chandra, Nike Davies-Okundaye, Ndidi Dike, Uzo Egonu, Ibrahim El-Salahi, Afi Ekong, Erhabor Emokpae, Ben Enwonwu, Sir Jacob Epstein, Clara Etso Ugbodaga-Ngu, Okpu Eze, Adebisi Fabunmi, Agboola Folarin, Buraimoh Gbadamosi, Sàngódáre Gbádégesin Àjàlá, Yusuf Grillo, Felix Idubor, Solomon Irein Wangboje, Ladi Kwali, Akinola Lasekan, Jacob Lawrence, Valente Malangatana, Naoko Matsubara, Demas Nwoko, Olu Oguibe, Rufus Ogundele, J.D Ojeikere, Emmanuel Okechukwu Odita, Simon Okeke, Uche Okeke, Olowe of Ise, Asiru Olatunde, Lamidi Olonade Fakeye, Oseloka Okwudili Osadebe, Aina Onabolu, Bruce Onobrakpeya, Ben Osawe, Muraina Oyelami, Ru van Rossem, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Gerard Sekoto, Twins Seven Seven, Ahmad Shibrain, F.N. Souza, Ada Udechukwu, Obiora Udechukwu, Etso Clara Ugbodaga-Ngu, Susanne Wenger.

Ben Enwonwu 

The Dancer (Agbogho Mmuo - Maiden Spirit Mask) 1962 

© Ben Enwonwu Foundation, 

courtesy Ben Uri Gallery & Museum

The exhibition begins in the 1940s amid calls for decolonisation across Africa and its diaspora. With the Nigerian education system under British governance, many artists trained in Britain, adopting European artistic techniques and witnessing Western modernism’s fixation on African art. The balance between Nigeria’s Indigenous traditions, colonial realities and calls for independence was evident in the practices of artists, many of whom became involved in arts education and reform. Aina Onabolu pioneered new figurative portraits of Lagos society figures, whilst Akinola Lasekan depicted scenes from Yoruba legends and history. Globally celebrated artists of the period, Ben Enwonwu and Ladi Kwali, combined their Western training with Nigerian visual art traditions. Drawing upon his knowledge of Igbo sculpture, Ben Enwonwu adapted his Slade School education to celebrate the beauty of Black and African culture. Meanwhile, Ladi Kwali who trained under British potter Michael Cardew at Pottery Training Centre in Abuja, developed a new style of ceramic art that synthesised traditional Gwarri techniques and European studio pottery.

Jimo Akolo 

Fulani Horsemen, 1962

© Reserved. Courtesy Bristol Museum and Art Gallery

Clara Etso Ugbodaga-Ngu

Elemu Yoruba Palm Wine Seller, 1963

© Clara Etso Ugbodaga-Ngu. Hampton University Museum

National independence on 1 October 1960 inspired a sense of optimism throughout the country, with artistic groups creating art for a new nation. The exhibition will look at the legacy of The Zaria Arts Society whose members included Uche Okeke, Demas Nwoko, Yusuf Grillo, Bruce Onobrakpeya and Jimo Akolo. Encouraged by teachers like Clara Etso Ugbodaga-Ngu, they developed independent creative styles centred around a concept of ‘Natural Synthesis’, merging Indigenous forms with modern expression. In the 1960s amid an economic boom, Lagos became a dynamic cultural hub, inspiring tropical modernist architecture, public art commissions and nightclubs filled with Highlife music. Meanwhile in Ibadan, The Mbari Artists’ and Writers’ Club founded by German publisher Ulli Beier, offered a discursive space run by an international group of artists, writers and dramatists including Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka, and Malangatana Ngwenya. The Mbari Club was closely associated with the influential Pan-African modernist journal Black Orpheus, which will be displayed at Tate Modern.

During this period, many artists reflected on Nigeria’s rich cultural and religious heritage as home to more than 250 ethnic groups. The late 1950s saw the emergence of the New Sacred Art Movement, founded by Austrian born artist Susanne Wenger who drew on Yoruba deities and beliefs to explore the ritual power of art. The group led the restoration of the Osun-Osogbo Sacred Grove where ancient shrines were adorned with cement sculptures and carvings. In parallel, The Oshogbo Art School emerged out of series of influential workshops at Duro Ladipo’s Popular Bar providing a space for experimentation among untrained artists and performers including Nike Davies-Okundaye, Jacob Afolabi and Twins Seven Seven who explored Yoruba cultural identity and personal mythologies in their work.

Obiora Udechukwu 

Our Journey, 1993 

© Obiora Udechukwu. Hood Museum of Art

The outbreak of the Nigerian Civil War in 1967 caused a cultural and political crisis for many artists. The post-independence feeling of optimism and unity were replaced with division, and later a desire to reconnect across Nigeria’s diverse ethnic groups. The exhibition looks to the revival of ‘uli’ - linear Igbo designs which can be decorative or represent natural elements and everyday objects. Historically passed down between women, artists like Uche Okeke who had inherited this knowledge from his mother, and those from the Nsukka Art School including Obiora Udechukwu, Tayo Adenaike and Ndidi Dike, adapted this visual language as a modernist art form, reclaiming an element of ancestral culture and reflecting on the struggles of conflict during the war.

Uzo Egonu

Northern Nigerian Landscape, 1964

© The estate of Uzo Egonu. Tate

Uzo Egonu 

Women in Grief, 1968 

© The estate of Uzo Egonu. Tate

The exhibition ends with a spotlight on Uzo Egonu, exploring how artists towards the end of the 20th century began to respond to global Nigerian identities. Living in Britain since the 1940s, Uzo Egonu’s work was informed by his perspective as an expatriate, creating works imbued by his childhood memories and feelings of nostalgia, as well as his response to current events, observed from overseas. The exhibition brings together Uzo Egonu’s Stateless People paintings, the first time these works have been reunited in 40 years. Begun in 1980, the series reflects on questions of nationhood and cultural identity. Depicting a single figure in each painting - a musician, artist and writer - Uzo Egonu represents the growing visibility of Nigeria’s diaspora around the world. The series sums up the tension between national identity and artistic independence which shaped Nigeria’s story of modern art.

Nigerian Modernism is curated by Osei Bonsu, Curator, International Art, Tate Modern and Bilal Akkouche, Assistant Curator, International Art, Tate Modern.

TATE MODERN

Bankside, London SE1 9TG

www.tate.org.uk

Claes Oldenburg @ Pace Gallery, Tokyo - "いろいろ / This & That" Exhibition

Claes Oldenburg 

いろいろ / This & That

Pace Gallery, Tokyo

July 17 – August 23, 2025

Claes Oldenburg 

Geometric Mouse--Scale B, 1970-72 

© Claes Oldenburg, courtesy Pace Gallery

Claes Oldenburg

Miniature Soft Drum Set, 1969 

© Claes Oldenburg, courtesy Pace Gallery 

Pace presents This & That, an exhibition of work by American artist CLAES OLDENBURG, at its Tokyo gallery. Bringing together sculptures and prints that exist in series created by the artist between the 1960s and mid 2000s, this lively survey showcases the importance of multiplicity in Oldenburg’s practice, inviting visitors to immerse in the artist’s madcap world and uncover resonances and touchpoints to Japanese culture. Curated by Pace CEO Marc Glimcher and Maartje Oldenburg—daughter of Claes Oldenburg and his wife and longtime collaborator Coosje van Bruggen, and head of the artists’ estates—the exhibition is organized as part of the gallery’s 65th anniversary year celebration. It is also be Pace’s first major presentation of Oldenburg’s work since the gallery announced its global representation of the Claes Oldenburg estate, the Coosje van Bruggen estate, and the Oldenburg and van Bruggen estate, continuing its commitment to sharing the intertwining legacies and individual achievements of the two artists with its global

audience. 

The Japanese title of the gallery’s presentation is いろいろ (“Iroiro”), which roughly translates to “various,” “variety,” or “miscellany.” Suggesting a mixed-bag or a hodgepodge, “Iroiro” can also be written as 色々, which comprises a repetition of the Kanji character 色 (“Iro”). “Iro” literally means “color,” but it typically refers to the color or hue of things. It can also suggest an object’s general appearance, and even more metaphorically, can refer to the sensuality of a thing (as in the occasional English usage of the word “colorful”). “Iroiro” thus echoes Oldenburg’s almost passionate involvement with banal objects, the way he lovingly coaxed a vast array of ordinary, miscellaneous things from their humdrum existence in the normal course of life—the "this and that”—into subject-matter for serious artistic inquiry.

In a broad sense, Pace’s show sheds light on Oldenburg’s fascination with multiplicity, the act of artistic reproduction, and the mutability of imagery. Widely known for the monumental artworks he realized around the world with Coosje van Bruggen, he also created many domestically sized objects across a wide variety of media throughout his career. “The multiple object,” he once said, “was for me the sculptor’s solution to making a print.”

This exhibition in Tokyo is the first major presentation of Oldenburg’s work in the Japanese capital since 1996. The artist’s only other solo show in the city took place in 1973 at Minami Gallery. Notably, he debuted his large-scale Giant Ice Bag (1970) sculpture, which is animated by mechanical and hydraulic components, in the US Pavilion at Expo 70 in Osaka. Since 1995, Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen’s large-scale sculpture Saw, Sawing has been on public view outside the Tokyo International Exhibition Center. Oldenburg’s sculptures Inverted Q (1977–88) and Tube Supported by Its Contents (1983) can be found in the collections of the Yokohama Museum of Art and the Utsunomiya Museum of Art, respectively.

Claes Oldenburg—who presented his first solo exhibition with Pace in 1964—was a leading voice of the Pop Art movement who, over the course of more than six decades, redefined the history of art with his sculptures, drawings, and colossal public monuments that transform everyday objects into idiosyncratic entities. He rose to prominence in New York in the late 1950s and early 1960s, when he was among the artists staging Happenings—a hybrid art form incorporating installation, performance, and other mediums—on the city’s Lower East Side. Collaborative and ephemeral, these environments included The Street (1960) and The Store (1961)—his first solo presentation with Pace featured works from The Store. Following his work with props in these Happenings, Claes Oldenburg began creating his iconic soft sculptures, which charted new frontiers in the medium, upending its traditional contents, forms, and materials.

Claes Oldenburg and Pace’s Founder and Chairman Arne Glimcher maintained a friendship for 60 years, working closely from the early years of the artist’s career up until his death in 2022. Since the 1960s, Pace has presented Oldenburg’s work in some 30 exhibitions and produced seven catalogues dedicated to his practice. The gallery also supported Oldenburg and van Bruggen’s creation of the large-scale sculptures Typewriter Eraser, Scale X (1998-99), which is part of the collection of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., Balzac Pétanque (2002), which is in the collection of the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, and Floating Peel (2002) at the Cantor Center for Visual Arts at Stanford University, among many other projects.

Claes Oldenburg

N.Y.C. Pretzel, 1994 

© Claes Oldenburg, courtesy Pace Gallery

Among the works in the gallery’s Tokyo show are some 60 multiples of Oldenburg’s painted cardboard sculpture N.Y.C. Pretzel (1994)—these works will be presented in a vending machine vitrine near the entrance of the gallery space. Other multiples in the exhibition include the artist’s cast plaster Wedding Souvenir (1966), his painted aluminium and brass Profiterole (1989–90), and his sewn canvas Mouse Bags (2007–17), all of which speak to his engagement with the quotidian, from the food we eat to pop cultural icons like Mickey Mouse.

In the way of larger-scale sculpture, This & That features Tied Trumpet (2004), a knotted bright yellow trumpet rendered in aluminum, plastic tubing, canvas, felt, and foam, and Miniature Soft Drum Set (1969), a set of nine sewn screen-printed elements on canvas. Another highlight is Knife Ship 1:12 (2008), an aluminum and mahogany wood reprisal of the monumental Knife Ship that Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen presented as part of their legendary 1985 performance Il Corso del Coltello (The Corse of the Knife) in Venice, Italy—this storied, site-specific project, realized by the artists in collaboration with curator Germano Celant and architect Frank Gehry, centered around a boat in the shape of a Swiss-army knife, which was floated down the city’s canals.

Claes Oldenburg 

Alphabet in Form of a Good Humor Bar, 1970 

© Claes Oldenburg, courtesy Pace Gallery

A 1976 screenprint of the Knife Ship superimposed onto the image of the Guggenheim Museum in New York—an artwork that predates the performance—is also be included in This & That. Other prints on view at Pace in Tokyo will be Alphabet in Form of a Good Humor Bar (1970), which renders the alphabet in the shape of an ice cream bar; The Letter Q as Beach House, with Sailboat (1972), where Claes Oldenburg imagines the letter ‘Q’ as a towering waterfront home; and the artist’s Apple Core prints, each representative of one of the four seasons, from 1990.

Through his iterative and elastic process of translating imagery from one medium to another—and suggesting innumerable possible transformations as part of that process—Claes Oldenburg expanded the possibilities of art by inviting the viewer to look again. Taken together, the works in this exhibition reflect his uncanny ability to render the familiar strange, and to imbue magic and wonder into the most mundane of subject matter.

Maartje Oldenburg is the daughter of Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen and is the head of the artists’ estates. A writer, editor, and lawyer, Maartje Oldenburg formally studied Japanese language, literature, and history for many years. She lived and worked in Japan in the 1990s.

Claes Oldenburg (b. 1929, Stockholm; d. 2022, New York) is renowned for his sculptures, drawings, and colossal monuments that transform familiar objects into states that imply animation and sometimes revolt. A leading voice of the Pop art movement, Oldenburg came to prominence in the New York art scene of the late 1950s and early 1960s. His seminal installations The Street (1960) and The Store (1961) launched his career, subverting artistic and institutional conventions while creating a backdrop for happenings and performances under the production name Ray Gun Theater. Initially conceiving of monumental works based on everyday items in drawings and collages, Claes Oldenburg installed his first realized outdoor public sculpture, Lipstick (Ascending) on Caterpillar Tracks (1969–74), during an antiwar protest at Yale University in 1969. He subsequently collaborated for over three decades with Coosje van Bruggen to create largescale projects across the world. Conflating notions of art and banality, and high-brow and low-brow, the investigation of objecthood spans Oldenburg’s earliest production to his work today.

PACE GALLERY TOKYO

1F; Azabudai Hills Garden Plaza-A

5-8-1 Toranomon, Minato-ku, Tokyo

www.pacegallery.com

Lévy Gorvy Dayan at Art Basel 2025

Lévy Gorvy Dayan at Art Basel 2025

Messe Basel, Booth E12

June 17 – 22, 2025

YOKO ONO

Pointedness (detail), 1964/66 

Acrylic sphere on engraved acrylic pedestal, 

sphere diameter: 2⅝ inches (6.6 cm), 

pedestal: 56⁵⁄₁₆ × 10½ × 10 inches 

(143 × 26.6 × 25.4 cm) 

Edition 1 of 3, with 2 AP

Image courtesy of Lévy Gorvy Dayan

YOKO ONO

Water Piece (Painting to Be Watered) (detail), 1962/66 

Sponge, eyedropper, and water in glass vial 

on engraved acrylic pedestal, element dimensions variable, 

pedestal: 23½ × 23½ × 23½ inches (59.7 × 59.7 × 59.7 cm)

Edition 1 of 3, with 2 AP

Image courtesy of Lévy Gorvy Dayan

YOKO ONO

Forget It (detail), 1966 

Stainless steel needle on engraved acrylic pedestal, 

needle height: 3⅛ inches (8 cm), 

pedestal: 49¹³⁄₁₆ × 12 × 12 inches 

(126.5 × 30.5 × 30.5 cm)

Edition 1 of 3, with 2 AP

Image courtesy of Lévy Gorvy Dayan

Lévy Gorvy Dayan (Booth E12) presents three significant early works by Yoko Ono in its salon installation of singular modern and contemporary painting and sculpture at Art Basel.

Yoko Ono’s Pointedness (1964/66), Forget It (1966), and Water Piece (Painting to Be Watered) (1962/66) each debuted in her critically important solo presentation Yoko at Indica: Unfinished Paintings and Objects, Indica Gallery, London, 1966—the exhibition that also occasioned the artist first meeting John Lennon. Vehicles for ideas, Yoko Ono referred to these sculptures as “conceptual objects.” Incorporating readymades and encouraging physical and mental participation by the viewer, the works demonstrated an evolution of her Instruction Paintings of 1960 and 1961 and later Instructions for Paintings, which began in 1962 and represented the instruction itself as the artwork—divorcing concept from canvas, a development that anticipated conceptual art. Ono further advanced her project in 1964 when she published the influential book of her instructions Grapefruit.

Ono composed her “conceptual objects” utilizing translucent acrylic Plexiglas for pedestals that were engraved with her instruction texts—and presented modified readymade objects that recalled, in part, the work of Duchamp. Featured in the consequential white and transparent installation at Indica Gallery, the present sculptures invite consideration of the nature of absence and presence, visibility and invisibility, language and action. Tracing the evolution of Ono’s practice and object-making, Water Piece (Painting to Be Watered), for example, relates to her earlier Waterdrop Painting (1961) that asked the audience to drip water onto a piece of canvas on the floor. It also connects to her instruction published in Grapefruit: “Painting to be watered / Water every day. / 1962 summer.” The instruction “water every day” is here inscribed on the acrylic pedestal and the viewer is invited to wet the sponge with the eyedropper—an action that is infinitely repeatable as the water will evaporate. The participatory and imaginative sculptures illustrate how Ono’s practices in music, poetry, painting, and performance informed these culminating works.

PIERRE SOULAGES

Peinture 162 × 130 cm, 6 octobre 1963

Oil on canvas, 

Work: 63¾ × 51³⁄₁₆ inches (162 × 130 cm)

Framed: 69¾ × 56¹⁵⁄₁₆ inches (177.1 × 144.7 cm)

Image courtesy of Lévy Gorvy Dayan

GUNTHER UECKER

Doppel Spirale, 2019

Paint and nails on canvas on board

78¹³⁄₁₆ × 63¹⁄₁₆ inches (200.2 × 160.2 cm)

Image courtesy of Lévy Gorvy Dayan

THOMAS HOUSCAGO

Crystal No. 1, 2025

Bronze 

37¹³⁄₁₆ × 18⅛ × 25³⁄₁₆ inches (96 × 46 × 64 cm) 

Edition of 3, with 2 AP

Image courtesy of Lévy Gorvy Dayan

The booth will also feature a notable canvas in black, blue, and white oil by Pierre Soulages—Peinture 162 x 130 cm, 6 octobre 1963—that was first exhibited at the eminent Kootz Gallery, New York, in the artist’s 1964 solo presentation. Günther Uecker’s large-scale nail painting Doppel Spirale (2019) portrays two circular clusters of nails rhythmically undulating across the surface of the composition. A new sculptural work by Thomas Houseago, Crystal No. 1 (2025) will present an abstract female form in bronze from the artist’s series of metal plate constructions, which he initiated in 2018. The booth will additionally showcase a selection of Michelangelo Pistoletto’s recent Color and Light (2024) works in a vibrant array of hues, which reflect his lifelong use and exploration of the mirror in his oeuvre.

LÉVY GORVY DAYAN

www.levygorvydayan.com

Africa Basel 2025 - African Contemporary Art Fair Highlights - Artists - Artworks - Galleries

Africa Basel 2025

African Contemporary Art Fair

Ackermannshof, Basel

June 18 - 22, 2025

Africa Basel makes its debut during Art Basel week in Basel, Switzerland, as a dedicated international art fair celebrating contemporary African art and its diaspora.

The Africa Basel Contemporary African Art Fair serves as an essential bridge, connecting artists to collectors, curators, and audiences. This dedicated fair provides a space where African art can be appreciated on its own terms, away from the reductive frameworks of "trends" or "bubbles." By creating a platform that champions quality, innovation, and context, Africa Basel will empower galleries to showcase the breadth of African artistic expression, ensuring long-term stability and recognition for the artists it represents.

Africa Basel is more than a marketplace; it is a meeting point for artists, galleries, collectors, and institutions alike who are shaping the future of contemporary African art. With a strong curatorial focus, the fair showcases a dynamic roster of exhibitors from across the continent and beyond, highlighting bold voices, fresh perspectives, and cross-cultural dialogues. As the first fair of its kind in Basel, Africa Basel offers a vital new stage for African artistic excellence within the global art calendar.

Africa Basel 2025

African Contemporary Art Fair

Galleries, Artists, Artworks Highlights

AKKA Project 

www.akkaproject.com

Founded in 2016, AKKA Project showcases contemporary African art across gallery spaces in Dubai, Venice, and Lugano. Dedicated to promoting African artists, the gallery hosts exhibitions, artist residencies, and cultural programmes. Its intimate spaces encourage diverse artistic practices and foster meaningful dialogue between artists and audiences.

Option Dzikamai Nyahunzvi

Ancestral Realm II, 2024

Courtesy of AKKA Project

Alexandre Kyungu Mwilambwe

Entassement II, 2024

Courtesy of AKKA Project

Osaru Obaseki

Full Bloom, 2023

Courtesy of AKKA Project

Africa First 

www.africafirst.art

Established by Serge Tiroche in 2017, Africa First supports emerging contemporary artists from Africa and its diaspora. Through private collections, residencies, exhibitions, and strategic partnerships, Africa First actively promotes artists and facilitates their international exposure, contributing to the development of their artistic careers.

Circle Art Gallery 

www.circleartgallery.com

Based in Nairobi, Circle Art Gallery has built a vibrant platform for Eastern African artists since 2015. Through exhibitions, international art fair participation, and annual auctions, the gallery enhances artist visibility and market sustainability. Its recent expansion into a larger space allows for more ambitious programming.

Souad Abdelrassoul

From the Womb of the Forest, 2024

Courtesy of Circle Art Gallery

Shabu Mwangi

Loathing in Silence, 2024

Courtesy of Circle Art Gallery

Dickens Otieno

Narok Wheat Fields, 2023

Courtesy of Circle Art Gallery

Tiemar Tegene

Portrait of Regret, 2024

Courtesy of Circle Art Gallery

Agnes Waruguru

The Sunlight Zone, 2024

Courtesy of Circle Art Gallery

Agnes Waruguru

Water Memories IV, 2022

Courtesy of Circle Art Gallery

First Floor Gallery Harare 

www.firstfloorgalleryharare.com 

Founded in 2009, First Floor Gallery Harare is Zimbabwe’s leading contemporary art gallery, dedicated to nurturing emerging artists and strengthening local art infrastructures. Through focused exhibitions and international collaboration, the gallery champions Zimbabwean contemporary art on the global stage.

Galerie Dix9 - Hélène Lacharmoise 

www.galeriedix9.com 

Founded in 2007 in Paris by Hélène Lacharmoise, Galerie Dix9 supports international contemporary artists working across various media, including performance and video art. Its exhibitions explore themes of identity, history, and cultural memory, fostering creative dialogue through partnerships with institutions and curators worldwide.

Kwama Frigaux

Untitled 3.6, 2023 

Blisters, peinture pour verre, agrafes

190 x 90cm 

Courtesy of Galerie Dix9

Kwama Frigaux

Untitled 5.6, 2023

Blisters, peinture pour verre, agrafes

190x86cm

Courtesy of Galerie Dix9

Gallery Brulhart

www.gallerybrulhart.com 

Gallery Brulhart focuses exclusively on contemporary art by African and Afro-descendant women artists. Established in 2021, it takes a feminist perspective in curating exhibitions that address identity, politics, and environmental issues, positioning art as a powerful tool for social discourse and transformation.

Taiye Idahor

Westbound (Wade in the water series), 2024

Courtesy of Gallery Brulhart

Gallery Soview 

www.gallerysoview.com 

Founded in 2019 and based in Accra, Gallery Soview showcases experimental and innovative contemporary African art. Its exhibitions connect Francophone and Anglophone cultures, promoting diverse perspectives and challenging traditional artistic boundaries to engage a new generation of collectors.

Dela Quarshie

Offering, 2023

Courtesy of Gallery Soview

Dela Quarshie

Red Morning, 2023

Courtesy of Gallery Soview

Dela Quarshie

Repression, 2023

Courtesy of Gallery Soview

Enoch Nii Amon Hammond

Solitude, 2024

Courtesy of Gallery Soview

Enoch Nii Amon Hammond

Waiting Bench, 2024

Courtesy of Gallery Soview

Enoch Nii Amon Hammond

Amon, 2024

Courtesy of Gallery Soview

La Galerie 38 

www.lagalerie38.com 

Founded in 2010 in Casablanca and now expanded to Marrakech and Geneva, La Galerie 38 promotes contemporary artists from Morocco and abroad. It serves as a cultural bridge, supporting established and emerging artists through curated exhibitions, international art fairs, and community engagement. 

Kendell Geers

Les Fleurs du Mal 1416, 2024

Courtesy of La Galerie 38

Kendell Geers

Twilight of The Idols 9399, 2012

Courtesy of La Galerie 38

Yacout Hamdouch

SansTitre, 2022

Courtesy of La Galerie 38

Barthélémy Toguo

Rêverie Marine VI, 2024

Photo © Fouad Maazouz

Courtesy of La Galerie 38

Barthélémy Toguo

Visites Marocaines 1, 2024

Photo © La Galerie 38 (2 sur 8)

Courtesy of La Galerie 38

Galerie Le Sud 

www.galerielesud.com 

Based in Zurich since 2006, Galerie Le Sud offers a signifi cant platform for contemporary African art in Europe. Supporting both emerging and established artists, the gallery fosters cross-cultural dialogue and contributes actively to the visibility of African creativity internationally.

Hako Hankson

Le poids des responsabilités, 2019

Courtesy of Galerie Le Sud

Joël Mpah Dooh 

Dear Mirror, 2016

Courtesy of Galerie Le Sud

Hamed Ouattara 

Bestiaire, 2009

Courtesy of Galerie Le Sud

LIS10 Gallery 

www.lis10gallery.com 

Founded in 2019 with locations in Milan, Arezzo, Paris, and soon Hong Kong, LIS10 Gallery promotes contemporary African artists through a robust programme of solo and group exhibitions. Its collaborations include notable international projects and participation in major art fairs, enhancing the global presence of its artists.

Aboudia

La famille noutchi réconciliée, 2022

Courtesy of LIS10 Gallery

Laetitia Ky

La grâce du desert, 2024

C-print, mounting on Diasec plexiglass satin, 

Edition of 5 + 2 AP

Courtesy of LIS10 Gallery

 

MCC Gallery 

www.mccgallery.art 

Founded in 2019 by Fatima-Zahra Bennani Bennis in Marrakech, MCC Gallery redefines Morocco’s contemporary art landscape. Initially dedicated to contemporary photography, it now embraces diverse artistic forms, connecting Moroccan artists with broader African and diaspora narratives.

Amine Asselman 

Crystalline II, 2025

Courtesy of MCC Gallery

Amine El Gotaibi 

Faille de laine, 2023

Courtesy of MCC Gallery

Mehdi-Georges Lahlou

La conférence des palmiers, 2022

Courtesy of MCC Gallery

Nubuke Foundation 

www.nubukefoundation.org 

Established in 2006, Nubuke Foundation is a central cultural hub in Ghana, dedicated to promoting visual arts and heritage through exhibitions, residencies, and community-focused programmes. With venues in Accra and Wa, it actively supports artists and engages diverse audiences.

Kwaku Dapaah Opoku

Nipadua (Polyptych), 2024

Courtesy of  Nubuke Foundation

Kwaku Dapaah Opoku

Nipadal, 2024

Courtesy of  Nubuke Foundation

Kwaku Dapaah Opoku

Nipa Dua, 2024

Courtesy of  Nubuke Foundation

October Gallery 

www.octobergallery.co.uk 

Founded in 1979, October Gallery presents outstanding contemporary art by internationally renowned artists such as El Anatsui, Rachid Koraïchi and Romuald Hazoumè. Serving as a cultural hub in London, the gallery regularly hosts lectures, performances and seminars.

October Gallery, London, participates in the debut edition of Africa Basel, 2025, with a presentation of striking works by international artists James Barnor, Eddy Kamuanga Ilunga, Alexis Peskine, Zana Masombuka, LR Vandy, Owusu-Ankomah and Xanthe Somers. The presentation comprises painting, sculpture, photography and vibrant ceramic works.

James Barnor

AGIP Calendar Model, 1974 

Digital silver gelatin fibre based print,

70 x 70 cm.

Edition of 10 plus 1 artist's proof 

© James Barnor

Courtesy the Artist and October Gallery, London 

Highlights include selected photographic works by renowned photographer James Barnor (HonsFRPS), whose masterful career has spanned more than six decades. Barnor’s wide-ranging portraits such as AGIP Calendar Model, 1974, depict the self-assurance and individualistic fashion trends that thrived both in London and Accra over time. His photographs of a newly-Independent Ghana and London are now recognised as an unparalleled, historic documentation.

James Barnor Born in 1929, Accra, Ghana

Barnor set up his first studio in Accra in 1953 and worked as the first photojournalist for the Daily Graphic before his career flourished with South Africa’s Drum magazine, the influential anti-apartheid lifestyle and politics journal. He moved to the UK, in 1959, to study photography at Medway College of Art, while continuing to work by photographing models of all nationalities for its covers. He returned to Ghana in 1969, as a representative for Agfa-Gevaert, to pioneer colour photographic processing, before returning to London in the 1980s. His work has been exhibited internationally; between 2010 and 2016 his monumental touring exhibition Ever Young with Autograph ABP, featuring new prints made from original, digitally preserved negatives, as well as vintage photographs from the late 1940s to early 1970s, toured the UK and USA. October Gallery first showed his work together with the Italian photographer Daniele Tamagni, in 2016. A major touring retrospective of his work opened at The Serpentine Gallery, London, in 2021 which travelled to MASI Lugano, Switzerland, and was shown at the Detroit Institute of Art, MI, USA in 2023. In 2022, the LUMA Foundation, Arles, France, presented James Barnor: Stories, Pictures from the Archive (1947-1987), curated by Matthieu Humery, Barnor’s first retrospective in France as part of Les Rencontres d’Arles’ annual Summer Photography Festival. In October 2023, James Barnor, Studio of Life opened at FOMU Antwerp, in Belgium.

 

Zana Masombuka

Nges’rhodlweni: eBandla 1, 2023

Giclée print on Hahnemühle FineArt Baryta 

325 gsm paper

84 x 56 cm / 97 x 69 cm (framed)

Edition of 8 plus 1 artist's proof 

© Zana Masombuka.

Courtesy the Artist and October Gallery, London

Photo: John Baloy and Bontle Juku

On show are signature photographic works by Zana Masombuka. In the series Nges’rhodlweni: A Portal for Black Joy, Zana Masombuka imagines what happens in the spirit world when ceremonies and rituals take place, creating a body of images which are rich with layers of meaning and symbolism. Nges’rhodlweni refers to a space within the Ndebele household where people of all ages gather to share in the communion of art, and to create an expression for the entire community. The overarching themes in Zana Masombuka’s captivating works explore how modernity impacts tradition and culture.

Zana Masombuka Born in 1995, Siyabuswa, South Africa

Masombuka’s work has been exhibited widely across Europe and South Africa, and her photographic series have made a distinct impact at 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair in London and New York. Zana Masombuka has recently collaborated with INFINIMENT COTY Paris, a high-end collection of 14 fragrances which was launched globally earlier this year by Coty Inc. Masombuka is currently working towards a solo presentation at the African Diaspora Art Museum of Atlanta (ADAMA), which is due to take place in Spring 2026. She has been a guest speaker on a variety of talk series, including Taste Makers Africa (Accra, 2020), Almanac Projects (London, UK, 2020), Sandberg Institute (Amsterdam, Netherlands, 2020), Bocconi University (Milan, Italy, 2022) and C-Change Festival (Mantova, Italy, 2022).

Alexis Peskine

Ebandeli, 2023

Purple Japanese oxidized silver leaf, nails,

black pigment and red hibiscus on wood,

120 x 120 cm.

© Alexis Peskine.

Courtesy the Artist and October Gallery, London.

Photo © Jonathan Greet

Large-scale mixed media ‘portraits’ are presented by Alexis Peskine. These dynamic pieces are rendered by hammering nails of different gauge, embellished with gold, Japanese oxidised silver or palladium leaf, with pin-point accuracy, into wood to create remarkable composite images. The individual figures he portrays represent the diversity of the African diaspora. By layering colours and materials, such as hibiscus, Alexis Peskine creates a complex visual narrative charged with the echoes of centuries of exploitation.

Alexis Peskine Born in 1979, Paris, France, of Afro-Brazilian/Russian descent

Alexis Peskine has been the recipient of many prestigious prizes including a Fulbright scholarship and Hennessy Black Masters Art Competition award. In the past decade, Peskine has worked with inner-city youth in France, Senegal and Brazil to create a number of monumental pieces. In 2013, Peskine started the Alexis Peskine Foundation, which aims to introduce young people from underprivileged backgrounds to the visual arts. His works were featured in the exhibition In Their Own Form at the Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago and Africa House’s Second Generation exhibition in New York, USA in 2018. The artist presented his work in Tiny Traces at the Foundling Museum, London, UK in 2022 – 2023. Peskine’s film, The Raft of Medusa, was exhibited in A Gateway To Possible Worlds, which brought together over 200 works at Centre Pompidou-Metz, Metz, France in 2022 – 2023. His work was included in the landmark exhibition Black Atlantic: Power, People, Resistance at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, UK in 2023 – 2024. Major museums and collectors including Peggy Cooper Cafritz; Laurence Graff OBE; the New Britain Museum of American Art, New Britain, USA; The Harvard Art Fogg Museum, Cambridge, USA; Pizzuti Collection of the Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, USA; and Museum of Contemporary Photography (MoCP), Chicago, USA, have collected works by Alexis Peskine.

Recent paintings by Eddy Kamuanga Ilunga reflect the artist’s investigation into the seismic shifts in the economic, political and social identity of the Democratic Republic of Congo, that have taken place since colonialism. A vivid painting, Ces êtres à part (Those Other People), 2024, portrays the cost in human life that our demands for modern technology impose upon the unseen victims caught up in the consequences of industrial scale mining for coltan in the DRC.

Eddy Kamuanga Ilunga Born in 1991, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo. 

October Gallery, London, held Kamuanga Ilunga’s first solo exhibition in 2016, quickly followed by a second successful solo exhibition in 2018. In 2017, Kamuanga’s work was included in the exhibition African-Print Fashion Now! at the Fowler Museum, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA touring to Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, Memphis, TN, and Mint Museum, Charlotte, NC, USA. In 2021, his work was chosen as the lead promotional image for the Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK, before a third successful solo exhibition, Ghost of the Present at October Gallery, London. In 2022, his work was exhibited in Fortitude: Resistance and Resilience in African Arts – Reimagining the People’s Collection, North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, NC, USA. A much acclaimed first monograph, Eddy Kamuanga Ilunga was published, in October, 2022, by Rizzoli International Publishing. Eddy Kamuanga’s work has been exhibited internationally at institutions including the Saatchi Gallery, London, UK; Kunsthaus Graz, Graz, Austria; Frist Art Museum, Nashville, TN, USA; Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery, Birmingham, UK; the Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK and the Louvre Abu Dhabi, UAE. His work is in important private and public collections including: Private Collection Laurence Graff OBE; Zeitz Collection of Zeitz MOCAA, Cape Town, South Africa; the Hood Museum of Art, Hanover, USA; Pizzuti Collection of the Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, USA; the Norval Foundation, Cape Town and Scheryn Art Collection, Cape Town, South Africa.

Eddy Kamuanga Ilunga

Ces êtres à part (Those Other People), 2024.

Oil and acrylic on canvas, 180 x 207 cm.

© Eddy Kamuanga Ilunga

Courtesy the Artist and October Gallery, London 

Photo © Jonathan Greet

LR Vandy is represented by sculptural work. Her practice is based on the transformation of found objects, metal components and rope into a variety of artworks, from vibrant ‘masks’ made from model boat hulls to energetic sculptures that investigate the knotted histories of trade, power and gender. Bright, 2019, a ‘mask’ will be displayed from her signature Hull series. Vandy has an aptitude for elegantly revealing hidden histories; her works continually reference the multi-layered history and heritage of the African diaspora.

LR Vandy Born in 1958, Coventry, UK

In 2019, Vandy had her first solo exhibition, Hidden at October Gallery. In the same year, a large Jesmonite sculpture from the series Superhero Cog-Woman, acting as a tribute to women throughout time, was selected to be shown at Frieze Sculpture, Regents Park, London, UK. In 2023 for the third iteration of the International Slavery Museum’s MLK Pop Up series, Vandy was commissioned by National Museums Liverpool to create Dancing in Time: The Ties That Bind Us, a 5-meter-high sculpture on the Canning Dock in Liverpool. Inspired by her studio relocation next to the Ropery at Chatham Historic Dock Yard, Vandy has explored the properties of rope, as well as its symbolic and historical importance. Rope was her chosen material for her sculptures in the solo exhibition, Twist, presented at October Gallery in 2024. Vandy’s large-scale works are currently exhibited in the COLAB exhibition, Mary, Mary, at The Artist’s Garden, Temple Place, London until 3rd September, 2025.

LR Vandy

Bright, 2019 

Wood, plastic, metal, 36 x 10.5 x 11.5 cm.

© LR Vandy

Courtesy the Artist and October Gallery, London 

Photo © Jonathan Greet

Owusu-Ankomah’s distinctive paintings depict an alternate world wherein monumental human figures float and shift within an ocean of emblems that surround, support, and in fact, define them. Microcron - Kusum No.5, 2011, is a hypnotic lexicon of adinkra symbols, each representing a particular concept used by the Akan-speaking peoples of Ghana. In the same Akan language ‘kusum’ refers to sacred sites involved in the secret performances of mystery rites. The process by which these figures coexist and interact with various iconic and symbolic sets has developed through distinct phases over time, reflecting Owusu-Ankomah’s own journey of discovery.

Owusu-Ankomah Born in 1956, Sekondi, Ghana. Died in 2025, Sekondi, Ghana

Owusu-Ankomah’s, paintings were exhibited internationally in many European countries, including Germany and the UK, as well as in the USA, Cuba, Brazil, Senegal, South Africa and Japan. A selection of seminal exhibitions in which his work was shown include: from Absolute Ghana, Accra Contemporary Art (ACA), Accra, Ghana; and An Inside Story: African Art of our Time, which toured Japan in 1995/96; to the notable Africa Remix exhibition that toured Europe and beyond (2004-07) and helped to define the dramatic resurgence of African art at the dawn of the 21st century. He also collaborated with designer Giorgio Armani to develop a line of clothing for the Red Campaign, which raised awareness and money for the Global Fund to fight AIDS in Africa.

Owusu-Ankomah

Microcron - Kusum No.5, 2011.

Acrylic on canvas, 150 x 200 cm 

© Estate of Owusu-Ankomah

Courtesy Estate of Owusu-Ankomah

and October Gallery, London 

Photo © Joachim Fliegner

Other highlights include a ceramic artwork by Xanthe Somers whose practice is informed by post-colonial contexts, with reference to Zimbabwe, her country of birth. Somers’ intricate artworks are hand-coiled in traditional fashion before being disturbed by having their surfaces punctured, woven or enhanced with meticulously painted details. By knowingly combining excessive ornamentation with veiled political commentary, Xanthe Somers draws attention to women's work, exploitation of cheap labour and the impact of eco-racist practices throughout the Global South.

Xanthe Somers Born in 1992, Harare, Zimbabawe

Currently based in London, Xanthe Somers is a Zimbabwean ceramicist whose work is a critical reading of extraction economies and notions of domesticity within post-colonial contexts, with a particular lens focused on the country of her birth. Xanthe graduated from Michaelis School of Fine Art, UCT in 2015 and was subsequently awarded a grant to study MA Postcolonial Culture and Global Policy at Goldsmiths, University of London, which she completed with distinction, in 2020. Xanthe recently completed the GUILD artist residency for two months with Southern Guild in Cape Town, South Africa. Xanthe's work is held in many private collections as well as public institutions such as the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Xanthe's work has been published in The Times, The Telegraph, The Guardian, Ceramic Review, House and Garden UK and Elle Decoration UK. In 2024, Xanthe won the ANNA award for female African artists, presented by Latitudes.

Xanthe Somers

In the Fray, 2024

Glazed stoneware, 57 × 50 × 50 cm 

© Xanthe Somers 

Courtesy the Artist, Galerie Revel, Paris, and

October Gallery, London 

Photo by Deniz Guzel

The African Art Hub (TAAH) 

www.theafricanarthub.com 

Founded in 2021, The African Art Hub, a UK-based digital platform, promotes contemporary African art globally through curated exhibitions, partnerships, and participation in international art fairs. TAAH highlights the rich diversity of African narratives and their growing significance in global artistic discourse.

Ibrahim Bamidele

The change we have, 2024

Courtesy of The African Art Hub

Ibrahim Bamidele

Love in colours, 2023

Courtesy of The African Art Hub

Ibrahim Bamidele

Caregiver II, 2024

Courtesy of The African Art Hub

TGM Gallery 

www.tgmgallery.com 

Founded in 2021, TGM Gallery in Tunisia connects historical artistic legacies with contemporary practices. Championing the École de Tunis and emerging talents, the gallery fosters cultural dialogue locally and internationally through curated exhibitions and initiatives supporting young artists.

Hamadi Ben Saad

Cavemen, 2020

Courtesy of TGM Gallery

Najet Dhahbi

Benjamin's lover, 2024 

Courtesy of TGM Gallery

Adnene Hadj Sassi

Courtesy of TGM Gallery

Ahmed Stambouli

Personnage Clef, 2010

Courtesy of TGM Gallery

unx-art 

www.unx-art.com 

Founded in 2023 by Sarah and operating from Sierra Leone, Unx-Art emphasises local curatorial practices and digital outreach. Dedicated to amplifying African contemporary art, it actively connects artists with international collectors, expanding global appreciation for African creativity.

At Africa Basel 2025 unx-art presents a focused exhibition that speaks to its core mission: platforming contemporary African artists with care, context, and conviction.

“At unx-art, we believe Contemporary Art from Africa belongs at the center of global conversations—not as a trend, but as a force that reframes how we see the world. Africa Basel off ers the kind of thoughtful space where that can happen—with care, rigor, and intent.” --Sarah Hachi-Duchêne, Founder and Curator

 

Helen Nzete

Courtesy of UNX Art

Helen Ogochukwu Nzete (Nigeria)

A Nigerian artist trained in sculpture in Zaria, Nigeria and based in Abuja, brings a deeply introspective approach to form. Her work explores memory, resilience, and the quiet power of repair. A perceptive observer of social intricacies, Helen Nzete constructs a universe where personal experience and structural critique meet. Her mixed media practice, rooted in sculptural language, examines the psychology of character and the social dynamics that frame human interaction. Her recent series, The Year of Knots, is composed of plaster-and-rope reliefs that meditate on the bonds we inherit — and the possibility of gently unravelling them. Untying a knot becomes a gesture of healing: a movement toward clarity, forgiveness, and renewed connection. At Africa Basel 2025, unx-art presents Generosity of Spirit (2025), a key work from this series. A constellation of faces — some inward, others reaching — is cast in intimate relief. One, gilded in gold leaf, rises as a guiding presence, evoking what is passed on not only through lineage, but through care, conviction, and lived wisdom.

Helen Nzete

Generosity of Spirit, 2025

Courtesy of UNX Art

Helen Nzete

Generosity of Spirit,close-up, 2025

Courtesy of UNX Art

Helen Nzete

Generosity of Spirit, close-up, 2025

Courtesy of UNX Art

Helen Nzete

What we fear once again is the unknown, 2024

Courtesy of UNX Art

Clément Gbegno

Courtesy of UNX Art

Clément Ayikoué Gbegno (Togo)

Representative of the emerging art scene in Togo, Gbegno engages the thresholds between being and disappearance. Trained in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, and at the École des Beaux-Arts in Nantes, France, his trajectory was shaped early by a conscious and symbolic gesture: selling his ancestral land to pursue an artistic path. This act reflects a commitment to form and inquiry that underpins his work. His approach is grounded in the concept of décompositon–recomposition—a cycle of dissolution and renewal that informs both his material method and conceptual framework. For Clément Gbegno, forms are provisional, suspended within an evolving process of mutation. Using layered textures and a restrained chromatic palette, he renders visible what resists representation: traces, absences, and shifts between material and memory. Life and death are understood not as opposites but as successive stages in a continuum. At Africa Basel 2025, unx-art shows Glimmer of Hope, a mixed-media work in which two figures appear in a moment of fragile exchange—caught between persistence and release. The work invites contemplation without resolution, proposing an experience where presence is felt rather than declared.

Clément Ayikoue Gbegno

The Glimmer of Hope, 2024

Courtesy of UNX Art

Clément Ayikoue Gbegno

The Passing Down of Knowledge, 2024

Courtesy of UNX Art

 

Sarah Hachi-Duchêne

Founder & Curator

Courtesy of UNX Art

Sarah Hachi-Duchêne

unx-art was founded by Sarah Hachi-Duchêne, a long-time collector with roots in both technology and the arts. After four years in Nigeria and now based in Sierra Leone, she launched the platform to give Contemporary Art from Africa greater resonance in global dialogue—while challenging the monolithic narratives that often shape its reception. unx-art is rooted on the continent, driven by close artist relationships, and shaped through curatorial storytelling.

unx-art’s presence at Africa Basel 2025 is styled in collaboration with Africana Couture—a Pan-African brand grounded in craftsmanship and excellence, community and culture.

Modzi Arts Gallery 

www.modziarts.com 

Founded in 2019, Modzi Arts Gallery is an emerging voice in Zambia’s contemporary art scene. The gallery plays an active role in reshaping the local art market, supporting artists through studio practice, residencies, mentorship and exhibitions. Originally established as an experimental non-profit space, Modzi Arts is now shifting towards a more commercial model, aiming to provide a platform for underrepresented artists and foster global exchange.

Mwamba Chikwemba 

Lets Push, 2024

Courtesy of Modzi Arts Gallery

Natasha Evans 

The Recess Of Mind_2024

Courtesy of Modzi Arts Gallery

Africa Basel 2025

African Contemporary Art Fair

Founders

Africa Basel is the brainchild of serial art fair entrepreneur Sven Eisenhut-Hug and creative visionary Benjamin Füglister, both of whom are deeply embedded in Basel’s art scene. Sven Eisenhut-Hug brings a background in global hospitality, while Benjamin Füglister, a seasoned curator, has organized over 60 exhibitions worldwide, with a strong emphasis on African art.

Sven Eisenhut-Hug

Benjamin Fuglister

Africa Basel 2025

African Contemporary Art Fair

Curatorial Board

Africa Basel 2025

Curatorial Board comprising Azu Nwagbogu, 

Michèle Sandoz, Serge Tiroche, Greer Valley

AFRICA BASEL 2025

FIRST EDITION

Ackermannshof,

St. Johanns-Vorstadt 19/21, Basel, Switzerland

www.africabasel.com