Back

Amy Sherald: The World We Make

25 Jan – 15 Apr 2023

Monaco

Traveling from the artist’s major exhibition at Hauser & Wirth in London, her first solo show in Europe, a selection of new and monumental works by Amy Sherald will be on display at the gallery in Monaco. Amy Sherald, one of the defining contemporary portraitists in the United States, is acclaimed for her paintings of Black Americans that have become landmarks in the grand tradition of social portraiture—a tradition that for too long excluded the Black men, women, families and artists whose lives have been inextricable from public and politicised narratives. As Sherald says, ‘Sharing these paintings in Europe is an opportunity for me to reflect on how the tradition of portraiture finds continuity as one of several lineages alive in my work.’

Amy Sherald on ‘The World We Make’

‘My mission as an artist really hasn’t changed: to put more complex stories of Black life in the forefront of people’s minds.’ Join artist Amy Sherald as she explores her exhibition ‘The World We Make’ at Hauser & Wirth London.

Sherald humanizes the Black experience by depicting her subjects in both historically recognizable and everyday settings, at once immortalizing them and reinserting them into the art historical canon. In this new body of work, she continues this practice while confronting the Western canon through allusions to significant historic works or images.

This includes the painting ‘For love, and for country’ (2022), a recreation of the iconic photograph ‘V-J Day in Times Square’ (1945) by Alfred Eisenstaedt showing a US Navy sailor kissing a woman in Times Square, New York City as Imperial Japan surrendered in the Second World War.

For love, and for country
2022
Oil on linen
313 x 236.5 x 6.4 cm / 123 1/4 x 93 1/8 x 2 1/2 in

View work

The work deals with the rejection of queer rights to equal participation in public space, as Sherald replaces the white heterosexual couple with a Black male couple in sailor-esque clothing, reminding us of the discrimination against non-heterosexual people within the US military in recent history. The photograph prompted Sherald to think of the Black soldiers who returned from the war, still facing persistent inequities, and what it would mean to broach the iconic pose through another understanding of masculinity. Sherald hopes to offer the viewer a reflection of themselves and the complexities of their interior lives, void of the constructs of race, gender, religion and preconceived notions.

In this exhibition, Sherald plays with traditional American symbology through the portrayal of vehicles such as motorbikes and tractors and the peaceful juxtaposition of man and machine to engage with the currents of masculinity that underlie the work. As Sherald says, ‘The tractor and motorbike paintings explore different expressions of self-sovereignty in our communities, and how these expressions might carry into the future. Vehicles become a literal metaphor here for forward momentum, for movement and potential movement’.

In line with this sentiment, Sherald is interested in the idea articulated by artist Alice Neel that ‘art is two things: a search for a road and a search for freedom’. In a large-scale diptych over 3-metres tall entitled ‘Deliverance’ (2022), inspired by the bike culture that is local to Baltimore in Maryland, United States, where Sherald has lived, the artist reflects on the sense of freedom that is part of riding. This work shows two bikers in mid-air, as if suspended in time, in a space free from oppression.  The composition in this work is reminiscent of equestrian portraiture, alluding to a reappropriation of this historically Western style of painting.

Deliverance

2022
Oil on linen
Left panel: 275.4 x 315.6 x 6.4 cm / 108 3/8 x 124
1/4 x 2 1/2 in
Right panel: 274.8 x 315.5 x 6.4 cm / 108 1/4 x 124
1/4 x 2 1/2 in

View work

A monumental work entitled ‘A God Blessed Land (Empire of Dirt)’ (2022) depicts a man proudly atop his tractor and references traditional farm paintings from the 19th Century which reinforced notions of American identity. Here, Sherald reflects on the history of agriculture in art as well as ideas around land ownership and systematic land loss. With this painting, Sherald also seeks to honour the legacy of farming in a world where new technologies are favoured.

A God Blessed Land (Empire of Dirt)
2022
Oil on linen
244.3 x 330.6 x 6.4 cm / 96 1/8 x 130 1/8 x 2 1/2 in

View work

Sherald’s portraits are large in scale but intimate in effect, capturing the ordinary likeness and extraordinary essence of all her subjects while simultaneously detaching them from everyday reality with their bold block colour backgrounds. Despite varying contexts, clothing, expression and positions, the individuals portrayed maintain a persistent sense of privacy and mystery reflecting Sherald’s desire to draw the viewers’ attention to the interior lives, hopes and dreams of her subjects.

As soft as she is…
2022
Oil on linen
137.5 x 109.4 x 6.4 cm / 54 1/8 x 43 1/8 x 2 1/2 in

View work

Sherald foregrounds the idea that Black life and identity are not solely tethered to grappling publicly with social issues and that resistance also lies in an expressive vision of self-sovereignty in the world. While her subjects are always African-American, Sherald continues to render their skin-tone exclusively in grisaille—an absence of colour that directly challenges perceptions of Black identity.

A certain kind of happiness
2022
Oil on linen
137.5 x 109.2 x 6.4 cm / 54 1/8 x 43 x 2 1/2 in

View work

As Sherald says, ‘The works reflect a desire to record life as I see it and as I feel it. My eyes search for people who are and who have the kind of light that provides the present and the future with hope.’ The painting ‘Kingdom’ (2022), showing a young child at the top of a slide, both asks us to look positively at future generations whilst reminding us of the transient nature of childhood and the vulnerabilities inherent to it.

Kingdom
2022
Oil on linen
297.5 x 233.7 x 6.4 cm / 117 1/8 x 92 x 2 1/2 in

View work

About the artist

Born in Columbus, Georgia, and now based in the New York City area, Amy Sherald documents contemporary African American experience in the United States through arresting, otherworldly figurative paintings. Sherald engages with the history of photography and portraiture, inviting viewers to participate in a more complex debate about accepted notions of race and representation, and to situate Black heritage centrally in American art.

Learn more

Breonna Taylor Legacy Fellowship and Scholarship

Amy Sherald has recently invested $1 million to the University of Louisville to fund the Brandeis Law School’s Breonna Taylor Legacy Fellowship and the Breonna Taylor Legacy Scholarship for undergraduates, a gift made possible by the sale of Sherald’s portrait of Breonna Taylor made in 2020 to the Ford Foundation and the Hearthland Foundation. This donation will allow the trust to run this scholarship programme indefinitely.

Learn more

Amy Sherald: The World We Make

The first widely available monograph on Amy Sherald accompanies this traveling exhibition, published by Hauser & Wirth Publishers. Newly commissioned texts include an art historical analysis of Sherald’s work by Jenni Sorkin, a meditation on the poetics of the Black ordinary by cultural scholar Kevin Quashie and a conversation between Sherald and author Ta-Nehisi Coates.

Purchase

Inquire about available works by Amy Sherald