MARCIA KURE

Susan Inglett Gallery presents a Special Project by Marcia Kure for the 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair. Kure’s multidisciplinary practice includes sculpture, painting, and collage, all exploring post-colonial concepts of identity and culture. The artist's examination of the unseen networks that connect us uncovers both commonality and disparity while exploring mark-making as a system of language and exchange. The installation will include sculptures that originated as a commission for the Menil Drawing Institute in conversation with recent paintings, both of which employ Kure’s distinct raw materiality. Her choice of materials imbue the works with an organic quality while also furthering the discussion of trade networks and commerce intertwined with the history of the African diaspora. Kure implicates the viewer in a history of migration and exploitation while canonizing contemporary perspectives on the colonial past.

Her works on canvas and paper make use of the curvilinear shape of the Uli line, a Nigerian design motif traditionally drawn directly on the body. Building on her site-specific installation at the Menil, the third of an ongoing series of wall drawings, this work collapses time and space to fuse systems of power and control into one mark. By treating the paper or canvas as skin, these marks become a site of remembrance, holding within them histories of colonization and exploitation.

MARCIA KURE, RETICULATION, 2022

Collection High Museum of Art, Atlanta

Employing the same labor-intensive techniques of soaking and staining, a series of grid paintings on paper manifests as the physical embodiment of time and underscores the artist's relationship with nature, yet another system of exchange. In a painstaking process, Kure invites the labor of seasons and the passage of time to partake in the creation of her works; dotted planes and geometric patterns trace the outcome of this collaboration. Kure titled her grid works in Bamum (or Shümom), an indigenous African writing system of the Cameroon Grassfields. Invented by King Ibrahim Njoya in 1896, Bamum was a syllabic script used for administrative purposes, documentation, and education. As a result of colonial suppression in the 1930s, it has largely fallen into disuse. These titles provide an additional layer to the work, considering the ways that not only line, but language represents an ever-connected system of power.

Warrior was inspired by the story of the legendary warrior, Queen Amina of Zazzau and her court (1533-1610). Amina was the first woman to assume control of the male-dominated society of Zazzau. During her 34-year reign, she dramatically expanded her territory and made space for women to participate in government and the military. This watercolor pays homage to Amina.

Two African sculptures are featured in the installation, one in the style of a Mande headdress, the other representing a Dogon female figure. They are cloaked with synthetic hair extensions, an act of protection, and flank the drawing on large, solid plinths. The two sculptures were purchased from marketplaces that sell objects from Africa to consumers in the West, supporting and adding dimension to the artist's examination of networks.

MARCIA KURE (b. 1970) is a multidisciplinary artist whose work explores post-colonial existentialist ideas and identities. Based in both Nigeria and the United States, Kure employs a range of material strategies to address historical, existing, and potential systems of power and community control. Careful consideration of source material is central to Kure's practice, which draws from diverse origins in order to expose similarities and contradictions within our global society. Kure's work has been exhibited at the Menil Drawing Institute (2021); Centre George Pompidou, Paris (2020); Royal Institute of Art, Stockholm, Sweden (2019); Wanås Konst Sculpture Park, Knislinge (2019); Spelman College Museum of Fine Art, Atlanta (2016); Dakar Biennale (2014); and La Triennale, Paris (2013). Her work can be found in the permanent collections of the British Museum, London; High Museum of Art, Atlanta; Menil Drawing Institute, Houston; National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.; Centre George Pompidou, Paris; Princeton Museum of Art, Princeton; and the Studio Museum in Harlem, NYC, among others.

The 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair is located at the Starrett-Lehigh Building, 255 11th Avenue, NYC.

Tickets are available HERE.

Dates & Times

1 - 4 May 2024

Wednesday 1 May 2024 (VIP Preview)

2:00 - 7:00 PM

Thursday 2 May 2024 (VIP Preview)

11:00 - 7:00 PM

Friday 3 May 2024

11:00 - 7:00 PM

Saturday 4 May 2023

11:00 - 7:00 PM

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MARCIA KURE: 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair Special Project Booth 33

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