Grace Nkem is a provocative young artist with a compelling story to tell, and her Images Will Talk. Every guest who attended Grace’s first solo exhibition at Gallery Particulier left with a new understanding of what it means to be a painter in the postdigital world. Innovative, fresh, and absolutely mesmerizing, Grace’s work draws on her Russian-Nigerian heritage and forces viewers to reflect on the repercussions of social alienation, mass digitization, and globalism. Through her Images Will Talk series, Nkem answers a burning question in the world of contemporary art: how does one garner sustained attention in an era inundated in mass media that constantly competes for it?
The exhibition features a fascinating series of surrealist-inspired oil paintings that juxtapose traditional 20th-century techniques with ultramodern imagery, comprising a new style of work that she calls “post-digital paintings”. Reminiscent of digital collage, Grace’s paintings allude to the look of desktop browsers, with pop-up-esque images overlapping one another and digital icons such as “folder” and “file”. It’s almost as if, as fellow artist Matthew Perez puts it, Grace thinks in layers as one does when using photoshop.
When one guest asked why she chooses to paint these images in a way that resembles digital collage instead of simply being a digital collage artist, Grace explained, “because painting forces it into the art historical cannon and forces it to engage with the art historical cannon…which is so heavily based on painting and sculpture”. She continues, “painting, I feel, rewards sustained attention in a way that sometimes digital art doesn’t immediately. When you see a painting, you subconsciously, or consciously, consider how long it took to make the piece and then you end up inadvertently, or advertently, looking at it longer.” Grace’s words seemed to hit the nail on the head with the crowd, sparking a collective a-ha moment around the room. Suddenly, eyes wandering from piece to piece, it became hard to look away from the paintings surrounding her. While Grace’s words resonated, her images now spoke.
Many of Grace’s works in this series feature seemingly disparate cultural imagery that alludes to her unique multinational identity. Looking around the room, you’ll find depictions of traditional African masks and sculpture painted in the same frames as Matryoshka Dolls and the upside-down face of Kanye West.
Also noteworthy is Nkem’s use of found materials as her canvases—another compelling contrast to her traditional style of painting inspired by figurative painters of the 20th century like Magritte. More on Grace’s artistic approach from her perspective can be found in the featured video above.
Grace Nkem has been an early supporter of Gallery Particulier’s mission to expand the reach of art. Here, we challenge the current infrastructure of commercial gallery spaces by presenting artwork in intimate, casual, and accessible spaces—including in people’s homes. Everyone can be a gallerist.
