Derrick Adams’ Figure in the Urban Landscape 37, 2019, demonstrates the artist’s engagement with themes of Black joy and leisure. The present work comes to auction off the heels of the artist’s critically acclaimed solo show at the Flag Art Foundation in New York from January to March and Gagosian Gallery’s recently announced representation of the artist. A major public installation of his work will also be included in the exhibition Beyond Granite at the National Mall in Washington D.C. this summer.
“With this work, I’m discussing different ways of how we can inhabit space, and how we are not limited to these oppressive boundaries that have been designed for us.”
—Derrick Adams
Executed in 2019, Figure in the Urban Landscape 37 is amongst the highly sought-after Figures in the Urban Landscape works from Adam’s Deconstruction Worker series. As in preceding works such as Head #4, 2011, in the collection of The Studio Museum in Harlem, Adams presents the viewer with a side profile of a figure, rendered in fragmented planes reminiscent of Cubism. Fusing modernist abstraction with such disparate influences as contemporary pop culture and African-inspired patterned fabrics, Adams creates a multi-layered portrait of a man framed by city streets atop which collaged miniature automobiles zoom around.
Utilizing model cars and abstracted city streets, Adams infuses his work with a sense of playfulness. At the same time, the streets refer to more serious considerations of contemporary urban life, formally mimicking the way in which urban spaces have historically restricted Black bodies. While Adams draws attention to deep-seated inequalities, he remains committed to a joyous artistic lens. Adams’ prideful, tender figure embodies his commitment to representing the Black experience.
