Simon Birch

Murkage Love One

2020

In this series of portraits, Birch materializes enigmatic, ectoplasmic figures in his psychologically charged canvases linking sympathies between external forces and interior emotion...

Califia (c. 1510) is the mythical Black warrior Queen and inspiring character in Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo’s 16th century epic poem, Las Sergas de Esplandián (The Adventures of Esplandian). In Montalvo’s tale, Queen Califia rules on the fabled island of California, a utopia brimming with pearls and gold and inhabited solely by her menacing army of black Amazon women...

Halo presents an amazing cast of historical black figures, most of whom were legendary and mythic characters in their time, but have been nearly lost to the vagaries and biases of history as seen through a white lens. With Halo, Greenfield brings the stories of Black folk-saints, martyrs, freedom-fighters, survivors, magicians, and visionaries back into view. Many of the figures are from the 1400-1800s, a timeframe that corresponds with Europeans beginning to use racial distinction as a tool to justify slavery. Greenfield honors their simultaneously disturbing and astounding lives by bestowing them with halos, traditionally seen as reverential symbols of adoration and respect. “I am reimagining what a saint is,” Greenfield says. “Maybe in studying their stories, they can inform us on better ways to live.” Thought to have been a descendent of central African royalty...

Halo presents an amazing cast of historical black figures, most of whom were legendary and mythic characters in their time, but have been nearly lost to the vagaries and biases of hi...

One of the three biblical ‘magi’ or ‘wise men,’ King Balthazar gave the highly prized gift of liquid myrrh to Jesus upon his birth. Balthazar was an African King...

Halo presents an amazing cast of historical black figures, most of whom were legendary and mythic characters in their time, but have been nearly lost to the vagaries and biases of hi...

Artist: Liang Li Born in 1985 Henan China, and currently living in Beijing In 2003, he joined the Basic Department of CAFA Modeling In 2004, he joined the Second Studio of Oil Painti...

Artist: Liang Li Born in 1985 Henan China, and currently living in Beijing In 2003, he joined the Basic Department of CAFA Modeling In 2004, he joined the Second Studio of Oil Painti...

Artist: Liang Li Born in 1985 Henan China, and currently living in Beijing In 2003, he joined the Basic Department of CAFA Modeling In 2004, he joined the Second Studio of Oil Painti...

Artist: Liang Li Born in 1985 Henan China, and currently living in Beijing In 2003, he joined the Basic Department of CAFA Modeling In 2004, he joined the Second Studio of Oil Painti...

Artist: Liang Li Born in 1985 Henan China, and currently living in Beijing In 2003, he joined the Basic Department of CAFA Modeling In 2004, he joined the Second Studio of Oil Painti...

The theme of "La Stanza" ("the Room"), from which the exhibition takes the title, wants to resume intimacy and introspection that only a domestic environment manages to give. The wal...