Lina Iris Viktor

ANNOUNCEMENTS

aRT BASEL 2025

PILAR CORRIAS | BASEL, SWITZERLAND

June 17 —— 22, 2025

PILAR CORRIAS IS PLEASED TO PARTICIPATE IN THIS YEAR’S EDITION OF ART BASEL

At booth S3 the gallery will present a selection of new and recent works by Ragna Bley, Sedrick Chisom, Sophie von Hellermann, Cui Jie, Hayv Kahraman, Pierre Knop, Kat Lyons, Tala Madani, Manuel Mathieu, Sofia Mitsola, Sabine Moritz, Philippe Parreno, Sojourner Truth Parsons, Mary Ramsden, Rachel Rose, Tschabalala Self, Arlene Shechet, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Lina Iris Viktor, Georg Wilson and Vivien Zhang.

AMSTERDAM SCULPTURE BIENNALE

ARTZUID | AMSTERDAM

May 21 —— September 21, 2025

THE 9TH EDITION OF ARTZUID —- THE AMSTERDAM SCULPTURE BIENNALE WILL PRESENT AN EXPERIENCE EXHIBITION WITH 60 SCULPTURES BY 60 INTERNATIONALLY RENOWNED ARTISTS. THE HEART OF THE EXHIBITION IS IN BERLAGE’S MONUMENTAL PLAN ZUID WITH ITS LEAFY APOLLOLAAN, MINERVALAAN, AND CHURCHILLLAAN.

Artzuid 2025 bears the title enlightenment as a tribute and call to the city. With each edition, a curator is commissioned to curate the sculpture selection based on the exhibition concept — This editions curator is Ralph Keuning, former director of Museum De Fundatie.  Artzuid is unique in the world as the only biennial that focuses exclusively on outdoor sculpture.

EXHIBITING ARTISTS

Adam Colton (NL/GB), Arlene Shechet (USA), Art van Triest (NL), Atelier van Lieshout (NL), Alicja Kwade (PL), Armando (NL), Bart Lunenburg (NL), Bastienne Kramer (NL), Britte Koolen (NL), Carin Scholten (NL), Chris Peterson (NL), Cristobal Gabarron (ES), David Bade (CW), David Nash (GB), Erik Buijs (NL), Eiji Watanabe (JP), Esther Jiskoot (NL), Fiona Römpp (NL), Gavin Turk (GB), Helen Vergouwen (NL), Herbert Nouwens (NL) Henk Visch (NL), Hieke Luik (NL), Huub en Adelheid Kortekaas (NL), Isa van Lier (NL), Ilse Oelbers (NL), Iris Le Rütte (NL), Ivan Cremer (NL), Jaume Plensa (ES), Jean-Marie Appriou (FR), Katleen Vinck (BE), Klaas Gubbels (NL), Laura Schurink (NL), Leilah Babirye (USA), Lina Iris Viktor (USA), Leiko Ikemura (JP), Lotta Blokker (NL), Louise Schouwenberg (NL), Maja van Hall (NL), Marcel Pinas (SR), Maen Florin (BE), Magdalena Abakanowicz (PL), Marte Röling (NL), Marieke Bolhuis (NL), Margot Berkman (NL), Marion Verboom (FR), Micky Hoogendijk (NL), Nadia Naveau (BE), Natasja Alers (NL), Nel van Lith (NL), Nelson Carrilho (NL), Neo Rauch (DE), Paloma Varga Weisz (DE), Paul Goede (NL), Rachel Harrison (USA), Ricardo van Eyk (NL), Rob Schreefel (NL), Rob Voerman (NL), Ronald Westerhuis (NL),Ruud Kuijer (NL), Shinkichi Tajiri (USA), Sjef Voets (NL), Sokari Douglas Camp (GB), Stefan Rinck (DE), Tirzo Martha (CW), Tschabalala Self (USA), Tal R (DEN), Tony Cragg (GB), Wjm Kok (NL), Wouter van der Giessen (NL), Xavier Veilhan (FR), Yoshitomo Nara (JP).

aRT BASEL HONG KONG 2025

PILAR CORRIAS | HONG KONG

March 26 —— 30, 2025

PILAR CORRIAS IS PLEASED TO PARTICIPATE IN ART BASEL HONG KONG 2025.

At booth 1B03 the gallery will present a selection of new and recent works by Koo Jeong A, Sedrick Chisom, Sophie von Hellermann, Cui Jie, Hayv Kahraman, Pierre Knop, Kat Lyons, Tala Madani, Manuel Mathieu, Gisela McDaniel, Sofia Mitsola, Prafulla Mohanti, Philippe Parreno, Sojourner Truth Parsons, Mary Ramsden, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Lina Iris Viktor, Ella Walker, Georg Wilson and Vivien Zhang.

LINA IRIS VIKTOR: RED SEASON

SALON 94 | NEW YORK

February 19 —— March 29, 2025

LIBERIAN—-BRITISH ARTIST LINA IRIS VIKTOR PRESENTS ‘RED SEASON’, AN EXHIBITION OF EIGHT WORKS ON PAPER AND PAINTINGS.

Viktor’s distinct visual language weaves contemporary artistic expression with historical resonance, exploring themes of time, culture, and human experience. Drawing on influences ranging from Babylonian cosmologies to Dogon architectural principles, Viktor’s compositions are constructed from diverse elements like ancient symbols and motifs, with an emphasis on traditional materials such as gold, jute fiber, banana yarn, and silk. Her visual references are numerous, including Aboriginal painting, medieval manuscript illuminations, hieroglyphics, alchemical symbols, and more.

The works in the present exhibition include a grouping from the artist’s recent show at Sir John Soane’s Museum in London, Mythic Time / Tens of Thousands of Rememberings (July 10, 2024–January 19, 2025). Like Sir John Soane, Viktor is an artist as archivist—a collector, cataloguer, and student of mythologies and African cultures—threading artifacts, motifs, and fragments into her compositions.

CHALET AFRICAN

GSTAAD, SWITZERLAND

December 4, 2024

ACTIVIST NACHSON MIMRAN & ARCHITECT FRANCIS KERE HAVE JOINED FORCES TO DISRUPT THE LOCAL VERNACULAR IN GSTAAD, REIMAGINING TWO CLASSIC CHALETS AS VESSELS FOR CONTEMPORARY INNOVATION. 

Mimran, a free-spirited activist working at the intersection of climate science and refugee empowerment ( to.org.) grew up between West Africa and Switzerland, and has dedicated himself to creating spaces for culture and connection within displaced communities. Kéré, awarded the Pritzker Prize in 2022 has designed schools in rural Burkina Faso, where he was born along with multiple public buildings across Africa. With Mimran as the project creative director, they created a private residence that is more than a home ——- the project is intended as a catalyst for cultural exchange, foregrounding the work of artists, designers, and makers from around the world with a particular emphasis on Africa and the African diaspora.

LINA IRIS VIKTOR CREATED A SITE—-SPECIFIC MULTIMEDIA INSTALLATION —- ‘THE SOIL IS RICH WITHIN US’

Comprised of 15 sculptures within rammed-earth niches, each a testament to the interplay between chalet architecture and traditional African craftsmanship. Responding to the inherent qualities of chalet design, blended raw materials sourced from both the space itself and the rich tradition of West African pottery-making and wood-carving, creating a dialogue that brings geographical boundaries closer.

ON THE COVER OF ARCHITECTURAL DIGEST | JANUARY 2025

ELEPHANT

LINA IRIS VIKTOR’S DISTINCT MYTHOLOGY —- A PHOTO DIARY FROM THE ARTIST’S HOME ON THE AMALFI COAST
Interview by Hannah Katrina Nzegwu

November 28 2024

ARTIST LINA IRIS VIKTOR RECENTLY MOVED FROM NEW YORK TO THE IDYLLIC AMALFI COAST.

IN THE CONVERSATION BELOW, LINA SPEAKS TO KATRINA NZEGWU ABOUT MYTHOLOGICAL TRADITION AND HER NEW LIFE ABROAD.

Lina Iris Viktor is no stranger to mythology. Having relocated from New York to the postcard-perfect Amalfi Coast, the threads of deep time that weave through her artistic construction of cosmologies are inherent to the shores upon which she has made her home – the recourse to stories and symbols of Greco-Roman antiquity. Yet Viktor’s mythology is distinct: diverting from the modes of Western Classicism, her multidisciplinary practice pays heed to a breadth of influences spanning the oral and sculptural traditions of West Africa to the astrological impulses of nonliterate societies; the modalities of European portraiture, to the iconographic legacies of Ancient Egypt.

[Opening Excerpt]

KEEPING TIME

GALLERY 1957 | ACCRA

Ocotber 26, 2024 —— January 11, 2025

‘KEEPING TIME’ IS CURATED BY EKOW ESHUN AND KARON HEPBURN.

Against the backdrop of chronopolitics and colonial imposition, Keeping Time explores how the work of artists is inviting looser and more lyrical readings of time. Conceived as a follow-up to In and Out of Time, the 2023 Gallery 1957 exhibition curated by Ekow Eshun, which was founded on a similar scepticism to linear notions of progress and modernity, Keeping Time presents works that invoke African diasporic perceptions of time as the inspiration for works of expansive dreaming and possibility. By presenting artworks that are both dream-like and speculative, abstract and figurative, the exhibition questions and disrupts our sense of being in the world through African diasporic perceptions of time. 

EXHIBITING ARTISTS

Okiki Akinfe, ruby onyinyechi amanze, Alvaro Barrington, Winston Branch, Kenwyn Crichlow, Kimathi Donkor, Ibrahim El-Salahi, Lyle Ashton Harris, Andrew Pierre Hart, Che Lovelace, Sola Olulode, Sikelela Owen, Ravelle Pillay, Elias Sime, Lina Iris Viktor and Michaela Yearwood-Dan, Gideon Appah, Rita Mawuena Benissan, Amoako Boafo, Phoebe Boswell, Godfried Donkor, Modupeola Fadugba, Julianknxx, Arthur Timothy, and Alberta Whittle.

aRT BASEL PARIS 2024

PILAR CORRIAS | GRAND PALAIS

October 18 —— 20, 2024

PILAR CORRIAS IS PLEASED TO PARTICIPATE IN ART BASEL PARIS 2024.

At booth B50 the gallery will present a selection of new and recent works by Koo Jeong A, Ragna Bley, Peppi Bottrop, Ulla von Brandenburg, Sedrick Chisom, Sophie von Hellermann, Tomashi Jackson, Cui Jie, Helen Johnson, Hayv Kahraman, Pierre Knop, Kat Lyons, Tala Madani, Manuel Mathieu, Gisela McDaniel, Sofia Mitsola, Sabine Moritz, Philippe Parreno, Christina Quarles, Mary Ramsden, Rachel Rose, Tschabalala Self, Shahzia Sikander, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Lina Iris Viktor, Ella Walker and Vivien Zhang.

sALT OF THE EARTH

ICA LONDON | EDITION

October 10, 2024

THE ICA LAUNCHES ITS NEWEST EDITION —— LINA IRIS VIKTOR’S ‘SALT OF THE EARTH’ PAYS HOMAGE TO MODERNIST AFRICAN ARCHITECTURE AND TRADITIONAL AFRICAN CRAFTSMANSHIP. BY WEAVING TOGETHER RAW MATERIALS SUCH AS CLAY AND BRONZE, VIKTOR NODS TO THE RICH TRADITION OF WEST AFRICAN POTTERY--MAKING AND CELEBRATES SACRED DIVINERS AND RELICS THAT APPEAR THROUGHOUT HER WORK IN THE FORM OF VESSELS AND SCULPTURAL OBJECTS.

Available From October 10, 2024

Salt of the Earth, 2024
Bronze and scarva white earthenware clay with metallic glaze details | 21 x 21 x 60 cm
Edition of 10, with signed certificate

tHE ICA WILL PRESENT AT THE ALLIED EDITIONS BOOTH P3 OVER FRIEZE LONDON 2024.

All proceeds from the sales of this edition will go towards supporting the ICA's future events, exhibitions and learning programme. 

LINA IRIS VIKTOR: MYTHIC TIME / TENS OF THOUSANDS OF REMEMBERINGS

SIR JOHN SOANE’S MUSEUM | NEW BOOK

October 9, 2024

ON THE OCCASION OF ‘LINA IRIS VIKTOR: MYTHIC TIME / TENS OF THOUSANDS OF REMEMBERINGS’, SIR JOHN SOANE’S MUSEUM HAS PUBLISHED A CATALOGUE TO ACCOMPANY THE EXHIBITION. 

Viktor's new group of sculptures, made in response to the Museum, create a fascinating dialogue with Soane’s own collections of antiquities and art. Viktor's paintings and works on paper reveal the ways in which, like Soane, the artist brings together fragments from multiple periods and cultures, from ancient Egypt to medieval illumination and indigenous Australian art.

Featuring contributions from Ekow Eshun, Ben Okri and curator Louise Stewart, this catalogue explores how Viktor's often labyrinthine work responds to the spaces and objects within the Museum. Also including images of the exhibition works in situ, this catalogue offers a more in-depth look into Lina Iris Viktor: Mythic Time / Tens of Thousands of Remembering. 

LIBERATORY LIVING: PROTECTIVE INTERIORS & RADICAL BLACK JOY

MoAD | SAN FRANCISCO

October 2, 2024 —-— March 2, 2025

‘LIBERATORY LIVING‘‍ FEATURES SIXTEEN CONTEMPORARY DESIGNERS AND ARTISTS WHOSE FURNISHINGS, WALL COVERINGS, LIGHTING, CERAMICS, AND OTHER ATMOSPHERICS ARE BROUGHT TOGETHER TO SUGGEST WHAT MIGHT BE NECESSARY TO CONSTRUCT AND SUSTAIN A SENSE OF SAFETY AND BELONGING, IN RESPONSE TO THE ENDURING NEED FOR BEAUTY TO BOLSTER THOSE SENSIBILITIES. 

The first exhibition of its kind at Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD), Liberatory Living: Protective Interiors & Radical Black Joy is an open invitation to deep, communal contemplation of contemporary interior design integral to dismantling destructive colonial legacies and opening spaces of Radical Black Joy without fetishizing Black strength and resilience. The exhibit also blends custom and retail objects, showcasing a broad spectrum of work that reflects a persistent impulse to create spaces offering sensory circumstances for profound relief.

‍

EXHIBITING ARTISTS

Andile Dyalvane, Angela Hennessy, Chantal Hildebrand, Cheryl R. Riley, Chuma Maweni, dach & zephir, Germane D. Barnes, Kapwani Kiwanga, King Houndekpinkou, Lina Iris Viktor, Malene Djenaba Barnett, Michael Bennett, Nandipha Mntambo, Norman Teague, Sandra Githinji Studio, Sheila Bridges, Traci Johnson, Zanele Muholi, Zizipho Poswa.

LINA IRIS VIKTOR: MYTHIC TIME / TENS OF THOUSANDS OF REMEMBERINGS

SIR JOHN SOANE’S MUSEUM | SOLO EXHIBITION

July 10 -—-- January 19, 2024

DR. LOUISE STEWART, CURATOR OF EXHIBITIONS AT SIR JOHN SOANE’S MUSEUM GIVES A SHORT TOUR THROUGH LINA IRIS VIKTOR’S EXHIBITION.

Sir John Soane’s Museum is delighted to introduce Mythic Time / Tens of Thousands of Rememberings, a collaborative exhibition between artist Lina Iris Viktor and the Museum, which is on display until January 2024.

Viktor’s work unearths connections across time and cultures, from ancient Egypt to medieval illumination and indigenous Australian art. In bringing together these connections, she mirrors Soane’s own eclectic approach to collecting objects from varied cultures and time periods. Viktor’s sculptural works, made especially for this exhibition, are interspersed throughout the Museum, introducing new presences and memories into Soane’s former home.

Spanning sculpture, painting, photography and gilding, Viktor’s practice explores the complexities of time, memory and historic traditions. Both her sculptural works and paintings employ ancient, elemental materials, from bronze and ceramic to wood and silk, drawing on their primal, timeless qualities, as well as their formal characteristics. The fusion of motifs, materials and fragments of time across Viktor’s work and the Soane collection imbues the Museum with new layers of memory, immersing audiences in a Mythic Time of Viktor’s own creation.

aRT BASEL 2024

PILAR CORRIAS | BASEL, SWITZERLAND

June 11 —— 16, 2024

PILAR CORRIAS IS PLEASED TO PARTICIPATE IN ART BASEL 2024.

At booth R3 the gallery will present a selection of new and recent works by Koo Jeong A, Ragna Bley, Peppi Bottrop, Ulla von Brandenburg, Sedrick Chisom, Gerasimos Floratos, Sophie von Hellermann, Tomashi Jackson, Cui Jie, Hayv Kahraman, Pierre Knop, Kat Lyons, Tala Madani, Manuel Mathieu, Gisela McDaniel, Sofia Mitsola, Sabine Moritz, Elizabeth Neel, Philippe Parreno, Mary Ramsden, Rachel Rose, Tschabalala Self, Shahzia Sikander, Lina Iris Viktor, Ella Walker and Vivien Zhang.

SOLAR ANGELS & LUNAR LORDS

PILAR CORRIAS | SOLO EXHIBITION

June 5 —— July 13, 2024

WATCH A FILM WITH LINA IRIS VIKTOR, PRODUCED ON THE OCCASION OF THE EXHIBITION ‘SOLAR ANGELS & LUNAR LORDS’.

INSTITUTIONAL ACQUISITION

HESSEL MUSEUM OF ART | PERMANENT COLLECTION

February 2024

aRT BASEL MIAMI BEACH 2023

PILAR CORRIAS | MIAMI

December 6 —— 10, 2023

PILAR CORRIAS IS PLEASED TO PARTICIPATE IN ART BASEL MIAMI BEACH 2023.

At booth C39 the gallery will present a selection of new and recent works by Ragna Bley, Peppi Bottrop, Ulla von Brandenburg, Cui Jie, Gerasimos Floratos, Sophie von Hellermann, Tomashi Jackson, Helen Johnson, Hayv Kahraman, Kat Lyons, Tala Madani, Manuel Mathieu, Gisela McDaniel, Sofia Mitsola, Elizabeth Neel, Philippe Parreno, Mary Ramsden, Rachel Rose, Tschabalala Self, Shahzia Sikander, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Lina Iris Viktor, and Vivien Zhang.

aRTNET

WHY LINA IRIS VIKTOR, FAMED FOR HER GOLD—LEAFED SELF—PORTRAITS IS EMBRACING ABSTRACTION

Interview by Katie White

October 17 2023

‘I’M WILLING TO TAKE THAT RISK NOW’: THE BRITISH—-LIBERIAN ARTIST TELLS US HOW HER WORK IS TRANSFORMING AHEAD OF TWO IMPORTANT SOLO EXHIBITIONS SLATED FOR 2024.

Lina Iris Viktor is reveling in the most ancient of materials—marble, gold, ceramic, bronze, wood. The British-Liberian artist has, of late, been contemplating the ways in which time itself can be embedded into an artwork, questions stirred by the 36-year-old artist’s recent move to Sorrento, Italy, a terrain uniquely rich in antiquity. “These are materials we see frequently in Renaissance works in reference to the divine. With marble or gold, it took thousands of years for these materials to be created,” she said in a phone call. “As an artist, you’re able to take these millennia-old materials and form them into something else that will also last forever.”

aRT BASEL 2023

PILAR CORRIAS | BASEL, SWITZERLAND

June 13 —— 18, 2023

PILAR CORRIAS IS PLEASED TO PARTICIPATE IN ART BASEL 2023.

At booth R3 the gallery will present a selection of new and recent works by Koo Jeong A, Ragna Bley, Peppi Bottrop, Ulla von Brandenburg, Ian Cheng, Cui Jie, Keren Cytter, Gerasimos Floratos, Sophie von Hellermann, Tomashi Jackson, Helen Johnson, Hayv Kahraman, Mary Reid Kelley, Kat Lyons, Tala Madani, Manuel Mathieu, Gisela McDaniel, Sofia Mitsola, Sabine Moritz, Elizabeth Neel, Philippe Parreno, Mary Ramsden, Rachel Rose, Christina Quarles, Tschabalala Self, Shahzia Sikander, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Lina Iris Viktor and Vivien Zhang.

THE DARK CONTINENT: STORY-MAP tO ANOTHER PLACE

ADJOA ARMAH ON LINA IRIS VIKTOR

March 22, 2023

THE ACTS THAT MAKE UP LINA IRIS VIKTOR’S SERIES ‘THE DARK CONTINENT’ (2016—-2023) CONTAIN WITHIN THEM A STORY—-MAP OF/TO ANOTHER WORLD.

This map is instructional as well as descriptive. It opens up a black geography anachronistic to and out of reach of imperial time-space. This continent has always been here and still is yet to come. The map’s address affirms darkness as originary and rejects the possibility of its colonisation. Its first act, I. Genesis (2016), opens:

No. I * We descended from a darkness that belongs to no one . . .

No. II * Still, you hold no claim here

[Opening Excerpt]

sOMETHING CURATED

ON THE LIBYAN SIBYL & BEAUTY AS A TOOL FOR TRUTH
Interview by Hannah Hutchings-Georgiou

March 21 2023

THROUGH THESE SENSUOUS AND VISUALLY LOADED WORKS, PATTERN BECOMES A ‘PRE—VERBAL’ LANGUAGE CONNECTING TO THAT WHICH IS ALREADY ENCODED WITHIN US' AND BEAUTY CONVEYS TRUTHS THAT BOTH COMMENT ON AND TRANSCEND THE SOCIO—POLITICAL.

Lina Iris Viktor is a British Liberian multidisciplinary artist who works between Italy and the UK. Her work weaves together performance, photography, painting, water-gilding and sculpture to create rich, lavish works featuring mythical and majestic looking female figures. Her powerful series A Haven, A Hell, A Dream Deferred was recently shown to great acclaim in the touring exhibition In the Black Fantastic, curated by Ekow Eshun, and works from her equally profound series The Dark Continent were shown in Pilar Corrias Gallery’s recent show, Let the Sunshine In. Here, Viktor spoke to Something Curated about the performative aspects of her work, her art-making process, the power of blackness and the mystical figure of the Libyan Sibyl.

[Opening Excerpt]

LET THE SUNSHINE IN

PILAR CORRIAS | GROUP EXHIBITION

January 12 —- February 18, 2023

‘LET THE SUNSHINE IN’ BRINGS TOGETHER PROPOSITIONS BY A GROUP OF CONTEMPORARY ARTISTS THAT RECONSIDER THE UNCERTAINTIES, AND THE POSSIBILITIES, OF OUR FUTURE.

While the dark, frosty days of January can be an eerie harbinger of the extremes to come, they are also a moment for reflection and new beginnings. Borne from conversations amongst the exhibition’s artists about the current state of affairs. Released in the pivotal year of 1969, the 5th Dimension’s song Let the Sunshine In from the musical Hair was an anthem for a burgeoning sociopolitical movement that for many signalled the dawn of a new consciousness. That sun has set in the decades since, with the counterculture’s many promises having gone unrealised. We now find ourselves at dusk, with global conflict and social inequities proliferating, the spectre of nuclear warfare looming, and ‘culture wars’ raging.

EXHIBITING ARTISTS

Ann Craven, Cui Jie, Freya Douglas-Morris, Sophie von Hellermann, Hayv Kahraman, Kat Lyons, Tala Madani, Manuel Mathieu, Sofia Mitsola, Sabine Moritz, Philippe Parreno, Mary Ramsden, Rachel Rose, Shahzia Sikander, Rirkrit Tiravanija, and Lina Iris Viktor and Vivien Zhang.

LINA IRIS VIKTOR JOINS PILAR CORRIAS

PILAR CORRIAS

December 14, 2022

PILAR CORRIAS IS THRILLED TO ANNOUNCE REPRESENTATION OF LINA IRIS VIKTOR.

Lina Iris Viktor is a Liberian-British multidisciplinary artist who lives and works between Italy and the UK. Interweaving disparate materials, methods and visual lexicons associated with contemporary and ancient art forms, Viktor authors an idiosyncratic mythology that divines future imaginaries. Her synthesis of painting, sculpture, performance, photography and water gilding with 24-carat gold produces a charged materiality that at once addresses philosophical ideas of the finite and the infinite, the microcosm and macrocosm, evanescence and eternity, whilst provoking sociopolitical and historical preconceptions of ‘blackness’ and its universal implications.

Most recently, Lina participated in In The Black Fantastic at the Hayward Gallery (2022), and a selection of the artist’s work will be presented in Let The Sunshine In, a forthcoming group show at Pilar Corrias, Eastcastle Street and Savile Row, in January 2023.

IN THE BLACK FANTASTIC

KUNSTHAL ROTTERDAM

November 19, 2022 —— April 9, 2023

’IN THE BLACK FANTASTIC’ PRESENTS AN EXCITING MIX OF PAINTING, PHOTOGRAPHY, VIDEO, SCULPTURE, AND INSTALLATIONS.

The exhibition includes Nick Cave’s legendary Soundsuits, works from the Watery Ecstatic series by Ellen Gallagher, combining myth and the history of the trans- Atlantic slave trade, and Wangechi Mutu’s compelling video work The End of eating Everything, depicting the monstrous nature of mass consumption. The artists reshape stories from the past and think about what the future might look like. At the same time they are dealing with the societal challenges of the present. Chris Ofili, for example, created a new version of Homer’s Odyssey featuring a Black Odysseus. The artist Hew Locke encourages you to look at commemorative statues in a different way: his equestrian statues seem to have escaped from a dystopian landscape. And in her multi-layered series of portraits, Lina Iris Viktor combines influences from, among other things, classical mythology, West-African textiles, and Aboriginal painting.

THE WRITER & CURATOR EKOW ESHUN BRINGS TOGETHER TWO GENERATIONS OF ARTISTS IN THIS EXHIBITION:

Nick Cave, Sedrick Chisom, Ellen Gallagher, Hew Locke, Wangechi Mutu, Rashaad Newsome, Chris Ofili, Tabita Rezaire, Cauleen Smith, Lina Iris Viktor, and Kara Walker. 

‘IN TH BLACK FANTASTIC’ IS REALISED IN COLLABORATION WITH HAYWARD GALLERY IN LONDON.

PARIS+ PAR ART BASEL

LGDR | GRAND PALAIS EPHEMERE

October 19 —— 22, 2022

FOR THE DEBUT OF PARIS+, LGDR WILL PRESENT A SELECTION OF EXCEPTIONAL CONTEMPORARY AND HISTORICAL WORKS OF ART, WITH AN EMPHASIS ON SCULPTURE, IN A BOOTH THAT REFLECTS THE PASSIONS AND AREAS OF EXPERTISE OF THE GALLERY’S FOUR FOUNDING PARTNERS —- DOMINIQUE LEVY, BRETT GORVY, AMALIA DAYAN, AND JEANNE GREENBERG ROHATYN.

LGDR’s booth (B15) has been designed by acclaimed Belgian architect and designer Olivier Dwek of Olivier Dwek Architectures to showcase the dialogues and synergies conjured in juxtapositions of monumental sculptures and large-scale paintings and works on paper. A sculptural gesture itself, the booth’s curved walls create a shell-like interior to encompass the works on view by Etel Adnan, Alexander Calder, Enrico Castellani, Francesco Clemente, Niki de Saint Phalle, Lynne Mapp Drexler, Lucio Fontana, Diego Giacometti, Jenna Gribbon, Donald Judd, Yves Klein, Amani Lewis, Brice Marden, Fausto Melotti, Marilyn Minter, Carol Rama, Martial Raysse, Pierre Soulages, Pat Steir, Elaine Sturtevant, Tu Hongtao, Günther Uecker, Lina Iris Viktor, and Zao Wou-Ki.

LGDR WELCOMES LINA IRIS VIKTOR

LGDR

September 13, 2022

WE ARE DELIGHTED TO ANNOUNCE THAT LGDR IS NOW WORKING WITH LIBERIAN—BRITISH MULTIDISCIPLINARY ARTIST LINA IRIS VIKTOR.

In London, Viktor’s work is on currently on view in the gallery’s exhibition ‘Rite of Passage: Lina Iris Viktor with César, Louise Bourgeois, Louise Nevelson, and Yves Klein’, through October 29, 2022, and in the group exhibition In the Black Fantastic at the Hayward Gallery through September 18, 2022.

ARTIST INTERVIEW: LINA IRIS VIKTOR

HAYWARD GALLERY

August 10, 2022

IN THIS VIDEO VIKTOR TALKS US THROUGH HER WORKS, AS WELL AS EXPLORING THE NOTION OF ‘THE BLACK FANTASTIC’, AND THE WAY IN WHICH THE EXHIBITION HAS CONNECTED A GROUP OF INDIVIDUAL ARTISTS.

Mapping occupies a significant place within artist Lina Iris Viktor’s series ’A Haven. A Hell. A Dream Deferred’, which draws on ties between the Southern US city of New Orleans and the resettlement of freed slaves in West Africa, particularly within Liberia. In Viktor’s 2018 work, Eleventh, an American Colonization Society map of tribal areas in what is now Liberia are highlighted in gold. The depiction of the map serves to highlight how the land’s established population was disregarded in order to facilitate the creation of Liberia.

THE NEW YORK TIMES

STEPPING INTO THE EXPANSIVE WORLDS OF BLACK IMAGINATION

August 4, 2022

NEW YORK TIMES STORY ON ‘IN THE BLACK FANTASTIC’.

In Print on Sunday Edition —— 7th August 2022.

THE ART NEWSPAPER

A BRUSH WITH . . . LINA IRIS VIKTOR

August 3, 2022

IN THE FIRST EPISODE OF THE NEW SERIES OF “A BRUSH WITH . . . “, BEN LUKE TALKS TO LINA IRIS VIKTOR ABOUT HER INFLUENCES —- INCLUDING WRITERS, FILM—MAKERS, MUSICIANS, AND, OF COURSE, OTHER ARTISTS —— AND THE CULTURAL EXPERIENCES THAT HAVE SHAPED HER LIFE AND WORK.

RITE OF PASSAGE

LINA IRIS VIKTOR WITH CESAR, LOUISE BOURGEOIS, LOUISE NEVELSON, AND YVES KLEIN

LGDR | LONDON

June 30 —— October 29, 2022

RITE OF PASSAGE: LINA IRIS VIKTOR WITH CESAR, LOUISE BOURGEOIS, LOUISE NEVELSON, AND YVES KLEIN IS A PRESENTATION OF WORKS BY LINA IRIS VIKTOR AND HISTORIC ARTISTS WHOSE WORK FINDS ECHOES IN HER PRACTICE.

Revealing connections across colour, process, and material, this dialogue complements Viktor’s recent shift toward a more intuitive, abstract, and visceral mode of expression. Rite of Passage demonstrates this turn in the artist’s practice, debuting a new work that Viktor created for the presentation at LGDR. A selection of the artist’s recent paintings and sculptures are concurrently on view in the exhibition In the Black Fantastic at the Hayward Gallery, London.

IN THE BLACK FANTASTIC

THE SOUTHBANK CENTRE | PUBLIC ART INSTALLATION

June 29, 2022 —— September 4, 2022

LINA IRIS VIKTOR’S ‘SYZYGY’ IS ONE OF THE ARTWORKS REPRODUCED ON THE OUTSIDE OF THE ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL TO ACCOMPANY THE HAYWARD EXHIBITION ‘IN THE BLACK FANTASTIC’ CURATED BY EKOW ESHUN.

IN THE BLACK FANTASTIC

HAYWARD GALLERY

June 29, 2022 —- September 18, 2022

‘IN THE BLACK FANTASTIC’, THE UK’S FIRST MAJOR EXHIBITION DEDICATED TO THE WORK OF BLACK ARTISTS WHO USE FANTASTICAL ELEMENTS TO ADDRESS RACIAL INJUSTICE AND EXPLORE ALTERNATIVE REALITIES.

Myth, science fiction, spiritual traditions and the legacy of Afrofuturism are all sampled, reimagined and recontextualised in 𝘐𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘉𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘍𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘤. Encompassing painting, photography, video, sculpture and mixed-media installations, the exhibition creates immersive aesthetic experiences that bring the viewer into a new environment somewhere between the real world and a multiplicity of imagined ones. While some artists disrupt our understanding of the past, others invite us to imagine fantastical futures. In this exhibition, fantasy becomes a zone of creative and cultural liberation and a means of addressing racism and social injustice by conjuring new ways of being in the world.

𝘐𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘉𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘍𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘤 is curated by Ekow Eshun and features the artists:

NICK CAVE, SEDRICK CHISOM, ELLEN GALLAGHER, HEW LOCKE, WANGECHI MUTU, RASHAAD NEWSOME, CHRIS OFILI, TABITA REZAIRE, CAULEEN SMITH,

LINA IRIS VIKTOR AND KARA WALKER.

THE EXHIBITION WILL TOUR TO KUNSTHAL ROTTERDAM, NETHERLANDS FROM 19 NOVEMBER, 2022 —- 9 APRIL, 2023

dIOR LADY ART | SIXTH EDITION

LINA IRIS VIKTOR REINVENTS THE LADY DIOR BAG

December 2021

IN THIS VIDEO, VIKTOR TALKS US THROUGH THE PROCESS & INFLUENCES WHEN DESIGNING HER DIOR LADY ART SERIES OF BAGS.

As one of the twelve international names taking part in the sixth edition of Dior Lady Art, the British—Liberian conceptual artist, painter and performer Lina Iris Viktor reinvents the Lady Dior bag, which she renamed “Constellations” after an eponymous work. Earth and sky combine as subtly lush landscapes in leather are illuminated with handmade gold—finish metal elements in keeping with the artist’s signature gilding technique. Evoking world cultures with rich histories of sacred rites, these precious talismans appear on four different versions of the iconic bag in black, blue, or green featuring matte lettered charms.

A LIMITED EDITION OF 100 BAGS ACROSS FOUR SIZES AVAILABLE EXCLUSIVELY AT DIOR.

bRITISH BOOK AWARDS 2021

SOME ARE BORN TO ENDLESS NIGHT —- DARK MATTER | AUTOGRAPH ABP

November 2021

THE MONOGRAPH ‘SOME ARE BORN TO ENDLESS NIGHT —— DARK MATTER’, PUBLISHED TO ACCOMPANY LINA IRIS VIKTOR’S CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED EXHIBITION BY THE SAME TITLE (2019/20), HAS WON THE 2021 BRITISH BOOK AWARDS IN THE EXHIBITION CATALOGUE CATEGORY.

Edited by curator Renée Mussai, the monograph accompanied Lina Iris Viktor’s solo exhibition at Autograph in 2019/20, and was published in a limited run of 750 copies in 2020. ‘Some Are Born to Endless Night — Dark Matter’ is a beautifully produced, deluxe artist book with cloth cover, gilded page edges, embossed lettering in gold foil, and gloss varnished black-on-black endpapers. The book’s design reflects the artists’s intricate, labyrinthine patterns, her playful emphasis on different tonalities and densities of black, and ritualistic use of 24-karat gold.

EKSTASIS | EDITION OF 11

AVANT ARTE

October 2021

LINA IRIS VIKTOR HAS WORKED WITH AVANT ARTE TO CREATE HER FIRST SCULPTURE TITLED ‘EKSTASIS’, (2021)

‘Ekstasis’ is an edition of 11 volcanic rock and bronze sculptures with black and gold detailing across the body, each standing at 31cm tall. The black volcanic rock translates the deep blacks found throughout her paintings into sculptural form, while the gold details reference a range of iconographies from Central and West Africa — connecting the work to the spiritual value the material once held — “modernity has devalued gold to a commodity, but previously it was heralded for its spiritual value."

AFRICAN ARTISTS FROM 1821 TO NOW

PHAIDON

October 2021

LINA IRIS VIKTOR IS FEATURED IN THE NEW PHAIDON BOOK TITLED “AFRICAN ARTISTS FROM 1821 —— NOW’, A GROUNDBREAKING A—Z SURVEY OF THE WORK OF OVER 300 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY ARTISTS BORN OR BASED IN AFRICA.

Modern and Contemporary African art is at the forefront of the current curatorial and collector movement in today’s art scene. This groundbreaking new book, created in collaboration with a prestigious global advisory board, represents the most substantial appraisal of contemporary artists born or based in Africa available. Features the work of more than 300 artists, including El Anatsui, Marlene Dumas, David Goldblatt, Lubaina Himid, William Kentridge, Julie Mehretu, Wangechi Mutu, and Robin Rhode, as well as lesser-known names from across Africa, with stunning and surprising examples of their art paired with insightful texts that demonstrate their contribution to the painting, sculpture, installation, photography, moving image, and performance art.

INSTITUTIONAL ACQUISITION

NORTH CAROLINA MUSEUM OF ART | PERMANENT COLLECTION

September 2021

eLEPHANT MAGAZINE

ISSUE 44 —— COVER ARTWORK

Autumn 2020

THE LIBERIAN—-BRITISH ARTIST’S COMPLEX PAINTING FOURTH FEATURES ON THE COVER OF OUR BRAND—NEW AUTUMN ISSUE. SHE TALKS TO HOLLY BLACK ABOUT ANCIENT GREEK ORACLES, COLONISATION, AND HER USE OF PUR BLACK PAINT AS THING OF BEAUTY. ——- Elephant Magazine

AFRICA STATE OF MIND

BOOK COVER ARTWORK

2020

THE WORK ‘EIGHTH’ (2018) HAS BEEN FEATURED AS THE COVER ARTWORK OF EKOW ESHUN’S BOOK ‘AFRICA STATE OF MIND’ (THAMES & HUDSON) ON THE FRENCH EDITION TITLED ‘AFRICA 21E SIECLE’ (EDITION TEXTUEL), AND THE ITALIAN EDITION TITLED ‘L’AFRICA DEL XXI SECOLO (EINAUDI).

INSTITUTIONAL ACQUISITION

AUTOGRAPH ABP + SPELMAN COLLEGE MUSEUM OF FINE ART | PERMANENT COLLECTION

2019 | 2020

HARPERS BAZAAR | ART

WOMEN IN ART ISSUE —— COVER ARTWORK

Autumn 2019

INSTITUTIONAL ACQUISITION

HESSEL MUSEUM OF ART | PERMANENT COLLECTION

2019

THE ARTSY VANGUARD 

PRESENTED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH DIOR

April 2018

THE ARTSY VANGUARD IS A NEW, ANNUAL LIST OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL TALENTS SHAPING THE FUTURE OF CONTEMPORARY ART PRACTICE.

Selected by Artsy’s team of editors —— with insight from a global group of leading collectors, curators, and other influential members of the art world—the 50 featured artists range in age from 23 to 97 and hail from 18 countries; they create work that spans across media and addresses wide-ranging subject matter. Each, however, is reaching a crucial new stage in her or his career: whether that’s gaining representation by an influential gallery, landing their first group show at a museum, or finally seeing their career fêted with a retrospective at a major institution. 

INSTITUTIONAL ACQUISITION

SMITHSONIAN NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AFRICAN ART | PERMANENT COLLECTION

2018

 THE ARMORY SHOW

THE BLACK ARK | SOLO PRESENTATION

March 2018

MARIANE IBRAHIM GALLERY IS DELIGHTED TO MARK ITS DEBUT IN THE GALLERY SECTION OF THE ARMORY SHOW, WITH A SOLO PRESENTATION OF NEW WORKS FROM THE BRITISH—-LIBERIAN ARTIST LINA IRIS VIKTOR.

A continuation of the artist's Constellations series - V, VI, and VII - will be revealed for the first time, alongside two new figurative paintings. Breaking with conventional and traditional standards (white and opaque), Viktor’s solo booth is black and latticed. Titled The Black Ark, the site-specific installation unites artistic, design and architectural practice to explore notions of race, history, ownership and discovery. Referring to both marishibya veils and the fishnets of Liberian fisherman, the confined yet revealing space symbolically recaptures lost narratives, existing before the formation of artificial nations.

  INSTITUTIONAL ACQUISITION

CROCKER MUSEUM OF FINE ART | PERMANENT COLLECTION

2017