Marcus Jahmal: ‘Spiral’

Marcus Jahmal
April 7 – May 14, 2022
Almine Rech
Broadbent House
Grosvenor Hill
London
W1K 3JH

Spiral, a solo exhibition by American artist Marcus Jahmal, on view from April 7 until May 14, 2022. This will be the artist’s first solo exhibition in London and the fourth solo exhibition with Almine Rech.

Marcus Jahmal in his studio in Brooklyn, 2021. © Marcus Jahmal. Courtesy the Artist and Almine Rech.
Photo: Zeph Colombatto.

‘In Marcus Jahmal’s new paintings, purple hurtles along the continuum of human history. The figures that populate his washy fields wear little clothing or nothing at all, a self-abnegating refusal of millenia of class structure.

Marcus Jahmal, Entrance, 2022 – Oil on polycotton canvas – 213.4 x 182.9 cm, 84 x 72 in / © Marcus Jahmal – Courtesy of the Artist and Almine Rech – Photo: Dan Bradica

They have become purple itself, their skin pulsating violet, as if emanating light. Jahmal’s color sense is finely tuned, taking something of the rabid passion of the Fauvists and the emotional immediacy of the Neo-Expressionists (there are other overlaps, too: a rejection of three-dimensional space, for example).

On the chromatic spectrum, purple exists somewhere between the tempestuous fury of red and the calm cool of blue. It takes both humors and makes its own. Purple vibrates at the uppermost length of the visible spectrum. Travel any further and you’ve left the physical realm. You can do that in a Marcus Jahmal picture, too.’

— Max Lakin

About artist

Marcus Jahmal (b. 1990) lives and works in New York. He was raised in Brooklyn’s Prospect Heights neighbourhood, growing up in a family with roots in the West Indies and American south. His paintings synthesise a diverse range of inspirations and autobiography, drawing from photographs, ancient rituals, and personal memories. Jahmal’s work is held in public collections internationally, including Allentown Museum, Allentown, PA; ICA Miami, Miami, FL; Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, San Diego; CA Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; MN Zuzeum Art Centre, Rīga, Latvia.

©2022 Marcus Jahmal, Almine Rech