Todd Gray
Todd Gray
Portraits
2018
Installation view at 313 N. Fairfax Avenue
Todd Gray
Portraits
2018
Installation view at 313 N. Fairfax Avenue
Todd Gray
Portraits
2018
Installation view at 313 N. Fairfax Avenue
Todd Gray
Portraits
2018
Installation view at 313 N. Fairfax Avenue
Todd Gray
Portraits
2018
Installation view at 313 N. Fairfax Avenue
Todd Gray
Portraits
2018
Installation view at 313 N. Fairfax Avenue
Todd Gray
Portraits
2018
Installation view at 313 N. Fairfax Avenue
Todd Gray
Portraits
2018
Installation view at 313 N. Fairfax Avenue
Todd Gray
Slipping into Darkness, all the Honey Gone
2018
Three archival pigment prints in artist's frames and found frames with UV laminate
51 ½ x 60 ½ x 4 ½ in / 130.8 x 153.7 x 11.4 cm
TG053
Todd Gray
Slipping into Darkness, all the Honey Gone
2018
Three archival pigment prints in artist's frames and found frames with UV laminate
51 ½ x 60 ½ x 4 ½ in / 130.8 x 153.7 x 11.4 cm
TG053
Todd Gray
Slipping into Darkness, all the Honey Gone
2018
Three archival pigment prints in artist's frames and found frames with UV laminate
51 ½ x 60 ½ x 4 ½ in / 130.8 x 153.7 x 11.4 cm
TG053
Todd Gray
Akwidaa: Phase Patterns, Unit Structures
2018
Four archival pigment prints in artist's frames and found frames with UV laminate
52 ½ in x 38 ½ in x 5 in / 133.4 cm x 97.8 cm x 12.7 cm
TG048
Todd Gray
Akwidaa: Phase Patterns, Unit Structures
2018
Four archival pigment prints in artist's frames and found frames with UV laminate
52 ½ in x 38 ½ in x 5 in / 133.4 cm x 97.8 cm x 12.7 cm
TG048
Todd Gray
Purnima
2018
Three archival pigment prints in found frames and artist’s frames and UV laminate
55 x 48 x 3 ½ in / 139.7 x 121.9 x 8.9 cm
TG052
Todd Gray
Purnima
2018
Three archival pigment prints in found frames and artist’s frames and UV laminate
55 x 48 x 3 ½ in / 139.7 x 121.9 x 8.9 cm
TG052
Todd Gray
Purnima
2018
(detail)
Three archival pigment prints in found frames and artist’s frames and UV laminate
55 x 48 x 3 ½ in / 139.7 x 121.9 x 8.9 cm
TG052
Todd Gray
Manil
2018
Four archival pigment prints in artist's frames and found frames with UV laminate
47 1/4 in x 37 1/4 in x 3 in / 120 cm x 94.6 cm x 7.6 cm
Framed: 47 ¼ x 37 ¼ x 3 in / 120 x 94.6 x 7.6 cm
TG050
Todd Gray
Manil
2018
Four archival pigment prints in artist's frames and found frames with UV laminate
47 1/4 in x 37 1/4 in x 3 in / 120 cm x 94.6 cm x 7.6 cm
Framed: 47 ¼ x 37 ¼ x 3 in / 120 x 94.6 x 7.6 cm
TG050
Todd Gray
Double
2018
Three archival pigment prints in artist's frames with UV laminate
31 x 43 x 2 in / 78.7 x 109.2 x 2.5 in
TG051
Todd Gray
Double
2018
Three archival pigment prints in artist's frames with UV laminate
31 x 43 x 2 in / 78.7 x 109.2 x 2.5 in
TG051
Todd Gray
Samita
2018
Three archival pigment prints in artist's frames and found frames with UV laminate
39 x 46 1/8 x 3 ½ in / 99.1 x 117.2 x 8.9 cm
TG049
Todd Gray
Samita
2018
Three archival pigment prints in artist's frames and found frames with UV laminate
39 x 46 1/8 x 3 ½ in / 99.1 x 117.2 x 8.9 cm
TG049
Todd Gray
Samita
2018
(detail)
Three archival pigment prints in artist's frames and found frames with UV laminate
39 x 46 1/8 x 3 ½ in / 99.1 x 117.2 x 8.9 cm
TG049
Todd Gray
Maya Venus
2018
Three archival pigment prints in artist's frames and found frames with UV laminate
47 ¼ x 34 ¾ x 2 in / 120 x 88.3 x 5.1 cm
TG035
Todd Gray
Maya Venus
2018
Three archival pigment prints in artist's frames and found frames with UV laminate
47 ¼ x 34 ¾ x 2 in / 120 x 88.3 x 5.1 cm
TG035
Todd Gray
Maya Venus
2018
(detail)
Three archival pigment prints in artist's frames and found frames with UV laminate
47 ¼ x 34 ¾ x 2 in / 120 x 88.3 x 5.1 cm
TG035
Todd Gray
Flora Africanus (D.C.)
2018
Two archival pigment prints in found frames with UV laminate
31 ¼ in x 40 in x 2 in / 79.4 cm x 102 cm x 5.1 cm
TG046
Todd Gray
Flora Africanus (D.C.)
2018
(detail)
Two archival pigment prints in found frames with UV laminate
31 ¼ in x 40 in x 2 in / 79.4 cm x 102 cm x 5.1 cm
TG046
Anna Meliksetian and Michael Briggs are pleased to present Portraits, an exhibition of new works by Los Angeles based artist Todd Gray and his third solo show at the gallery.
In this new body of work, Gray continues to re-contextualize photos from his own archive, structuring images to both conceal and reveal simultaneously. Influenced by the writings of cultural theorist Stuart Hall (1932 – 2014), Gray’s latest works contains a plurality of critical narratives exploring diaspora and contemporary/historical examinations of power while engaging the viewer to be an active participant in the construction of meaning.
For this exhibition, Gray extends the visual language of his ongoing Exquisite Terribleness series, characterized by images Gray made while working for Michael Jackson as his exclusive photographer in the 1980s, offering complex representations of blackness, the African diaspora and the African landscape itself. Several of his new works include images taken during Gray’s recent stay in Italy as part of a Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Residency. Portraits of other residency participants, writers and leaders among them, are juxtaposed with landscapes of the wilderness in South Africa and the manicured gardens of the estate in Italy as a counterpoint, provoking a critical visual dialogue.
Through his use of collage, multiple narratives are offered for the viewer to engage and untangle, resisting a single iconic narrative. “Antique” frames found in South Los Angeles and more recently in Johannesburg are used as structuring devices to create sculptural collages. The used, often well-worn, frames carry historical markings from the domestic spaces they once inhabited and are signifiers of both taste and class.
Todd Gray (b. 1954, Los Angeles) received both his BFA and MFA from the California Institute of the Arts (Cal Arts). In 2018 he was the recipient of a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship for Fine Arts. Recent solo exhibitions include The Museum of the African Diaspora, San Francisco, and Light Work at Syracuse University (catalog). Group exhibitions include shows at the MAK Center for Art and Architecture, Los Angeles, Made in L.A. 2016 at the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (cat.), and the Maier Art Museum, Virginia, as well as the Renaissance Society (cat.) and the Studio Museum, Harlem. Gray’s work is included in a number of museum collections including the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, the Studio Museum, Harlem and the National Gallery of Canada.
This summer, Gray’s work is included in the group exhibition Michael Jackson: On the Wall curated by Dr. Nicholas Cullinan opening in June at the National Portrait Gallery, London and traveling to the Grand Palais, Paris, the Bundeskunsthalle, Bonn and the Espoo Museum of Modern Art, Finland through 2019 (cat.). In 2019, Gray will have a solo exhibition at Pomona College Museum of Art, Los Angeles.
Todd Gray's work featured in the exhibition Michael Jackson: On The Wall curated by Dr. Nicholas Cullinan at the National Portrait Gallery, London, June 28 to October 21, 2018.
Todd Gray speaks about his latest exhibition Portraits, Thursday September 6th at 6:30 PM in the gallery.
Todd Gray in Conversation with Adler Guerrier as part of the exhibition Adler Guerrier: Conditions and Forms for blck Longevity at the California African American Museum Sunday August 26th 1PM.
Todd Gray performance at the SASSAS Listening Party 28 with Neha Choksi at the home of Analia Saban, Sunday August 5th, 2018.
Todd Gray in conversation with curator Dr. Nicholas Cullinan about the exhibition Michael Jackson: On the Wall with artists Lorraine O'Grady and Issac Julien at the National Portrait Gallery, London, Friday June 28th at 7pm.
Meliksetian | Briggs congratulates Todd Gray on receiving a John Simon Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship for Fine Arts, 2018.
Extensive Todd Gray interview with Silvi Naçi about his 2018 show Portraits at Meliksetian | Briggs in East of Borneo.
Todd Gray's exhibition Portraits at Meliksetian | Briggs featured on Contemporary Art Daily.
Review of Todd Gray's Portraits at Meliksetian | Briggs by Catherine Taft in the September 2018 print issue of Artforum.
Todd Gray interview with John Martin Tilley in September's OFFICE magazine.
Interview with Todd Gray on the National Portrait Gallery, London's Blog September 2018.
Todd Gray's latest exhibition Portraits at Meliksetian | Briggs reviewed in the Los Angeles Times by critic Sharon Mizota.
Jody Zellen reviews Todd Gray's Portraits at Meliksetian | Briggs in Artillery magazine.
Selection of press articles from the National Portrait Gallery, London exhibition Michael Jackson: On the Wall June 2018 featuring Todd Gray, including the Associated Press, W magazine, CNN Style, The Independent, The Economist, and the blogs Culture Whisper and The Up Coming in PDF format.
Shana Nys Drambot reviews Todd Gray's show Portraits at Meliksetian | Briggs in Art and Cake.
Todd Gray's performance at SASSAS Listening Party #28, one of the Best of the Week in LA Weekly.
Beatrice Zamponi's feature article on Michael Jackson: On the Wall at the National Portrait Gallery, London including discussion with Todd Gray in June's Vogue Italia.
Todd Gray feature The Faces of Michael Jackson in the June 2018 issue of the Royal Photography Society's The Journal.
Carolina A. Miranda previews Todd Gray's new exhibition Portraits at Meliksetian | Briggs in the Los Angeles Times.