A diptych of two framed collages. The one on the left is of two figures confronting in either an embrace or a fight, and the one on the right is of a figure in front of a building's door. Both are on black and white photographs. — 2014/2020 202 Bay St., Staten Island, 2020

charcoal, graphite, oil pastel, pastel, cut and pasted paper on two inkjet prints, 42-3/4 x 43-3/4 inches (each, framed) [108.6 x 111.1 cm]

Wardell Milan2014/2020 202 Bay St., Staten Island

2020

charcoal, graphite, oil pastel, pastel, cut and pasted paper on two inkjet prints, 42-3/4 x 43-3/4 inches (each, framed) [108.6 x 111.1 cm]

Online

Oct 29, 2020–Jan 15, 2021

More About:
Wardell Milan

Fraenkel Gallery is pleased to present new work by Wardell Milan. The gallery’s second solo show of the New York-based artist will be on view from October 29, 2020 to January 15, 2021. The exhibition features Milan’s ongoing series “Death, Wine, Revolt,” which combines photography, drawing, painting, collage, and sculpture to explore themes of over-indulgence, destruction, and revolution. While earlier series such as “Parisian Landscapes” looked inward, to personal questions of freedom and desire, Milan made the works on view in response to the turmoil of the global moment.

Wardell Milan speaks with Elena Gross of the Museum of the African Diaspora about the work in his current exhibition, Death, Wine, Revolt.

Duration: 00:56:23

A collage of three figures embracing, surrounded by flowers. The background is an image of Venice. — 1848, Venice, 2019, 2020

charcoal, graphite, oil pastel, pastel, cut and pasted paper on inkjet print, 41-3/4 x 61 inches (framed) [111.1 x 154.9 cm]

In several large-scale works, Milan uses enlargements of his own photographs of specific locations—the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, where Martin Luther King was assassinated, or the city of Venice—setting his images in dialogue with historical sites of racist violence or political rebellion. Populating the works are a range of human figures, often nude, whose bodies are pieced together from fractured drawings and photographs, and overlaid with blue and white paint. Some groupings suggest erotic coupling or violent encounters, and many arrangements are based on photographic sources.

Color image of an artists studio depicting works on paper being laid out on a table and onto work pinned to wall — Wardell Milan’s Studio, 2020

A brightly colored collage depicting a group of figures in a lush floral garden — Here the mysterious host— raised in the South, now based in the North curates a gathering of friends seeking sanctuary, 2020

charcoal, graphite, oil pastel, pastel, cut and pasted paper on inkjet print, 51 x 60 inches (framed) [129 x 152 cm]

A collage of two nude figures embracing, on the canvas of a black and white park scene. The figures are surrounded by bright blue lines and shapes. — Be a good boy and put this on, 2020

charcoal, graphite, acrylic paint, color pencil, pastel, oil pastel, china marker, yupo paper, Polaroid film, cut-and-pasted paper on inkjet print, 43-1/8 x 61-1/8 inches (framed) [109.5 x 155.3 cm]

Color image of a mixed media artwork depicting two figures in a park with swatches of blue and white paint framed in white — Be a good boy and put this on., 2020

charcoal, graphite, acrylic paint, color pencil, pastel, oil pastel, china marker, yupo paper, Polaroid film, cut-and-pasted paper on inkjet print, 42 x 60 inches (framed) [107 x 152 cm]

Wardell MilanBe a good boy and put this on

2020

charcoal, graphite, acrylic paint, color pencil, pastel, oil pastel, china marker, yupo paper, Polaroid film, cut-and-pasted paper on inkjet print, 43-1/8 x 61-1/8 inches (framed) [109.5 x 155.3 cm]

In 2020, Los Feliz, Los Angeles, Milan positions five figures in white Ku Klux Klan hoods against his own photograph of the city’s hills. The arrangement of bodies is based on a found image of a Klan social gathering, and presents the white nationalists in a bland, contemporary California suburb. In The Parade, the arrangement of figures echoes Diane Arbus’s Untitled (7), from her final body of work made in a home for the developmentally disabled in New Jersey.

Wardell Milan in Studio © Wardell Milan

Duration: 00:00:33

A collage of a parade of figures, surrounded by flowers, against a dark black background — The Parade, 2020

charcoal, graphite, oil pastel, pastel, cut and pasted paper on hand-dyed paper, 62 x 100 inches (framed) [158 x 255 cm]

Color image of mixed media artwork showing details of piece — The Parade, 2020 [detail]

Color image of mixed media work showing details of piece depicting two nude figures — Wardell Milan, The Parade, 2020 [detail]

Color image of mixed media artwork depicting several nude figures in nature with shades of blue paint in black frame — What Happens to the Seeds that the Birds Won’t Eat?, 2020

cut paste paper, charcoal, graphite, pastel, oil pastel on inkjet print, 41-3/4 x 61-1/8 inches (framed) [111.1 x 155.3 cm]

Color image of an artists studio depicting an artwork on white wall in mid process — Wardell Milan’s Studio, 2020

A sculpture of the head and shoulders bust of a Klansman with a very tall hood. The bust is on a custom made light wooden stand. — Spencer, 2020

plaster, polyurethane, foam with custom tulip poplar and African paduk pedestal, 37 x 17 x 13 inches (sculpture) [94 x 43.2 x 33 cm]; 50 x 25 x 21 inches (pedestal) [127 x 63.5 x 53.3 cm]

Also on view are a selection of smaller works, including white-on-white cut paper collages depicting hooded Klansmen, and paintings from Milan’s ongoing series of tulips. While earlier flower paintings were inspired by the 17th-century Dutch tulip craze, the new works deconstruct the flowers, transforming them into chaotic arrangements of petals and leaves, hinting at the dissolutions the past year has wrought.