Nari Ward, Scandal Bag; History Feeds Mistrust, 2015 . Chromogenic color print, 20 x 20 inches (50.8 × 50.8 cm). Courtesy the artist; Galleria Continua, San Gimignano, Beijing, Les Moulins, and Havana; and Lehmann Maupin, New York and Hong Kong. Photographed by Steven Rose. Image courtesy the artist; Galleria Continua, San Gimignano, Beijing, Les Moulins, and Havana; and Lehmann Maupin, New York and Hong Kong. © Nari Ward
Nari Ward, We the People, 2011. Shoelaces, 96 x 324 inches (243.8 × 594.4 cm). In collaboration with the Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia. Speed Art Museum, Louisville, Kentucky, Gift of the Speed Contemporary, 2016.1. Photo by Will Brown, image courtesy the artist, Lehmann Maupin, New York and Hong Kong, and the Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia © Nari Ward
Nari Ward, Mango Tourist, 2011. Foam, battery canisters, Sprague Electric Company resistors and capacitors, and mango seeds 3 figures, each 120 x 72 x 72 inches (304.8 × 182.9 × 182.9 cm). In collaboration with MASS MoCA, North Adams, Massachusetts. Courtesy the artist and Lehmann Maupin, New York and Hong Kong. Photo by John Kennard. © Nari Ward
Nari Ward, Sky Juice, 1993. Umbrella, iron fence, cement, textiles, plastic soda bottles, photographs, Tropical Fantasy soda, and sugar 106 × 72 × 95 inches (269.2 × 182.9 × 241.3 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Gift of Peter Norton. Photo by John Kennard. © Nari Ward
Nari Ward, Naturalization Drawing Table, 2004. Plexiglas, crenellation table, and INS naturalization application, two parts: table 45 x 51 x 99 inches; chair 34 x 22 x 21 inches. Courtesy the artist; Galleria Continua, San Gimignano, Beijing, Les Moulins, and Havana; and Lehmann Maupin, New York and Hong Kong. Installation view, Nari Ward: Sun Splashed, Institute of Contemporary Art Boston, 2017 Photo by John Kennard. © Nari Ward
Nari Ward, Happy Smilers: Duty Free Shopping, 1996. Awning, plastic soda bottles, fire hose, fire escape, salt, household elements, audio recording, speakers, and aloe vera plant, dimensions variable PAMM installation 41 × 20 feet (492 1/8 × 240 1/16 in.). Courtesy the artist and Lehmann Maupin, New York and Hong Kong. Photo by John Kennard. © Nari Ward
Nari Ward, Radha Liquorsoul, 2010. Metal and neon sign, PVC tube with artificial flowers, shoelaces, and shoe tips, 126 x 25 x 29 inches (320 × 63.5 × 73.7 cm). Collection of Rachel and Jean-Pierre Lehmann. Courtesy the artist and Lehmann Maupin, New York and Hong Kong. Photo by John Kennard. © Nari Ward
Spectacular, ambitiously scaled artworks created from unlikely materials
#NariWard
Nari Ward: Sun Splashed is the largest survey of the artist’s work to date. Emerging alongside a notable group of black artists in New York City in the 1990s, Nari Ward (b. 1963 in St. Andrew Parish, Jamaica) actively engages with local sites—their histories, communities, and economies—to create spectacular, ambitiously scaled artworks out of unlikely materials. He derives inspiration from his immediate environment, incorporating found objects gathered in and around urban neighborhoods and embracing varied cultural references. Working in sculpture, collage, photography, video, installation, and performance, Ward captures the makeshift qualities of everyday life and imbues his production with a visceral relationship to history and the real world. The exhibition includes artworks made from soda pop, shoelaces, shopping carts, and a fire escape, materials that speak to the artist’s distinctive experimentation. Nari Ward: Sun Splashed focuses on vital points of reference for Ward, including his native Jamaica, citizenship, and migration, as well as African-American history and culture, to explore the dynamics of power and politics in society.
Nari Ward: Sun Splashed is organized by Pérez Art Museum Miami Associate Curator Diana Nawi.
The Boston presentation is coordinated by Ruth Erickson, Associate Curator, The Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston, with Jessica Hong, Curatorial Associate.
Organization of Nari Ward: Sun Splashed and its presentation at the Pérez Art Museum Miami has been made possible by Citi and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, with additional support from the Funding Arts Network and Gander and White.
Support for the Boston presentation is generously provided by the Residence Inn.
