Jeffrey Gibson, Dreaming Of How it’s Meant To Be at Stephen Friedman Gallery, Cork Street, London, February 2024 – Finally made it, need more hours and the trouble with these big Mayfair shows is that it is so so easy to just keep on saying to yourself oh I’ll go to Cork Street next week and suddenly you’re rushing over before it really really is too late. Last week of the Jeffrey Gibson show at Stephen Friedman’s still relatively new London space.
Someone said to me the other day that my problem was that I was like an art magpie, anything shiny and colourful and I go for it, they have a point and a Jeffrey Gibson piece is my happy place. and yes of course, like most art, you need to see his glowing work in the flesh, you need to stand in front of it, walk around it interact with it, you need to want to reach out and touch the warp and weft of his bright bright (bright) paintings and yes they do look like beautifully weaves. I love Jeffrey’s words, all his Let my fly away with you sentiment, all his embracing warmth, the uplifting possibilities of it all, Jeffery Gibson lifts, he almost single handedly lifted Frieze London a couple of years back and I’ve been waiting for more ever since. Loved the show, loved the rooms, loved the hang, loved the colours the walls had been painted, loved seeing more of his punchbags, loved it!
“Gibson (b.1972, Colorado, USA) fuses his Choctaw-Cherokee heritage with references that span club culture, queer theory, fashion, politics, literature and art history. The exhibition showcases an ambitious new body of work including large-scale multi-media works, sculptures, punching bags and paintings on paper. In April 2024 Gibson will be the first Indigenous artist to represent the United States with a solo pavilion at the 60th International Art Exhibition, La Biennale di Venezia
The artist’s first exhibition at the gallery celebrates the breadth of his multi-faceted practice, which is characterised by vibrant colour and pattern. Gibson is renowned for his use of geometric abstraction, inspired by North American Indigenous aesthetics and craft. Combining artisanal beadwork, leatherwork and quilting with narratives of contemporary resistance, the artist harnesses the power of material to activate overlooked narratives, while embracing the presence of historically marginalised identities”.
Jeffrey Gibson’s new “hyper-visible mixed media works” are wonderful, his gestures, his bold colours, his lines. How deep it all is is open to question, is it all about the surface, the joy, the hit? it certainly is a big hit, a proper pop art explosion of emotion, of joy, of goodness, of the now and yes I am that art magpie, it is about that brightly coloured surface but there is more, and the more is the vital thing here and yes, I should have got here weeks ago and said all this while the show was still on and there never is enough time to paint and write and juggle and hustle and those red bats on the Elizabeth Line and eyes and you know the scores (and the need to paint blue doors). Okay, admit, that bad Indian Greg did enter my head a couple of times, I suspect Greg and Jeffrey would love each other, they probably do already.
Jeffrey Gibson’s London show was a pleasure, I really should have said so whilE it was still on and it really should not be taken for granted that Galleries like Stephen Friedman’s excellent new Cork Street space here in London just allow us to walk in free of charge and experience all these things, a brilliant show, a surface joy but far more than just that (sw)
Previous Organ coverage – Jeffrey Gibson / Stephen Friedman Gallery
As always do click on an image to enlarge and see the whole thing or t orun the slide show…
THE ORGAN 
9 responses to “ORGAN THING: Jeffrey Gibson at Stephen Friedman Gallery, Cork Street, London – all his Let my fly away with you sentiment, all his embracing warmth, the uplifting possibilities of it all…”
[…] ORGAN THING: Jeffrey Gibson at Stephen Friedman Gallery, Cork Street, London – all his Let my fly … […]
[…] ORGAN THING: Jeffrey Gibson at Stephen Friedman Gallery, Cork Street, London – all his Let my fly … […]
[…] ORGAN THING: Jeffrey Gibson at Stephen Friedman Gallery, Cork Street, London – all his Let my fly … […]
[…] 2: Jeffrey Gibson – there was the boldness of Jeffrey Gibson’s solo show back in February, we’ve said lots about Jeffrey Gibson’s art on these page inthe last few year, his February opening was a genuinely exciting event, as was quite exploring his show a number of times in the weeks that followed – Jeffrey Gibson at Stephen Friedman Gallery, Cork Street, London – all his Let my fly away with you… […]
[…] 2: Jeffrey Gibson – there was the boldness of Jeffrey Gibson’s solo show back in February, we’ve said lots about Jeffrey Gibson’s art on these page inthe last few year, his February opening was a genuinely exciting event, as was quite exploring his show a number of times in the weeks that followed – Jeffrey Gibson at Stephen Friedman Gallery, Cork Street, London – all his Let my fly away with you… […]
[…] 2: Jeffrey Gibson – there was the boldness of Jeffrey Gibson’s solo show back in February, we’ve said lots about Jeffrey Gibson’s art on these page inthe last few year, his February opening was a genuinely exciting event, as was quite exploring his show a number of times in the weeks that followed – Jeffrey Gibson at Stephen Friedman Gallery, Cork Street, London – all his Let my fly away with you… […]
[…] 2: Jeffrey Gibson – there was the boldness of Jeffrey Gibson’s solo show back in February, we’ve said lots about Jeffrey Gibson’s art on these page inthe last few year, his February opening was a genuinely exciting event, as was quite exploring his show a number of times in the weeks that followed – Jeffrey Gibson at Stephen Friedman Gallery, Cork Street, London – all his Let my fly away with you… […]
[…] 2: Jeffrey Gibson – there was the boldness of Jeffrey Gibson’s solo show back in February, we’ve said lots about Jeffrey Gibson’s art on these page inthe last few year, his February opening was a genuinely exciting event, as was quite exploring his show a number of times in the weeks that followed – Jeffrey Gibson at Stephen Friedman Gallery, Cork Street, London – all his Let my fly away with you… […]
[…] ORGAN THING: Jeffrey Gibson at Stephen Friedman Gallery, Cork Street, London – all his Let my fly … […]