Exploring Identity and Urban Landscapes in Alannah Farrell’s Erect
Manpower, 2024 Watercolor, acrylic, and colored pencil on paper 14 1/8 x 10 1/4 in (35.9 x 26 cm) 17 3/4 x 13 7/8 x 1 5/8 in framed (45.1 x 35.2 x 4.1 cm framed) Courtesy the artist, Anat Egbi, Los Angeles / New York, and Alexander Gray Associates, New York © 2024 Alannah Farrell
Alannah Farrell’s latest exhibition, Erect, at Alexander Gray Associates in Germantown, New York, offers viewers an intimate look into the artist’s evolving practice. Featuring works exclusively on paper, the show invites close engagement with Farrell’s richly detailed, personal compositions. This deliberate choice of medium enhances the quiet intensity of the works, encouraging an almost tactile appreciation of the artist’s meticulous process and themes of identity and interiority.
Set against the bucolic backdrop of Germantown, the exhibition also provides a striking contrast to the urban cityscapes depicted in Farrell’s works. Removed from the clamor and chaos of the city, the show offers viewers the space to reflect on Farrell’s evocative portrayals of urban life. The looming high-rises and twilight streetscapes become metaphors for not only physical transformation but also the intricate, layered experiences of identity and community. The upstate location adds a meditative quality, echoing the exhibition’s introspective tone while underscoring the tension between solitude and collectivism.
Installation view: Alannah Farrell: Erect, Alexander Gray Associates, Germantown, 2024. Courtesy Alexander Gray Associates, New York. Photo: Dan Bradica
Farrell’s work belongs to a growing lineage of contemporary painters challenging the conventions of portraiture. Alongside artists like Robin F. Williams, Anthony Cudahy, and Clarity Haynes, Farrell reimagines the genre as a platform for inclusivity, representation, and critical dialogue. Their approach delves into the complexities of identity, exploring the fluid intersections of gender, sexuality, and the body. This inclusivity doesn’t merely broaden the canon of portraiture; it reshapes it, fostering essential conversations about who we see, how we see them, and why it matters.
Silver, 2024 Watercolor, acrylic, and colored pencil on paper 10 1/4 x 14 1/8 in (26 x 35.9 cm) 17 7/8 x 13 7/8 x 1 5/8 in framed (45.4 x 35.2 x 4.1 cm framed) Courtesy the artist, Anat Egbi, Los Angeles / New York, and Alexander Gray Associates, New York © 2024 Alannah Farrell
Inspired by the psychodrama of George Tooker and the surrealism of Hans Bellmer, Farrell’s compositions collapse interior and exterior worlds. Works like Estate (2024) blur the boundaries between self and setting, layering a mirrored silhouette over a nighttime cityscape. The resulting images are neither entirely cinematic nor wholly autobiographical, existing instead as vivid explorations of what it means to navigate a body and identity in flux.
One of the standout works in Erect is Manpower (2024), which offers a striking, modern take on the still life genre. In this piece, Farrell presents a dynamic composition that juxtaposes the meticulously arranged objects of a traditional still life with a powerful contemporary context. The piece features the gleaming form of the new World Trade Center rising in the distance, standing tall as a symbol of resilience and transformation. In the foreground, a window sill frames a delicate water pitcher, repurposed as a flower vase, standing next to a syringe—presumably referencing the hormonal replacement therapy that many trans individuals undergo. This symbolic pairing creates a poignant commentary on the intimate, personal journeys of identity and transformation, while also reflecting on the larger cultural shifts of 2024. By combining these elements, Farrell’s still life mirrors life itself in the present moment: one that is complex, evolving, and imbued with both beauty and struggle.
Installation view: Alannah Farrell: Erect, Alexander Gray Associates, Germantown, 2024. Courtesy Alexander Gray Associates, New York. Photo: Dan Bradica
Ultimately, Erect is more than a collection of works on paper; it is a profound exploration of how we build and dismantle the structures—both physical and conceptual—that define us. The exhibition provides a rare opportunity to step away from the noise, offering viewers space to engage deeply with Farrell’s poignant reflections on transformation, resilience, and liberation.
About Artist
Alannah Farrell (b. 1988, Kingston, NY) is a queer painter who lives and works in New York, NY. Farrell completed their BFA at The Cooper Union, New York, NY. They have presented their work in solo and group exhibitions at Anat Egbi, Los Angeles, CA and New York, NY; Green Family Art Foundation, Dallas, TX; Lyles and King, New York, NY; Alexander Gray Associates, New York, NY; Harper’s, New York, NY; Richard Heller Gallery, Santa Monica, CA; The Painting Center, New York, NY; Theirry Goldberg Gallery, New York, NY; and UTA Artist Space, Los Angeles, CA. Their work is in the permanent collection of the Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami, FL. They are represented by Anat Egbi, Los Angeles.
Erect opened on Erect September 21 and will be on view until December 21, 2024. For more information about this exhibition and others at the gallery, please visit Alexander Gray Associates’s website here.
Denzil Forrester: A Career Illuminated Across Two Galleries
Installation: Denzil Forrester, 'Two Islands, One World', Stephen Friedman Gallery, New York (2024). Courtesy Stephen Friedman Gallery, London and New York and Andrew Kreps Gallery, New York. Photos by Olympia Shannon.
The pioneering artist’s life and work receive a museum-caliber presentation in this dual-gallery retrospective.
Denzil Forrester’s exhibitions at Stephen Friedman Gallery and Andrew Kreps Gallery in New York amount to a singular achievement: a comprehensive retrospective of his groundbreaking career spanning four decades. Splitting the show across two spaces isn’t just a logistical necessity but an inspired curatorial decision, allowing for a nuanced exploration of Forrester’s evolution as an artist and his enduring relevance.
Curated by Sheena Wagstaff, the exhibitions transcend the typical scope of commercial gallery presentations, bearing the depth and detail of a museum show. Wagstaff masterfully contextualizes Forrester’s life and work with a vitrine of personal memorabilia — sketches, diaries, and photographs — alongside a timeline that interweaves his artistic journey with pivotal cultural and political moments. These additions transform the spaces into immersive experiences that enrich our understanding of Forrester’s creative process and historical significance.
Installation: Denzil Forrester, 'Two Islands, One World', Stephen Friedman Gallery, New York (2024). Courtesy Stephen Friedman Gallery, London and New York and Andrew Kreps Gallery, New York. Photos by Olympia Shannon.
The dual-gallery format grants breathing room to showcase both the breadth and the emotional resonance of Forrester’s art. At Stephen Friedman Gallery, visitors encounter the dynamism of his nightclub-inspired paintings, where pulsating colors and rhythmic compositions evoke the vitality of Black British culture. By contrast, the spotlight room at Andrew Kreps Gallery delves into more somber subjects, including Forrester’s haunting tributes to his friend Winston Rose and his stark confrontations with police brutality. Here, the intimacy of the setting invites deeper contemplation, underscoring the weight of these themes.
Installation: Denzil Forrester, 'Two Islands, One World', Andrew Kreps Gallery, New York.(2024). Courtesy Stephen Friedman Gallery, London and New York and Andrew Kreps Gallery, New York. Photos by Olympia Shannon.
Forrester’s ability to capture light, motion, and humanity remains a cornerstone of his practice. His vibrant canvases teem with energy, while his more introspective works remind us of art’s power to bear witness and provoke reflection. Among the standout works in the exhibitions are Dem Life (2023) and High Life (2024), which serve as a visual conversation between past and present. Both paintings depict a crowd mid-dance, their dynamic forms flooded with a dreamlike lavender hue that envelops the scene in a sense of unity and rhythm. The compositions, reminiscent of early Cubism, fragment and reassemble figures to capture the kinetic energy of the moment. Forrester's process reflects his cyclical relationship with his art: he repeatedly returns to his original sketches, allowing time and perspective to reshape his vision. This temporal layering gives the works a cinematic quality, as though each painting is a frame from a larger, unfolding narrative, connecting past iterations with present evolutions.
Installation: Denzil Forrester, 'Two Islands, One World', Andrew Kreps Gallery, New York.(2024). Courtesy Stephen Friedman Gallery, London and New York and Andrew Kreps Gallery, New York. Photos by Olympia Shannon.
This monumental retrospective not only celebrates Forrester’s artistic achievements but also situates him firmly within the canon of contemporary art. Rarely do two galleries achieve such a unified vision, delivering an experience that resonates with the depth and complexity of the artist’s legacy.
Artist Biography
Denzil Forrester was born in Grenada in 1956 and moved to London in 1967. He now lives and works in Cornwall, UK. Forrester received a BA in Fine Art from the Central School of Art, London in 1979 and an MA in Fine Art from the Royal College of Art, London in 1983. He was awarded the decoration of Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire or MBE in December 2020. Forrester received the Morley Fellowship from Morley College, London in 2019; a Harkness Fellowship in New York in 1986–1988; and a scholarship by the British School at Rome in 1983–1985.
Major solo exhibitions opened at Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, Missouri and Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami, Florida in 2023. Recent group shows include those at National Portrait Gallery, London (2024); Monash University Museum of Art, Cauldfield East, Australia (2023); Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Illinois (2022); Tate Britain, London (2021) and Hayward Gallery, London (2021). He participated in the 58th Carnegie International, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (2022).
Forrester’s work can be found in the collections of Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami, Florida; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Tate, UK; Arts Council Collection, UK; Government Art Collection, UK and Long Museum, Shanghai, amongst many others.
Two Islands, One World remains on view across Stephen Friedman Gallery and Andrew Kreps Gallery through December 18, 2024, in New York.
For more information about this exhibition, please visit the Stephen Friedman Gallery here and the Andrew Kreps Gallery here.