Esteban Jefferson

Tanya Leighton is pleased to present the third solo exhibition by New York-based artist Esteban Jefferson in Berlin.

Esteban Jefferson's practice centers around issues of race, identity and the legacies of colonialism in public monuments and urban space. Using photography, drawing, painting, and sound installation as forms of documentation, Jefferson  depicts the focal points of his compositions in great detail, creating a stark contrast between the subject  in focus and the surrounding environment. The paintings are left intentionally unfinished, creating a raw style emblematic of his investigative process.

The scale of the works often references the tradition of history painting where vast canvases enshrine nationalistic narratives and military triumphs. Jefferson inverts this tradition to memorialise and monumentalise the fugitive mark making of the activist and protestor, whose disruption of the normal flow of the city is erased by the passing of time, yet—perhaps optimistically—can contribute to political change.