Derek Fordjour

Over the past two years, enthusiasm for Fordjour has only grown. The Whitney Museum of American Art commissioned him to create a mural, Half Mast (2018), in which he addresses gun violence; the Brooklyn Academy of Music featured one of his paintings; and Miami’s Nina Johnson gallery gave him a solo show. He joined the roster of Los Angeles’s Night Gallery last year and had a solo exhibition there this past spring. In April, New York’s Petzel Gallery announced that it would be representing Fordjour, too. He’s also garnered the support of American royalty: Jay-Z and Beyoncé. At Frieze New York this past May, the pop star purchased Fordjour’s Top-Ten ALLSTARS (2019), a series of 10 portraits. His first major solo museum exhibition will open in 2020 at the Contemporary Art Museum, St. Louis.

The hype is well-earned. CAM St. Louis chief curator Wassan Al-Khudhairi noted that Fordjour’s work is “immediately attractive,” with moving undertones that are at times dark. “His uniformed figures represent a longing to be a part of something, yet a basic unfairness persists,” Al-Khudhairi explained. “Fordjour’s subtle appeal to viewers, persuading them toward difficult subject matter, stands out in our very unsubtle moment in history.”