Adam Pendleton and David Adjaye have united for the first time for a two-person exhibition, on display at Hong Kong’s Pace gallery. New paintings from Pendleton will join Adjaye’s marble sculptures in exploring a shared preoccupation with identity: the works, playing with our perceptions, offer a subversive hint that everything isn’t as it first appears.
Pendleton’s new painting, Untitled (WE ARE NOT), considers the tension between language and representation with a juxtaposition of textures. A clash of layers of spray paint, pronounced brush marks, collages and photographs express an unease, resulting in a seemingly uncompleted work that resists a neat finish. Ends left untied emphasise the pressing need for resolution.
Adam Pendleton, studio image © Adam Pendleton. Courtesy Pace Gallery
Installation view of ‘David Adjaye Adam Pendleton’, 12/F, H Queen’s, 80 Queen’s Road Central, Hong Kong, 18 May-30June, 2021.
In the paintings, the words ‘We’, ‘Are’ and ‘Not’ are inscribed repeatedly in a confusion of configurations that raises infinite questions: Who are we not? Who is the not-we? What is not? The words, in refusing to remain in a discernible pattern, resist easy interpretation. The paintings, building on the foundation of Pendleton’s 2008 work Black Dada, which marked the beginning of his exploration into the fragmentation of language, show just how easy it can be to read multiple truths from language – showing, ultimately, the fiction of fundamental truth.
For Adjaye, it is the layering intrinsic to the formation of the marble process that reflects the gravitas of a cultural history. The compression of the marble, which leaves thick, letter-like veins on the surface, communicates in a different way; the ancient Egyptian forms his pyramid sculptures take links back to the innovation of the ancient African world. The independent forms, despite appearing immovable in their solidity, can be rearranged in a multitude of ways in an echo of the ambiguity Pendleton demonstrates with language.
The exhibition is the natural culmination of a relationship that began in 2016 with an exhibition Pendleton installed at the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver, a building designed by Adjaye. A shared concern with the politics of space and a passion for art and architecture naturally culminated in an exhibition expressing their mutual interests.
Adam Pendleton, studio image © Adam Pendleton.Courtesy Pace Gallery
David Adjaye, studio image © David Adjaye.Courtesy Pace Gallery
Installation view of ‘David Adjaye Adam Pendleton’, 12/F, H Queen’s, 80 Queen’s Road Central, Hong Kong, 18 May-30 June, 2021.
INFORMATION
’David Adjaye Adam Pendleton’, until 30 June 2021, Pace Hong Hong, pacegallery.com
ADDRESS
12/F, H Queen’s
80 Queen’s Road Central, Hong Kong
-
Alexandre de Betak on getting lost to find himself in LondonAs the world-renowned artistic director opens his first personal studio in London during Frieze Week, Alexandre de Betak reflects on leaving the fashion runway behind to explore light, space and creative freedom
-
Step inside Faye Toogood's intimate cabinet of curiosities at PAD LondonFor PAD London 2025, (until 19 October) Faye Toogood presents The Magpie’s Nest with Friedman Benda
-
Vivo launches OriginOS 6, for a smooth and intelligent mobile experienceSuperior AI, next-level graphics and a seamless user experience make this Vivo’s most sophisticated operating system yet
-
‘Sit, linger, take a nap’: Peter Doig welcomes visitors to his Serpentine exhibitionThe artist’s ‘House of Music’ exhibition, at Serpentine Galleries, rethinks the traditional gallery space, bringing in furniture and a vintage sound system
-
Classic figurative painting is given a glamorous and ghostly aura by Polish artist Łukasz StokłosaThe gothic meets the glamorous in Stokłosa’s works, currently on show at London’s Rose Easton gallery
-
What's the story with Henni Alftan’s enigmatic, mysterious paintings? The artist isn’t sayingParis-based artist Henni Alftan's familiar yet uncanny works are gloriously restrained. On the eve of a Sprüth Magers exhibition in Berlin, she tells us why
-
Home again: the artists reframing the domestic worldThe humble home has fascinated artists for hundreds of years. But what, exactly, is the appeal? Artists including Andrew Cranston, Cece Philips and Do Ho Suh on magic in the mundane
-
From art to fashion, and back again: Jonathan Schofield’s figurative work is back in styleAfter graduating from London’s Royal College of Art, Jonathan Schofield began a career as a creative director at Stella McCartney. Now, he has returned to his first love, painting
-
Rolf Sachs’ largest exhibition to date, ‘Be-rühren’, is a playful study of touchA collection of over 150 of Rolf Sachs’ works speaks to his preoccupation with transforming everyday objects to create art that is sensory – both emotionally and physically
-
After decades capturing the world’s fashion-set, photographer Johnny Rozsa picks up a paint brushIn his first exhibition of paintings, the New York-based artist celebrates the vibrancy of Tangier while rediscovering a familiar creative outlet
-
Leila Bartell’s cloudscapes are breezily distorted, a response to an evermore digital world‘Memory Fields’ is the London-based artist’s solo exhibition at Tristan Hoare Gallery (until 25 July 2025)
