ECHOES Exhibition at Banquet Gallery Features Lamar Robillard and Justin Randolph Thompson

ECHOES, a dual solo exhibition featuring Lamar Robillard and Justin Randolph Thompson, is currently on view at Banquet Gallery in Milan until May 2, 2026. Curated by Jermay Michael Gabriel, the show presents Robillard's "Intro to Flydom" on the ground floor and Thompson's "Il cielo s'annuvola" in the basement. Robillard's work includes pieces like "American Dream IV: You Can Fly Too" featuring a shredded American flag and an axe embedded in a wall, alongside wall works with silver-skinned portraits of Black celebrities. His practice engages with concepts of Flydom, drawing from thinkers like Greg Tate and Tina Campt while using materials such as burned wood and fabrics. Thompson's installation examines European opera's depictions of African female figures like Aida, Dido, and Cleopatra through sculptures, sound, and fragments that question aesthetic transformation of violence. The exhibition is organized in collaboration with Black History Month Milan and supported by Band Gallery in Toronto. Photographer Ale Di Blasio documented the installation at the Lambrate-located gallery, where gallerist Giangiacomo Cirla oversees the space. The two artists' works create overlapping dialogues rather than separate presentations, with Robillard exploring Blackness as a gravitational center of freedom and Thompson interrogating colonial filters in cultural representation.