Esteban Jefferson's 'May 25, 2020' at 303 Gallery

Esteban Jefferson's exhibition 'May 25, 2020' at 303 Gallery in New York references the murder of George Floyd. His paintings depict objects and locations of protest, like defaced colonial monuments, emerging from pale urban landscapes. Jefferson's earlier series 'Petit Palais' (2019–21) featured busts of Africans in the Paris museum, rescuing them from racialized erasure by painting them with expressive faces while white museumgoers fade. A two-screen video component shows Jefferson filming the statues and searching a museum booklet for names. Jefferson graduated from Columbia University's MFA program in 2019 and had a breakthrough show at White Columns that year. His work has been included in group exhibitions at El Museo del Barrio, The Shed, and Public Art Fund. Martin Herbert, associate editor of ArtReview, selected Jefferson for Future Greats 2023.