Tom Denman's Dragon Hill Residency Examines Black Abstraction and Institutional Pressures
In June and early July 2024, writer Tom Denman from London took part in the Dragon Hill X ArtReview Writers Residency, held at the historic Dragon Hill estate in Mougins. During this time, he collaborated with artists Anthony Akinbola, Patrick Alston, and Ludovic Nkoth to examine the pressures faced by Black artists within institutions. Denman's piece for ArtReview critiques the expectation for Black artists to create work that is racially identifiable, highlighting Akinbola's Jubilee (2021) as a case of misinterpretation. Alston's Remember the Lilies (2024) employs gestural abstraction to express political themes, while Nkoth's grid-based pieces challenge simplistic categorization. This residency, which spans all of 2024, features six selected writers and artists and is hosted in a 1964 home designed by Jacques Couëlle.
Key facts
- Tom Denman participated in the Dragon Hill X ArtReview Writers Residency in June and early July 2024.
- The residency is located at Dragon Hill in Mougins, near Nice, France.
- Denman wrote about abstract painting by Black artists Anthony Akinbola, Patrick Alston, and Ludovic Nkoth.
- The text critiques institutional and market demands for Black artists to produce racially legible work.
- Akinbola's work Jubilee (2021) was misinterpreted in a Guggenheim Collection exhibition in New York.
- Alston's painting Remember the Lilies (2024) was shown at Art Basel with Jenkins Johnson Gallery.
- Nkoth creates grid-based works with profile heads that abstract subjects to resist profiling.
- The residency program involves six writers selected by ArtReview and artists chosen by Unit gallery throughout 2024.
Entities
Artists
- Tom Denman
- Anthony Akinbola
- Patrick Alston
- Ludovic Nkoth
- Pablo Picasso
- Jean Cocteau
- Yves Klein
- Yves Saint Laurent
- Leo Castelli
- Ad Reinhardt
- Edward Said
- Édouard Glissant
- Sean Scully
- Monet
Institutions
- ArtReview
- Unit gallery
- Guggenheim
- Jenkins Johnson Gallery
- Art Basel
Locations
- London
- Mougins
- Nice
- France
- Mouans-Sartoux
- Cannes
- New York
- Corsica
- Martinique