Lubaina Himid ::::::

During her residency in our studio, Artlab CPS long-time supporter Lubaina Himid continued her collaborative work with Magda Stawarska, researching the connection between painting and printmaking. The pair produced ten unique works on paper, combining photographic silkscreen with Alla Prima acrylic painting and phonetic text silkscreen printed with etching ink. 

These were presented as an installation alongside ten of Himid’s paintings, Street Sellers, at Greene Naftali Gallery in New York City in May and June 2024.

They printed and painted on both sides of each piece of paper to create a series of objects mimicking cardboard signs. While meticulously printed on archival paper, the silk screen print process creates an illusion of ripped and tired cardboard. This surface enabled Himid to paint an object on the front of the sign while painting a handwritten text describing the seller’s inner thoughts on the back. In this example, as in the others, the front of the sign was then returned to the printing process for Stawarska to print the phonetic text of the Street Seller’s call ‘Chairs Buy Them in Pairs’. 

The cardboard signs are positioned in front of the paintings, encouraging the viewers to decipher the phonetic symbols, sounding the street seller’s pitch and creating a soundtrack to the exhibition. For those who are curious and bend down to look at the back of the sign, there is an extra treat; the opportunity to read the seller’s personal thoughts. 

‘Often romantic or wistful, those inner monologues betray their attachment to the goods they carry, which Himid renders with lapidary attention to an egg’s speckled surface, the weave of chair caning, the ribbed interior of a cowrie shell.’

Install images courtesy of Greene Naftali Gallery NYC.