Marianne Boesky Gallery presents Michaela Yearwood-Dan: Some Future Time Will Think of Us, the London-based artist’s second solo exhibition with the gallery. The new paintings, ceramics, works on paper, and site-specific mural and sound installation embody Yearwood-Dan’s ongoing investigation of contemporary culture and millennial political concerns, as well as her desire to build spaces of queer community, abundance, and joy.
Some Future Time Will Think of Us features new paintings—including a monumental, multipanel painting, the artist’s largest to date—alongside works on paper and ceramics in the gallery’s 507 W 24th Street space. In the gallery’s adjacent space at 509 W 24th Street, Yearwood-Dan will produce an immersive mural and accompanying sound installation.
Lush and brightly hued, this work is at once personal and political, exemplifying Yearwood-Dan’s distinctive approach to engaging materials and colors for their symbolic associations. The handbuilt ceramic vessels are an unmistakable nod to women’s work and domesticity—as women have been the primary producers of ceramic goods throughout history. The pale pinks, brilliant oranges, deep violets, and rich blues employed throughout her work subtly echo colors of the lesbian and bisexual pride flags. Ceramic petals collaged into her paintings make reference to queer history—pansy petals reclaim a common slur for gay men, while green carnations recall the lapel pins popularized by Oscar Wilde and worn to signal queerness in England and the United States in the 19th century.
The exhibition takes its title from a poem by Sappho; titled “You may forget but,” the fragment is a brief, optimistic stanza:
You may forget but/let me tell you/this: someone in/some future time/will think of us
On View: April 6 – May 6, 2023
Opening Reception: Thursday, April 6, 2023, 6–8 pm
507 & 509 W 24th Street, New York, NY 10011