In a thought-provoking exhibition at Marian Goodman Gallery, Tavares Strachan’s latest show unravels the threads of existential narratives, weaving together fragmented truths and archetypes to question our place in time and history.
A near-life-size ceramic of the musician and artist Exuma stands on an open field of rice grass, exuding a totemic and numinous presence. The ceramic is clearly contemporary in its crafting and aesthetic yet holds a timeless quality that speaks through universal symbols and archetypes.
Tavares Strachan’s latest show at Marian Goodman Gallery presents history as a collection of disconnected but intersecting truths, asking us to come to our own conclusions. ‘The artist’s use of symbolic relics suspended between an ancestral past and an approaching cosmic future creates a sense of dislocation, where visitors feel the weight of forgotten or hidden histories.’ The artist’s use of symbolic relics suspended between an ancestral past and an approaching cosmic future creates a sense of dislocation, where visitors feel the weight of forgotten or hidden histories.
Tavares Strachan is a Bahamian artist known for pushing boundaries in sculpture and installation art.
Born in 1979, he rose to prominence with his debut exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art in 2007.
Strachan's work often explores themes of identity, colonialism, and the human condition.
He has exhibited globally, including at the Venice Biennale and the Guggenheim Museum.
His use of found materials and historical references adds depth to his thought-provoking pieces.
Strachan‘s sculptures exist in an in-between space—between past and future, the earthly and the cosmic, the known and the unknown. They function as both artifacts and possibilities, simultaneously grounding us in ancestral knowledge and propelling us toward speculative futures. ‘The artist is acting as a contemporary archeologist, with works that pursue a return to the ritualistic and spiritual function that artifacts once had.’ The artist is acting as a contemporary archeologist, with works that pursue a return to the ritualistic and spiritual function that artifacts once had.
In Strachan‘s orchestration, musical instruments devoid of human players are animated by spirits that reclaim their original spiritual significance. This reappropriation restores the instruments’ neglected cultural and spiritual value, challenging the erasure and distortion imposed by colonial frameworks. ‘The ghostly nature of the instruments reflects the invisible force of sound, a vibration that exists between presence and absence.’ The ghostly nature of the instruments reflects the invisible force of sound, a vibration that exists between presence and absence.
Strachan‘s ongoing project, ‘The Encyclopedia of Invisibility,’ questions the fragility of both historical and contemporary narratives, straddling the divide between written traditions and data-driven interpretations. ‘The works in the exhibition act as a visual archive, illuminating what has been omitted, whether through systemic erasure or intentional forgetting.’ The works in the exhibition act as a visual archive, illuminating what has been omitted, whether through systemic erasure or intentional forgetting.
The neon pieces in the show serve as both markers and disruptions—illuminations that guide and provoke. ‘They invite the viewer to engage with meaning as something fluid and constructed rather than fixed.’ They invite the viewer to engage with meaning as something fluid and constructed rather than fixed. The entirety of the show is like an encyclopedia—not one that is linear or exhaustive but one that embraces the poetic nature of history as a collection of fragmented, intersecting truths.
At its core, Strachan‘s work is about questioning how we locate ourselves in time, in history and in the cosmos. It’s an invitation to reimagine our own place within these larger systems of knowledge and forgetting. Each work features references to years of research from Strachan‘s ongoing project, ‘The Encyclopedia of Invisibility’—an encyclopedia of his own construction to house lost stories.
Tavares Strachan: Starless Midnight is on view at Marian Goodman Gallery in New York through April 19, 2025.
