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Gerald Lovell - Artists - PPOW

Gerald Lovell, 2022
Photo by Jacob Consenstein

For Gerald Lovell (b. 1992), painting is an act of biography. Combining flat and impressionistic painting with thick daubs of impasto, Lovell’s monumental works depict loving scenes often lost to the abyss of memory. Lovell’s portraits refuse the notion that all Black figures put down on canvas are necessarily political. Rather, his work records a deep commitment to fostering alternative community narratives by imbuing his subjects with social agency and self-determinative power, while also revealing individualistic details that lay bare their essential humanity. Born in Chicago to Puerto Rican and Black parents, Lovell began painting at the age of 22 after dropping out of the graphic design program at the University of West Georgia. He has exhibited at P·P·O·W, New York; Jeffrey Deitch, Moore Building, Miami, FL; Anthony Gallery, Chicago, IL; Kohn Gallery, Los Angeles, CA; The Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture, Charlotte, NC; MINT, Atlanta, GA; and Galerie Peter Kilchmann, Zurich, Switzerland; among others. In 2022, Lovell’s work was on view in What is Left Unspoken, Love at the High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA, and featured in a concurrent publication with DelMonico Books. His work is now in the museum’s permanent collection. Lovell completed the Fountainhead Artists Residency in October 2023. Featuring work honoring the terrains of his past and expressing gratitude for new horizons, his second exhibition with P·P·O·W, verde, was held in Spring 2024.

 

Gerald Lovell

b. 1992, Chicago, IL
Lives and works in Atlanta, GA

Solo Exhibitions 

2024
verde, P·P·O·W, New York, NY

2022
In the Eye of the Beholder, Anthony Gallery, Stony Island Arts Bank, Chicago, IL

2021    
all that I have, P·P·O·W, New York, NY

2019    
Sylvia, Sylvia, The Gallery | Wish, Atlanta, GA

Select Group Exhibitions

2022
What Is Left Unspoken, Love, High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA
Everything I do has an underlying political question, Peter Kilchmann, Zurich, Switzerland

2021    
Something About Us, Anthony Gallery, Chicago, IL
Jurell Cayetano, Gerald Lovell, and Dianna Settles, MINT, Atlanta, GA
Shattered Glass, curated by Melahn Frierson and AJ Girard, Moore Building, Miami, FL

2020    
Myselves, Kohn Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Painting Is Its Own Country, The Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture, Charlotte, NC

2019    
Do You Love Me?, P·P·O·W, New York, NY
The Dorsey’s Black Art in American collection, Houston Museum of African American Culture, Houston, TX

2018    
Black Art in America, Philadelphia fine art show, Philadelphia, PA
TRPL-DBL; Jurell Cayetano, FRKO, and Gerald Lovell, The Gallery | Wish, Atlanta, GA

2017    
NewFangled, New Image Art Gallery, Los Angeles CA
Yearbook, Mur Mur Gallery, Atlanta, GA
Collapse, Mason Fine Art, Atlanta, GA
Out of Context, Notch8 Gallery, Atlanta GA
Bright House inaugural exhibition through MINT, Bright House Offices, Atlanta, GA

2016    
A Show of Portraits: Gerald Lovell and Jurell Cayetano, MurMur Gallery, Atlanta, GA

Select Bibliography

2024
The Work of Art: How Something Comes from Nothing, Penguin Press, New York, NY, 2024.

2022
What Is Left Unspoken, Love, DelMonico Books, New York, NY, 2022, pp. 80–81. 

Public Collections

Beth Rudin DeWoody Collection, West Palm, FL
High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA
Munson Art Institute, Utica, NY
Vanhaerents Art Collection, Brussels, Belgium
The Wedge Collection, Toronto, Canada

 

Selected Works

Selected Works Thumbnails
Gerald Lovell
Daria, 2024
oil on panel
72 x 60 ins.
182.9 x 152.4 cm

Gerald Lovell
Daria, 2024
oil on panel
72 x 60 ins.
182.9 x 152.4 cm

Gerald Lovell
At the Peak of both Truths, the Descent Inevitable, 2024
oil on panel
96 x 72 ins.
243.8 x 182.9 cm

Gerald Lovell
At the Peak of both Truths, the Descent Inevitable, 2024
oil on panel
96 x 72 ins.
243.8 x 182.9 cm

Gerald Lovell
Untitled (Christian's Birthday), 2023
oil on panel
72 x 60 ins.
182.9 x 152.4 cm

Gerald Lovell
Untitled (Christian's Birthday), 2023
oil on panel
72 x 60 ins.
182.9 x 152.4 cm

Gerald Lovell, Chameleon, 2021

Gerald Lovell
Chameleon, 2021
oil on panel
60 x 60 ins.
152.4 x 152.4 cm

Gerald Lovell Michel'le at Wayla, 2022

Gerald Lovell
Michel'le at Wayla, 2022
oil on panel
72 x 60 ins.
182.9 x 152.4 cm

Gerald Lovell Sun Yat-Sen Garden, Vancouver, 2022

Gerald Lovell
Sun Yat-Sen Garden, Vancouver, 2022
oil on panel
60 x 48 ins.
152.4 x 121.9 cm

Gerald Lovell
Daria, 2024
oil on panel
72 x 60 ins.
182.9 x 152.4 cm

Gerald Lovell
Daria, 2024
oil on panel
72 x 60 ins.
182.9 x 152.4 cm

Gerald Lovell
At the Peak of both Truths, the Descent Inevitable, 2024
oil on panel
96 x 72 ins.
243.8 x 182.9 cm

Gerald Lovell
At the Peak of both Truths, the Descent Inevitable, 2024
oil on panel
96 x 72 ins.
243.8 x 182.9 cm

Gerald Lovell
Untitled (Christian's Birthday), 2023
oil on panel
72 x 60 ins.
182.9 x 152.4 cm

Gerald Lovell
Untitled (Christian's Birthday), 2023
oil on panel
72 x 60 ins.
182.9 x 152.4 cm

Gerald Lovell, Chameleon, 2021

Gerald Lovell
Chameleon, 2021
oil on panel
60 x 60 ins.
152.4 x 152.4 cm

Gerald Lovell Michel'le at Wayla, 2022

Gerald Lovell
Michel'le at Wayla, 2022
oil on panel
72 x 60 ins.
182.9 x 152.4 cm

Gerald Lovell Sun Yat-Sen Garden, Vancouver, 2022

Gerald Lovell
Sun Yat-Sen Garden, Vancouver, 2022
oil on panel
60 x 48 ins.
152.4 x 121.9 cm