Marian Goodman Gallery is pleased to announce In Total Darkness, the first solo exhibition of Tavares Strachan at the Paris gallery, presented concurrently with In Broad Daylight at Perrotin Paris. These presentations continue the trilogy initiated with the exhibition The Awakening, which took place at Marian Goodman Gallery New York in Spring 2022. The trilogy revolves around the notion of invisibility, a key concept in Strachan's practice, and was designed to unfold over the cycle of a day, from dawn, daylight, and night. Through this triptych of exhibitions, the artist has devised distinct visual chapters, each excavating rarely told stories that highlight overlooked figures throughout history.
The exhibition at Galerie Marian Goodman is a journey into time and space, mingling past and contemporary narratives through a series of domestic and spiritual spaces. Through this immersive and site-specific experience, which incorporates mixed-media and multilayered sculptural works, Strachan summons a large spectrum of historical and cultural references. In Total Darkness engages with French colonialism through an investigation of the Haitian Revolution, the first victorious revolt of Black slaves, and in so doing, Strachan questions our presumed knowledge of history.
Central to the exhibition is The Encyclopedia of Invisibility, an ongoing research project presented for the first time in France. The work 'has to do with people, places and things that have been left out of history. And I thought it would be fitting to use this encyclopedia as the kind of groundwork for thinking about ways which things that have been left out become included, a place where all the invisible things can be seen,' Strachan explains. Referencing the Invisible, Strachan's own journey as a Bahamian-born artist, whose coming of age was marked by a realisation that his education had been obscured by a Western-centric vision of the world, comes full circle in this immersive journey that explores key figures of Caribbean history.
The visitor's journey through the parcours of the exhibition is mapped through a trajectory of the first king of Haiti, Henri Christophe (1767–1820). Christophe took an active part in the first Black uprisings in Saint-Domingue (now known as Haiti) against the French in 1791. He participated in the Haitian Revolution, a 13-year fight for independence achieved in 1804, as a lieutenant to François-Dominique Toussaint Louverture. Eventually he became president of the country and was recognised for creating its first currency, stabilising the economy, bolstering education, and fortifying public health initiatives. In 1811 he proclaimed himself King, under the name of Henri I, and died at his own hand in 1820, trying to avoid a coup. Although Aimé Césaire dedicated a play to him in 1963, La Tragédie du roi Christophe, his legacy remains largely overlooked.
Tavares Strachan was born in 1979 in Nassau, Bahamas, and currently lives and works between New York City and Nassau. He received a BFA in Glass from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2003 and an MFA from Yale University in 2006. Strachan's work has been the feature of many exhibitions, including Always, Sometimes, Never, Frye Art Museum, Seattle, WA (2018); You Belong Here, Prospect 3. Biennial, New Orleans, LA (2014); The Immeasurable Daydream, Biennale de Lyon, France (2013); Polar Eclipse, The Bahamas National Pavilion 55th Venice Biennale, Italy (2013); Seen/Unseen, Undisclosed Exhibition, New York, NY (2011); Orthostatic Tolerance: It Might Not Be Such a Bad Idea if I Never Went Home Again, MIT List Visual Arts Center, Cambridge, MA (2010); and You Can Do Whatever You Like (Orthostatic Tolerance Project), Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA (2009); among others.
He has created site-specific installations for the Barclays Center, Brooklyn, NY (2021), and at the Baltimore Museum of Art, MD (2018). Strachan has also been the recipient of numerous awards including Artist in Residence at the Getty Research Institute (2019–2020); Frontier Art Prize (2018), and the Allen Institute's inaugural artist-in-residence (2018); LACMA Art + Technology Lab Artist Grant (2014); Tiffany Foundation Grant (2008); Grand Arts Residency Fellowship (2007), and the Alice B. Kimball Fellowship (2006).
Tavares Strachan's artistic practice activates the intersections of art, science, and politics, offering uniquely synthesised points of view on the cultural dynamics of scientific knowledge. Aeronautics, astronomy, deep-sea exploration, and extreme climatology are but some of the thematic arenas out of which Strachan creates monumental allegories that tell of cultural displacement, human aspiration, and mortal limitation. His text-based neon sculptures are an anthem for our political and cultural moment, and his lexicon an effort to mobilise community and societal change. Strachan's ambitious, open-ended practice has included collaborations with numerous organisations and institutions across the disciplines.
For over forty years, Marian Goodman Gallery has played an important role in helping to establish a vital dialogue among artists and institutions working internationally. Marian Goodman Gallery was founded in New York City in late 1977. In 1995 the Gallery expanded to include an exhibition space in Paris – with an additional exhibition space and bookshop added in 2016 - and in 2014 an exhibition space in London. The London space transitioned to Marian Goodman Projects in 2021, a new initiative to present exhibitions and artist projects in London and other select cities around the world.
