Jadé Fadojutimi, Ming Smith, Cassi Namoda | Baltimore Museum of Art acquisitions

Jadé Fadojutimi, Vital Abundance, 2020

'Vital Abundance throbs with the here and now. Thick black lines spin towards a dense scarlet interior animated by small hot bursts of cerulean blue. It’s like a cosmic whirlpool. Like the weeds that thrive on filthy pavements, life can appear in the most unexpected of places.' (Jennifer Higgie, editor at large of frieze magazine)

Jadé Fadojutimi (b.1993, London) holds a BA from The Slade School of Fine Art, London (2015) and an MA from the Royal College of Art, London (2017). Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, London presented the artist’s first solo exhibition (2017-18). Her first one-person institutional show at PEER UK, London followed in 2019. Fadojutimi has been selected to participate in the Liverpool Biennial 2021. Upcoming solo museum exhibitions include The Hepworth Wakefield and Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA), Miami, both scheduled to open November 2021. In addition to Baltimore Museum of Art, collections include Tate, London; The Hepworth Wakefield, UK; ICA Miami; The Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; The Studio Museum in Harlem; Rachofsky Collection, Dallas (promised to Dallas Museum of Art), and HSBC, London.

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Ming Smith, America Seen Through Stars and Stripes (Painted), 1976, c.2000

'The crimson and white [...] amplify the cascading American flags that enmesh a black figure who, in turn, gazes coolly outward from behind mirrored shades. By adding layers of exposure and pigment, Smith took what might have been a lyrical scene in the vein of Helen Levitt and infused it with the turbulence of an era' (Ian Bourland, Artforum, 2020)

Ming Smith (born Detroit, Michigan) lives and works in Harlem, New York. Her work has been presented in seminal exhibitions such as Soul of Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power, Tate Modern, London (2017); We Wanted a Revolution: Black Radical Women 1965-85, Brooklyn Museum, New York (2017), and Pictures by Women: A History of Modern Photography, The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York (2010). Her work is included in Working Together: The Photographers of the Kamoinge Workshop, now on view at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. Upcoming exhibitions include Just Above Midtown: 1974 to the Present, MoMA, New York. In addition to Baltimore Museum of Art, collections include Brooklyn Museum, New York; J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles; Philadelphia Museum of Art; National Gallery of Art, Washington; MoMA, New York; Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, amongst others. 

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Cassi Namoda, Rua Araujo, and Three Maria’s nightly bread, 2020

'Unravelling the cinematic narratives of her paintings is an emotionally testing experience - you’ll quickly find yourself caught in a web of amusement, empathy and sadness all at once. But that’s almost the point; rather than abide by an understanding of emotions as discrete, neat experiences, Cassi confronts us with a world where emotions are simultaneously felt, and all the more authentically for it.' (Mahoro Seward, i-D, 2020)

Cassi Namoda (b. 1988 Maputo, Mozambique) works between Los Angeles and New York. Pippy Houldsworth Gallery presented Namoda’s first UK solo exhibition in January 2020. Other recent solo exhibitions include Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg; Nina Johnson Gallery, Miami, and François Ghebaly, Los Angeles. Namoda has been included in exhibitions at the Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute, New York; Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts, New York, and CFHILL, Stockholm. In addition to Baltimore Museum of Art, collections include Perez Art Museum, Miami. 

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Images: Jadé Fadojutimi, Vital Abundance, 2020, oil and oil stick on canvas, 110 x 140 cm, 43 1/4 x 55 1/8 in; Ming Smith, America Seen Through Stars and Stripes (Painted), 1976, c.2000, archival pigment print, 61 x 76.2 cm, 24 x 30 in; Cassi Namoda, Rua Araujo, and Three Maria’s nightly bread, 2020, acrylic on canvas, 114.6 x 146.7 cm, 45 1/8 x 57 3/4 in