UMAN, “Amapiano Dance,” 2022-23 (acrylic, oil and oil stick on canvas in artist’s frame, 159.1 x 159.1 cm / 62 5/8 x 62 5/8 inches). | © Uman. Courtesy the artist and Nicola Vassell Gallery, Photo by Lance Brewer
NICOLA VASSELL GALLERY and Hauser & Wirth announced a new partnership and co-representation of Uman. (b. 1980). A nexus of intuition and discipline, Uman’s self-taught practice is an exercise in world making. She creates abstract paintings, drawings, and sculpture, dream-like works that reflect memory, self portraiture, and fictional topographies.
Both galleries are showing paintings by Uman in their respective booths at Art Basel Miami Beach this week. The artist’s first solo exhibition, jointly organized by Hauser & Wirth and Nicola Vassell opens Jan. 30, 2024, at Hauser & Wirth London.
“We are delighted to welcome Uman to Hauser & Wirth and embark upon this new partnership with Nicola Vassell Gallery to bring the artist’s work to wider audiences everywhere.…” Hauser & Wirth President Marc Payot said. “Not only is Uman a great addition to Hauser & Wirth, but Nicola Vassell is likewise an ideal first partner in our gallery’s new initiative to form joint representation alliances that can contribute to the health and sustainability of our field. Nicola’s values and vision align ideally with ours. It is a great honor to collaborate with her.”
Uman in the studio, 2023. | © Uman. Courtesy the artist and Nicola Vassell Gallery. Photo by Luigi Cazzaniga
BORN IN SOMALIA, Uman grew up in Kenya, spent her teenage years in Denmark, and moved to New York City in her 20s. Currently, she lives and works in Albany, N.Y.
Uman’s vibrant, abstract compositions are a symphony of rhythmic patterns, fields of saturated color, meandering lines, organic shapes, and dream-like scenes populated with loosely rendered figures and what look like the limbs of strange creatures. The paintings are at once otherworldly and deeply connected to the artist’s rich biography and cross-cultural background.
“I grew up with colorful women, a colorful culture. East African and Somali people love color more than anything. I’ve kept that in me, living here in the West, and I’m using that in my work to tell a story,” Uman has said.
“I grew up with colorful women, a colorful culture. East African and Somali people love color more than anything. I’ve kept that in me, living here in the West, and I’m using that in my work to tell a story.” — Uman
Solo exhibitions of Uman have been presented internationally in France, Greece, and in New York City at White Columns (2015) and Fierman Gallery (2021). In February 2022, Nicola Vassell announced its representation of Uman. A few months later, the gallery presented a solo show of the artist at The Independent art fair in New York. The booth sold out. On view at Nicola Vassell earlier this year, “Uman: I Want Everything Now” featured an impressive array of square paintings and works on paper made in 2022 and 2023.
Institutional recognition is on the horizon. The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum in Ridgefield, Conn., is organizing Uman’s first solo museum exhibition in the United States. Curated by Amy Smith-Stewart, it opens in October 2025.
UMAN, Installation view of “Sumac Tree in Roseboom,” 2022-23 (acrylic, oil and oil stick on canvas in artist’s frame, 220.2 x 220.2 cm / 86 3/4 x 86 3/4 inches). | © Uman. Courtesy the artist and Nicola Vassell Gallery, Photo by Lance Brewer
THE JOINT REPRESENTATION between a highly regarded, Black woman-owned gallery that opened its doors New York’s Chelsea gallery district in 2021 and a so-called mega gallery with a roster of more than 100 artists and estates and 20 locations on three continents is unique. The arrangement is designed to address a common cycle in the gallery business, whereby rising artists are nurtured by small galleries only to be picked off by larger ones once their practices mature, they start to build a collector base, and are able to command higher prices.
Ultimately, the goal of the partnership is to better serve the artist by providing both the attention of a niche gallery and access to the resources and global reach available with one of the top galleries in the world and, at the same time, preserve the investment of visionary, modest-sized galleries who identify talented artists with potential.
With the initial engagement focusing on Uman, the galleries said they “hope to model a new kind of alliance between galleries operating at different scales—an approach wherein full transparency and intensive resource sharing can contribute to the further development of artists’ careers and the future health of the wider gallery ecosystem.”
The galleries “hope to model a new kind of alliance between galleries operating at different scales—an approach wherein full transparency and intensive resource sharing can contribute to the further development of artists’ careers and the future health of the wider gallery ecosystem.”
In terms of art sales, “the financial split is 50 percent to the artist and 25 percent each to the galleries,” ARTnews reported.
“It is with great pleasure that Nicola Vassell Gallery enters a new partnership with Hauser and Wirth to co-represent Uman. Together, we are pursuing an innovative model for collaboration in the interest of the artist and the future of her practice, while modifying the conventional approach to artist development and its, often, asymmetrical effects on the gallery ecosystem. Therein, Uman can deploy the strengths of both galleries, while we build synergy, ensuring a framework of parity and amplified advantage,” gallery founder Nicola Vassell said.
“Uman’s world, and by extension the power of her work, are ideal environments for such an idea to take root and flourish. Her fearlessness, discipline, curiosity and appetite for adventure, growth, and self-reflection are our guideposts—the shared ideals on which this alliance stands. Hauser and Wirth is a consummate and diligent collaborator. Nicola Vassell Gallery is thrilled to align with them on this trailblazing initiative.” CT
UMAN, “Let Me Blow Dry My Hair B4 My Man Comes Down,” 2023 (acrylic, oil and oil stick on canvas in artist’s frame). | © Uman. Courtesy the artist and Nicola Vassell Gallery, Photo by Lance Brewer
UMAN, Installation view of “Smell Like Money Honey,” 2022-23 (acrylic, oil and oil stick on canvas in artist’s frame, 159.2 x 159.2 cm / 62 5/8 x 62 5/8 inches). | © Uman. Courtesy the artist and Nicola Vassell Gallery, Photo by Lance Brewer
UMAN, “Midnight in the Park and Looking for Trade, 2023 (acrylic, oil and oil stick on canvas in artist’s frame, 110 5/16 x 110 3/8 inches / 280.2 x 280.4 cm). |
UMAN, Installation view of “Malaria Tripping #3,” 2023 (acrylic, oil and oil stick on canvas in artist’s frame, 74 1/4 x 74 3/8 inches / 188.6 x 188.9 cm). |
UMAN, “Turkana,” 2022-2023 (acrylic, oil, and oil stick on canvas in artist’s frame, 62 11/16 x 62 11/16 inches / 159.2 x 159.2 cm). |
UMAN, “Zigzag Rolled on a Blunt,” 2023 (acrylic, oil and oil stick on canvas in artist’s frame, 220.3 x 220.3 cm / 86 3/4 x 86 3/4 inches). | © Uman. Courtesy the artist and Nicola Vassell Gallery, Photo by Lance Brewer
