Ebony G. Patterson ....in the swallowing...she carries the whole...the hole, 2021-22
A26
moniquemeloche is pleased to present a solo booth by Ebony G. Patterson for Frieze LA.
Ebony G. Patterson is one of the most influential artists working today, internationally recognized for a practice that merges visual opulence with incisive social inquiry. Across tapestry, drawing, photography, and installation, Patterson constructs layered visual worlds that address visibility, power, and care within Black diasporic experience. Her use of ornament, color, and text is not decorative but strategic, drawing viewers into sustained acts of looking that foreground vulnerability, resilience, and remembrance.
This special solo presentation at Frieze Los Angeles marks a significant moment in Patterson’s career. It is her first solo presentation following the award of the MacArthur Foundation “Genius” Grant, and follows her historic role as co-Artistic Director of Prospect.6 Triennial. Together, these milestones underscore her influence as both an artist and cultural thinker shaping contemporary discourse.
The works presented center Patterson’s ongoing exploration of loss, personal and collective, and the ways it is carried, obscured, and encoded. The booth’s centerpiece, a tapestry diptych ....in the swallowing...she carries the whole...the hole, immerses viewers in a dense visual field where figuration and ornament converge. Its material richness contrasts with its emotional weight, reflecting how grief and absence are often veiled by beauty. The framed diptych …kiss goodbye … goodbye kiss… examines intimacy and departure through repeated language and gesture, evoking the cyclical nature of memory and mourning. Three framed works from her ongoing series Studies for a Vocabulary of Loss offer quieter meditations, distilling Patterson’s conceptual rigor into intimate works that consider how language and image can hold what resists articulation.
Presented alongside Patterson’s current international visibility, including the group exhibition Project A Black Planet currently on view at MACBA, this Frieze LA booth affirms her work as both urgent and eduring. Patterson invites viewers to linger with complexity, proposing beauty as a site of resistance and care as a radical, political act.
