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vanessa german at Independent New York: in 15x15: Independent 2010–2024

May 9 – 12, 2024

As part of the curated group exhibition
15x15: Independent 2010-2024 at Independent New York, Kasmin presents a single large-scale work by American citizen artist vanessa german.
Spring Studios, 6th Floor
6 St Johns Ln, New York

Thursday, May 9 | Invitation Only
Friday, May 10 | 11AM – 7PM
Saturday, May 11 | 11AM – 7PM
Sunday, May 12 | 11AM – 6PM

vanessa german
Blue Mother, 2023
100 pounds of cobalt blue bottles, tears, how it was to be loved by her when she wasn’t certain where the love even came from, comedy, duck decoy, rage, mental illness, wire, party streamers, beaded glass trim, speechlessness, rage, weirdness, forgiveness, grace, acceptance, brass candelabra, buttons, beads, keys, locks, wire, black pigment, gold spray paint, an undeniable lust for life, passion in the karmic line, we do everything that we can— it is enough, wood, 2 stools, hair grease, joy in the morning, faith, wonder, a single strand of dna in the infinite timeline of consciousness.
76 1/2 x 76 x 40 inches
194.3 x 193 x 101.6 cm
Blue Mother sees german deepen her abiding engagement with the figure of the mother. Foregrounding the reparative and healing power of matrilineal ancestry, Blue Mother charts german’s personal history and expounds upon precolonial African traditions.

Working primarily with assemblage, german sculpts with wood and plaster which she then adorns with a range of both found and sourced objects. Modeled on Congolese nkisi nkondi, or power figures, german’s figures are charged by the protective and restorative spirits that complement their physical materials.
In Blue Mother, german assembles a variety of materials on top of the figure’s head, including a duck decoy, keys and locks, buttons, beads, and cowrie shells. The figure bears the accumulation of these materials over time, visualizing a gradual process akin to the garnering of experience and wisdom.

Each object accrued by Blue Mother carries its own discrete essence, emblematic of german’s expansive sculptural vocabulary. german frequently uses birds as symbols of liberty in her work, affirming the spirit of Blue Mother. Keys symbolize the life-altering practice of forgiveness, while padlocks secure the spirit of the power figure. The color gold often engenders the presence of a cosmic, divine energy that inspires creativity.
german partially constructs Blue Mother’s figure in cobalt blue bottles, drawing from the bottle trees that proliferate in yards across the southeastern United States. Across the region, bottles are hung on tree branches to ward off evil spirits, a practice that art historian Robert Farris Thompson has traced to the Kongo people. The tradition endures today among the descendents of enslaved Africans.

german has situated a round mirror in the center of Blue Mother’s torso. In the Kingdom of Kongo, spiritual healers called nganga often placed mirrors or glass on the stomach or head of a nkisi nkondi figure to cover a hidden cavity filled with spiritually-charged materials that offered medicinal benefits. In so doing, they offered the spirit a window into our world.
vanessa german, Of Thee We Sing (2023) installed in Beyond Granite: Pulling Together, curated by Monument Lab, The National Mall, Washington, DC, 2023. Photo by AJ Mitchell/Monument Lab

The palms of Blue Mother are adorned with blue nazar amulets, universally-recognized symbols that protect from the evil eye.

With her hands raised upward, the figure takes an inviting posture reminiscent of other landmark sculptures by german. Of Thee We Sing (2023), also rendered with cobalt blue bottles, was realized for The National Mall in Washington, DC.
"I’m really always thinking about love as a human technology." —vanessa german
vanessa german, THE BEAST, or Self Portrait (2022) installed in vanessa german: Sad Rapper, Kasmin, New York, 2022. The work is now in the collection of the Wichita Art Museum. Photo by Diego Flores

THE BEAST, or Self Portrait (2022), now in the collection of the Wichita Art Museum, similarly features a figure who rests her extended arms on two wooden chairs. This position, one of a welcome embrace, underscores how german conceives of her creative process as a viable act of love.
vanessa german, nothing can separate you from the language you cry in (2021) installed in Reckoning: Grief and Light at The Frick Pittsburgh in 2021. The work will be exhibited at ICA Philadelphia in July 2024. Photo by Steve Groves
vanessa german, Blue Mother (2023) installed in vanessa german with Sandra Keat German (1948-2014): THE BLUE MOTHER, The Contemporary Dayton, OH, 2023. Courtesy of The Contemporary Dayton.

The work stands on a pedestal covered in astroturf, a material that german continues to use in significant sculptures and installations. The figure appears to rise up from the earth on which it stands, signaling the work’s inextricable relationship to nature and the world it inhabits.

Blue Mother saw its public debut in 2023, when it featured prominently in german’s installation THE BLUE MOTHER at The Contemporary Dayton alongside additional power figures by german and quilts by german’s mother, the fiber artist Sandra Keat German (1948-2014).

15x15: Independent 2010-2024 will see this work on view in New York for the very first time, and the second time ever. The group exhibition features artists and galleries who have made a significant impact on the Independent New York’s 15-year history. Kasmin's first participation in the fair in 2022 marked the gallery’s representation of vanessa german with a solo presentation of new works, which The New York Times described as a hit of the fair. Several works from the presentation are now held in museum collections across the United States.
Works by vanessa german installed at Independent New York in 2022

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About the Artist

Portrait by Charlie Rubin.

vanessa german

vanessa german’s artistic practice incorporates sculpture, drawing, performance, and communal ritual to embrace spiritual models for transforming human experience. Since joining Kasmin in 2021, german has presented a solo exhibition at the gallery (2022) and solo presentations at Frieze Los Angeles (2024) and the Independent Art Fair (2022). Her work is collected by museums across the country, and has been acquired by over a dozen museums since 2021. She has staged major exhibitions at the NSU Art Museum, Ft. Lauderdale, FL (2024-25); Logan Center for the Arts at the University of Chicago (2024); The National Mall, Washington, DC (2023); Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, NJ (2023); Mt. Holyoke Art Museum, South Hadley, MA (2022-23) and other museums across the country. She has received numerous accolades over the course of her career including a Heinz Award in 2022, and her practice has been hailed in The New York Times, Forbes, Hyperallergic, The Brooklyn Rail and elsewhere. Her work was included in the publications Great Women Sculptors (Phaidon) and Project A Black Planet: The Art and Culture of Panafrica (Art Institute of Chicago) in 2024.

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vanessa german at Independent New York: in 15x15: Independent 2010–2024

Works by vanessa german installed at Independent New York in 2022

About the Artist

vanessa german

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