Derrick Adams

Gagosian is pleased to present RECESS, an exhibition of new works by Derrick Adams at its gallery in London’s Burlington Arcade.

The exhibition features one of the artist’s Funtime Unicorn Spring Riders (2022), which reimagine a motif first developed by Adams in the Floater series of paintings depicting Black people at leisure. Several other Funtime Unicorn Spring Riders are installed along the length of Burlington Arcade. Embodying the themes of play and leisure that are at the center of Adams’s practice, these interactive sculptures may be ridden, transforming the historic space through an invitation to engage.

RECESS also includes Braving the Path (2023), a new painting of a child playing on a Funtime Unicorn. Fully immersed in imaginative play, the boy riding the unicorn is composed with gently faceted curves, in contrast to the angular lines behind him. In the background are the silhouettes of the National Museum of African America History & Culture and the Washington Monument, placing the scene and offering resonant symbolism.

The video Funtime Unicorn: Ruby Rides through Four Seasons (2023) is an animation realized in collaboration with the graphic design studio the Channel and narrated by Aya Burns and Cleo Reed with music by Dave Guy of the Roots. An affirmation of childhood wonder and creativity, the video relates the imagined passage of a year experienced by a unicorn in an urban playground and across cosmic dreamscapes.

On the occasion of the exhibition, Adams will also take over the Gagosian Shop on the gallery’s ground floor with new merchandise designed by the artist with imagery of recreation, self-reflection, and sweet treats.