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Paul Mpagi Sepuya

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Paul Mpagi Sepuya showcases the work of a leading contemporary photographer known for his innovative studio portraits. Sepuya's images feature friends, artists, collaborators, and himself, using techniques like collage, layering, and mirror effects to explore subjectivity through a black, queer perspective. He highlights the human aspect of photography with visible fingerprints, smudges, and studio equipment, creating rich, multifaceted narratives. This volume is the first widely published collection of his work, coinciding with a major solo exhibition at the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis.
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Format: Paperback / softback
$6999
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Ideal for readers interested in contemporary art, photography, and explorations of identity and subjectivity through visual culture.

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Published on the occasion of an exhibition of the same name held at Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, May 17-August 18, 2019, and Blaffer Art Museum, University of Houston, October 18, 2019-March 14, 2020.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

Paul Mpagi Sepuya presents the work of one of the most prominent, up-and-coming photographers working today. Sepuya primarily makes studio photographs of friends, artists, collaborators, and himself, inviting viewers to consider the construction of subjectivity.

He challenges and deconstructs traditional portraiture by way of collage, layering, fragmentation, mirror imagery, and the perspective of a black, queer gaze. In contrast to the slick artifice of contemporary portraiture, Sepuya suggests the human element of picture takingโ€”fingerprints, smudges, and dust on the surface of mirrors. He also allows glimpses into the studio settingโ€”including tripods, backdrops, lenses, and the photographer himselfโ€”encouraging multivalent narrative reads of each image.

For Sepuya, photography is a tactile and communal enterprise. Although the creation of artist books has been a long-standing part of his practice, Paul Mpagi Sepuya is the first publication of his work to be released widely, co-published with the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis on the occasion of a major solo exhibition.

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781597114806

Publisher: Aperture

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 02 April 2020

Country: United States

Imprint: Aperture

Illustration: 77 four-color images

Contributors:

  • Photographs by Paul Mpagi Sepuya

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Weight: 420g

Pages: 96

About the Author

Paul Mpagi Sepuya (born in San Bernardino, California, 1982) is a Los Angeles-based artist. His work is collected and exhibited by such institutions as the Museum of Modern Art and Whitney Museum of American Art. Evan Moffitt is a writer, editor, and critic based in New York. His writing appears regularly in Frieze and other publications. Wassan Al-Khudhairi is chief curator at the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis and curator of the exhibition Paul Mpagi Sepuya. Malik Gaines is writer, performer, and associate professor and director of undergraduate studies at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. Lucy Gallun is associate curator in the Department of Photography at the Museum of Modern Art, New York. Ariel Goldberg is a writer and artist, whose publications include The Estrangement Principle (2016) and The Photographer (2015). Grace Wales Bonner is creative director and founder of Wales Bonner, a menswear brand based in London.

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