Esteban Jefferson

Project Room: Ceal Floyer "Trash"

303 Gallery is proud to present May 25, 2020, Esteban Jefferson’s first solo exhibition with the gallery. The exhibition’s title refers to the date of the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer, and the beginning of a series of ongoing protests denouncing police brutality and racial injustice which immediately ensued in cities around the world. A life-long New Yorker, Jefferson’s latest works consider the related symbolism of flags and toppling of equestrian monuments in New York, through the lens of racial and colonial legacies. Through repeated visits to sites of protest, from small interventions like flags taped to a stop sign to large-scale vandalism of well-known colonialist monuments, Jefferson tracks the lifespan of the 2020 protests. On view will be three pairs of paintings made in the artist’s distinctive investigative style, contrasting meticulously rendered subjects with muted surroundings, as well as video work.

Esteban Jefferson's practice centers around issues of race, identity and the legacies of colonialism. Using photography, drawing, painting, and sound installation as forms of documentation, Jefferson paints the focal points of his compositions in great detail, creating a stark contrast between the subject or object in focus and the surrounding environment. The paintings are left intentionally unfinished, creating a raw style emblematic of his investigative process. Well known for his series, 'Petit Palais', first featured at White Columns, New York, in 2019, Jefferson’s latest works consider the related symbolism of flags and toppling of equestrian monuments in New York, through the lens of racial and colonial legacies.

Esteban Jefferson was born in New York City in 1989. He received his BA and MFA from Columbia University. Recent group exhibitions include ‘Art on the Grid’, Public Art Fund, New York (2020); ‘Estamos Bien: La Trienal', El Museo del Barrio, New York (2021) and ‘Open Call’, The Shed, New York (2021). Jefferson lives and works in New York City.