Galerie Templon is delighted to announce that American artist Michael Ray Charles joins the gallery roster. With the valuable collaboration of Hedwig Van Impe, it will unveil for the first time in almost two decades the complex, visually striking and often disturbing oeuvre of one of the most radical African-American artists of his generation.

 

Born in 1967 in Lousiana, Michael Ray Charles created a sensation when he first emerged on the artistic scene in the nineties. Along side his contemporaries Kara Walker or Kerry James Marshall, he was a pioneer in exploring the representation of African-American communities within American history and popular culture.

 

The controversial reception of his work combined with a growing sense of inadequacy and frustration with the American art world, led him to question the commodification of his art and disengage himself for 20 years from the public sphere to solely focus on his research.

He will unveil one of his mysterious series at Templon in March 2022 and as an advance preview, two new paintings, ironically titled “Forever Free” are currently exhibited in Art Basel Miami Beach (December 1-4 2021).