"Walking into Uman: After all the things... at the Aldrich, the first thing I noticed was that all the works appeared to be floating and unfixed, ready to occupy other literal or metaphorical positions. In the side gallery, black and white dots drift across the walls, orbiting "and it's the thing again" (2025) and "ayoyo's warmness" (2025) like dust motes or scattering seeds."
"The former, a painting of a creature with a black snakelike body, a white circular head, and a bright orange eye against frantic red and yellow marks, formally echoes the nearby "the thing #1" (2023), a sculpture of a streetlight springing out of a mound of soil, its body marked with a knotted silk scarf that seems to suggest anthropomorphism."
Uman's exhibition at the Aldrich presents buoyant, unfixed works that appear to float and shift between literal and metaphorical spaces. Small paintings and sculptures populate a side gallery where black-and-white dots drift across walls, orbiting pieces titled "and it's the thing again" (2025) and "ayoyo's warmness" (2025). A painting of a snakelike creature echoes "the thing #1" (2023), a streetlight-sculpture emerging from soil and knotted with a silk scarf. Red dots and monochrome blocks evoke East African tapestry; a line of black tassels recalls earlier fashion work. Brisk, unhesitating brushstrokes suggest roofs, mountains, suns, and gestures that capture slippery memories of homeland and return.
Read at Hyperallergic
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