We are pleased to present an exhibition of works from the Simchowitz Collection. This series showcases contemporary art with a special focus on Africa in our Los Angeles spaces. Simchowitz Collection exhibitions deepen our longstanding efforts to support contemporary art and artists globally.

Sekajugo’s work spans performance, sculpture, painting and collage. The works in Pandemic Paintings reflect the artist’s use of collage as a painterly practice. All were made during the height of Covid, and each began with common, everyday materials—shopping bags, barkcloth, food packaging, and newspaper articles sourced from local shops who were trying to help during the crisis. Each surface was built up and often sewn together to create entirely flat backgrounds. His figures too, most of whom are also in the process of helping, are composed of relevant materials, such as contentious newspaper articles that were adding hype to the pandemic. It’s a practice that some have dubbed ‘cosmology building,’ where the artist attempts to build alternative cosmologies that reflect the current, changing meaning of race within the global context of today, but it’s also an intriguing take on contemporary painting, where spare but lyrical compositions reflect both the African experience, and its long tradition of ‘up-cycling’ found materials.