Deborah Roberts In Conversation With Essence Harden

GALLERY II

Vielmetter Los Angeles warmly invites guests to a book signing and artist talk with Deborah Roberts and Essence Harden to celebrate Roberts' newest monograph, “Deborah Roberts: Twenty Years of Art / Work”!

The monograph takes a careful look at the artist’s practice over the past two decades, with newly commissioned texts and a thorough dive into Roberts’ archive. Published by Radius Books, the expansive monograph contains new texts by Dawoud Bey, Ekow Eshun, Sarah Elizabeth Lewis, and Carolyn Jean Martin.

After the talk, there will be an opportunity to buy the book and have it signed by the artist.

We ask that you RSVP so that we can ensure capacity. Please note that seating is first come, first served.

Deborah Roberts Combining collage with mixed media, Roberts' figurative works depict the complexity of Black subjecthood and explore themes of race, identity and gender politics. Roberts was named 2023 Texas Medal of Arts Award Honoree for the Visual Arts. She has exhibited internationally, with solo and two-person shows at institutions including SITE Santa Fe, New Mexico (2023); McNay Art Museum, San Antonio, Texas (2022) and The Bluecoat, Liverpool, UK (2021). Her major touring exhibition ‘I’m’ opened at The Contemporary Austin, Texas in 2021. Roberts' work is held in significant public collections including: Scottish National Galleries, Edinburgh, UK; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, California; He Art Museum, Guangdong, China; Hirschhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington DC; Smithsonian National Museum, Washington DC; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York and Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.

Essence Harden Essence Harden is the curator for Frieze LA, Focus 2024, the co-curator of Made In LA, 2025, and is a visual arts curator at the California African American Museum. Essence is a contributor to New York Times Magazine (2024), The Los Angeles Times Magazine: Image, SSENSE, Art21, Contemporary Art Review LA (CARLA), Artsy, LALA, Cultured Magazine, Performa Magazine, and SFAQ: International Arts and Culture and has written catalog entries for California Biennial: Pacific Gold; Made in LA: Acts of Living; Prospect 5: Yesterday we said tomorrow; Brave New Worlds: Exploration of Space: Palm Springs Art Museum; and What Needs to Be Said: Hallie Ford Fellows Exhibition.