Larry Gagosian & Jeffrey Deitch: UNREALISM Opening Reception & King of Arms Mass Processional Performance

Rashaad Newsome

Miami, FL – December 1, 2015 – Larry Gagosian and Jeffrey Deitch presented their latest collaboration, UNREALISM, in the Miami Design District. Unrealism celebrates the recent revival of interest in figurative painting and sculpture. The exhibition features the work of more than fifty of the most original and compelling artists working in figuration from the 1980s to the present. The title points to the challenge of portraying contemporary reality where the real is often confused with the unreal. The exhibition focuses on an emergent wave of painters and sculptors who are exploring new approaches to figurative imagery. In doing so, they are also generating renewed interest in innovative precursors.

To mark the opening of UNREALISM, Rashaad Newsome planned a cross-cultural, heraldic parade through Miami’s Design District. Following his original King of Arms procession in New Orleans in 2013, Newsome used the public sphere as a stage, expanding UNREALISM’s examination of recent figurative painting and sculpture into the realm of performance, and exploring the new dimensions that artistic representations assume when introduced to the same cultures that inspire them.

Sam Keller, Craig Robins, & Larry Gagosian

Craig Robins & Sam Keller

Craig Robins, Darlene & Jorge Perez

Craig Robins & Larry Gagosian

Craig Robins, Jeffrey Deitch, & Larry Gagosian

Chrissie Erpf & Larry Gagosian

Stefano Tonchi

James Kelly, Paula Crown, & Chris Byrne

Gregory de la Haba, Torquato, David Jay, & David Tamargo

Rashaad Newsome & Omar Murray