Derrick Adams, a pathfinding artist who works in video, sound, performance, and painting, is now represented jointly by Luxembourg & Dayan and Salon 94, the galleries announced today.

The artist, who has quickly found the attention of numerous New York galleries, is best known for his striking polychromatic depictions of African American men and women that explore the legacies of race in American history.

Earlier this year, Luxembourg & Dayan held a solo show of works in this style (“Interior Life,” February 26–April 20) curated by Francesco Bonami, who introduced Adams to the gallery’s partners.

Derrick Adams, Interior Life (Figure 8) (2019). Courtesy the artist and Luxembourg Dayan.

“[Daniella Luxembourg an I] both feel that he’s a wonderful artist doing such interesting work,” Amalia Dayan told artnet News. The gallery will aim to contextualize his work within their wide-ranging program while broadening his international appeal through their London gallery. “There is something very positive and fresh about [Adams’s] point of view,” she added.

The two galleries will inaugurate their collaboration with Adams via two projects in the coming year. Luxembourg & Dayan will present a solo exhibition in winter 2020 at its Savile Row space in London. At the same time, Salon 94 will debut selections from a new body of work in its stand at the next Frieze Los Angeles art fair in February.

Salon 94 founder Jeanne Greenberg, who hosted a performance of Adams’s at her gallery in 2013 for Performa 13, says the dialogue between herself and Adams has been ongoing.

Works by Derrick Adams from the Vigo Gallery booth at Frieze New York 2019. Photo by Sarah Cascone.

“Derrick has developed a unique portrait practice from years of looking closely at friends, passersby, and miles of painting,” Greenberg told artnet News. “He fills in visual voids in art history. A bikini-clad African American floating effortlessly in an inflatable swan with the blue summer sky reflected in her face is new Zeitgeist imagery. Seems so obvious, so easy—yet it’s not!”

The artist, who is also represented by Rhona Hoffman Gallery in Chicago, had a show this past spring with Mary Boone titled “New Icons” shortly before she closed her gallery.

Adams, who lives and works in Brooklyn, was born in Baltimore in 1970. He earned a BFA at the Pratt Institute and an MFA at Columbia University.