Umar Rashid

Umar Rashid’s work challenges the legacies and linearities of imperial and colonial historiographies and their influence on the construction of modernity. Across portraits, maps, flags, artefacts, vignettes and drawings and other visual remnants of an imagined empire and its multiple interactions, Rashid reveals pivotal events and the ever-changing fortunes of a lively array of protagonists, both elite and quotidian, all peculiar to a highly novel parallel universe. In this polyglot and multi-racial world of the mid 17th and late 19th centuries, Rashid collapses time, geography and the real-life dichotomies of race, class, gender, religion, sexuality and power. ...

Since 2009, François Ghebaly has presented an innovative, eclectic program of Los Angeles-based and international artists. With a history of identifying and championing diverse voices and emerging talent, the gallery’s roster has grown to include 27 artists and 2 artist estates, ranging from early career, such as Sharif Farrag and Ludovic Nkoth, to mid-career, like Christine Sun Kim, Meriem Bennani, Kelly Akashi, Farah Al Qasimi, and Genesis Belanger, to well established, including Sayre Gomez, Kathleen Ryan, Neïl Beloufa and Candice Lin as well as underground legends, like Patrick Jackson and Mike Kuchar. The gallery advances the reach of its artists’ visions by publishing exhibition catalogues and producing artist editions. Located since 2013 in a 12,000 square foot warehouse space in Downtown Los Angeles, the gallery is a mainstay of the burgeoning Arts District community, and recently expanded to New York's Lower East Side. François Ghebaly’s program demonstrates a commitment to challenging work across all media and to fostering the progressive, boundary-pushing practices of its artists. ...