Derek Fordjour was born in 1974 in Memphis, Tennessee to parents of Ghanaian heritage. He earned a BA at Morehouse College before receiving an MEd in Arts Education at Harvard University and an MFA in painting at Hunter College. He was recently appointed the Alex Katz Chair at Cooper Union and serves as a Core Critic at the Yale School of Art. He was named the 2016 Sugarhill Museum Artist-in-Residence and the 2018 Deutsche Bank NYFA Fellow.
Recently one-person exhibitions were held at the Pond Society, Shanghai; Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis; and Petzel Gallery, New York. His work is included in the collections of the Brooklyn Museum; Dallas Museum of Art; Guggenheim Museum, New York; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Pérez Art Museum Miami; The Studio Museum of Harlem, New York; and Whitney Museum, New York among others. The Metropolitan Transit Authority of New York commissioned Fordjour to create a series of mosaics for Manhattan’s 145th Street subway station which were unveiled in 2018.
“The process of painting is at once humble and intricate; he covers a canvas or wood board with cardboard tiles, foil and other materials, and wraps it in newspaper (always The Financial Times, for its warm, salmon hue). The process repeats several times, with Mr. Fordjour applying washes of paint, then tearing and carving the accumulating surface as he goes.”
Siddhartha Mitter, “Derek Fordjour, From Anguish to Transcendence,” The New York Times, November 19, 2020
Birdman, 2022
Acrylic, charcoal, cardboard, oil pastel, and foil on newspaper mounted on canvas
87 3/4 × 67 1/2 in. (222.9 × 171.5 cm)
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington D.C.
Music Lesson, 2023
Acrylic, charcoal, cardboard, oil pastel and foil on newspaper mounted on canvas
65 x 85 inches (165.1 x 215.9 cm)
Orange County Museum of Art, Costa Mesa, California
CONfidence MAN, 2023
Acrylic, charcoal, cardboard, glitter, oil pastel and foil on newspaper mounted on canvas
85 x 65 inches (215.9 x 165.1 cm)
Seven Eighty-eight, 2022
Acrylic, charcoal, cardboard, oil pastel, and foil on newspaper mounted on canvas
92 1/2 x 62 3/4 inches (235 x 159.4 cm)
Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
Homage, 2022
Acrylic, charcoal, cardboard, oil pastel, and foil on newspaper mounted on canvas
62 1/2 x 92 1/2 inches (158.8 x 235 cm)
High Museum, Atlanta
Cotillion, 2022
Acrylic, charcoal, cardboard, oil pastel, and foil on newspaper mounted on canvas
98 1/2 x 74 3/8 inches
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Half Mast, 2018
Acrylic, charcoal, oil pastel, and foil on newspaper mounted on canvas
59.25 x 100.25 inches (150.5 x 254.6 cm)
Whitney Museum, New York
The Futility of Achievement, 2020
Acrylic, charcoal, cardboard, oil pastel, foil and glitter on newspaper mounted on canvas
77.25 x 142.25 inches (196.2 x 361.3 cm)
Phoenix Art Museum
Aquatic Composition, 2019
acrylic, charcoal, oil pastel on newspaper mounted on canvas
60 x 100 inches
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Three Bend Deep, 2019
Acrylic, charcoal, oil pastel and foil on newspaper mounted on canvas
63 x 103 inches
Regatta Study, 2020
Acrylic, charcoal, bituminous coal, oil pastel and foil on newspaper mounted on canvas
65 x 100 inches
Five Down Wide, 2019
Acrylic, charcoal, oil pastel and foil on newspaper mounted on canvas
43 x 103 inches
Eulogy, 2020
Acrylic, charcoal, cardboard, and oil pastel on newspaper mounted on canvas
74.25 x 50.25 inches (182.9 x 121.9 cm)
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia
Pall Bearers, 2020
Acrylic, charcoal, cardboard, oil pastel and foil on newspaper mounted on canvas
102.25 x 74.25 inches (254 x 182.9 cm)
Hammer Museum, Los Angeles
Chorus of Maternal Grief, 2020
Acrylic, charcoal, cardboard, and oil pastel on newspaper mounted on canvas
80 x 72 inches (203.2 x 182.9 cm)
Guggenheim Museum, New York
Blue Horn, 2017
Oil, pastel, charcoal, acrylic, cardboard, and carved newspaper, mounted on canvas
60 x 40 inches (152.4 x 101.6 cm)
Brooklyn Museum
Fearless Foursome, 2013
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
Untitled (Red Reverse), 2014
Oil pastel, charcoal, acrylic, and newspaper mounted on canvas
24 x 30 inches (61 x 76.2 cm)
The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York
Worst to be First III, 2020
Acrylic, charcoal, bituminous coal, and oil pastel on newspaper mounted on canvas
Framed: 84 1/16 × 44 1/16 in. (213.5 × 111.9 cm)
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
Signing Day, 2019
Acrylic, charcoal, oil pastel and foil on newspaper mounted on canvas
74.5 x 50.5 inches
Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina
Worst to Be First, 2019
Acrylic, charcoal, oil pastel and foil on newspaper mounted on canvas
82.5 x 42.5 inches (209.6 x 108 cm)
Pérez Art Museum Miami
Huddle, 2014
Wood, 56 terra cotta figures, glass, acrylic and vinyl paint
Diameter: 28 inches (71.1 cm)
The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York
STOCKROOM Ezekiel, 2019
Mixed media
144 x 108 x 120 inches (365.8 x 274.3 x 304.8 cm)
Columbus Museum of Art, Ohio
Dual Acquisition, 2022
Walnut and cherry wood, resin, glass and charcoal
21 1/8 diam x 14 1/4 inches (53.7 x 36.2 cm)
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Derek Fordjour: Sonic Boom. Installation view. Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. March 28, 2022 - ongoing.
Derek Fordjour: Sonic Boom. Installation view. Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. March 28, 2022 - ongoing.
Derek Fordjour: Sonic Boom. Installation view. Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. March 28, 2022 - ongoing.
Derek Fordjour: Gestalt. Installation view. Pond Society, Shanghai. May 15 - July 2, 2021.
Derek Fordjour: Gestalt. Installation view. Pond Society, Shanghai. May 15 - July 2, 2021.
Derek Fordjour: Gestalt. Installation view. Pond Society, Shanghai. May 15 - July 2, 2021.
Derek Fordjour: SHELTER. Installation view. Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, Missouri. January 17 - August 23, 2020.
Derek Fordjour: SHELTER. Installation view. Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, Missouri. January 17 - August 23, 2020.
Derek Fordjour: SHELTER. Installation view. Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, Missouri. January 17 - August 23, 2020.
Derek Fordjour: SHELTER. Installation view. Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, Missouri. January 17 - August 23, 2020.
Derek Fordjour: Half Mast. Whitney Museum, New York. Installation view, September 24, 2018 – May 5, 2019.
Derek Fordjour: Half Mast. Whitney Museum, New York. Installation view, September 24, 2018 – May 5, 2019.
Derek Fordjour: PARADE. Installation view, 2018. 145 Street, 3 Train Station, New York. Commissioned by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, New York.
Derek Fordjour: PARADE. Installation view, 2018. 145 Street, 3 Train Station, New York. Commissioned by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, New York.
Derek Fordjour: PARADE. Installation view, 2018. 145 Street, 3 Train Station, New York. Commissioned by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, New York.
