An artwork by Huma Bhabha called Even Stones Have Eyes, dated 2023
An artwork by Huma Bhabha called Even Stones Have Eyes, dated 2023

Huma Bhabha : Welcome…to the one who came

David Zwirner is pleased to present concurrent exhibitions of work by Huma Bhabha (b. 1962) at the gallery’s 537 West 20th Street and 34 East 69th Street locations in New York. These are the gallery’s first presentations of Bhabha’s work since the announcement of her representation in 2022, and they follow the artist’s 2023 solo exhibition at M Leuven, Belgium, which subsequently traveled to MO.CO., Montpellier, France. In March 2024, three sculptures by Bhabha will be specially featured in the retrospective exhibition Julie Mehretu: Ensemble at Palazzo Grassi, Venice. In April 2024, a large-scale installation by Bhabha, commissioned by Public Art Fund, will be unveiled at Brooklyn Bridge Park, New York.

Bhabha creates layered and nuanced sculptures and drawings that center on a reinvention of the figure and its expressive possibilities. Her formally innovative practice pulls from a wide range of references, from those that span the history of art to quotidian influences such as science fiction and horror films and the makeshift structures and detritus of urban life. Instinctive and rigorous, her work brings diverse aesthetic, cultural, and psychological touchstones into contact with matters of surface, materiality, and formal construction. Featured at West 20th Street are new sculptures, varying in size from small to monumental; on view at East 69th Street are new works on paper and smaller-scale sculptures. Together, the exhibitions highlight Bhabha’s ability to move between a wide range of media and forms, creating deeply resonant hybrid figures that seem to simultaneously dwell in the past, present, and future. 

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Image: Huma Bhabha, Even Stones Have Eyes, 2023 (detail).

Dates
February 22April 13, 2024
Opening Reception
Thursday, February 22, 6–8 PM
Gallery Hours
Tues—Sat 10am–6pm
An Installation view, Huma Bhabha: Welcome…to the one who came, David Zwirner, New York, dated 2024

Installation view, Huma Bhabha: Welcome…to the one who came, David Zwirner, New York, 2024

Installation view, Huma Bhabha: Welcome…to the one who came, David Zwirner, New York, 2024

The exhibition in Chelsea comprises a grouping of figures in patinated and painted bronze or cast in iron. The works are sculpted from materials including styrofoam, cork, and clay, which the artist then carves, gouges, paints over, and otherwise marks up before casting.

While distinct in appearance and size, all the sculptures in the exhibition seem to be connected by a kind of genetic thread, forming an emotional hive that resides in a shared landscape of destruction, displacement, and rebirth.

A sculpture by Huma Bhabha, titled What Should it Be, dated 2024.

Huma Bhabha

What Should it Be, 2024
Painted and patinated bronze and concrete pedestal
Overall: 44 3/4 x 31 x 31 inches (113.7 x 78.7 x 78.7 cm)
Artwork: 38 1/2 x 12 x 11 inches (97.8 x 30.5 x 27.9 cm)
Pedestal: 6 1/4 x 31 x 31 inches (15.9 x 78.7 x 78.7 cm)

A lone diminutive figure cast in bronze and painted from the neck down in styrofoam pink, What Should it Be stands like a ringmaster or liminal guide poised at the threshold of distinct physical or psychic terrains as it leads visitors into a charged zone, recalling the titular character from Andrei Tarkovsky’s 1979 science-fiction cinematic masterpiece Stalker.

A detail of a sculpture by Huma Bhabha, titled What Should it Be, dated 2024

Huma Bhabha, What Should it Be, 2024 (detail)

Huma Bhabha, What Should it Be, 2024 (detail)

A detail of a sculpture by Huma Bhabha, titled What Should it Be, dated 2024

Huma Bhabha, What Should it Be, 2024 (detail)

Huma Bhabha, What Should it Be, 2024 (detail)

An Installation view, Huma Bhabha: Welcome…to the one who came, David Zwirner, New York, dated 2024

Installation view, Huma Bhabha: Welcome…to the one who came, David Zwirner, New York, 2024

Installation view, Huma Bhabha: Welcome…to the one who came, David Zwirner, New York, 2024

An Installation view, Huma Bhabha: Welcome…to the one who came, David Zwirner, New York, dated 2024

Installation view, Huma Bhabha: Welcome…to the one who came, David Zwirner, New York, 2024

Installation view, Huma Bhabha: Welcome…to the one who came, David Zwirner, New York, 2024

The exhibition—which coincides with a presentation of Bhabha’s drawings and smaller scale sculptures at our uptown gallery—comes on the heels of a series of solo exhibitions of the artist’s work in museums worldwide, including MO.CO., Montpellier, France, M Leuven, Belgium, Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshaed, United Kingdom, Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

An Installation view, Huma Bhabha: A fly appeared, and disappeared, Montpellier Contemporain, Montpellier, dated 2023–2024

Installation view, Huma Bhabha: A fly appeared, and disappeared, MO.CO. Montpellier Contemporain, France, 2023–2024

Installation view, Huma Bhabha: A fly appeared, and disappeared, MO.CO. Montpellier Contemporain, France, 2023–2024

An Installation view, Huma Bhabha: Livin' Things, M Leuven, Leuven, dated 2023

Installation view, Huma Bhabha: Livin' Things, M Leuven, Belgium, 2023

Installation view, Huma Bhabha: Livin' Things, M Leuven, Belgium, 2023

An Installation view, Huma Bhabha: Against Time, Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Newcastle, dated 2020–2021

Installation view, Huma Bhabha: Against Time, Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, United Kingdom, 2020–2021

Installation view, Huma Bhabha: Against Time, Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, United Kingdom, 2020–2021

An Installation view, Huma Bhabha: They Live, Institute for Contemporary Art, Boston, dated 2019

Installation view, Huma Bhabha: They Live, Institute for Contemporary Art, Boston, 2019

Installation view, Huma Bhabha: They Live, Institute for Contemporary Art, Boston, 2019

An Installation view, Huma Bhabha: We Come in Peace, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, dated 2018

Installation view, Huma Bhabha: We Come in Peace, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2018

Installation view, Huma Bhabha: We Come in Peace, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2018

“Bhabha’s dance between the activation and suspension of our human identification allows us to take pleasure in the sculptures’ viscerally charged state.… Holding this tension is a strong sense of Bhabha’s hand: the molding, shaping, pinching, and scraping by which she made the objects is reflected in the many traces of physical manipulation that mark their surfaces.”

—Nicholas Baume, director and chief curator, Public Art Fund

A sculpture by Huma Bhabha, called Untamed, dated 2024.

Huma Bhabha

Untamed, 2024
Cast iron and concrete pedestal
Overall: 55 x 22 x 22 inches (139.7 x 55.9 x 55.9 cm)
Artwork: 19 x 12 x 12 inches (48.3 x 30.5 x 30.5 cm)
Pedestal: 36 x 22 x 22 inches (91.4 x 55.9 x 55.9 cm)

Beyond lies a group of three cast-iron sculptures—Bhabha’s first foray into the medium—of disembodied heads and torsos laid out on concrete plinths, glowing fiery orange as they rust, as if caught in a radioactive wasteland or left for dead on the scorched surface of Mars.

A detail of a sculpture by Huma Bhabha, titled Untamed, dated 2024

Huma Bhabha, Untamed, 2024 (detail)

Huma Bhabha, Untamed, 2024 (detail)

“Bhabha’s sculptures often appear as if at a distance. They are almost always built to be seen from at least four sides and change as one moves around them. But focusing too closely on details sometimes causes them to disappear. They exist between things, and remain open to the unconscious, occupying a liminal space between ancient and nascent.”

—David Levi Strauss, poet, writer, and critic

A sculpture by Huma Bhabha, titled The Other Side, dated 2024.

Huma Bhabha

The Other Side, 2024
Cast iron and concrete pedestal
Overall: 54 1/4 x 20 x 17 inches (137.8 x 50.8 x 43.2 cm)
Artwork: 18 x 11 1/2 x 7 1/4 inches (45.7 x 29.2 x 18.4 cm)
Pedestal: 36 1/4 x 20 x 17 inches (92.1 x 50.8 x 43.2 cm)

The cast-iron works will continue to oxidize and evolve in appearance, affirming the notion of time as a primordial sculptor’s tool—a concept that Bhabha has repeatedly returned to in her oeuvre.

A sculpture by Huma Bhabha, titled Lodger, dated 2024.

Huma Bhabha

Lodger, 2024
Cast iron and concrete pedestal
Overall: 65 x 40 x 38 1/2 inches (165.1 x 101.6 x 97.8 cm)
Artwork: 29 x 16 x 14 1/2 inches (73.7 x 40.6 x 36.8 cm)
Pedestal: 36 x 24 x 24 inches (91.4 x 61 x 61 cm)

“Sculpture, more than any other art form, is about time and history—the use of materials which can last for centuries.… And now, in recent history there is an increased use of fragile, temporary materials that seem to reflect the speeding up of decay—the production of instant ruins.”

—Huma Bhabha

A detail of a sculpture by Huma Bhabha, title Lodger, dated 2024

Huma Bhabha, Lodger, 2024 (detail)

Huma Bhabha, Lodger, 2024 (detail)

A detail of a sculpture by Huma Bhabha, title Lodger, dated 2024

Huma Bhabha, Lodger, 2024 (detail)

Huma Bhabha, Lodger, 2024 (detail)

An Installation view, Huma Bhabha: Welcome…to the one who came, David Zwirner, New York, dated 2024

Installation view, Huma Bhabha: Welcome…to the one who came, David Zwirner, New York, 2024

Installation view, Huma Bhabha: Welcome…to the one who came, David Zwirner, New York, 2024

An Installation view, Huma Bhabha: Welcome…to the one who came, David Zwirner, New York, dated 2024

Installation view, Huma Bhabha: Welcome…to the one who came, David Zwirner, New York, 2024

Installation view, Huma Bhabha: Welcome…to the one who came, David Zwirner, New York, 2024

A sculpture by Huma Bhabha, titled Maybe Nothing Maybe Everything, dated 2024.

Huma Bhabha

Maybe Nothing Maybe Everything, 2024
Patinated bronze
88 1/2 x 18 x 18 inches (224.8 x 45.7 x 45.7 cm)

Further inside are two upright figures, Maybe Nothing Maybe Everything and Nothing Falls, both cast in bronze. The former presents a multiheaded creature whose arms are pressed to its chest in prayer or panic.

A detail of a sculpture by Huma Bhabha, titled Maybe Nothing Maybe Everything, dated 2024

Huma Bhabha, Maybe Nothing Maybe Everything, 2024 (detail)

Huma Bhabha, Maybe Nothing Maybe Everything, 2024 (detail)

A detail of a sculpture by Huma Bhabha, titled Maybe Nothing Maybe Everything, dated 2024

Huma Bhabha, Maybe Nothing Maybe Everything, 2024 (detail)

Huma Bhabha, Maybe Nothing Maybe Everything, 2024 (detail)

“Her sculptures suggest a number of possible and expansive narrative threads that are fraught with both pagan and monotheistic epics of expulsion and apocalypse, science-fiction tales of end-times, and the introduction of an alien ‘other.’ In an America that has long been hostile to women, black and brown communities, Muslims, and immigrants, Bhabha’s address of the residual effects of colonialism and imperialism in the landscapes of her youth underscores a certain sense of urgency.”

—Eva Respini, deputy director, Vancouver Art Gallery

A sculpture by Huma Bhabha, titled Nothing Falls, dated 2024.

Huma Bhabha

Nothing Falls, 2024
Painted and patinated bronze
96 x 18 3/4 x 22 inches (243.8 x 47.6 x 55.9 cm)

The latter takes the form of a rectangular earthen body that surges upward from the ground—reminiscent of the unshakable monolith from Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey—and pushes its bone-white skeletal head toward the open sky as if it is a holy relic or ritual sacrifice on a dais.

A detail of a sculpture by Huma Bhabha, titled Nothing Falls, dated 2024

Huma Bhabha, Nothing Falls, 2024 (detail)

Huma Bhabha, Nothing Falls, 2024 (detail)

A detail of a sculpture by Huma Bhabha, titled Nothing Falls, dated 2024

Huma Bhabha, Nothing Falls, 2024 (detail)

Huma Bhabha, Nothing Falls, 2024 (detail)

These two sculptures flank the largest figure in the show, Even Stones Have Eyes, which stands more than twelve feet tall. With its shadowy Januslike faces that have been etched, scarred, and seemingly charred, this peg-legged behemoth exudes a thrilling stillness and horror as it towers over its companions like a watchful parent surrounded by its brood.

A sculpture by Huma Bhabha, titled Even Stones Have Eyes, dated 2023.

Huma Bhabha

Even Stones Have Eyes, 2023
Patinated bronze
148 x 61 x 50 inches (375.9 x 154.9 x 127 cm)

At once monstrous, animal, alien, and deeply human, Bhabha’s totemic figures recall cycles of growth and decay, destruction and restoration, thereby challenging our understandings of permanence, monumentality, and personal and collective histories.

These exhibitions in our New York spaces precede two forthcoming projects. First, in March 2024, three sculptures by Bhabha will be specially featured in the retrospective exhibition Julie Mehretu: Ensemble at Palazzo Grassi, Venice. Soon after, in April 2024, a large-scale installation commissioned by Public Art Fund will be unveiled at Brooklyn Bridge Park, New York.

A detail of a sculpture by Huma Bhabha, Even Stones Have Eyes, dated 2023

Huma Bhabha, Even Stones Have Eyes, 2023 (detail)

Huma Bhabha, Even Stones Have Eyes, 2023 (detail)

A detail of a sculpture by Huma Bhabha titled Even Stones Have Eyes, dated 2023

Huma Bhabha, Even Stones Have Eyes, 2023 (detail)

Huma Bhabha, Even Stones Have Eyes, 2023 (detail)

“For Bhabha, the history of figurative sculpture has always provided textural material for her work, but so too is the dark history of imperial power relations. It is precisely in considering the intention of an artistic imaginary like Bhabha's—in which the continual dialogue between past and present can serve to resist the simple categorizations of modern, post-colonial, postmodern, global, local, etc.—that allow [institutions] to invite a more sustained and critical discourse over common binaries and dichotomies.”

—Shanay Jhaveri, head of visual arts, Barbican Centre

An Installation view, Huma Bhabha: Welcome…to the one who came, David Zwirner, New York, dated 2024

Installation view, Huma Bhabha: Welcome…to the one who came, David Zwirner, New York, 2024

Installation view, Huma Bhabha: Welcome…to the one who came, David Zwirner, New York, 2024

An Installation view, Huma Bhabha: Welcome…to the one who came, David Zwirner, New York, dated 2024

Installation view, Huma Bhabha: Welcome…to the one who came, David Zwirner, New York, 2024

Installation view, Huma Bhabha: Welcome…to the one who came, David Zwirner, New York, 2024

A detail of an artwork by Huma Bhabha called Untitled, dated 2023

On View at 34 East 69th Street

Huma Bhabha

Inquire About Works by Huma Bhabha

An installation view of the exhibition, Huma Bhabha: Welcome...to the one who came, at David Zwirner in New York, dated 2024.
An installation view of the exhibition, Huma Bhabha: Welcome...to the one who came, at David Zwirner in New York, dated 2024.
An installation view of the exhibition, Huma Bhabha: Welcome...to the one who came, at David Zwirner in New York, dated 2024.
An installation view of the exhibition, Huma Bhabha: Welcome...to the one who came, at David Zwirner in New York, dated 2024.
An installation view of the exhibition, Huma Bhabha: Welcome...to the one who came, at David Zwirner in New York, dated 2024.
An installation view of the exhibition, Huma Bhabha: Welcome...to the one who came, at David Zwirner in New York, dated 2024.
An installation view of the exhibition, Huma Bhabha: Welcome...to the one who came, at David Zwirner in New York, dated 2024.
An installation view of the exhibition, Huma Bhabha: Welcome...to the one who came, at David Zwirner in New York, dated 2024.
An installation view of the exhibition, Huma Bhabha: Welcome...to the one who came, at David Zwirner in New York, dated 2024.
An installation view of the exhibition, Huma Bhabha: Welcome...to the one who came, at David Zwirner in New York, dated 2024.
A sculpture by Huma Bhabha, titled What Should it Be, dated 2024.

Huma Bhabha

What Should it Be, 2024
Painted and patinated bronze and concrete pedestal
Overall: 44 3/4 x 31 x 31 inches (113.7 x 78.7 x 78.7 cm)
Artwork: 38 1/2 x 12 x 11 inches (97.8 x 30.5 x 27.9 cm)
Pedestal: 6 1/4 x 31 x 31 inches (15.9 x 78.7 x 78.7 cm)
A sculpture by Huma Bhabha, called Untamed, dated 2024.

Huma Bhabha

Untamed, 2024
Cast iron and concrete pedestal
Overall: 55 x 22 x 22 inches (139.7 x 55.9 x 55.9 cm)
Artwork: 19 x 12 x 12 inches (48.3 x 30.5 x 30.5 cm)
Pedestal: 36 x 22 x 22 inches (91.4 x 55.9 x 55.9 cm)
A sculpture by Huma Bhabha, titled The Other Side, dated 2024.

Huma Bhabha

The Other Side, 2024
Cast iron and concrete pedestal
Overall: 54 1/4 x 20 x 17 inches (137.8 x 50.8 x 43.2 cm)
Artwork: 18 x 11 1/2 x 7 1/4 inches (45.7 x 29.2 x 18.4 cm)
Pedestal: 36 1/4 x 20 x 17 inches (92.1 x 50.8 x 43.2 cm)
A sculpture by Huma Bhabha, titled Lodger, dated 2024.

Huma Bhabha

Lodger, 2024
Cast iron and concrete pedestal
Overall: 65 x 40 x 38 1/2 inches (165.1 x 101.6 x 97.8 cm)
Artwork: 29 x 16 x 14 1/2 inches (73.7 x 40.6 x 36.8 cm)
Pedestal: 36 x 24 x 24 inches (91.4 x 61 x 61 cm)
A sculpture by Huma Bhabha, titled Maybe Nothing Maybe Everything, dated 2024.

Huma Bhabha

Maybe Nothing Maybe Everything, 2024
Patinated bronze
88 1/2 x 18 x 18 inches (224.8 x 45.7 x 45.7 cm)
A sculpture by Huma Bhabha, titled Nothing Falls, dated 2024.

Huma Bhabha

Nothing Falls, 2024
Painted and patinated bronze
96 x 18 3/4 x 22 inches (243.8 x 47.6 x 55.9 cm)
A sculpture by Huma Bhabha, titled Even Stones Have Eyes, dated 2023.

Huma Bhabha

Even Stones Have Eyes, 2023
Patinated bronze
148 x 61 x 50 inches (375.9 x 154.9 x 127 cm)

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