Announcing representation of Marcus Leslie Singleton
V1 Gallery is pleased to announce
Representation of Marcus Leslie Singleton
TUESDAY 14 JANUARY 2025
COPENHAGEN, DENMARK
V1 Gallery is pleased to announce the representation of Marcus Leslie Singleton (b. 1990). Singleton’s work blends personal narratives with broader societal observations, straddling the line between playfulness and seriousness. His work uses intuitive brushwork and unexpected colours to convey poignant observations about the world around him and the human condition.
Singleton’s work often depicts moments from his own childhood and life, regularly featuring his younger self and family. His work highlights daily routines: his figures are seen chopping vegetables, chatting with friends, driving, and taking Zoom calls from the couch. Frequently depicting characters staring straight out of the canvas, Singleton’s work teleports the viewer into the midpoint of a conversation or scene, drawing them into the role of interlocutor. The viewer is instantly transported by Singleton’s works, perhaps hearing voices from the kitchen or standing astride their own bike. Singleton’s works reference his own personal history as well as queerness within the history of black America and then depart, soaring into singular moments and serving to host spirits in the canvas.
Singleton first introduced the character of the Shell with V1 Gallery in 2023. The Shell is always cloaked in white with only eyes and hands showing. Singleton describes the character: "The Shell is the embodiment of hypervisibility versus invisibility. The person beneath the cloak is ageless, genderless, but very much a real personality, a mystery."
Newer to his practice are Singleton’s landscapes that capture the light and stillness inherent in a moment, in a landscape. His landscapes offer subtle observations and convey the vastness of nature with his characteristic playful brushwork, texture and unwavering clarity.
Singleton’s work will be presented in V1 Gallery’s upcoming exhibition Landscapes, opening 24 January 2025. 19 new works will be featured, including a work based on his time in Copenhagen and 18 new landscape works based on his residency at La Fourchette De Roze, Ivory Coast. Singleton will have a solo exhibition at V1 Gallery in 2026.
Marcus Leslie Singleton, born 1990, Seattle, WA, USA, lives and works in Catskill, NY, USA. Singleton is a self-taught artist. Recent exhibitions include Winter Atlantic Summer, The Journal Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA 2024; City Life, V1 Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark, 2024; Return from Exile, Mitchell Innes-Nash, New York, NY, USA, 2023; Soiled, The Journal Gallery, New York, NY, USA, 2022; Diagrams & Dilemmas, Jupiter Gallery, Miami Beach, FL, USA 2021. His work is featured in the following collections: San Antonio Museum of Art, acquisition by Alex Katz Foundation; the Portland Museum of Art, acquisition by Alex Katz Foundation; the ICA Miami; and the High Museum, Atlanta Georgia.
Photo by: Otto Ohle