joseph scissorhands: Derek Fordjour: The House Always Wins

Sunday 17 November 2019

Derek Fordjour: The House Always Wins

Jamestown Champ

I discovered African-American Derek Fordjour's work online last year and was eager to see it first-hand, but didn't realise that he was represented by a British gallery. On learning about this, his first proper UK solo show at Josh Lilley I made the journey across town to Fitzrovia to see - The House Always Wins. There is a real carnivalesque feeling to Fordjour's work, and the exhibition is populated by his signature ensemble cast of show-girls, jockeys, prancing drum majorettes, ringmasters and athletes. The real revelations for me only previously having seen his work online, were the pleasingly large scale of the works, and how they are composed from complex layers of a mixed media collage technique which wasn't immediately apparent in the online thumbnails.

First impressions of the gallery are really impressive as visitors are treated to an installation by Fordjour entitled Storefront, across the whole of the windows of the gallery facade. It is a collection of nearly 1,500 wooden compartmentalised objects such as miniature balloons and figures cast in glass, plaster, resin, dirt and iron. It is a really effective tool in drawing in passers by for a closer inspection of the various objects displayed, and again adds to the spectacle of the circus/carnival atmosphere evoked by Fordjour's work. I really enjoyed this exhibition and look forward to seeing more of his work in the future.