Lavar Munroe (The Bahamas) is one of the artists included in Greta Rainbow’s “10 Contemporary Artists Reckoning with Fatherhood.” She writes, “Immigrant dads, absent dads, flawed dads, fellow artist dads, adopted dads — these artworks explore all that a father figure can be.” Here are excerpts; read full article at Hyperallergic.
You’ve seen Goya’s “Saturn Devouring His Son.” You can picture Frida Kahlo’s family tree. There exists a litany of Dutch masters’ renditions of domestic scenes, children crouching at the ankles of adults. What about depictions of dads today? Fatherhood endures as rich subject matter, and there are a whole host of contemporary artists playing with it, questioning it, turning it over lovingly in their hands.
On the occasion of Father’s Day, Hyperallergic has rounded up 10 artists making work that involves dads of all kinds: immigrant dads, absent dads, flawed dads, fellow artist dads, adopted father figures — or an imagined vision of what future fatherhood could be. [. . .]
Lavar Munroe
Not all fathers are biological. At the Bahamas Pavilion at this year’s Venice Biennale, Lavar Munroe incites an intergenerational dialogue between himself and the late artist John Beadle. When Beadle’s obituary suddenly surfaced from a stack of newspapers in Munroe’s studio one day, Munroe told Interview, “At that point I knew that there was a real connection between the spirit world, Beadle, and myself. Nobody can tell me otherwise.”
Munroe’s and Beadle’s practices are both visually and conceptually inspired by the traditions of Junkanoo, the Bahamian national festival known for its collective processions, elaborate masquerade costumes, music, and improvisational production. It’s this colorful cacophony that Munroe draws upon for his solo show at Monique Meloche Gallery in Chicago, DANCE WITH MY FATHER AGAIN, on view through August 1. Materials like boat rope, tassels, glitter, toy soldiers, and Air Jordan 1 shoes are collaged together on canvases that depict figures isolated from an imagined procession and against a fantastical ocean backdrop.
For full article, see https://hyperallergic.com/10-contemporary-artists-reckoning-with-fatherhood/
[Photo above: Lavar Munroe, “DANCE WITH MY FATHER AGAIN” (2026) (image courtesy the artist and Monique Meloche)]
Lavar Munroe (The Bahamas) is one of the artists included in Greta Rainbow’s “10 Contemporary Artists Reckoning with Fatherhood.” She writes, “Immigrant dads, absent dads, flawed dads, fellow artist dads, adopted dads — these artworks explore all that a father figure can be.” Here are excerpts; read full article at Hyperallergic. You’ve seen Goya’s “Saturn
