Kunsthalle Basel

Janiva Ellis (b. 1987) utilizes and reconfigures a broad range of popular imagery and well-worn art historical motifs to stage dynamic scenes replete with shifting references that at once are humorous, insidious, and ambiguous. In her work, she explores the persistence of white supremacist myths built into dominant cultural narratives while demonstrating the contradictions and destruction left in their wake. Drawing from the tradition of figuration, she puts visibility, erasure, and survival up for debate. Her paintings oscillate between controlled precision and raw gesture, revealing inventive possibilities through their interpretation. Ellis will present a body of new paintings at Kunsthalle Basel, which will be her first institutional solo exhibition in Europe.