Photo Flash: First Look at Ferrari Sheppard's Solo Exhibition at UTA Artist Space

Ferrari Sheppard's solo exhibition at UTA Artist Space is now open through May 15. The ambitious presentation fills all three of the gallery's exhibition spaces with emotional portraits of influential cultural figures such as Jimi Hendrix and Tupac Shakur, as well as the artist's friends and family.

Check out photos below!

In UTA Artist Space's front gallery, Michele Lamy, co-founding partner and Executive Manager Art/Furniture Owenscorp, is pleased to participate in Positions of Power by presenting a Rick Owens bench. The back gallery has been transformed into a shrine - hanging above a gold floor is an image of contemporary iconicity: a polaroid of Tupac.

Blurring the lines between abstraction and figuration, Ferrari Sheppard creates mid to large-scale paintings celebrating the humanity of Black people in the Americas and within the diaspora. The LA based artist was born in Chicago and lived in various cities in Africa. His paintings are influenced by memories and lived experience, evoking a sense of nostalgia.