Ebony G. Patterson’s multilayered practice - in sculpture, installation, performance, and video – uses beauty as a tool. She employs opulent, hand-embellished surfaces and brightly colored patterns to seduce the viewer into bearing witness to the violence and social injustices imposed upon the invisible and the voiceless. Her works command the viewer to look past the façade – of their rich formal characteristics, of the fabricated fantasies increasingly traded in our consumer and social media-centric culture – and to acknowledge the realities of those not touched by the glitter and gold. The paradoxical means the artist uses to convey this message only emphasizes its urgency and weight.

Ebony G. Patterson received her BFA from Edna Manley College, Kingston, Jamaica (2004) and MFA from Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts, Washington University, St. Louis, MO (2006). Patterson has had solo exhibitions at many US institutions including Pérez Art Museum Miami (through May 5, 2019); Baltimore Museum of Art, MD (through April 7, 2019); The Studio Museum in Harlem, NY (2016); Atlanta Center for Contemporary Art, GA (2016); SCAD Museum of Art, GA (2016); and Museum of Arts and Design, NY (2015). Patterson has received numerous awards, such as Stone and DeGuire Art Award, Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts, Washington University (2018); United States Artist Award (2018); Tiffany Foundation Grant (2017); and Joan Mitchell Foundation Art Grant (2015). Patterson’s work is included in a number of public collections, including The Studio Museum in Harlem, NY; Museum of Arts and Design, NY; Nasher Museum of Art, Duke University, Durham, NC; Speed Art Museum, Louisville, KY; 21c Museum Hotels; Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA; and the National Gallery of Jamaica, Kingston. Patterson is represented by Monique Meloche Gallery, Chicago.

Courtesy of Monique Meloche Gallery