Lehmann Maupin is pleased to present Balance Fountain, New York-based multidisciplinary artist Nari Ward’s first solo exhibition in London. The exhibition precedes a major European museum exhibition to be announced in the coming months. Adopting a distinctly spiritual approach, Balance Fountain probes the unseen forces that shape both unique cultures and global society, exposing ritual as a structural artistic device. The presentation features a series of new copper panel works, a selection of sculptures, and a large-scale floor installation, each composed of objects adjacent to ceremonial practice or devotional behavior.

Ward is best known for his wall- and installation-based sculptural works created from materials frequently found and collected throughout Harlem, his longtime neighborhood. The artist combines these materials to re-contextualize their original meanings, creating assemblage works that confront complex social and political realities (often surrounding race, migration, democracy, and community) through literal and metaphorical juxtaposition. Materially specific but intentionally ambiguous in their signification, Ward’s works encourage the viewer to explore many possible interpretations.