While Pendleton has been considered as one of the fastest-rising stars in the art market, represented by Pace Galleries and David Kordansky Gallery in California, his first solo exhibition at MoMA opening September 18 and running to January 30, 2022, will no doubt showcase the academic importance of his works. The Pendleton’s inaugural solo exhibition at MoMA will include paintings, drawings, a textile work, sculptures, moving images, and a sound piece. Together, this monumental installation examines the concept of Black Dada, which has underpinned his work for more than a decade, and how Pendleton explores the relationship between theories of Blackness and abstraction/avant-garde. 

Our conceptual work Afro-Futuristic presents Pendleton’s early studies on the subject of both the history of and the contemporary themes within Black America. Minimalistic with large text stating “AFRO FUTURISTIC” expanding in dark grey bold lettering across a tinted image of what appears to be an imposed photograph of the legs of a person standing adjacent to studio spotlight on one side and a chair resting above a chalky “x” spot mark. Though minimalistic, Adam Pendleton manages to take the viewer back to a day where black exploitation films in America were popular; displaying a time where films with names like “afro futuristic” would have flashed across the T.V screen of many Black American families.