We've been enjoying the editions coming through the newly launched platform Variable Editions, and are happy to see them putting out another release, this time with Marcus Leslie Singleton. Aiming to offer unique, yet more affordable works by the sought-out artists while having a charity side of their efforts, their next drop with the Seattle-born and NY-based artist will benefit Nazareth Housing NYC.
"Currently, my work is a reflection on reality," Singleton wrote in the statement accompanying this release. "The thinking behind the work is to make something that has occurred at a certain point, specifically this strange, clouded time we’re all experiencing, atemporal. I don’t wish to make the memories, however painful, joyful, or graphic outlast time, my aim is to be truthful and as transparent through my art as I can so that in effect the thought inscribed in the work outlasts the constraints of time, and maybe that gets us somewhere." And such an approach to creating imagery seems to be fitting perfectly with Variable Editions' concept of creating unique works based on the same, screen-printed image.
The image Basketball follows the artist's goal to highlight the preciousness of life by celebrating Black life, culture, music, folklore, religion, and tradition through the depiction of the most mundane, routine moments. In this particular case, the focus is put on a single basketball player around which Singleton creating different types of settings with acrylic and spray paint alongside the silk-screened image on woven paper. This alternation of the starting motif produces a variety of scenes varying from a one-on-one game with another player or being alone at the court, over interrupting a BBQ in the park or going after ice cream truck, all the way to battling dinosaurs, mimicking Thor, or canoeing by the beach. —Sasha Bogojev
The release is set for July 15th 2021 at 12:15 PM EST via Variable Editions and each variant from a series of 10 unique works is measuring 22” x 30” (55.88cm x 76.2cm).
