Uman

Expanding on this unique visual language, Uman’s new body of work also explores ideas of color field painting. With some works suspended from the ceiling and a site-specific wall mural that will transform part of the gallery space, Uman invites the viewer to be immersed in her lavishly detailed and opulently colored worlds, replete with gesture, geometry and evocations of the sublime.The selection of large-scale works on view in Zurich presents a development in Uman’s approach to her painting processes. Looking to artists such as Frank Bowling and his saturated washes of pigment, as well as expanding on the tropes of color field painting, this formal progression begins in Uman’s home, where she applies, pours and manipulates paint on unstretched canvases to create a base layer. Uman privileges saturated colors, combining bright jewel tones alongside darker hues in surprising ways. Producing large swathes of color, from pools of purple ‘Purple Painting’ (2024) to deep coats of blue in ‘Midnight in Roseboom’ (2024), the artist then stretches the material and works on the paintings further in her studio. Uman’s process is followed by an application of oil stick or oil paint via intuitive but resolute gestures using a brush or her own hands. Her mastery of pigments makes possible a trajectory between past and present, drawing upon her memories of her East African childhood, rigorous education in traditional Arabic calligraphy, deep engagement with dreams and fascination with kaleidoscopic color and design.

This formal progression aligns with Uman’s desire to pursue a painterly exploration of nature, engaging with forms, dots and abstract patterning that resemble mycelial networks. These collide with anthropomorphic elements to culminate in depictions that are at once botanical and intergalactic, with paintings such as ‘Green Painting’ (2024) suggesting fantastical landscapes. The exhibition also includes three striking paintings of seasons, ‘4 Seasons #1 (Green)’ (2024), ‘4 Seasons #2 (Blue)’ (2024) and ‘4 Seasons #3 (Red)’ (2024), exemplifying the environment as experienced from her rural setting in Albany and leaning into her fascination with color field painting. Uman’s focus on the natural and spiritual worlds, as well as an emphasis on one color, aligns with the artist’s desire to move beyond traces of self-portraiture in her work, explaining ‘I want to push and continue to grow, and that means I have to take myself out of the work. It’s something I’m interested in, how much to add or remove myself.’