The Time is Always Now: Artists Reframe the Black Figure edited by Ekow Eshun celebrates
flourishing Black artists whose work illuminates the richness beauty and complexity of Black
life. There is never a time in the future in which we will work out our salvation. The
challenge is in the moment the time is always now. - James Baldwin 'Angry elegiac critical
and celebratory The Time Is Always Now brings together 22 leading black artists working in the
UK and US.' - The best art and architecture shows to visit in 2024 The Guardian The Time is
Always Now: Artists Reframe the Black Figure assembles contemporary African diasporic artists
working in the UK and US whose practice foregrounds the Black figure. Edited and with texts by
Ekow Eshun and original essays by Bernardine Evaristo Esi Edugyan and Dorothy Price.
Published to coincide with the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery London this
publication explores and celebrates contemporary Black artists internationally who work within
Black figuration. This visual and beautifully produced book examines contemporary figurative
artworks against a backdrop of heightened cultural visibility. Within this context its
collected paintings drawings and sculptures take on a dual role as the accomplished work of
individual artists and as a collective assertion of Black presence. Through a three-part
structure containing detailed artist profiles and stunningly reproduced artworks the
publication examines Black figuration as a means to address the absence and distortion of Black
presence within Western art history. Profiled artists include Hurvin Anderson Michael Armitage
Jordan Casteel Njideka Akunyili Crosby Noah Davis Godfried Donkor Kimathi Donkor Denzil
Forrester Lubaina Himid Claudette Johnson Titus Kaphar Kerry James Marshall Toyin Ojih
Odutola Chris Ofili Jennifer Packer Thomas J. Price Nathaniel Mary Quinn Lorna Simpson
Amy Sherald Henry Taylor and Barbara Walker.
