IKE UDE BIOGRAPHY
With his ongoing photographic self-portraits, Sartorial Anarchy, dressed in varied costumes across geography and time the work of Nigerian-born Iké Udé explores a world of dualities: photographer/performance artist, artist/spectator, African/postnationalist, mainstream/ marginal, individual/everyman and fashion/art. As a Nigerian born, New York based artist, conversant with the world of fashion and celebrity, Udé gives conceptual aspects of performance and representation a new vitality, melding his own theatrical selves and multiple personae with his art. Udé plays with the ambiguities of the marketplace and art world, particularly in his seminal art, culture, and fashion magazine, aRUDE and recently his style blog, theCHIC INDEX.Beyond Decorum (MIT Press, 2000), accompanied a traveling exhibition —organized by Mark Besire, then director of the Institute of Contemporary Art at the Maine College of Art, in Portland, Maine—was the first comprehensive publication on Udé’s photography. The book contains photographs of the installations “Beyond Decorum”, “Uses of Evidence”, and “Project Rear”; several series, including Cover Girls, Uli, and Celluloid; and photographs from his magazine aRUDE. The book also includes essays by Kobena Mercer, Aimee Bessire, Valerie Steele, and Iké Udé himself, as well as an interview with the artist. The reader meets Udé the artist, editor, dandy, and aesthete. In his writing, Udé speaks of the futility of stereotypes, and in his photography, he brings to life the image of the artist in a plenitude of guises.Udé is the author of Style File: the World’s Most Elegantly Dressed, recently published by Harper Collins in 2008.
Style File is a remarkable volume that profiles more than 55 of the most influential arbiters of style in the world today. With a foreword by Valerie Steele, director of the Museum at F.I.T., and an introduction by Harold Koda, curator-in-charge of the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, this beautifully designed book provides an intimate perspective on these unique and influential men and women, offering frank insight to their views on fashion and life through evocative interviews and lush photography. Included among the many notable designers, artists, and public figures are John Galliano, Oscar de la Renta, Carolina Herrera, Isabel and Ruben Toledo, Victoire de Castellane, André Leon Talley, Dita Von Teese, Ute Lemper, Francesco Clemente, Christian Louboutin, Diane von Furstenberg, Lapo Elkann, Frédéric Malle, and many others.His work is in the permanent collections of Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the Smithsonian Museum of Art, Sheldon Museum, RISD Museum, New Britain Museum of American Art, Minneapolis Institute of Arts and in many private collections; exhibited in solo and group exhibitions; reviewed in The New York Times, The New Yorker, Art in America, Flash Art, Art News and such. His articles on fashion and art have been published in magazines and newspapers worldwide.
He has made the coveted Vanity Fair magazine’s International Best Dress List, in 2009, 2012; Vanity Fair: A Blast of the Best 2013; Vanity Fair: The Top Ten Best Dressed Artists, 2013. He lives and works in New York City.
IKÉ UDÉ
B. 1964, Lagos, Nigeria Lives and works in New York, NY
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2013 Style and Sympathies, Leila Heller Gallery, New York, NY
2011 Self: New Photographs, Stux Gallery, Stux Gallery, New York, NY
2009 Paris Hilton: Fantasy and Simulacrum, Stenersen Museum, Oslo, Norway
2008 Paris Hilton: Fantasy and Simulacrum, Stux Gallery, New York, NY
2002 Other Rooms Other Voices, Stefan Stux Gallery, New York, NY
Other Aspects, Fifty One Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium
Mauve & Sympathy Series, Arco Special Project Room, curated by Octavio Zaya
2001 Recess, MC Magma Gallery, Milan, Italy
Other Aspects, Fifty One Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium
2000-2002 Beyond Decorum: The Photography of Iké Udé, curated by Mark Bessire and Lauri Firstenberg Exhibition Tour: Institute of Contemporary Art, Portland, ME MAK Contemporary Art, Vienna, Austria Oboro Contemporary Art, Montreal, Canada Sert Gallery, Carpenter Center, Harvard University Art Museums, MA University of California at Riverside, California Museum of Photography, CA
1997 Subject to Representation, curated by Kevin Gibbs, with catalogue essay by Kobena Mercer, Gallery 101, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
1995 Celluloid Frames, Wessel O’Connor Gallery, New York, NY
568 West 25th Street New York, NY 10001 | Tel: +1 212 249 7695 Fax: +1 212 249 7693 www.LeilaHellerGallery.com
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2016 Disguise: Masks and Global African Art, Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY (forthcoming)
Disguise: Masks and Global African Art, Fowler Museum at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA (forthcoming)
2015 Self: Portraits of Artists in their Absence, National Academy Museum and School, New York, NY
Disguise: Masks and Global African Art, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA
Personalities: Fantasy and Identity in Photography and New Media, Palm Springs Museum of Art, Palm Springs, CA
2014 Look at Me!, Tropenmuseum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Look at Me: Portraiture from Manet to the Present, curated by Beth Rudin deWoody and Paul Morris, Leila Heller Gallery, New York NY
2013 Africa Now: Fashioning Personhood, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, MN
Summer Selects, Leila Heller Gallery, New York, NY
Artist/Rebel/Dandy: Men of Fashion, Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) Museum, Providence, RI
2012 Art Dubai, Leila Heller Gallery, Dubai, UAE
Art Southampton, Leila Heller Gallery, Southampton, NY
2010-2013 The Global Africa Project, curated by Lowery Stokes Sims, Museum of Art & Design, New York, NY
2011 The Mask and the Mirror, curated by Shirin Neshat, Leila Heller Gallery, New York, NY
2007 Imago: The Drama of Self- Portraiture in Recent Photography, Paul Robeson Gallery, Newark, NJ
Inscribing Meaning: Writing and Graphic System in African Art, National Museum of African Art, Washington, D.C.
Big Bad Love, Stux Gallery, New York, NY
INCOGNITO, curated by Elsa Longhauser, Santa Monica Museum of Art, Santa Monica, CA
568 West 25th Street New York, NY 10001 | Tel: +1 212 249 7695 Fax: +1 212 249 7693 www.LeilaHellerGallery.com 2006 Six Degrees of Separation, Stux Gallery, New York, NY
2005 Beyond Desire, curated by Philippe Pirotte, MoMu-Fashion Museum, Antwerp, Belgium
2003 The Triennial, Haifa Museum, Israel
Make Life Beautiful! A Major New Exhibition and Publication on Dandyism, curated by Jeremy Millar, Brighton Photo Biennial, UK
Black President: The Art and Legacy of Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, curated by Trevor Schoonmaker, The New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, NY
2002-2003 Chic Clicks: Creativity and Commerce in Contemporary Fashion Photography, curated by Ulrich Lehmann. Catalogue edited by Ulrich Lehmann, published by Hatje Cantz in Stuttgart Germany. Exhibition tour: ICA Boston, January to May 2002 Kunstmuseum Winterthur June to September 2002 MAK Vienna October 2002 to January 2003 Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg February 2003 to May 2003 Fashion Museum Kobe, Japan, Summer 2003
A Doll’s House, curated by Selene Wendt, Henie Onstad Kunstsenter, Norway
2002 Seduction, curated by Coromandel: Gregory Leroy, Celine Fribourg and Alex Fabry, New York, NY
2001 Tirana Biennale, curated by Helena Kontova, Giancarlo Politi, Albania
Art Forum Berlin, curated by Christine Frisinghelli, Germany
What I Did On My Summer Vacation, curated by Paul Ha, White Columns, New York, NY
2000-2002 Hotter Than July, curated by Steve Henry Margo, Leavin Gallery, Los Angeles, CA Exhibition Tour: Institute of Contemporary Art, Portland, Maine MAK Contemporary Art, Vienna, Austria Oboro Contemporary Art, Montreal, Canada Sert Gallery, Carpenter Center, Harvard University Art Museums, MA University of California at Riverside, California Museum of Photography, CA
2000 Beyond Decorum, Marcus Derschler Gallery, Berlin, Germany
Seventh Havana Biennial, curated by Magda Ileana Gonazalez-Mora, Cuba
568 West 25th Street New York, NY 10001 | Tel: +1 212 249 7695 Fax: +1 212 249 7693 www.LeilaHellerGallery.com
1999 Double Lives, curated by Teresa Blanch, Textile Museum, Barcelona, Spain
Structure, curated by W. Rod Faulds, Southeast Museum of Photography, Daytona Beach Community College, Florida
1998 Bathroom, curated by Wayne Koestenbaum, Thomas Healy Gallery, New York, NY
1997 2nd Johannesburg Biennale, curated by Okwui Enwezor, South Africa
The New Museum of Contemporary Art 20th Anniversary Benefit Auction, curated by Dan Cameron, New York
1996 In/sight: African Photographers, 1940-Present, Solomon Guggenheim Museum, organized by the Guggenheim Museum; co-curated by Clare Bell, Assistant Curator, and independent curators, Okwui Enwezor, Danielle Tilkin and Octavio Zaya, New York, NY
Inclusion/Exclusion, curated by Peter Weibel, Steirischer Herbit 96, Graz, Austria
Interzone, curated by Octavio Zaya and Anders Michelson. Copenhagen Kunsteverien, Uppasala, Konstmuseum, Sweden
Po-Mo Funk: Urban Expressions Beyond Post-Modern Theory, curated by Sean Gibbons, Miami Beach, Florida
No Doubt: African-American Art of the 90's, Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield, CT
1995 Modern Life, curated by Okwui Enwezor with catalogue essay by Okwui Enwezor, Aljira Center for Contemporary Art in conjunction with Newark Museum, Newark, NJ Narcissistic Disturbance, curated by Michael Cohen, with catalogue essays by Larry Rickels, Otis Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1994 Let the Artist Live!, Exit Art, New York, NY
568 West 25th Street New York, NY 10001 | Tel: +1 212 249 7695 Fax: +1 212 249 7693 www.LeilaHellerGallery.com
AWARDS/GRANTS
The Louis Comfort Tiffany Biennial Award
SELECTED COLLECTIONS
New Britain Museum of American Art, New Britain, CT
Solomon Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY
Smithsonian National Museum, Washington D.C.
Museum of Art and Design, New York, NY
Sheldon Museum of Art, Lincoln, NE
Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) Museum, Providence, RI
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bjorn Iooss, “Iké Udé: The Sartorial Anarchist,” Uomo-Vogue, February 2014.
Elena Agudio, “Anarchia Sartoriale,” Art e Dossier, December 2014.
Cynthia Nadelman, “Reviews: New York,” Artnews, September 2014.
“10 Masters of the Self-Portrait, in Their Own Words,” Artsy Editorial, January 2014.
Goings on About Town: Iké Udé, The New Yorker, November, 2, 2013.
Mary Billard, “Iké Udé: The Wildness of Clothes, but Not for Fashion,” The New York Times, Fashion & Style, October 31, 2013.
Thomas Woodham Smith, “Life in the Arts Lane – Week 47 – Caravan in New York,” The Huffington Post, October 30, 2013.
Jean Dykstra, “Iké Udé: Style and Sympathies, Leila Heller Gallery, New York,” Photograph Magazine, October 28, 2013.
Loring Knoblauch, “Iké Udé, Style and Sympathies @Leila Heller,” Collector Daily, October 25, 2013.
“Iké Udé’s Sartorial Anarchy: Beyond Dandyism,” The Heritage Studio, October 15, 2013.
Anulfo Baez, “Artist/Rebel/Dandy: Men of Fashion at the RISD Museum,” bigredandshiny.com, May 6, 2013.
568 West 25th Street New York, NY 10001 | Tel: +1 212 249 7695 Fax: +1 212 249 7693 www.LeilaHellerGallery.com
“Men’s Fashion Focus of Spring 2013 at The Museum of Art Rhode Island School of Design,” artdaily.org, May 1, 2013.
“Exhibitions on View” slideshow, nytimes.com, Arts, April 2013.
Bruce Pask, “Chronicling the Pioneers of Men’s Fashion,” The New York Times, Sunday, April 28, 2013.
Diane Pernet, “’Artist/Rebel/Dandy: Men of Fashion’ at the Museum of Art Rhode Island School of Design, Opening April 28,” dianepernet.typepad.com, A Shaded View On Fashion by Diane Pernet, April 23, 2013.
Bruce Pask, “Now Showing: ‘Artist/Rebel/Dandy: Men of Fashion’,” T Magazine, April 22, 2013.
Julia Parfenyuk, “Isn’t That Dandy,” The Genteel, April 16, 2013.
Bee-Shyuan Chang, “The Well-Trained Eye of an Art Historian,” The New York Times, Art + Style, April 12, 2013.
Robin Pogrebin, “No Longer a Man’s World,” Art Basel Miami Beach, December 2012.
“The 73rd International Best-Dressed List, 2012,” Vanity Fair, September 2012.
Gary Shapiro, “Fashion Goes Back to School at F.I.T.’s New Exhibit,” The Wall Street Journal, September 17, 2012. A26.
“Portrait of Jean Shafiroff,” Black Tie International Magazine, August 2012. Kerry Folan, “The 20 Best-Dressed Famous People in the World, According to Vanity Fair’s 2012 Best Dressed List,” racked.com, July 31, 2012.
Donatien Grau, “An Intellectual Fashion: Iké Udé,” Another Mag, July 17, 2012.
“On Your Plate,” NewYorkSocialDiary.com, May 17, 2012.
Daniel Reynolds, “Interview: The Difference Between Fahsion and Style With Iké Udé, Editor of the ‘Chic Index’,” GuestofaGuest.com, May 16, 2012.
Isabelle Edwards, “Photographer Iké Udé on Heritage, Inspiration and Hypocrisy,” concordy.com, May 3, 2012.
Joanne E. McFadden, “Photo Exhibition Challenges Stereotypes of African Life,” The Daily Gazette, April 12, 2012.
“Anarchists of Style: Iké Udé,” wornthrough.com, March 27, 2012.
568 West 25th Street New York, NY 10001 | Tel: +1 212 249 7695 Fax: +1 212 249 7693 www.LeilaHellerGallery.com
Diane Pernet, “Iké Udé, Self-Photographic Portraits and Sartorial Anarchy: May 19 - June 25th Stux Gallery, NYC,” dianepernet.typepad.com, A Shaded View On Fashion by Diane Pernet, May 15, 2011.
Glenn Adamson, “Commentary,” Art in America, March 2011.
Glenn Adamson, “Tsunami Africa,” artinamericamagazine.com, March 7, 2011.
Caroline Hirsch, “MAD Styles: The Global Africa Project,” The New Yorker, March 1, 2011.
Roberta Smith, “Visual Culture Spreading Out of Africa,” The New York Times, December 2, 2010. C25.
Nicole Asinugo, “The Jack of All Trades: Iké Udé,” naijaholic.blogspot.com, April 9, 2010.
Peter Davis, “Amy Fine Collins Sitting Pretty,” papermag.com, May 19, 2009.
Anna Battista, “Paris Hilton: Fantasy and Simulacrum by Iké Udé,” dazeddigital.com, April 2, 2009.
Ronen Shapiro, “Art Attack! Stuck Gallery: Paris Hilton...As Art,” fabricmag.com, December 12, 2008.
Cator Sparks, “Prêt-à-Party: The Iké Udé Book Launch,” TMagazine.blogs.nytimes.com, November 19, 2008.
“Iké Udé Sees Spirituality in the Sartorial, Lady Diana in Paris Hilton,” style.com, November 18, 2008.
Jared Paul Stern, “Kempt Man of the Hour: Iké Udé,” getkempt.com, March 28, 2008. Donald Odita, “Iké Udé: Celluloid Frames, Wessel O’Connor,” zingmagazine.com, 1996.
“Team Partycrash: aRude Party at Diane von Furstenberg’s Studio,” gawker.com, July 29, 2004.
568 West 25th Street New York, NY 10001 | Tel: +1 212 249 7695 Fax: +1 212 249 7693 www.LeilaHellerGallery.com