R.I.P. Germain’s practice is anti-didactic, sitting instead in a baggy space of iteration, loose attempts at classification, description and discussion that remain resistant to comfortable moral certainties, or stable meanings and values. Demonstrating an application of the tools and logics of artmaking, and the development of a visual language applied to topics that are routinely flattened – whether it is to glamorise or demonise – R.I.P. Germain seeks to unpick and analyse, and provide some cognitive space around the hyperobjects of Black culture. Suspicious of stable meaning making, R.I.P. Germain’s interests lie with uncovering things that may be uncomfortable, while resisting the urge to over explain or claim authority. The multidimensionality and possible inversions of perspective inherent in the work are then techniques to question where priviledge lies, and ask us to personally examine our subject position and how we might have arrived at the place we have.
R.I.P. Germain has exhibited internationally and recent exhibitions include; Avangarda, a solo show at SculptureCenter, New York (2024); FUBU A/W 23, a solo show at Goswell Road, Paris (2023); Artists' Film International 2023, a group show launching at Whitechapel Gallery, London, and then moving on to 18 other partner organisations around the globe; “Jesus Died For Us, We Will Die For Dudus!”, a solo show at ICA, London (2023); Cubitt 30, a group show presented by Cubitt at Victoria Miro in London (2022); The Exhibition Formerly Known As “Trace Image” at Deborah Schamoni, Munich (2022); Shimmer, a solo show at Two Queens in Leicester, UK (2022); Four Bedrooms With An En Suite, A Garage & Garden In A Nice Neighbourhood, a solo show at V.O Curations in London (2022); Supastore Southside, Slingbacks & Sunshine, a group show hosted by Sarah Staton at South London Gallery (2022); Ways Of Living #2, a group show presented by Arcadia Missa at NICO in Bari, Italy (2021); Dead Yard, a solo show at Cubitt in London (2020); Double 6 with Ashley Holmes in the former courtroom at Leeds Town Hall in Leeds, UK (2019); and Gidi Up, a solo show at Peak in London (2018). R.I.P. Germain was the recipient of the ICA Image Behaviour 2022 prize, which culminated in his first short film premiering at the ICA in 2022.
