A collaboration between Kienzle Art Foundation, Berlin (GER), The Gerald Jackson Trust, Rai Alexandra, Gordon Robichaux, New York (US).

„The Kienzle Art Foundation is pleased to announce, KEEP LOOKING: Works from 1978–2025, the first solo exhibition in Europe by Gerald Jackson (b. 1936, Chicago, USA.) The exhibition is guest curated by Matthew Higgs, Director of White Columns—New York’s oldest alternative art space—where Jackson had a solo exhibition in 2021. […] Jackson has, over the past seven decades, worked fluidly between painting, sculpture, assemblage, collage, drawing, fashion, music, poetry, and performance. Keep Looking, titled after the 1988 song by the British group Sade (one of Jackson’s favorites), is a focused survey of his work made from the late 1970s to the present.

[In the 1960s, Gerald Jackson moved from Chicago to New York and became part of the vibrant art and jazz scene centered around Slugs’ Saloon. Deeply influenced by the interplay of art, music, and urban life, he developed a multifaceted body of work that blends social realities with personal expression. Until 2002, he lived and worked in a loft on the Bowery—at the heart of a creative community and in the midst of the city’s stark social contrasts.
Spanning seven decades, Jackson’s practice is shaped by a philosophical and political approach that reflects his lived experiences with poverty, racism, and violence. With poetic force, he transforms everyday remnants into meaningful art, reinterprets cultural and spiritual forms, and explores color and light as forces of healing and transcendence.]

Keep Looking is structured around four related series: Skid works (1980s onward); spray-painted and stenciled works (1970s onward); Jackson’s ongoing explorations of language and color (1980s onward); and a group of innovative hand-made clothing works (1970s onwards).

Each of the galleries at the Kienzle Art Foundation is connected by the presence of a mannequin outfitted in one his functional clothing works. These outfits—adroitly described in 2003 by the art dealer Jack Tilton as “chop and paste clothing” and as a form of “three-dimensional funk”—were often worn by the artist, as can be seen in Peter Bellamy’s 1987 portrait of Jackson in his studio […] . As the critic Roberta Smith observed in 2021 writing in the New York Times: Multicultural in their references and dazzling in their colors, these garments suggest a global sophistication. They are made for citizens of the world.”

Text: Matthew Higgs
Full text – pressrelease (pdf)

Our heartfelt thanks to Rai Alexandra, whose energy, care, and behind-the-scenes magic brought this exhibition to life. And with deep gratitude to The Gerald Jackson Trust, Gordon Robicheaux, New York and Parker Gallery, Los Angeles for their dedicated commitment and invaluable support, and to all our lenders.

Gerald Jackson (*1936, Chicago) currently lives and works in Jersey City, New Jersey, USA. Since the late 1960s, he has been one of the important voices in American art, engaging with issues of identity, social realities, and cultural expression. From 1968 to 1990, he was represented by Allan Stone Gallery, New York, and has since exhibited in numerous other galleries, including Strike Gallery, Rush Arts Gallery, and Tribes Gallery.
His works have been exhibited at prestigious institutions such as the MoMA, Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Hammer Museum, and are part of many significant collections. In 2022, the Kienzle Art Foundation featured Jackson’s works in the group exhibition The Fiction of Property.
Recent solo exhibitions include Gordon Robichaux, New York (2021, 2025), Parker Gallery and Marc Selwyn, Los Angeles (2022), White Columns (2021), and Kenkeleba Gallery (2020).
A comprehensive interview with the artist, conducted by his friend Stanley Whitney, was published in 2012 as part of BOMB Magazine’s Oral History Project and is available online.

Image at top: Gerald Jackson, Untitled (Josephine Baker), 2021, reactive dye inkjet print on cotton twill, paint marker and acrylic matte medium, 171 x 140 cm. © The Gerald Jackson Trust. Courtesy of Gordon Robichaux, New York and Parker Gallery, Los Angeles, 2025. Foto: Ryan Page