Adam Pendleton - What is the Black Dada

Adam Pendleton’s What is the Black Dada (2020) continues his acclaimed exploration of language, abstraction, and cultural history. Produced with transferred pulp on handmade cotton paper, the work presents bold stenciled text that resonates with Pendleton’s larger conceptual project Black Dada. By merging references to avant-garde movements and Black cultural narratives, the piece challenges viewers to reconsider the intersections of art, identity, and politics. Issued in an edition of only 35, each work is hand-signed and numbered by the artist.

Adam Pendleton, a conceptual artist based in New York, is celebrated for his dynamic, multi-disciplinary approach that utilizes a stark black-and-white palette. His artworks draw on influences from Dada, Conceptualism, Minimalism and the Black Arts Movement, presenting them through a distinct graphical lens. Pendleton’s practice spans painting, collage, appropriation, film, text, printmaking, and installations, all aimed at recontextualizing historical narratives. By breaking down conventional historical categories, he seeks to “imagine alternate presents” and challenge traditional perceptions. In his seminal Black Dada manifesto of 2008, Adam Pendleton articulated his vision of history as “an endless variation, a machine upon which we can project ourselves and our ideas… it is our present moment.” Under the rubric of Black Dada, he investigates the intersections of Blackness, abstraction, and the avant-garde, exploring their entangled histories. Pendleton describes Black Dada as a fluid framing device that enables “a way of talking about the future while talking about the past. It’s about looking at Blackness as an open-ended idea that is not just related to notions of race.” Pendleton’s artwork, including his limited edition prints and paintings, serves as a powerful medium for this exploration, offering viewers new ways to engage with and understand the complexities of identity and historical narrative. Through his innovative use of various artistic mediums, Adam Pendleton invites audiences to consider broader, more inclusive perspectives on the past and its impact on contemporary cultural and social landscapes. Pendleton’s artwork has been exhibited internationally, notably at The Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Walker Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; the Deutsche Guggenheim, Berlin; BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead and the Tate Liverpool. Adam Pendleton was born in Richmond, Virginia (USA) in 1983.