On View: ‘Michael Armitage: Crucible,’ Paintings by Kenyan British Artist Explore Migration at David Zwirner in New York

MICHAEL ARMITAGE, “Don’t Worry There Will Be More,” 2024 (oil on Lubugo bark cloth, 67 x 87 inches / 170.2 x 221 cm). | © Michael Armitage, Courtesy the artist and David Zwirner

On View presents images from noteworthy exhibitions

THREE YEARS AFTER Michael Armitage (b. 1984) joined David Zwirner, his first solo show with the gallery was timed to inaugurate its latest New York space, a new 18,000 square-foot, Chelsea location designed by architect Annabelle Selldorf. Natural light flows into the gallery spaces, which the Kenyan British artist has filled with beautiful paintings about the trauma and tragedy of migration. The context couldn’t be further from the subject matter. An incredible storyteller who visualizes news reports and narrates imagined aftermaths, Armitage brings into sharp focus for the viewer the dignity, determination, and human toll of perilous journeys through the Sahara Desert and across the Mediterranean Sea en route to Europe.

“Michael Armitage: Crucible” features all new works, a dozen paintings and four bronze reliefs. The artist divides his time between Indonesia and Nairobi, Kenya, where he was born. For more than a decade, Armitage has employed a bark cloth from Uganda as his canvas. Harvested from Lubugo trees, the textile traditionally used in funerary rituals has smooth and textured areas as well as fissures, stitching, and wrinkles. The irregular surface adds to the character of his paintings, influences the compositions, and grounds the work in East Africa. “In my mind, what it does is locate the work very specifically in that part of the world,” Armitage said recently.* “Not only that, it puts it within a longer historical context context of cultural production.” CT

“Micheal Armitage: Crucible” is on view at David Zwirner Gallery, 533 19th Street, New York, N.Y., from May 8-June 27, 2025

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* Source: Michael Armitage’s quote about Lubugo bark cloth was drawn from a video the artist made with White Cube in 2022 (8:48)

Installation view of “Michael Armitage: Crucible,” David Zwirner, New York, N.Y. (May 8—June 27, 2025). | Courtesy David Zwirner

Installation view of “Michael Armitage: Crucible,” David Zwirner, New York, N.Y. (May 8—June 27, 2025). | Courtesy David Zwirner

MICHAEL ARMITAGE, “Europa,” 2025 (oil on Lubugo bark cloth, 59 1/4 x 39 3/4 inches / 150.5 x 101 cm). | © Michael Armitage, Courtesy the artist and David Zwirner

Installation view of “Michael Armitage: Crucible,” David Zwirner, New York, N.Y. (May 8—June 27, 2025). | Courtesy David Zwirner

Installation view of “Michael Armitage: Crucible,” David Zwirner, New York, N.Y. (May 8—June 27, 2025). | Courtesy David Zwirner

Installation view of “Michael Armitage: Crucible,” David Zwirner, New York, N.Y. (May 8—June 27, 2025). | Courtesy David Zwirner

Installation view of “Michael Armitage: Crucible,” David Zwirner, New York, N.Y. (May 8—June 27, 2025). | Courtesy David Zwirner

MICHAEL ARMITAGE, “The Trial,” 2024 (oil on Lubugo bark cloth, 78 3/4 x 59 inches / 200 x 150 cm). | © Michael Armitage. Courtesy the artist and David Zwirner

Installation view of “Michael Armitage: Crucible,” David Zwirner, New York, N.Y. (May 8—June 27, 2025). | Courtesy David Zwirner

Installation view of “Michael Armitage: Crucible,” David Zwirner, New York, N.Y. (May 8—June 27, 2025). | Courtesy David Zwirner

Installation view of “Michael Armitage: Crucible,” David Zwirner, New York, N.Y. (May 8—June 27, 2025). | Courtesy David Zwirner

FIND MORE about Michael Armitage on Instagram

BOOKSHELF
“Michael Armitage: Pathos and the Twilight of the Idle” was published in an oversized portfolio format earlier this year to accompany the artist’s 2023 exhibition at Kunsthaus Bregenz in Austria. The monograph “Michael Armitage: You, Who Are Still Alive” was published on the occasion of the artist’s exhibitions at Kunsthalle Basel (May-September 2022) and White Cube Bermondsey in London (September-November 2022). Also consider, “Radical Figures: Painting in the New Millennium.” The volume was published to coincide with an exhibition at Whitechapel Gallery that explores the work of 10 contemporary artists, including Cecily Brown, Nicole Eisenman, Sanya Kantarovsky, Tala Madani, Ryan Mosley, Christina Quarles, Daniel Richter, Dana Schutz, Tschabalala Self, and Michael Armitage, whose work is featured on the cover of the catalog.