One of the main concepts in Tschabalala Self’s practice is that one's identity is a reflection of many aspects and formed through a host of varying experiences. “Some aspects are inherent, while other aspects are experience-based,” the artist tells Artspace.
Self, who lives and works in Hudson Valley, New York, constructs depictions of predominantly female bodies using a combination of sewn, printed, and painted materials, traversing different artistic and craft traditions. The formal and conceptual aspects of her work seek to expand her critical inquiry into selfhood and human flourishing.
Now, Artspace, in partnership with Performa, is pleased to announce a new limited edition print by the artist, entitled The Actress Alexis, 2024. Self’s new edition embodies her signature style, characterized by bold colors, dynamic forms, and profound narrative depth. The exclusive edition comprises ten unique prints, each with hand-painted finishes.
The layered technique used to create the edition underscores Self's multidisciplinary approach but also her long-standing connection to printmaking in her practice.
The Actress Alexis, 2024 is a portrait of Alexis Cofield, one of the principal actors in Self’s experimental play Sounding Board, commissioned for Performa in 2021. The play explores themes of intimacy, control, and interpersonal relations as they intersect with race and gender.
The edition is printed on archival pigment print and screen printed with hand-applied acrylic paint and oil pastel on Hahnemühle Hemp 290gsm paper. It measures 20 1/4 x 16 inches and is signed and dated by year on the back. It is $12,500
TSCHABALALA SELF - The Actress Alexis, 2024
Photography Nir Arieli
Tschabalala Self's work has garnered significant recognition in recent years and has been included in prestigious exhibitions that have toured internationally such as the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Barbican Centre, London and The Brooklyn Museum, New York.
In the remainder of 2024, Self will be honored at the Swiss Institute and the Hirshhorn Museum. She is currently the subject of a solo exhibition at the Espoo Museum of Modern Art, Finland; and is the recipient of the 2026 Fourth Plinth Commission to create a new public installation in London’s Trafalgar Square.
Proceeds from the sale of The Actress Alexis, 2024 will benefit Performa - founded in 2004 by art historian and curator Roselee Goldberg - and support its mission to award and produce commissions that result in performances by exceptional American and international contemporary artists. We asked Tschabalala Self about the edition and her wider practice.
TSCHABALALA SELF - The Actress Alexis, 2024
Photography Garrett Carroll
The edition is called The Actress Alexis. You obviously worked with Alexis Cofield in Sounding Board. What attracts you to her as the subject for an artwork? I cast 4 actors for the Sounding Board performance, commissioned by Performa in 2021. I drew portraits of each actor to better understand their role and their personality for the production. Those sketches were then used to create four, large scale paintings. The edition for Performa is based off of the painting inspired by Alexis Cofield made in 2021.
The title ‘The Actress Alexis’ suggests you’ve homed in one of her talents but she’s also a musician and a writer too. Was that a conscious decision to highlight one element of her being? I’m mostly familiar with Alexis in the context of her acting, given her participation in Sounding Board. I also am fascinated by the idea of an actress because it’s a person that is consciously taking on the role of a character. Characters and character development are an important aspect of my overall practice.
TSCHABALALA SELF - The Actress Alexis, 2024
Photography Garrett Carroll
What do you look for in the figures you paint? A sense of spirit? A look? A symbol of something? What sparks your initial interest? The initial interest can be sparked by any number of things. I would say that all of those various aspects of a person that you mentioned are of interest to me and I pull from them for inspiration.
What sort of relationship do you have with the characters in your paintings? Do they form and reveal themselves to you as you work, or do you know who they are before you create them? I would say I have a very intimate relationship with the figures in my paintings; but it’s also a mysterious relationship. The mystery is because they continue to unfold themselves to me, even after the making has been completed.
Sometimes, if I come across a work I made several years ago, I can discover something about the character, the work, and myself at the time of making.
TSCHABALALA SELF - The Actress Alexis, 2024
Photography Nir Arieli
How does your signature style come through in this edition, and what elements should we pay particular attention to? This edition is based on a drawing that was then translated into a painting, and then a painting that has now been translated into a print, you can see all the different modalities in which I work. Even though I describe myself as a painter, the work really utilizes various mediums.
What do people who buy your paintings and editions say to you about them? People say a lot of different things to me about my work. Sometimes they share personal stories about how some of the content in the work has helped them get through a difficult experience or has reminded them of a forgotten memory. Sometimes people talk to me about the political aspects of the work, and how it has shifted, or expanded, their understanding of people who they associate with the subjects in my practice.
I hear a range of different things—I find it the most exciting when people have a personal revelation after experiencing my work, or after they have lived with an artwork for a period of time.
TSCHABALALA SELF - The Actress Alexis, 2024
Photography Garrett Carroll
Practice is incredibly important to you; can you take us through a typical gestation of one of your works? Is there a common way they unfold, and is the process of making art a happy one for you? The process of making artwork can sometimes be difficult. It is a creative process, so it is a mixture of many different kinds of experiences. It’s not just one sole experience. Usually most of my projects start with an idea or a feeling, and then it’s a matter of how I can transmute that feeling or idea into a tangible reality.
You’ve said that your work is very anecdotal, ‘based on experiences, hearsay even’. Critics are keen to label their own meanings on to it, do you ever feel overwhelmed by others desire for you to be the eyes and ears of a generation? I don’t feel like I am the ears and eyes of a generation. I feel that I am telling a story about how I perceive the world at this one particular moment in time and I’m thankful when people are interested in hearing my perspective and my opinions.
I’m open to critiques on my work. It can sometimes be frustrating if I feel as though the critic is completely removed from the subject matter and viewing it solely through preconceived notions. But overall, I’m open to all ideas and perspectives—because I acknowledge that my work has its own life outside of my own intentions.
Tschabalala Self signing the edition - photography Nir Arieli
How have you changed, or how have your attitudes to your work changed or evolved over the years? I think I’ve just changed. I first started showing my work when I was 25 and now I’m 34, so I guess there are the typical changes from that time frame one would expect a person to have.
Each year with my practice, and just for myself as an individual, I am trying to find more nuance. I am trying to look at things more deeply, trying to find more gray areas between ideas and trying to be less rigid.
There is a certain kind of effortlessness to your work that makes it sometimes appear to have almost always been there. Are you conscious of the work having that quality? And, if so, could you hazard a guess as to where that quality might emanate from?
I believe the work definitely does have that quality and I think it’s a quality that I’ve cultivated in the fashioning of the works.
I like the idea that the works feel as if they already existed. It reminds me of a quote by Michelangelo, “the sculpture is already complete within the marble block, before I start my work. It is already there; I just have to chisel away the superfluous material.” I feel similarly about the fashioning of my works, and the creation of my paintings. I believe they already exist within the material and I'm simply bringing their reality to light.
TSCHABALALA SELF - The Actress Alexis, 2024
Photography Garrett Carroll
You’ve spoken about Faith Ringgold as well as artists such as Romare Bearden, Jacob Lawrence, Nancy Spero, and Clementine Hunter as influences. What would you say these artists share with each other? I would say that all of these artists really understand the symbolic power of the body when it is essentialized into a shape.
Are there ideas you’re currently investigating to make us look at your work more deeply. I feel that all of my work, even the work I made when I was a child, has the same ‘prompt’. I guess the questions that the art poses are equally for the viewer as they are for myself. My practice and the artwork are really a means of self-discovery.
Finally, where do editions such as this one fit into your practice? An edition like this allows many individuals to live with the same or similar artwork, which then allows many meditations on one singular concept.
Tschabalala Self signing the edition - photography Nir Arieli
TSCHABALALA SELF - The Actress Alexis, 2024
Photography Garrett Carroll
TSCHABALALA SELF - The Actress Alexis, 2024
Photography Garrett Carroll
TSCHABALALA SELF - The Actress Alexis, 2024
Photography Garrett Carroll
TSCHABALALA SELF - The Actress Alexis, 2024
Photography Garrett Carroll
TSCHABALALA SELF - The Actress Alexis, 2024
Photography Garrett Carroll
TSCHABALALA SELF - The Actress Alexis, 2024
Photography Garrett Carroll
