Steve Turner is pleased to present Breaking Tradition: Late 20th Century Malian Wedding Textiles, an exhibition featuring eight brightly colored strip-woven, figurative textiles that, to our knowledge, is the first exhibition to focus solely on the subject. Representing a dramatic break with this centuries old tradition in Mali which historically favored indigo and white cotton or brown wool blankets, these works present a new approach to the genre of wedding textiles. Depicting people and animals, they were used to adorn the walls of houses during weddings and as covers for the newly imported iron beds. Following the 1968 military coup, soldiers also became a prevalent theme. Similar works have been included in overview exhibitions of African textiles, including the often-cited exhibition Art of African Textiles, ( Barbican Art Gallery, 1995), which featured one of the artists included here, Oumar Boucoum. Three weavings by Boucoum, member of the second generation of Fulani wedding weavers, are presented in Breaking Tradition. Strong examples by five other weavers reveal that the movement was more widespread than previously thought and that more scholarship is necessary. Little is known about the weavers beyond the fact all were men and that all were members of “Maabo,” the Fulani caste of griots and praise singers. In presenting the first survey of Malian wedding textiles, we acknowledge the inspiration of two New York galleries, Julien Levy Gallery (1931-1949), and Edith Halpert’s Downtown Gallery (1926-1968). Both of these galleries were pioneers in exhibiting contemporary art along with folk art, as does Steve Turner. - Steve Turner is pleased to present Hot Throb, a solo exhibition featuring new paintings by New York-based Adam Linn that depict contorted bodies and familiar objects such as stiletto shoes, locks and animal appendages as throbbing lifeforms. With Linn’s cartoon-inspired, bulging, distorted and candy-colored imagery, he animates the nonhuman. Navigating the space between recognizability and ambiguity Linn addresses themes of sex, power, gender and representation while charting out a future for queer figuration. Adam Linn (b. 1995 Pittsburgh) received a BFA in Printmaking from the Rhode Island School of Design (2017) and an MFA in Visual Arts at SUNY Purchase (2024). He has had solo exhibitions at Steve Turner, Los Angeles (2023); Marvin Gardens, New York (2023) and JPS Gallery, Hong Kong (2022) and has presented work in group exhibitions at Hexum Gallery, Montpelier, VT (2024); Plato Gallery, New York (2024); Steve Turner, Los Angeles (2022) and Martha’s Contemporary, Austin (2022). He lives and works in New York. - Steve Turner is pleased to present Trenza, a solo exhibition by Florine Imo which features new paintings that depict her braided hair and that of her friends and are inspired by themes of interconnectedness, collectivity and sharing. “Trenza,” Spanish for braid, is a potent symbol in the Mexican culture of her boyfriend where it represents indigenous heritage and femininity. According to Imo, “Braiding each other’s hair is a source of comfort and it represents our interwoven lives. Nothing exists in isolation. Every action affects the whole. One is all, and all is one.” Florine Imo (born 1995, Vienna) earned a combined BA and MA from Vienna Academy of Art (2023). She has had solo exhibitions at Steve Turner, Los Angeles (2023); Hew Hood Gallery, London (2023) and LBF Contemporary, London (2024). Her works have also been included in group exhibitions at ALBA Gallery, Vienna; JPS Gallery, Tokyo; Shin Haus, New York; MISA, Mallorca; Weserhalle, Berlin and Gallery Zherro, Paris. Imo lives and works in Vienna and London. - Steve Turner is pleased to present The best of all possible worlds, the debut solo exhibition for Bucharest-based Remus Grecu which features new paintings that depict idyllic scenes and the radiant beauty of a central female character. They are filled with light, happiness and beautiful color through depictions of rich silk garments, ripe fruit, blue skies and snow-capped mountains. They were inspired by Renaissance paintings which have luminous color as well as compositions that combine interiors with windows onto the outside world. The woman in Grecu’s paintings is inspired by Cunegunde, a character from Voltaire’s Candide that symbolizes the ephemeral nature of youthful beauty. According to Grecu, these paintings are a counterpoint to the deeply flawed world we now inhabit, my vision of the best of all possible worlds. Remus Grecu (born 1976, Constanța Romania) earned a BA at the University of Arts, Bucharest (2001) and has had solo exhibitions in Bucharest, Ghent, Copenhagen, Stockholm and Frankfurt between 2009 and 2022. His work has been included in recent group exhibitions at Plato Gallery, New York (2024) and IOMO Gallery, Bucharest (2024). This is Grecu’s first solo exhibition at Steve Turner and his first in the United States.