Major coup for Plymouth as National Portrait Gallery exhibition heads to The Box

A major international exhibition, featuring some of the hottest names in contemporary art heads to The Box from the National Portrait Gallery this month for its only UK showing outside London.

The Time is Always Now: Artists Reframe the Black Figure, which received five-star reviews during its London run, will be free to visit in Plymouth despite costing £16 in the capital.

It features nearly 50 works of sculpture, painting and drawing by 22 of the UK and USA’s most important living artists, including Turner Prize winner Chris Ofili and Amy Sherald, official portraitist to Michelle Obama. The exhibition is curated by writer Ekow Eshun, formerly of The Face and Arena magazine, and will travel to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, USA after its showing in Plymouth.

“The Time is Always Now is a celebration of some of the most exciting artists who are working today and we are thrilled to be sharing such a significant exhibition with audiences in the South West,” said Victoria Pomery, CEO at The Box. “Visitors will be able to see large-scale, dazzling works that ask highly relevant questions about race, identity and history. In London it was a paid-for show, but we’re really pleased to be able to make it free for everyone to see while it’s in Plymouth.”

The Time is Always Now is divided into three distinct sections. At The Box it starts in the beautifully restored St Luke’s church with a series of works that look at ideas of being and belonging. From fragmented portraits with large, abstract facial features to dreamlike paintings created from memory or imagination, it explores how artists see themselves as well as how they are seen and framed by others.

The exhibition continues in The Box’s main building where visitors will first encounter a striking new work by Thomas J Price. As Sounds Turn to Noise (2023) depicts a powerful larger than life female figure and comments on the under representation of Black people within art history and how they are memorialised.

The Time is Always Now then moves to two galleries on The Box’s first floor. The first contains a series of works connected by the themes of assembly and gathering. Here, huge paintings show domestic and public spaces – capturing experiences of life in homes, gardens, barbershops and nightclubs. They include works by 1998 Turner Prize winner Chris Ofili, 2017 Turner Prize nominee Hurvin Anderson and Grenada-born Denzil Forrester, who now lives and works in Cornwall.

The final section of the show looks at the presence and absence of Black figures in art history, with works that recreate historic portraits with unknown people, or restage important but overlooked historical events to draw attention to stories that have been forgotten or removed. Artists to look out for include 2017 Turner Prize winner Lubaina Himid and 2023 Turner Prize nominee Barbara Walker.

“This is an exhibition that brings together some of the most important artists of our age; artists who are not only encouraging us to ask questions and look at history differently, but who are also reinvigorating figurative art,” continues Victoria. “We can’t wait to welcome as many visitors as possible to see this landmark exhibition. As the title suggests, there’s never been a better moment to display it.”

The Time is Always Now will launch with a special in conversation event with curator Ekow Eshun from 11am-12pm on Saturday 29 June. Tickets (£10 standard / £8 members) are available from The Box’s online and onsite shops.

The exhibition will inspire a series of family-friendly arts and crafts workshops on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays throughout the summer holidays. The free drop-in sessions begin on Tuesday 23 July and run until Thursday 29 August. A Bitesize talk on Wednesday 24 July, from 1pm-1.45pm, will delve deeper into the exhibition’s themes and artworks. Full details are available from the ‘What’s On’ section of www.theboxplymouth.com.

An exhibition catalogue by Ekow Eshun with essays from a range of contributors including Man Booker prize-winning author Bernardine Evaristo, and a publication called Reframing the Black Figure: An Introduction to Contemporary Black Figuration, also by Ekow Eshun is on sale in The Box’s onsite and online shops.

The Time is Always Now: Artists Reframe the Black Figureruns from 29 June - 29 September 2024. The exhibition is open from 10am-5pm Tuesday to Sunday and Bank Holiday Monday (26 August 2024). Admission is free and there’s no need to book.