Artist: Muzae Sesay

Tiwani Contemporary presents the debut solo exhibition, Muzae Sesay: born on the earth.

born on the earth. is an ongoing, psycho-geographic assessment of the Earth we are placed onto and thus acts as a reflection of the artist's neighbourhood in Oakland, California as a metaphorical device inferring more universal sociological ideas. Each painting its own mundane romantic soliloquy built from an instinctive response that reflects on Sesay's daily interactions and thoughts about his community and the larger environment. Within this body of work, the juxtaposition of nature and built infrastructure helps illustrate a more complete idea of landscape in relation to the artist. A dark rhythmic pattern indifferent of morale or judgement emerges as a central device within Sesay’s work.

Critically on local and global levels, the omnipresence of deforestation and gentrification paired with a lack of direct agency has contorted changes in our environment as ‘natural’ phenomena. A pacifying feeling of ambivalence towards how to reckon with these changes is expressed by a sense of underlying love and hopefulness through a robust colour palette suppressed by shadow. Sesay’s scenery remains straddled between a fleeting sunset and a mysterious midnight hour. Philosophically, we ask what part does aestheticism and beauty play in his abstract compositions of these life-changing events?

About the artist:

Muzae Sesay (b. 1989, Long Beach, CA) has exhibited in group exhibitions at Yerba Buena Centre for the Arts, Museum of Sonoma County, San Jose Institute for Contemporary Arts, United Talent Agency Los Angeles, and the California Governor’s Mansion. His work is in the public collections of San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, de Young Museum, San Francisco Arts Commission, and Stanford Healthcare. He enjoyed a solo exhibition at SFMOMA titled Cut Trees in 2020. Public commissions include: Lake Merritt, Black Structures, and Colourful Streets, a 150’ x 100’ painted mural on 19th and Telegraph, Oakland (2021). Homecourt, two painted basketball courts at Rainbow Recreation Centre, Oakland (2019). I Love the Moon We Share, painted mural with Museum of African Diaspora and St. Vincent de Paul, San Francisco (2018). Where Community Happens, vitreous glass tile mural with San Francisco Arts Commission located in the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing, San Francisco (2019). Upcoming public art projects include: SFCTA Yerba Buena Island, West Side Bridges Retaining Wall (2027). SFAC/ SFMOMA Minna-Natoma Streetscape (2025). Sesay lives and works in Oakland, CA.