• Description
  • Artist
  • Terms

On the occasion of Hérvé Télémaque’s first exhibition in the UK in 2021, A Hopscotch of the Mind. Serpentine, Aspen Art Museum and Verlag der Buchhandlung Walter und Franz König have co-published this new catalogue.

This is one of the first major catalogues on Hérvé Télémaque’s work to be published in English and includes newly-commissioned texts that trace Télémaque’s six decades of work through an art historical lens, while also providing new perspectives on his work that draw upon its literary, political, historical and theoretical underpinnings. Richly illustrated and designed by Zak Group, it includes contributions by C.C. McKee, Helen Marten, Lyonel Trouillot, Françoise Vergès, Sarah Wilson, and an interview between Hervé Télémaque and Serpentine Artistic Director Hans Ulrich Obrist.

Academic C.C. McKee draws on their specialism in the art and visual culture of the modern Atlantic world in order to read Télémaque’s work through a psychoanalytic lens and the context of Haitian art. Artist Helen Marten and writer Lyonel Trouillot have composed thoughtful and poetic responses to Télémaque’s work, suggesting new points of entry into the artist’s oeuvre. Political scientist Françoise Vergès uses the artist’s recurring motif of the open mouth as a starting point for a meditation on Haitian history and the politics of anti-Blackness, while art historian Sarah Wilson’s text contextualises Télémaque’s practice within the wider European artistic scene. The book also includes an extended interview with the artist, bringing together two rich conversations with Hans Ulrich Obrist, as well as sections comprising selections of the artist’s writings and works on paper.

Please note that customers outside of the UK may be required to pay import VAT and/or customs duty to their local courier company before receiving the goods.

Hervé Télémaque

See more products by   Hervé Télémaque

Hervé Télémaque (b. 1937 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti), Télémaque left for New York in 1957 entering an art scene dominated by Abstract Expressionism. In 1961, he moved permanently to Paris, associating with the Surrealists and later co-founding the Narrative Figuration movement in France with art critic Gérald Gassiot-Talabot and artist Bernard Rancillac. A reaction against the dominant trend towards Abstract art and the developing movement of Pop art in North America, Télémaque’s Narrative Figuration often results in works with a Pop sensibility that incorporate consumer objects and signs. The artist then inflects these images with an astute criticality, producing work in dialogue with current events, such as the Cold War, the Cuban missile crisis, US intervention in the Dominican Republic, and contemporary French politics. 

Télémaque has a vehement commitment to highlighting the histories and contemporary resonances of racism, imperialism and colonialism remains a constant throughout his career, with works that intimate the insidious ways that these structures continue to permeate our everyday lives. In later works, Télémaque refers more directly to his Haitian heritage and experience as part of the Caribbean diaspora.

Terms and Conditions

By purchasing Serpentine Limited Editions you are agreeing to theseterms and conditionsof sale.

All sales of our Limited Editions go towards our programme, by purchasing a Serpentine Limited Edition you are ensuring Serpentine can remain free and open to all. Please contact editions@serpentinegalleries.org for further information.

As a result of the new Brexit rules and regulations, VAT is now calculated in the checkout section in your cart and is dependent on the shipping destination.

Please note that customers outside of the UK may be required to pay import VAT and/or customs duty to their local courier company before receiving the goods.

You may also like