KADIST x 8-bridges Initiative

As part of the 8-bridges and KADIST joint initiative, KADIST will dedicate a portion of its annual budget to acquire a work by an artist not yet represented in their collection from one of the galleries exhibiting on 8-bridges. Additionally, KADIST will host the selected artist for a short-term residency in San Francisco to develop artistic research and professional networks locally. The initiative aims to support the San Francisco Bay Area arts community.

For the inaugural year of this initiative, KADIST is pleased to announce that they have acquired the work Too Many Names (2020) by Troy Lamarr Chew II, who is represented by one of the 8-bridges founding galleries, Altman Siegel.  

Former KADIST San Francisco director Marie Martraire states: “We salute the 8-bridges initiative and send our gratitude for the collective energy put into our new collaboration and for their role in supporting new talent in the arts ecosystem. It was hard to choose among several great works presented and we’re excited that the KADIST collection will be enriched thanks to their artists.”

Born and raised in California, Troy Lamarr Chew II explores the legacy of the African Diaspora and its reverberations throughout American culture. His work looks methodically at systems of coded communication and how this is translated and mistranslated both within the Diaspora and the mainstream. A highly skilled realist, inspired by Western painting techniques, Chew uses these art historical traditions to reframe their exclusion of Blackness. 

KADIST is pleased to support 8-bridges and Troy Lamarr Chew II’s The Roof is on Fire at Altman Siegel, an exhibition of new paintings enhanced with augmented reality. As part of the KADIST x 8-bridges Initiative, Chew recorded much of the original augmented video content as artist-in-residence at KADIST San Francisco. The Roof is on Fire is on view from January 6–February 19, 2022.

About 8-Bridges

Eight bridges connect the San Francisco Bay, so it is an apt name for a gallery platform that brings the Bay Area art world together.  8-bridges mission is to maintain a vibrant gallery scene, despite restrictions on travel, celebrations and other larger gatherings. We want to support our artists by informing and entertaining curators, collectors and critics with potent online exhibitions of their work.  

For more information, please contact 8-bridges at info@8-bridges.com