News Gideon Appah Awarded Inaugural Watermill Center Visual Arts Fellowship Published Thursday, Jun 27, 2024 The Watermill Center, a laboratory for the arts and humanities founded by Robert Wilson, is delighted to announce the exhibition of new works by painter Gideon Appah (b. 1987, Accra, Ghana), resulting from his participation in the inaugural Watermill Center Visual Arts Fellowship––a new residency supported by Pace Gallery and Mitchell-Innes & Nash. The exhibition will be on view at Watermill’s Annual Summer Benefit, which will take place on Saturday, July 27, 2024, on the organization’s 10-acre flagship Hamptons grounds.Appah was co-selected by all three institutions for this fellowship, which will consist of a 6-week residency on-site at The Watermill Center. He will create a series of new works that will be seen for the first time at Watermill's Annual Summer Benefit and available via private sale. The exhibition will remain open to the public through October 12. This is not the first collaboration between The Watermill Center and Pace Gallery: their longstanding collaboration includes Watermill’s awarding of an Inga Maren Otto Fellowship to Pace artist Robert Nava in 2022 and Pace’s role as the global representative of the estate of Paul Thek, whose work is held in The Watermill Center collection.Exhibitions at The Watermill Center highlight the work of artists from across the globe, allowing each to present a body of work within a setting that fosters and celebrates creative freedom. Prior to Appah, recent exhibited artists have included Paul Thek, Christopher Knowles, Regina José Galindo, and Robert Nava just to name a few. Watermill's exhibitions reflect the spirit of innovation and experimentation that is core to Watermill and its global programming. Appah’s Watermill exhibition offers the local, national and international community the opportunity to explore how a new environment may inform his practice. Deeply rooted in technique, Appah draws on childhood memories, dreams, West African landscapes, mythologies and popular culture to create his vibrant paintings. Appah’s singular implementation of mythological imagery and fauvist color makes his work utterly original, reflecting The Watermill Center’s commitment to innovation, imagination, and a global perspective.Appah’s exhibition will open at the Watermill Center’s Annual Summer Benefit, an immersive one-of-a-kind experience for distinguished guests to explore over 20 site-specific performances and installations by a roster of groundbreaking international artists. This year’s gala honors the legendary dancer and choreographer Lucinda Childs, whose modernist sensibility with movement revolutionized the world of dance, and also celebrates the inaugural Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels Partnership, which will include a new dance fellowship launching in 2025. The theme of this year’s benefit is A Laboratory: 100 Years of Experimentation, a nod to the building's origin as the Western Union Water Mill Lab, today a laboratory for the arts and humanities. Wilson purchased the abandoned property in 1989 with a vision for a new kind of laboratory: a place of inspiration and a home for future generations of artists.To learn more, visit (opens in a new window) watermillcenter.org. Read More Journal View All Artist Projects Pace Playlists: Gideon Appah Aug 02, 2024 Pace Publishing Gideon Appah: The Play of Thought Apr 26, 2024 Pace Live Watch James Massiah and Yen-Ching Lin's "Night Vision" Jun 14, 2023 Films Explore "How to Say Sorry in a Thousand Lights" with Gideon Appah and Ekow Eshun Apr 12, 2023 News — Gideon Appah Awarded Inaugural Watermill Center Visual Arts Fellowship, Jun 27, 2024