On November 6, 2023, renowned artist Derek Fordjour '01 was recently named a Hirshorn 2023 New York Gala Artist honoree.
The New York Gala is a rare occasion in the art world where artists come together to celebrate each other while raising vital funds for the Hirshhorn Gallery’s year-round free education and art programs.
The Gala honored an extraordinary group of artists who share an appreciation for one another’s work and thinking. These artists represent the interdisciplinary, intergenerational, and global depth of the art world today.
Fordjour earned a BA at Morehouse College before receiving an MEd in Arts Education at Harvard University and an MFA in painting at Hunter College. He was recently appointed the Alex Katz Chair at Cooper Union and serves as a Core Critic at the Yale School of Art. He was named the 2016 Sugarhill Museum Artist-in-Residence and the 2018 Deutsche Bank NYFA Fellow.
Recently one-person exhibitions were held at the Pond Society, Shanghai; Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis; and Petzel Gallery, New York. His work is included in the collections of the Brooklyn Museum; Dallas Museum of Art; Guggenheim Museum, New York; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Pérez Art Museum Miami; The Studio Museum of Harlem, New York; and Whitney Museum, New York among others. The Metropolitan Transit Authority of New York commissioned Fordjour to create a series of mosaics for Manhattan’s 145th Street subway station which were unveiled in 2018.