Michael Armitage

You, Who Are Still Alive

Installation view, Michael Armitage, You, Who Are Still Alive, Kunsthalle Basel, 2022, view (f. l. t. r.) on, Personal Thoughts (Asshole), 2021; The Perfect Nine, 2022; Warigia, 2022. Photo: Philipp Hänger / Kunsthalle Basel

Installation view, Michael Armitage, You, Who Are Still Alive, Kunsthalle Basel, 2022, view on,

Mother’s Milk

, 2022. Photo: Philipp Hänger / Kunsthalle Basel

Installation view, Michael Armitage, You, Who Are Still Alive, Kunsthalle Basel, 2022, view (f. l. t. r.) on, Witness, 2022; Cave, 2021; Forest, 2022. Photo: Philipp Hänger / Kunsthalle Basel

Installation view, Michael Armitage, You, Who Are Still Alive, Kunsthalle Basel, 2022, view (f. l. t. r.) on, Holding Cell, 2021, and, Witness, 2022. Photo: Philipp Hänger / Kunsthalle Basel
Installation view, Michael Armitage, You, Who Are Still Alive, Kunsthalle Basel, 2022, view (f. l. t. r.) on, Three Boys at Dawn, 2022, and, Holding Cell, 2021. Photo: Philipp Hänger / Kunsthalle Basel
Installation view, Michael Armitage, You, Who Are Still Alive, Kunsthalle Basel, 2022, view on, You, Who Are Still Alive, 2022. Photo: Philipp Hänger / Kunsthalle Basel
Installation view, Michael Armitage, You, Who Are Still Alive, Kunsthalle Basel, 2022, view (f. l. t. r.) on, Ciru (Kericho January 2008), 2022, and, You, Who Are Still Alive, 2022. Photo: Philipp Hänger / Kunsthalle Basel
Installation view, Michael Armitage, You, Who Are Still Alive, Kunsthalle Basel, 2022, view on, Curfew (Likoni March 27, 2020), 2022. Photo: Philipp Hänger / Kunsthalle Basel
Installation view, Michael Armitage, You, Who Are Still Alive, Kunsthalle Basel, 2022, view (f. l. t. r.) on, Dead Soldiers, 2022, and, Curfew (Likoni March 27, 2020), 2022. Photo: Philipp Hänger / Kunsthalle Basel
Installation view, Michael Armitage, You, Who Are Still Alive, Kunsthalle Basel, 2022, view (f. l. t. r.) on, Dandora (Xala, Musicians), 2022, and, Amongst the Living, 2022. Photo: Philipp Hänger / Kunsthalle Basel
Installation view, Michael Armitage, You, Who Are Still Alive, Kunsthalle Basel, 2022, view on, Head of Koitalel, 2021. Photo: Philipp Hänger / Kunsthalle Basel

Exhibition poster for You, Who Are Still Alive by Michael Armitage, Kunsthalle Basel, 2022. Design: Dorothee Dähler

Exhibition text (PDF)
Press images (ZIP)

Kenyan-born artist Michael Armitage (* 1984) creates an ambitious group of new works as the focus of his first exhibition in Switzerland. The moody, sumptuously layered figurative paintings draw equally from past and current events, recollections and mythology, popular culture and art historical references. What results are haunting and provocative reflections on politics, history, civil unrest, and humanity.

Press clippings:
Michael Armitage tells urgent stories in art, The Economist (07/2022)
Der kenianisch-britische Künstler Michael Armitage in Basel, Badische Zeitung (06/2022)
Out in the open: Michael Armitage on how the pandemic led him paint en plein air, The Art Newspaper (06/2022)
Michael Armitage erzählt Geschichten, SRF (06/2022)
Wie dieser Maler die Kunstwelt aufmischt, SRF (05/2022)
Im Dienste des Pinsels: Michael Armitage, Radio X (05/2022)
Michael Armitage zeigt Basel die Schattenseite der Farben, bz Basel (05/2022)