Rudy Loewe is a visual artist engaging social histories, politics and Caribbean folklore through painting and drawing.
2023 Biennial Year Find out more
Recent exhibitions include Unattributable Briefs: Act One, Staffordshire St (2022); Unattributable Briefs: Act Two — Celebration, Orleans House Gallery (2023); New Contemporaries,Humber Street Gallery & South London Gallery (2022); NAE Open 22, New Art Exchange (2022); and The Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy (2021). Loewe has a current solo show ‘A Significant Threat’ at VITRINE, Fitzrovia, until 10 August 2023.
Loewe graduated in 2018 with an MFA from Konstfack, receiving the RektorStavenowska award for academic excellence. In 2021 Loewe was Artist In Residence at the Serpentine Gallery alongside their collaborator, Jacob V Joyce. Loewe began a Techne funded practice-based PhD at the University of the Arts London in 2021, examining Britain’s role in suppressing Black Power movements in the English-speaking Caribbean during the 1960s and 70s. This work uses recently declassified records from The National Archives as source material for painting and drawing.
Loewe has been a member of three collectives: Collective Creativity (UK), Brown Island (Sweden) and Grounding Future(s) (Sweden).
Liverpool Biennial 2023
'The Reckoning' (2023)
Rudy Loewe presents a new large-scale installation based on the artist’s painting ‘February 1970, Trinidad #1′, which depicts Moko jumbie (a stilt walker) and other Carnival mas players (participants who wear masquerade costumes and march in the parade) coming to the aid of the people at a moment of Black Power revolution in Trinidad and Tobago.
For Liverpool Biennial 2023, these spirits are transported to the site of The Old Dock, constructed in the 18th century. Here, they confront Britain’s colonial legacy which reverberates into our present. The piece harnesses the natural elements of light and wind to playfully demand attention, casting shadows on this history and the reckoning that is yet to happen.
The work also engages with the Sailors’ Home
Rudy Loewe presents a new large-scale installation based on the artist’s painting ‘February 1970, Trinidad #1′, which depicts Moko jumbie (a stilt walker) and other Carnival mas players (participants who wear masquerade costumes and march in the parade) coming to the aid of the people at a moment of Black Power revolution in Trinidad and Tobago. For Liverpool Biennial 2023, these spirits are transported to the site of The Old Dock, constructed in the 18th century. Here, they confront Britain’s colonial legacy which reverberates into our present. The piece harnesses the natural elements of light and wind to playfully demand attention, casting shadows on this history and the reckoning that is yet to happen. The work also engages with the Sailors’ Home Gateway, located on Paradise Street, a freestanding monument to the since demolished Liverpool Sailors’ Home. The Home operated as a sanctuary for sailors passing through the city and provided affordable accommodation as well as educational and recreational opportunities. Loewe aims to visualise Black histories and social politics through their work, particularly focusing on a critique of Britain’s role in suppressing Black Power organising in the English-speaking Caribbean during the 1960s and 70s. ‘The Reckoning’ acts as a portal to imagine and learn about these histories; it is a manifestation of power, but not the kind that oppresses. Produced for Liverpool Biennial 2023, with support from Liverpool ONE.
'The Reckoning' (2023)
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Rudy Loewe, The Reckoning, 2023. Installation view at Liverpool ONE, Liverpool Biennial 2023. Photography by Rob Battersby. Courtesy Liverpool Biennial
