Derek Fordjour (born 1974) is an American interdisciplinary artist and educator of Ghanaian heritage who works in collage, video/film, sculpture, and painting. Fordjour lives and works in New York City.

Early life and education

Derek Fordjour was born in 1974 in Memphis, Tennessee. His parents were both Ghanaian immigrants. Fordjour received an MFA from Hunter College, an Ed. M in Arts Education from Harvard University, and a B.A. from Morehouse College. Fordjour is a member of the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity. He was commissioned by Alpha Phi Alpha to create a portrait entitled An Experiment in Brotherhood to commemorate the founding of the fraternity.

Career

He was appointed the Alex Katz Chair at Cooper Union in spring 2020, and since 2018 he has served as a core critic at Yale University School of Art. In 2014, Fordjour was working with sports imagery in his art, which served as metaphors for inequality. In 2020, his series of artworks in the exhibition titled "Shelter" were created during the self-quarantine period due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The works in "Shelter" examined the privileges of security as well as confinement. In 2021, the artist had a solo exhibition at Pond Society in Shanghai, China, where his paintings looked at the gamification of social structures and vulnerability. In these paintings, Fordjour incorporated layers of the Financial Times. On his use of the paper in his practice, Fordjour explained in Ocula Magazine: 'The Financial Times is making an effort to differentiate itself from the pool of other newsprints with its distinctive color. The idea of individuation—the desire to distinguish oneself in the face of being stereotyped or grouped—has a tension that I identify with.' His work has been exhibited in numerous venues, including the Contemporary Art Museum in St. Louis (2020), the Nasher Museum of Art (2019), and the Whitney Museum of Contemporary Art (2018–2019). He has received commissions for public projects, including a permanent installation for the Metropolitan Transit Authority of New York City at 145th Street Subway Station, and the Whitney Museum Billboard Project in 2018.

Personal life

In July 2022, Fordjour married Alexis Hoag-Fordjour at the Arthur Ross Terrace and Garden at Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in Manhattan.

Awards, honors, and collections

He was awarded the 2016 Sugarhill Museum Artist-in-Residence, the 2017 Sharpe Walentas Studio Program in New York City, and the 2018 Deutsche Bank NYFA Fellowship Award. His work appears in several public and private collections, including the Studio Museum in Harlem, Brooklyn Museum, Pérez Art Museum Miami Dallas Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Select exhibitions

Selected press and reviews