Standard Talks x ALMA: Frieze Edition
Standard Talks x ALMA: Frieze Edition
NO BAR
Wed. May 1, 5:30 - 7:30 p.m.
Standard Talks is back! The Standard is continuing their panel series with a talk around Frieze New York, hosted in partnership with ALMA Communications.
We invite you to an evening of conversation about artist Diedrick Bracken's creative practice, on the occasion of his new Jack Shainman exhibition, blood compass. Diedrick will be in conversation with curator Essence Harden.
Diedrick Brackens is known for his innovative textile-based artworks that blend various cultural and historical influences, including West African weaving techniques, European tapestries and Black American quilting traditions. "blood compass" is on view at Jack Shainman Gallery from April 25 - June 1.
5:30PM | Doors Open
6:00PM | Panel Conversation Begins
7:00PM | Post-Conversation Cocktails Mingling
7:30PM | Event Concludes
Make a night out of it - stay over afterwards
More on Standard Talks: Let’s talk about it. Standard Talks is our reoccurring cultural forum where we invite the world’s leading thinkers, doers and creators to talk it out at The Standard. They bring their biggest ideas and best takes to intimate panel discussions. Talks cover topics ranging from art and fashion to science, politics, and entrepreneurship. Over cocktails (or coffee), guests sit back and absorb, ask questions, and make new connections. The Standard Talks program launched in 2012 and has featured the likes of Benedict Cumberbatch, Lady Fag, Abi Morgan, Keira Knightley, and more.
More on ALMA Communications: ALMA Communications is a boutique, New York City-based PR agency operating at the intersection of contemporary art and social change. The team at ALMA approaches communications with an emphasis on collaboration and humanism, treating each project with the utmost care. Over the years, the company has grown into a team with diverse backgrounds in the arts and beyond, working with a mix of mission-driven artists, galleries, institutions and organizations, including Antwaun Sargent, Hannah Traore Gallery, ICA San Francisco, Miles Greenberg, Nicola Vassell Gallery, PATRON Gallery, The New Museum, and Tyler Mitchell.
More on Essence Harden: Essence Harden is the co-curator of Made in LA, 2025, curator of Frieze LA, Focus 2024, and a visual arts curator at the California African American Museum. Essence has curated exhibitions at The Orange County Museum of Art (OCMA), Art + Practice, Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (LACE), Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD), Human Resources (Los Angeles), and Oakland Museum of California, amongst others.
Essence is a contributor to New York Times Magazine (2024), The Los Angeles Times Magazine: Image, SSENSE, Art21, Contemporary Art Review LA (CARLA), Artsy, LALA, Cultured Magazine, Performa Magazine, and SFAQ: International Arts and Culture and has written catalog entries for California Biennial: Pacific Gold; Made in LA: Acts of Living; Prospect 5: Yesterday we said tomorrow; Brave New Worlds: Exploration of Space: Palm Springs Art Museum; and What Needs to Be Said: Hallie Ford Fellows Exhibition. Essence has also served as an art consultant for film and television.
Essence is a 2018 recipient of The Creative Capital, Andy Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant, and a 2020 Annenberg Innovation Lab Civic Media Fellow.
More on Diedrick Brackens: Diedrick is known for his innovative textile-based artworks that blend various cultural and historical influences, including West African weaving techniques, European tapestries and Black American quilting traditions. His use of materials is notable for its symbolism, employing both commercial dyes and unconventional colorants such as wine, tea and bleach—adding deep layers of meaning to each tapestry through vibrant approaches to color. He also foregrounds the significance of materials like cotton, carrying in each thread the diasporic histories of the transatlantic slave trade.
Diedrick’s creations often incorporate cosmographic abstractions and figurative narratives, weaving together elements of both lived experience and allegory. The works in blood compass mark a new point of departure, exploring darker themes by probing the realms of ritual, myth and religion.
"blood compass" features a profound new selection of woven works by artist Diedrick Brackens, on view from April 25th-June 1st at Jack Shainman Gallery.
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