Marcus Leslie Singleton: Soiled Tennis Elbow 101
27 May – 13 June 2022 New York

  • Biography

    Portrait of Marcus Leslie Singleton by Elisabet Davidsdottir

    Marcus Leslie Singleton was born in Seattle, Washington in 1990. He attended the Seattle Art Institute in Seattle, Washington.

    Singleton's recent solo and group exhibitions include "New Steps" at the Contemprary Arts Center in Cincinnati, Ohio (2025); "Winter Atlantic Summer" at The Journal Gallery in Los Angeles, California (2024); “Return from Exile” at Mitchell-Innes & Nash in New York, New York (2023-24); “Press Release (Cycle VII)” at Storage Gallery in New York, New York (2024); “Soiled” at Tennis Elbow at The Journal Gallery in New York, New York (2022); ”Diagrams and Dilemmas” at Jupiter Contemporary in Miami Beach, Florida (2022); ”Future Memories” at TURN Gallery in New York, New York (2021); ”Shake Up The Room” at September Gallery in Hudson, New York (2021); ”Summer Sun” curated by The Journal Gallery at Van de Weghe in East Hampton, New York (2021); Tennis Elbow at The Journal Gallery in New York, New York (2020); “MEANWHILE...” at Brilliant Champions in Brooklyn, New York (2020); “Up Trying To Remember a Dream” curated by Lizzie Renfrew Vogt at SPRING/BREAK Art Fair with SKAVO Gallery in New York, New York (2020); “CIRCUSLAND” at Turn Gallery in New York, New York (2019); “BOILING POINT” at Superposition Gallery in Los Angeles, California (2019); and “Tell Me How Long the Train’s Been Gone” at Medium Tings in Brooklyn, New York (2018).

    Work by Singleton is held in the public collection of the San Antonio Museum of Art in San Antonio, Texas; the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Georgia; and the Portland Museum of Art in Portland, Maine.

    Marcus Leslie Singleton lives and works in Catskill, New York.

  • Works
  • Text

    Soiled

    This series of work was inspired and based on my personal archive. Referencing documents passed down to me by my grandparents, aunts and uncles. Old photos, letters, items, but predominantly and most importantly to me, their verbal storytelling. There are selected phrases from these stories embedded in the paintings like roots in the soil. These are the exchanges that develop culture—passed down generationally, through style, information, beliefs.

    Soiled attributes these personal histories which I’ve taken as my responsibility to tell and include within the larger canon of African American history: through Black traditional art making as a way of survival, taking note of the innovations that are ingenius in our culture, from Gee’s Bend Quilts to Hip Hop. I aim to connect these ideas with my own practice to create images that tell a story.

  • Q&A

    Your name  MLS

    Your current location  Greenpoint

    Your favorite pastime  Finding new music, riding my bike around the city, eating good food on a sunny day

    Something you like  Being in my studio

    Something you dislike  Dog shit on the sidewalk

    Your defining characteristic  Silliness

    What would someone close to you say is your defining characteristic  Silliness

    Your favorite artist  This answer will constantly change, right now it's between Clementine Hunter, Frank Walter and Alex Katz, but there are so many others.

    Favorite word or phrase  Each day you wake up is a great day

    What aspect of your work is most important to you  Storytelling

    Who do you admire the most and why  I admire my mother the most, she was the strongest most resourceful kindest person I had ever known.

    Your worst habit  Self-doubt

    The first thing you think of in the morning  Ahhhh. What needs to be done.

    What have you always wanted to do and have not done  Go in a submarine

    Your best decision  Coming to New York

    Your worst decision  Trying to reheat a burrito wrapped in tinfoil

    Your favorite street and why  Probably Eastern Parkway from end to end, lots to see and do on that street

    What has made you the person that you are  Resilience, radical self-acceptance, love and most of all God

    Something you treasure  My Super Nintendo, I've had it since I was 8 and still play it, come see me in Street Fighter! 

    What would the child you once were think of the adult you are now  That guy kinda looks like me. 

    Your greatest fear  Not exceeding potential

  • Installation Views
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