Jimmie Durham, Serpentine Gallery

While you might not have heard the name Jimmie Durham before, this activist turned artist turned poet is a radical force in the contemporary art world and pioneer of the American Indian Movement in the late 1970s.
Leading the charge at the Serpentine Galleries over Frieze and the autumn season is a major survey show of Durham's multi-dimensional practice, from sculpture and drawing to early works that have never been shown in the UK before. Challenging and provocative, Durham's work is difficult to appreciate, but taps into a world of conceptual art that subverts and mocks European history.
Jimmie Durham art & career
Born into a Cherokee community in Arkansas, Durham has always had an anarchical and political undertone to his work. With stellar shows around the world at the Venice Biennale, Whitney Biennale and Documenta, Durham has made a name with his playful agility and wry irony with words and materials. Crucially Durham is interested in the deeper meaning behind materials and how man made objects interact with culture. He often brings together disparate objects in his sculptural assemblages, from tv screens to PVC piping.
Serpentine Gallery exhibition 2015
We can expect controversy at Durham's Serpentine show, which will unpick the stereotypes and prejudices that lie beneath the surface of Western Culture. And while this is tricky contemporary stuff, Jimmie Durham's tongue-in-cheek play with materials and European history does have moments of joy such as the enormous pile of vivid oil barrels and spinning door that leads nowhere.
For a surprising and innovative taste of contemporary art this autumn, we recommend paying a visit to the Serpentine Galleries.