Derek Fordjour: FUMBLE
September 23 – November 22, 2026
Gallery Hours: Wednesday – Sunday, 2PM-6PM
Opening Celebration
Sunday, October 4 from 2PM-6PM
Free and open to the public
Public Conversation
Power, Practice, Purpose: Contemporary Art and Civic Life
Sunday, October 4 at 3PM
Free and open to the public
NXTHVN is thrilled to announce Derek Fordjour: FUMBLE, a solo presentation of works by NXTHVN’s 2026-2027 visiting artist, Derek Fordjour. FUMBLE revisits the emerging moment of a nascent career: Derek Fordjour’s The Big Game, a 2014 exhibition where the artist first introduced the allegory of sportsmanship as analogous to artistic pursuit. Both art and sport offer no utility beyond spectatorship; however, the significance of their social value is well established. The artist and athlete wholly devote themselves to pursuing mastery, yet both are acutely vulnerable to calamity.
FUMBLE considers the irony of unfortunate missteps. Each artwork pays tribute to the lessons espoused by NXTHVN, an institution that empowers emerging and underrepresented artists through the professional development of mentorship, community, strategy and more—all in an effort to withstand challenges. Fordjour posits that recovery from the FUMBLE becomes the defining characteristic of an enduring career.
In conjunction with the exhibition, a public conversation with Derek Fordjour featuring MacArthur Fellows Titus Kaphar and Dr. Imani Perry will take place on Sunday, October 4, coinciding with the opening celebration of the exhibition, FUMBLE. This program provides a focused discussion on artistic practice, narrative power, and the role of artists in civic life. The discussion will address how artists shape public understanding, how personal and collective histories inform creative work, and how institutions can better support emerging talent.
About Derek Fordjour
Derek Fordjour was born in Memphis, Tennessee to Ghanaian parents. He is the recipient of the 2025 Gordon Parks Foundation Artist Fellowship, the 2023 St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital Spirit of the Dream Award, and the 2022 Alliance for Young Artists & Writers Alumni Achievement Award. He has previously served as the Alex Katz Chair in Painting at Cooper Union, and a Visiting Critic at Yale and Columbia Universities. He has received public commissions for High Line Art and MTA’s Arts & Design program in New York City, and MOCA Grand Avenue in Los Angeles. Fordjour’s work is held in notable public collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, Guggenheim Museum, and The Royal Collection in London among others. His work has been reviewed in numerous publications including The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Financial Times. A monograph of his work is forthcoming by Phaidon in 2027. He is a graduate of Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, earned a Master’s Degree in Art Education from Harvard University and an MFA in painting from Hunter College. In 2021 he founded Contemporary Arts Memphis, a youth-based arts organization in his hometown.
About the Visiting Artist Program
NXTHVN’s Visiting Artist Program is designed to enrich our arts ecosystem by inviting world-class artists to be in dialogue with our fellows, apprentices, and broader New Haven community. The Visiting Artist has a deeper engagement with our organization by spending an extended amount of time at NXTHVN, through multiple visits, to interact with fellows in their studios, lead a workshop of their choosing with our fellows, facilitate a session for our high school apprentices, and give a talk that is open to the public.
Image caption: Derek Fordjour, Highstep Fumble, 2022. Acrylic, charcoal, cardboard, oil pastel, and foil on newspaper mounted on canvas, 85 x 65 in. Private collection.