Welcome to LACE

Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions

  • Programs
    • Projects
    • Emerging Curator Program
    • Apprenticeship
    • Lightning Fund
    • Se habla español
  • Archive
    • Archive
    • Publications
  • About
    • Visit
    • History
    • Ethos
    • Board of Directors
    • Team
  • Support
    • Benefit Art Auction
    • Give Now
    • Membership
    • Supporters
    • Special Editions
  • Shop
    • Online Shop
You are here: Home / LACE / 2015-2019 / Jibade-Khalil Huffman: Verse Chorus Verse

Jibade-Khalil Huffman: Verse Chorus Verse

IF THIS MEANS YOU

Header Image: IF THIS MEANS YOU, 2016, single channel video, color, sound, 5 minutes 45 seconds.

Opening reception: Wednesday June 29, 2016
Exhibition dates: June 30-August 14, 2016
Performance: Thursday July 28, 2016, 7:30PM

For his summer residency at LACE, Los Angeles based artist Jibade-Khalil Huffman presents a newly commissioned multimedia installation that explores the subject of spectatorship, systems of display, and narrative making.

Verse Chorus Verse is comprised of a suite of formally connected works concerned with the question of perception by exposing and foregrounding systems of image-making and storytelling. Here, the projector serves as a stand-in for the act of uncovering certain narratives. Huffman layers and complicates methods of display in order to create a space that favors no one part, where hierarchies are leveled, and the process of storytelling bears equal weight to the story told.

Colliding various strategies—the tracking shot in Hollywood cinema, the compacted narrative of music videos, and the nostalgic voice of television, and seductive imagery from advertising—Verse Chorus Verse considers the way in which form and mechanisms of display construct their own narratives, and shape how and what we collectively consume as the only story.

Drawing on his background in poetry, Huffman’s work plays with the meaning-making capabilities of image and text. His videos experiment with timing and pace to build suspense and skew expectations, while his poetry challenges syntax and style to explore the malleability and inaccuracy of language. His recent works appropriated familiar cinematic strategies, including the title sequence, subtitles, music cues, camera zoom-ins, that hold the story together and strategically evoke emotion.

MORE ABOUT THE ARTIST?
Jibade-Khalil Huffman uses performance, photography, and video that pushes the capabilities of text and image to tell stories and convey meaning. Drawing on his background in poetry, Huffman plays with timing and pacing in his visual work to tease out suspense, tension, expectation, and release. He is the author of three books of poems, including his most recent publication “Sleeper Hold” (Fence, 2014). His art and writing projects, spanning photography, video, performance and poetry, have been exhibited and performed at MoMA/PS1, Mt. Tremper Arts, and Scaramouche, New York; Machine Project, Public Fiction, Night Gallery, and Eighth Veil, Los Angeles; and Southern Exposure, San Francisco. His other exhibitions include “Third Person” with Anthony Pearson at Marianne Boesky, “The Four People You Meet at Every Drug Deal” at Samuel Freeman, and his presentation at the 2014 Made in LA Biennial at The Hammer Museum. A graduate of Bard College and Brown University, he holds an MFA from the University of Southern California, and lives and works in Los Angeles. Huffman is currently artist in resident at the Studio Museum in Harlem.

Curated by LACE Assistant Director Shoghig Halajian.

SUPPORT
The LACE Summer Residency is made possible by a grant from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Arts, the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, and the National Performance Network: Visual Artists Network (VAN).

Read Artforum’s review of Verse Chorus Verse

Read Frieze’s review of Verse Chorus Verse

All installation photos by Chris Wormald.

Filed Under: 2015-2019, Exhibition, Installation, LACE, Video Tagged With: 2016, Exhibition, installation, Jibade-Khalil Huffman, Verse Chorus Verse

Visit

TEMPORARY OFFICE LOCATION
6464 Sunset Blvd.
Ste. 1070
Los Angeles, CA, 90028

tel: 1(323)250-0940
info@welcometolace.org

LACE recognizes our presence on Tovaangar, the unceded ancestral lands of the Gabrielino-Tongva people who are its rightful caretakers.

Lace Logo

Follow

JOIN OUR MAILING LIST

GIVE NOW

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • Vimeo
  • YouTube

News

Announcing the 2025 Lightning Fund and Jacki Apple Awards

“Beatriz da Costa: (un)disciplinary tactics” named Best Art by The New York Times

“Beatriz da Costa: (un)disciplinary tactics” Featured in The New York Times

More News

LACE (Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions)

welcometolace

Please join us in welcoming two new members to the Please join us in welcoming two new members to the LACE team! 

 🌟 LACE’s new Communications + Event Coordinator, Ida Tongkumvong is a Los Angeles-based arts administrator and marketing professional with a passion for expanding access to the arts and fostering inclusivity within creative spaces. She holds a B.A. in Communications from UCLA. Her previous roles with Sounding Point, the LA Phil, and CAP UCLA deepened her commitment to broadening arts access through strategic partnerships, inclusive programming, and dynamic storytelling. With a keen interest in public art and community-based initiatives, Ida brings a thoughtful and collaborative approach to audience development and creative event planning within L.A.’s contemporary arts landscape. Outside of work, you’ll often find her at a flea market or estate sale, always on the hunt for a one-of-a-kind find.

 🌟 LACE’s new Production + Operations Coordinator, Johnny Young began making his mark on the Los Angeles arts scene as Gallery and Programming Manager for the Juicy Beats Artist Exchange Lounge in 2000. He has worked with the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), where he played a key role in production and management for their First Fridays program; he was also selected for the prestigious Diversity Apprenticeship Program (DAP) at The Broad, a competitive initiative aimed at training the next generation of museum and gallery professionals from underrepresented communities. Johnny brings a sharp eye for detail, a commitment to equity in the arts, and a dedication to amplifying voices that challenge the boundaries of convention.
Did you get your tickets for “This Home, Forever Did you get your tickets for “This Home, Forever” happening this weekend? “This Home, Forever” is a stage, a forum, and a dynamic workshop nurtured by a group of artists and activists devoted to and inspired by Los Angeles. Learn more and get your tickets at the link in our bio. 

Held on the rooftop of the historic Bendix Building, performances will be presented with a 180 degree view of downtown Los Angeles. See performances by: @0ll668, @perras.bravas, @lapovertydepartment, @michelelorusso, @pacoimatechno, @jakioeoeo. 

Behind-the-scenes photos by @andreuuua  @selene__preciado and @abwyman
We’re still reminiscing about “ENDURANCE,” w We’re still reminiscing about “ENDURANCE,” which took place Saturday and Sunday, May 16–17. The series celebrated elder artists and their longstanding committment to their practices, through both performances and interdisciplinary work. Swipe through to see portraits from the two evenings, taken by Ray Barrera (@dreamfishcommuter).

Support LACE’s future, free public programs by making a donation at the link in our bio.

Performers pictured, in order of appearance: Hirokazu Kosaka, Awilda Sterling-Duprey (@awildasterling), Sheree Rose (@msrosebush), Sharon Kagan (@sharonkagan), Anna Homler with David Javelosa and Jeff Schwartz, Gloria Enedina Álvarez, Oguri, The Dark Bob, Barbara T. Smith and Ulysses Jenkins, Alice Bag (@alice_bag), Kid Congo Powers (@kidcongopowers), and Kamau Daáood.
Don’t miss the two-day series “This Home, Fore Don’t miss the two-day series “This Home, Forever” happening June 7-8, curated by LACE 2025 Emerging Curator Nahui Garcia. Held on the rooftop of the historic Bendix Building, these performances will be presented with a 180 degree view of downtown Los Angeles. Reserve your ticket to this (free!) event at the link in our bio.

Get to know the artists:

🔷 @0ll668 is an American interdisciplinary artist exploring spirituality, mythology, and cosmogony through the digital age.
🔷 @perras.bravas is a border-based collective in Ciudad Juárez created in 2020. 
🔷 @lapovertydepartment creates performances and multidisciplinary artworks that connect the experience of people living in poverty to the social forces that shape their lives and communities. 
🔷 @michelelorusso explores language as an active device, where the performativity of words not only structures reality but also exposes its limits, contradictions, and possibilities for escape. 
🔷 @pacoimatechno channels the energy of local histories, industrial landscapes, and late-night warehouse functions.
🔷 Jaklin Romine (@jakioeoeo) confronts the intersection of feminist ideals that are formed by her identity as a disabled, queer, latinx, POC, living in the Southern California landscape.

Photo: @gb_mouth
Follow on Instagram

Copyright © 2025 Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions