Victoria Miro will present Send in the Clowns, a major new solo exhibition of paintings by Brooklyn-based artist Khalif Tahir Thompson, opening in London in October 2026.
Marking the gallery’s first solo presentation since announcing its representation of the acclaimed young painter, the exhibition explores memory, identity and Black American life through richly textured domestic scenes inspired by family archives, Y2K culture and personal history. Layering collage, symbolism and vibrant colour, Thompson creates emotionally resonant works that blur the boundaries between portraiture, storytelling and collective memory, confirming his position as one of the most compelling emerging voices in contemporary painting. Send in the Clowns takes its title from the 1973 theatrical ballad written by Stephen Sondheim and famously sung by Jazz vocalist Sarah Vaughn.
It was amidst the global COVID-19 pandemic that Thompson first began delving into his family archives, seeking inspiration. After his maternal grandmother Betty passed away in 2006, her boxes of family photo albums were placed into storage for sixteen years until Thompson’s sister was able to make the road trip from New York to Florida to retrieve them. These images provided comfort and reprieve from the chaos and uncertainty of that time. What started as a small group of paintings honouring his familial ancestry evolved into a series that probed his interest in storytelling and artistic languages found within art history.
In these new paintings, Thompson takes direct inspiration from Y2K Black American aesthetic, creating scenarios from his own childhood growing up in Brooklyn and today. The subjects range from his older siblings to unknown characters drawn from his family archive. By layering memory with imaginative elements, Thompson extends these narratives beyond personal history to explore the passage of time and nature of introspection.
Layered, too, is the painting surface – with collaged elements including paper and fabric, along with improvised arrangements of letters and numbers. As the curator Debbie Meniru noted, ‘As with the other collaged elements, they challenge the illusory space of the painting, making its physicality come to the fore. These symbols aren’t supposed to be deciphered. They force us to look beyond our desire to decode. To me, they seem like signs of life or perhaps an untold story, while Thompson has described them as “visual noise”. Like musical notes, they bring rhythm and sound to the paintings. Not a clear 4/4 beat but moments of syncopation, heady emotional swells and quiet refrains. They suggest more is at play than we are able to comprehend just by looking. Thompson asks us to imagine too.’ The artist states, ‘I believe painting can be a tool in considering the emotional and psychological complexity of an individual’s story and identity. Creating imagery that connects one to the realm of another, I alter perception and invoke empathy towards my subjects, depicting their reality across a visceral lens.’
The phrase “send in the clowns” is a metaphor for bringing in comedic relief or distractions when a plan fails or a situation turns chaotic. For me, it resonates deeply: it reflects the layered facets of my life and experiences, the ways we deploy humour to mask vulnerability, and it speaks to how I respond to tragedy.” Khalif Tahir Thompson
Khalif Tahir Thompson: Send in the Clowns is at Victoria Miro, 16 Wharf Road, London from 8 October until 7 November, 2026. Find more information here.
