An Interview with… Ed Cross, founder of Ed Cross Fine Art
Fifteen years ago, Ed Cross founded Ed Cross Fine Art to work with emerging and established artists across and beyond the African diaspora, establishing his leading role in amplifying historically silenced voices, and creating a space for their independent development. In the years following its launch in 2009, Ed Cross has held exhibitions across the world, from New York to Paris, and London to Lagos. The recent milestone of Ed Cross’ 15th anniversary was marked by the opening of 15, a retrospective exhibition of works by eighteen artists reflecting on both the past achievements and future possibilities of the gallery.
Below, we ask Ed Cross five questions about himself, Ed Cross Fine Art, and his most recent trip to Morocco for the 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair in March 2024.
What is on your bookshelf?
I would like to return to my peak reading days of my youth. Recently, I’ve discovered how to make my iPhone an ally to the cause as opposed to its sworn enemy, so currently I am reading Anne Tyler’s French Braid in bed, courtesy of my iPhone torch. Ironically, this is a very Anne Tyler-ish thing to do.
If you could host anyone at a dinner party, who would you invite?
For dinner, I would invite my long-dead English Gaucho horseman godfather Eddie Shephard and his old school friend David Niven, along with Ralph Richardson, Maggie Smith, Judy Dench and Tems, the Nigerian afrobeats superstar.
Ed Cross and gallery director Emily Watkins at Ed Cross Fine Art, 19 Garrett St., 2023.
Ed Cross Fine Art represents contemporary artists, but if you had the chance to stage a historical exhibition, what would be its focus?
Funnily enough, we had a really interesting show recently for Teresa Roza D’Oliveira: the Mozambican artist who died a few years back. If I was to go in a historical direction, I would probably look at the Senegalese “modernists” including Iba N’Diaye.
Artists from Africa and the African diaspora are now receiving long overdue recognition and demand from collectors. With this growing market for their work, how have you seen your role evolve?
My role initially was to be one of those helping to push the African contemporary art snowball to the point where it started to gain serious momentum. I’m less concerned with the “category” per se now, and my role is, as always, to try to best discover, nurture, present and contextualise brilliant and potentially mind-altering works of art.
After attending the 1-54 Contemporary African Art fair in Marrakech in February, what were your favourite memories from the fair?
I went to Marrakech wearing my curatorial advisor hat for an exciting new Tokyo-based Africa/Japan residency and gallery project called SpaceUn. One of the highlights was the friendly and delicious dinner we threw for the project at my old friend Vanessa Branson’s El Fen Riyad.
15 is on show at Ed Cross Fine Art, 19 Garrett Street, until the 20th of April, so make sure to catch the exhibition in its final days! Their forthcoming exhibition Pippa El-Kadhi Brown: Haunt will be on view from April 25th to June 1st, 2024.
Anya Paintsil, Self Portrait, 2018, Latch hooked acrylic, wool, cotton and kanekalon hair and human hair on rug hooking canvas. 15, Ed Cross Fine Art.
Ed Cross, Ed Cross Fine Art. Photo by Dola Posh, 2019
