ShowUp presents Secret Garden: BareFruit23, a pop-up exhibition by Marlon Forrester
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 28, 2025, Boston – ShowUp is pleased to announce its upcoming pop-up exhibition Secret Garden: BareFruit23, featuring a new body of artwork by Marlon Forrester. Secret Garden: BareFruit23 will run from September 5-28th, 2025. An opening reception will be held on Friday, September 5, 2025 from 5pm to 8pm.
In this pop-up exhibition, Boston artist Marlon Forrester combines Black male figures and Baroque architecture to consider themes of colonialism, forced labor, sports, and what it means to build sacred places. The artworks combine painting and collage to create richly layered imagery, holding space for the various ways these conceptual frameworks intersect, and asking the viewer to do the same. This show is happening in conjunction with Forrester’s permanent public art installation at Dewitt Playground in collaboration with Studioluz Architects called P.L.AY., opening to the public in September 2025.
“ShowUp is delighted to have the opportunity to feature an artist who is shaping the creative landscape of our city,” says ShowUp executive director Christine O’Donnell. “Forrester’s work is a testament to his virtuosity, and this tightly curated exhibition is an excellent entry point for those looking to get to know the artist better, or for longtime fans of his work to enjoy his newest series.”
ShowUp is open Thursdays - Saturdays 12-5 and Sundays 11-4. An opening reception for Secret Garden: BareFruit23 will be held on Friday, September 5th, 2025 from 5pm to 8pm.
About the Artist
Marlon Forrester, born 1976 in Guyana, South America, is an artist and educator raised in Boston, MA. He is a recipient of the 2021 James and Audrey Foster Prize and his work is in the collection of the ICA/Boston. Forrester is a graduate of School of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, B.A 2008 and Yale School of Art, M.F.A. 2010. He is a resident artist at African American Masters Artist Residency Program (AAMARP) adjunct to the Department of African-American Studies in association with Northeastern University. He worked previously as a painting lecturer at SMFA (2016-2019) and has shown both internationally and nationally. His current body of work explores how through media, Pop Culture, and advertisement the black male body is commodified through the sport of basketball. Utilizing his concept of “disequilibrium” he works to deconstruct the rites and rituals found within the game and life through his drawings, paintings, performance and large-scale installation.
About ShowUp
ShowUp is a 501(c)(3)-designated art activism-focused nonprofit exhibition space in Boston’s South End. ShowUp supports high-potential, talented artists whose work is underrepresented in traditional exhibition spaces due to systemic shortcomings. We focus on delivering transformative experiences for artists and the public through our “Three Es": Exhibitions, Education, and Engagement.
Its mission is to
CONNECT artists to local communities and beyond
AMPLIFY artists and their voices
PROVIDE artists tools for self-sufficiency
EMPOWER artists and curators to experiment, learn, and have meaningful exchanges
Learn more on its website and Instagram.
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