Lawrence Lemaoana at Frieze Randall’s Island.
Lawrence Lemaoana at Frieze Randall’s Island.
Image: Supplied

The last place you visited? New York and Chicago in the US. My partner, Mary Sibande, was invited by Columbia University as a resident artist, and I went to support her. I was also preparing for an exhibition at the 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair, where my work was being exhibited with Gallery Afronova.

What’s next? London in October for the 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair and possibly Venice for the Biennale.

Books and series you binged on your last flight? Netflix’s Star Trek: Discovery and Jacques Rancière’s The Future of the Image and Conceptual Art by Paul Wood.

Flying essential? My iPhone: I use it as a mobile visual studio. Oh, and two or three books on art.

Best African destination? Mozambique in my mid-20s. I spent some time in Inhambane and crazy nights in Maputo with artist Goncalo Mabunda.

Fave business-class lounge? Emirates.

The one restaurant you’d travel anywhere to eat at? Tasha’s.

Best meal you’ve ever eaten on a trip? It’s a tie between those at the Bus Stop Café in New York, Red Rooster in Harlem and Soho House in Chicago.

A great destination for foodies? New York is a place of pure abundance. I had the privilege of having my artist friend, Coby Kennedy, take me on a New York food tour, which was spread out from Brooklyn to Harlem.

The Venice Biennale.
The Venice Biennale.
Image: Getty Images

Most disappointing travel spot? Venice in general.

The biggest, best surprise? Taking the red bus tour in Chicago. The architecture and history is incredible.

Experiential travel jaunts that you’d recommend? Visit The Robotic Church by artist Chico MacMurtrie in Red Hook, New York.

Your best hotels? Hôtel Mathis in Paris, near the Champs-Élysées and The Mandarin Oriental in Washington DC.

Ideal relaxing getaway? Museum mile in Washington DC and cities that have a great number of museums, which are generally in the West — like Paris, London, and New York.

Soho House, Chicago.
Soho House, Chicago.
Image: Getty Images / Jeff Schear

Dirty-weekend destination? Bar-hopping Le Marais in Paris and eating the famous falafels while there.

Always essential shop stop? Busboys and Poets in Washington DC, which has the best combination of food and books.

Gallery to make a bee-line for? The Tate Modern in London; the Brooklyn Museum; the Studio Museum in Harlem (which is closed for the next two years because they’re building a new space); Queens Museum of Art and The Bronx Museum of the Arts; MoMA PS1, The Rain Room in Sharjah, UAE; The Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington and the Palais de Tokyo in Paris.

Solo Picasso exhibition at the Tate Modern.
Solo Picasso exhibition at the Tate Modern.
Image: Getty Images / Leon Neal

If money were no object, which holiday would you splurge on? I’d gallery and museum hop from East to West.

Gun to your head, the best place you’ve ever visited in your life? Unfortunately, it’s a place that I have never been — Japan. I have a longstanding crush on it because of anime, the film In The Realm of the Senses, the director Akira Kurosawa, sumo wrestling, the ceremonial way of life and the intensity of the clash between the private and public life, Haruki Murakami’s book Norwegian Wood, artist Nobuyoshi Araki, bondage, ramen, sake, kimonos, and geisha’s hair. But also Sweden in the winter, when Mary was about seven months pregnant. On the other hand, maybe Paris in 2006 when I stayed at the Cité Internationale des Arts. This feels like The Deer Hunter’s Russian roulette scene…

From the June edition of Wanted 2019.

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