Humanity is not a completed project.

It is a bold move, even provocative and unlikely to go without criticism, to mount an exhibition of the American artist Jimmie Durham. When he died at 81 in Berlin in 2021, he was more embraced and admired in Europe than back in the US, where discussion is sucked back to whether he was or wasn’t entitled to say he was part-Cherokee and be an activist for the rights of Native Americans, a role he once held quite successfully for many years … until he didn’t. His work was/is sometimes seen as a bit racist for referring to the (claimed) size of his very own, possibly part-Cherokee, penis. What can you safely talk about these days?

Jimmie Durham Self-Portrait (detail), 1987

But in bella Napoli he had and has a bella figura, at least spiritually speaking, something of a love affair with the city that now continues thanks to the wonderful Madre museum giving him a first major posthumous show in its palazzo. For a man who was quite the joker and provocateur on many fronts, this would amuse. Failed at home, never more feted abroad.

Self-Portrait Pretending to Be a Stone Statue of Myself, 2006

This show is worth getting along to for the location alone: Naples is a living museum to be enjoyed as a spicy accompaniment to Durham’s work. In the historic center, where Madre discreetly lurks, all around is a mass of graffiti, an outpouring of provocative art that is both disgraceful and strangely uplifting. Jimmie must feel very much at home.

For those wanting a more considered critical note, consider how Durham really messes with our ideas of identity and authenticity, personal and political. He is a trickster whose work may be upsetting to prevailing normative values but whose methods can be learned from for sure. He could certainly produce work to get noticed and sell his ideas. Or, at least, his thoughts. Respect the style, even as you might interrogate the content.

Exhibition runs until 10 April 2023 at Museo Madre, Naples

Typical Naples street rich with ‘unapproved’ mixed-media