G.A.S. Foundation is pleased to welcome Moses Hamborg, a Los Angeles-based painter and recipient of the G.A.S. Fellowship Award 2026, for an eight-week at the G.A.S. Farm House in Ikiṣẹ. Working at the intersection of figurative painting and material research, Moses’ practice explores how identity, environment, and perception are shaped through both image-making and the substances that constitute it. His recent work extends beyond representation into an inquiry into pigment itself, positioning material as both medium and subject.
During his residency, Moses will undertake a sustained investigation into earth pigments, with a particular focus on kaolin. His approach combines field research, material collection, and studio experimentation. In the early stages of the residency, he will engage with local communities, including miners, vendors, artisans, and cultural practitioners, to understand the ecological, cultural, and economic contexts surrounding the extraction and use of kaolin and related pigments. These encounters will inform a broader mapping of the material’s pathways, from source to application. This fieldwork will transition into a period of studio-based experimentation, in which Moses will process the collected pigments and test their properties across a range of binders, surfaces, and techniques. Through this process, he aims to build a working material archive, documenting variations in texture, opacity, adhesion, and colour stability. The final phase of the residency will see the development of a new body of paintings that respond to the relationships between landscape, material origin, and identity.
Moses Hamborg residency is generously supported by the Terra Foundation for American Art. To find out more about supporting G.A.S. Foundation, click here.
Kumba, oil on canvas. Image courtesy of the artist.
What is the current focus of your creative practice?
I am currently developing oil paintings that explore themes of identity, performance, and transcendence. My work often considers how the body moves through physical and emotional landscapes. I recently completed a residency and exhibition in Abidjan, where I explored the experience of love through movement, creating portraits of individuals in various modes of transportation. This project deepened my interest in how environment, gesture, and narrative intersect within figurative painting.
Moses Hamborg at work in his studio during a live painting session. Photo: Philippe-Alexandre Aka-Adjo.
What drew you to apply for this residency and how do you think it will inform your wider practice?
I am drawn to this residency as an opportunity to deepen my engagement with materiality, particularly within a specific cultural and geographic context. The support and framework offered by G.A.S. Foundation in Nigeria present a meaningful environment for research-driven work. This residency would allow me to expand my practice by investigating the origins and processes behind the materials I use, especially natural pigments like kaolin. Building on my classical training, I am interested in working more directly with raw materials—sourcing, processing, and transforming them—as a way to deepen both the visual language and conceptual framework of my work. Engaging with these processes opens up new possibilities for thinking about painting as both a material and poetic act, shaped by place, exchange, and transformation.
(L) Assiatou, Oil on jute, 90 x 120 cm, 2021, (R) Mariam & Moumi, Oil on jute, 140 x 180 cm, 2021. Image courtesy of The Florence Academy of Art.
Can you give us an insight into how you hope to use the opportunity?
I aim to use this opportunity to develop a deeper understanding of both the materials and processes that inform my practice. Through direct engagement with locally sourced pigments, I hope to build a more intimate connection to the physical and cultural dimensions of painting. This period of research and experimentation will allow me to expand my approach to material-making, and to evolve my visual language through the incorporation of newly encountered materials. By working closely with these processes—from sourcing to transformation—I intend to open up new ways of thinking about painting as a site of material, cultural, and conceptual exchange.
About Moses Hamborg
Moses Hamborg is a figurative painter whose work explores identity, movement, and perception through the lens of classical painting traditions. Trained at the Florence Academy of Art and Charles H. Cecil Studios, his practice is grounded in observational drawing and oil painting while increasingly incorporating material research into pigment and process. His work has been exhibited internationally, including at the BP Portrait Award at the National Portrait Gallery, London, and the 14th Dak’Art Biennale. Hamborg has participated in residencies at Kehinde Wiley’s Black Rock Senegal and Pearl Lam’s 70 Square Metres in Shanghai, where he presented Taxon.
Image of Moses Hamborg. Photo: Philippe-Alexandre Aka-Adjo.
Moses' residency is generously supported by the Terra Foundation for American Art.
