Lloyd Foster's Spiritual Technology at Anton Kern

 
Lloyd Foster, Spiritual Technology. Installation View. Anton Kern Gallery, New York City, 2026.  Photo by Izzy Leung

 

By SIVAN LAVIE August 8th, 2026

I always head to Anton Kern to find something unusual and refreshing. My most recent favorites include Analog, the gallery’s 30 year anniversary show, and Love Poems, a wonderfully generous group show curated by Chris Martin. Lloyd Foster’s Spiritual Technology did not fail to excite and inspire me. The young New York based artist who defines himself as primarily a photographer, continuously challenges himself to expand and redefine his practice, and in Spiritual Technology he exhibits a colorfully generous plethora of works: drawings, an installation of sculptural photographs and sculptural drawings, video works, and even a video game.

I got in touch with Lloyd to ask him about Spiritual Technology specifically, and his practice in general. The artist is poetic, insightful, and fascinating. He talked to me about God, Ghana, video games, learning from sellers on Craigslist, the artistic choice of octopuses, community, his drawing practice, angels, Adinkra symbology, and his family tapes at the African American Museum. I strongly recommend the exhibition, and reading the interview below first gives a nice expansion to the visit, like a walkthrough with the artist. Hurry, as the show closes on August 14th!

 

Lloyd Foster Covered Angel, 2026. Mixed media, 43 1/2 x 42 x 1 inches. Photo by Izzy Leung

 

I love the show’s title, Spiritual Technology. It’s memorable, describes the work well and is very relevant to our time. Can you say something about your connection to spirituality? And to technology, from video games to photography and video? 

Thanks, yeah. I think when I dawned the title it was hard to really go with anything else based on the direction of the work, my interest, and the times. I would say spirituality wise, my upbringing in the church, community, and schooling helped guide my moral compass on a day to day basis. 

A favorite childhood ritual of mine was holding hands with my mother and reciting the Lord’s Prayer. 

I’ve always been into technology and staying up-to-date with it. I used to go to computer summer camp as a kid at Capital Plaza Mall in Landover Hills , MD. Sci-tech I think it was called? I had an early introduction to coding websites then via HTML. We made games via MUGEN game engine for fun. Street fighter type energy.  As a pre-teen and teen, I was into bearshare and kazaa [peer-to-peer file-sharing computer programs]. I was on a lot of the same social media sites at that time that encouraged some sort of HTML/CSS editing for a unique page Myspace, Blackplanet, Xanga.  

My brother and I were super into video games. Super Nintendo , N64, Gameboy, PC Games, PS1. I kinda fell off them after PS2. That was the last system I had, and one of my most memorable Christmas gifts. 

Some favorites:

★Barkley Shut Up and Jam

★Streets of Rage

★Pokémon Yellow

★Super Mario 64 

★Super Smash Brothers

★Any Wrestling Game on N64, like Revenge, No Mercy, World Tour

★Driver

★NBA Street

★Kingdom Hearts 

★SOCOM

★Vice City

I mean there are like 50 other games I played but to not get too crazy those were a few.

I got my undergraduate degree in Management Information Systems from Saint Francis University in PA. After graduating, I worked in retail for a little at Urban Outfitters. I got my first film camera around the same time via craigslist,  a Canon ae-1, and started exploring street photography. I would then work as an IT Specialist for 7 years in DC at George Mason and at the World Bank as a contractor while still photographing during my travels and before and after work. 

 Lloyd Foster, Spiritual Technology. Installation View. Anton Kern Gallery, New York City, 2026.  Photo by Izzy Leung

You mentioned working on the drawing series we see at Spiritual Technology for a few years. These are childlike, raw drawings, not unlike Art Brut. How did this style come about for you, is it a natural tendency, or a stylistic choice? Does it hold any significance for you to draw in this kind of deskilled manner? 

I would say it’s a natural tendency. I sort of leaned into these drawings over time. In graduate school, I started to break free from straightforward photography in creating photo sculptures which would have cutouts of portraits and scenes I photographed and on the other side, painted reflections. I adopted some of those same free gestures in how I approach my drawings. At times, the results are surprising. It almost never pans out exactly how it is in my head, if there’s some thought about how to go about it before. I like it that way. I work through it til it feels right. I think the most important thing is realizing that the art came from you. We all are people with lived experiences, every mark and gesture is proof of that. Self reflective.

 

Lloyd Foster Full Stretch, 2026 Mixed media, 7 components. Photo by Izzy Leung

 

Can you talk about your choice of bold color in your works, and its juxtaposition with black and white photography? 

I think black and while photography is great for capturing the moment, no fluff. Bold color choices are me just having fun. Making intuitive choices, using what I have near. Similar to when I'm installing works I may have a general idea beforehand of how I want it in the space, but, I really don’t know where each piece is going to go until I walk the space and see how I feel looking at the artwork. It’s almost always the same for my drawing practice. You’re gonna get the energy of that day. As I think of it though, that’s the same approach taken as a photographer when photographing the streets or embracing the irregularities that you sometimes get with film. You have to be at peace with your decision-making, how you adjust your settings, when you decide to click the shutter, the route you take. A warm embrace because it’s never the same.

I’ll take it further and say you have to be okay with losing it all. 

I remember a week after my first solo show in DC ‘Land That We Love’ in 2017 all my cameras were stolen. The ones I really used at least at that time. An M6 and a Hasselbald. I was really sick about that.  I remember calling my mentor the evening it happened and he just got on the phone and started praying… “Thank you God, for allowing Lloyd to use those cameras to make an impact on the life of others…to travel with the gifts you gave him’ verbiage to that degree. And it dawned on me , it was this great show. A lotta people came out that evening about 600  - it was  a shared venue, another solo and group show in the space as well. But yeah, I don’t think I took the time to just sit and Thank God for that experience. I was at peace with losing them. Sometimes we move so fast and don’t pause to give thanks 

I eventually worked my way and got them back. 

I’ve shot a good amount of analog film rolls over the years that came out blank. Some important moments. The meeting of loved ones for the first time, annual parades, casual encounters with strangers domestically and abroad. I let moments pass by being a bit nervous but, if anything, I  have the memories. It’s really okay; it’s better that way than forcing it, I think for me at least.  

There are sculptures in Spiritual Technology that were originally supposed to be wall works that I pivoted into three-dimensional pieces. Before cutting those works up it can be a little nerve wracking but now, I’m very at peace and happy with those decisions. 

 Lloyd Foster, Three Hands, One Head, 2025. Oil pastel, crayon, and watercolor on paper, 42 x 33 1/2 inches (106.7 x 85.1 cm) 47 x 38 1/2 x 2 inches (framed). Photo by Izzy Leung

 

What I love most about Spiritual Technology is the main gallery room on the ground floor. As the visitor walks in, he is immersed by large drawings, hanging sculptural paintings, and sculptural photography. I felt like I was inside a collage, which immediately took me to thinking of Chris Martin who also immerses the viewer in a mix of painting and photographed images in his larger-than-life paintings. I think that choice of installation as a medium serves your work wonderfully. Can you talk more about that, and the narrative the installation in Spiritual Technology tells? There are octopuses, an angel, birds, a man with a slingshot, what appear as linguistic characters in another language, a burning world, a bottle of cologne, a king, and more! 

Thank you! 

I would say they’re layered happenings of life experiences, observations, and motifs I’ve made over time.  

The angels stem from portraits I’ve taken over the decade from my travels. I would reflect on the people whose portraits I’ve taken in the States. It stems from being appreciative of being able to meet the different people I’ve met, and recognizing the impact of meeting, photographing, seeing in passing. Realizing I may not actually ever see some people due to the rareness of the circumstances at times, eventually dots connect and I think of them as angels. So many of my earliest photosculptures have wings because of that. 

The doves stem from the angels. Celestial beings on earth. 

What do you think of when you see a dove?

Take a second to think about it.

Why did you think that?

Doves are super layered. They represent Heaven, Earth, Birth, Death

and Pigeons.

Come to my mind to name a few. 

Each dove is always different. 

There’s an octopus in the middle of the space. Octopuses became one of my favorite subjects to draw over the past two years. I find them fun to draw. I feel they fit the theme of spiritual technology well. They’re unique beings: 8 tentacles, 3 hearts, they adapt to their environments, They camouflage. They’re unique reminders of God’s creativity. 

The bottle of cologne you’re referring to was Florida Water. I was watching television in Ghana with my bro Spo, and I saw an advertisement for it pop up. Whenever I see something that reminds me of the U.S in a clever sense I tend to take note. People have many uses for it around the world. But for me, it was the pastoral blessings with the hotline to dial-in that spoke to me enough to illustrate it. 

The slingshot portrait was taken in Tamale, Ghana, during my first trip to its northern region. I was moving around taking photos with a good friend Beno and caught a young brother with a slingshot and captured that essence from different angles. I was thinking about ways to extend motion in my sculptures, creating gestures that lead the viewer. So the slingshot really worked in this case. The characters emerging from the slingshot are adinkra symbols, specifically in this case they were Gye Nyame symbols. It’s arguably the most popular symbol. It’s a symbol I’ve seen a lot growing up and present to this day. You’ll find it on the back of chairs, the chief’s palace, clothing, on currency, I have cousin who has it tattooed. It means ‘except for God’. It’s a symbol representing God’s supremacy and divine protection. Combining the slingshot with with a row of those symbols I look at as a visual metaphor of keeping faith. Even in our darkest times, push through, have faith, and God will see you through it. David and Goliath energy. 

 

Lloyd Foster, Spiritual Technology. Installation View. Anton Kern Gallery, New York City, 2026.  Photo by Izzy Leung

 

What about the video piece on the third floor? Can you tell us more about that and the other video work in the show? And the video game?

The video piece on the third floor is entitled Pause & Go. It’s black and white film on loop for about a minute and a half. I shot it with a Braun Nizo. it’s pretty much what the title says. I shoot, pause, go, change location, shoot, then go again. Yeah, so I want to say I shot it originally in 21’ and processed and lightly edited it in 24’.  It details me moving around with whatever I had going on at the time. 

The video is layered with a few field recordings. You can hear the plane landing from Amsterdam to Accra via KLM. The hostess welcomed everyone on the mic. People clapping. 

Simultaneously, the visuals showcase a glimpse of a photoshoot, a walk through the market, cab ride, in the car while a soccer game is happening, a trotro [a Ghanan shared public taxi] with a confederate Michelin Man license plate complimented by decals of a eurocentric Jesus Christ and the phrase ‘no food for lazy man’, bicycles and motorcycle closeups, and the funeral I attended with a friend's relative.   

Each happening is about roughly anywhere from two to six seconds. I tried to crunch as much of these happenings, when consciously aware, for about that length of time. They're all chronological events of my time there except for the trotro car with details that show up twice in the film. I think what was fascinating about this particular scene is that we're in Ghana. There’s the confederate Michelin Man license plates and complimented by the Jesus decal all just so casual. Coming from the States, those plates stick out to me in some type of way but, it makes me grow curious of what stuck out to the owner of the vehicle. How did the Michelin Man come up in the mix? 

‘No Food for Lazy man’ is super real. Everybody needs their daily bread. That applies everywhere. The Jesus decal depicted next to it leaves the vehicle charged in some type of way.  There’s a bible verse that supports the saying too, in Thessalonians 3:10: "For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: 'The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat.'” Collectively the rear end of the vehicle provides a lot to think about. 

The three video works on the ground floor I feel really support the title ‘Spiritual Technology’ because they are all spiritual works and they’re all on different technological mediums: VHS, Super 8, and a Sony Camcorder. 

 Lloyd Foster Covered Angel, 2026. Mixed media, 43 1/2 x 42 x 1 inches. Photo by Izzy Leung

 

The first video when you enter the space is from my baby dedication at church. I didn’t record it of course because I was like less than a year old, but I put it there because it's the start of the journey. My mother and father are present in the film, as well as my early church community. My brother got it digitized some years ago. I really appreciate that. 

The second video I shot at my aunt’s funeral on super 8 in 2018. She was the queen mother in Kukurantumi. It was a very charged homegoing. It spanned over a few days. It stitches together two videos on two separate days. I learned a lot during that trip. The videos are actually available online to the public for purposes of education and scholarly research via the African American Museum’s Great Migration Home Movie Study Collection if you ever want to check it out. 

The video is roughly thirteen minutes and shot on a Sony handycam using night vision. The video features Redeemer Kofi Elinam Dorbu, an artist and friend in Ghana. We shot it in 2016 in Dzorwulu neighborhood in Accra outside my cousin's apartment. He gives a brilliant speech on what it means to be an artist. What it means to be in this realm. What it means to be inspired. I think it’s gold. I was happy to find it the day of the show. I thought I lost the hard drive I saved it on. It’s really rich footage I believe most can appreciate. 

 Self portrait of Lloyd Foster at Times Square studio space, 2015, wearing custom winged garment styled and designed by Fatou of Tey La Tey

 

The video game present on the day of the opening was called Holy Frequency. I made it via the Pico8 game engine and coded it with Lua. The assets were all illustrated by me in the software. The main character is a street preacher who walks on land and in the sky preaching the word. You hold Z to preach and X to release fire on your enemies. When you go up off the land the pastor automatically grows wings and you can press Z to preach and X to release a light beam. The words preached and echoed at enemies differ on land and air. On land, you will see words like ‘Light, Signal, Spirit, and Receive’, and in the air words like ‘Rise, Mercy, Heaven, Power, and Glory’. By the same token, enemies can launch fire/gas balls and negative words such as ‘Lies, Shame, Doubt, and Fear’.  I would say there are elements in their simplest sense that could remind you of a Megaman or Super Mario type platformer. I really loved Megaman. That's a game I would play a lot too. 

I am still adding elements to the game but it was nice to have a version of it on the day of the opening . 

 Lloyd Foster Pause and Go, 2024 Digitized Super 8 film with sound 1:56 Variable dimensions Edition of 2 plus 1 artist's proof. Photo by Izzy Leung

 

When I first met you at the opening party of your show, you described the importance of community to your work. A large group of friends and fellow artists was present, a DJ friend, (Mike White Jr. from PG), played techno music from behind the front desk, and the videos and photographs include other people. Can you talk a little bit about what role other people– friends and strangers– play in your practice directly and indirectly? Directly, I am talking about the people depicted in your drawings and captured on camera, and indirectly, your communities and perhaps also artistic influences. 

Hmm yeah. The opening was love. It was cool.  It was a blessing to have Mike White Jr.  christen the space sonically. I had some friends that were there from my first solo show in Washington, D.C, at IA&A at Hillyer there, so it was cool to reflect back on that with them. That was like, ten years ago. 

I give thanks. I am appreciative and thankful for the support over the years. My friends and community. I’m thankful for my  art community in DC/MD. My NY art community. My NYU community. My community in Ghana…art...family...friends..  My community in Sierra Leone. My good folks in London, Scotland, Switzerland, Paris. Experiences in Kenya and Tanzania. My global artist network. Photographers and artists that were doing this before me their own way.  There’s a lot of people that keep the engine moving. 

I’ve learned a lot from people along the way.  Creating art in the studio or photographing on the street can feel lonely or singular sometimes, but even before getting to that point, gems were dropped. I’ve learned from people I bought cameras from on Craigslist when I started photographing. There were a lot of older folks that willingly shared information. I also learned so much from Youtubers, Tumblr accounts. I’m thankful for the information. People who did the work before me and peers doing their thing today. 

 

 Lloyd Foster, Spiritual Technology. Installation View. Anton Kern Gallery, New York City, 2026.  Photo by Izzy Leung

 

Please tell us what projects you’re planning to work on next. Will they be iterations of what we see here? Any new mediums or directions you’re looking to develop? Will the video game idea be taken further? 

You will definitely see more large drawings on paper in the future. Video game ideas will definitely be taken further. I spent a lot of the past year making and prototyping video games. It's coming slowly but it’s surely gonna be a whole thing. Yeboah Arcade. Sound is a medium that I also am continuing to explore in my own time. I see myself sharing more in the future. 

I’m planning on releasing some original merchandise for Spiritual Technology. The first drop will be manufactured in Sierra Leone via Yeboah Studios where you can pre-order it.

I love photography. Lord willing, during my future travels I will create new photographs to further expand the world I’m building. WM

Lloyd Foster Release, 2026 Oil pastel, acrylic paint, and watercolor on paper 35 3/4 x 50 1/2 inches (90.8 x 128.3 cm) 40 3/4 x 55 1/4 x 2 inches (framed). Photo by Izzy Leung

Lloyd Foster's Spiritual Technology 

Anton Kern Gallery

Open through August 14th

16 East 55th Street New York

NY 10022

Monday - Friday: 10am - 6pm