David Zwirner will present Sospiro, an exhibition of new paintings and works on paper by Jem Perucchini, at the gallery's Tribeca location in New York from 6 November to 19 December 2026. It is the artist's first exhibition in the United States, following recent solo presentations at Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo in Turin and the Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporaneo in Seville.

The exhibition takes its title from a painting on view, Sospiro (2026), which translates from Italian as "sigh". Perucchini's richly textured paintings depict enigmatic figures in scenes suffused with luminous colour, drawing on ancient mythology, early Renaissance painting, African wax print textiles and religious iconography. His compositions explore solitude, human connection and the relationship between the inner self and the external world. His paintings place Black figures at the centre of scenes drawn from Western art history, inserting them into a visual record from which they have largely been absent.

The show also includes the artist's first public presentation of his drawings, with two compositions on view that are his largest works on paper to date. Among the works is Echo and Narcissus (2026), a painting that reflects the mythological references running through the exhibition.

Perucchini was born in 1995 in Tekeze, Ethiopia, and raised in Italy. He studied at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera in Milan between 2016 and 2021, where he continues to live and work. His recent solo exhibitions include shows at Corvi-Mora in London in 2022 and 2024, and in 2023 he completed his first major commission, the public mural Rebirth of a Nation.