If the paintings don’t get you, the weavings will.
MoMA PS1 unveils Pacita Abad and Melissa Cody exhibitions on Thursday, April 4.
Organized by the Walker Art Center, the Abad retrospective will include more than 50 works drawn from private and public collections across Asia, Europe, and the United States. Many of the pieces have never been on public view.
Born in the Philippines, Abad (1946-2004) specialized in paintings characterized by vibrant color, constant change, and experimentation. (See above.) Many of her pieces are large canvases featuring beads, buttons, hand-stitched textiles, ribbons, sequins and found items. But she also worked in bark cloth, ceramics, glass, metal, paper, and prints.
Meanwhile, Cody, who was born in Arizona in 1983, is a fourth-generation Navajo/Diné weaver. Her show, entitled “Webbed Skies,” mixes three major works produced specifically for MoMA PS1 along with more than 30 weavings from the last decade of her practice. It’s organized with the Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand (MASP).
Cody, who currently lives in Long Beach, California, specializes in the Germantown Revival style. Her weavings explode with bold colors and three dimensional patterns. (Middle photo.)
The Abad show ends on Sept. 2. The Cody one is on view until Sept. 9.
One Heckuva Bonus
There’s a third great reason to head to MoMA PS1, which is at 22-25 Jackson Ave. in Long Island City, on April 4.
Regina José Galindo’s Tierra premieres for the first time since entering The Museum of Modern Art’s collection. (Manhattan-based MoMA and MoMA PS1 are sister agencies.)
Born in 1974, Galindo is a Guatemalan visual artist and poet who also works in performance. In her Tierra video installation, she stands naked, refusing to budge, on a parcel of land that a bulldozer is excavating. Presented at a larger-than-life scale, the piece draws attention to the massacre and disposal of Indigenous people in machine-dug mass graves during the Guatemalan Civil War (1960–96). Organized by MoMA PS1 Assistant Curator Elena Ketelsen González, Tierra is on view until Aug. 26.
MoMA PS1 is accessible via the 7, E, G, and M lines to the Court Sq.-23rd St. and 21st St.-Van Alst subway stations. Admission is free for New York City residents. Others pay $10 with 50 percent discounts for seniors and students. Those under age 17 can enter for free.
Top image: Pacita Abad: A Million Things to Say. Courtesy Pacita Abad Art Estate and MCAD Manila.
Middle image: Melissa Cody. Deep Brain Stimulation. Courtesy the artist.
Bottom image: Regina Jose Galindo. Tierra (Still). Gift of Mario Cader-Frech through the Latin American and Caribbean Fund.