Adam Pendleton, "As Heavy As Sculpture" (2020-21)
Head over to New York City's New Museum, and you’ll be greeted by a new installation from conceptual artist Adam Pendleton.
To commemorate the opening of their latest exhibition, “Grief and Grievance: Art and Mourning In America,” Pendleton took over the lobby with his floor-to-ceiling installation “Heavy As Sculpture.” The piece consists of artwork directly stamped on the museum walls, in addition to framed artwork on Mylar, all of which fuse his images, text, and marks in a near-dizzying fashion.
With exhibits at MoMA and the Whitney already under his belt, Pendleton’s usual trademarks are on display with the mixed media project where he deftly incorporates much of the protest language we saw at the height of the BLM marches this past summer in the wake of George Floyd’s murder by the Minneapolis police. “Sequences of “ACAB” and “1312” (the numeric equivalent of ACAB) get chopped up across the lobby, in addition to photographs of masks and sculptures.
Adam Pendleton, “Untitled (WE ARE NOT)” (2020)
The new exhibit at the museum will take a closer look at historical representation and its limits. Curated by the late Okwui Enwezo, 37 artists from a variety of mediums like photography, painting, video, sound, and performance are featured. The work on display addresses the racist violence and systemic injustice that Black communities across America continue to endure. Juxtaposed with a theme of mourning and grief, it also explores “a politically orchestrated white grievance, as each structures and defines contemporary American social and political life.” Inside the exhibition, you will also find some of Pendleton’s work conceived in 2020.
The exhibit opened yesterday and will run until June 6th of this year. Additionally, Pendleton will participate in an online discussion with the museum’s Andrew An Westover this April 1st.