Latest news with #MuseumOfArtsAndDesign
Forbes
01-08-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Artist Saya Woolfalk's ‘Monstrous Feminine Bodies' Exemplify Urgent Need To Embrace Empathy And Celebrate Womanhood
Derived from cells of two or more genetically distinct individuals, life-sized fictional figures evolve from a whimsical science fiction universe bursting with vibrant color and layered with textures. The chimera appear to float toad a star. as if drawn into another plane of existence. Composed of natural and synthetic fibers, mannequins, handmade paper, spandex bodysuits, beads, notions, shoes, poly fill, paint, and gel medium, Saya Woolfalk's Chimera from her 2012 The Empathics series challenge the viewer's perception, as they are led into a narrative fantasy. African, African American, Japanese, European, and Brazilian cultures collide, as life-sized and larger-than-life female figures inhabit two floors of gallery space at the Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) in New York. These strange yet sublime figures offer an escape from a world that's become increasingly misunderstood amid raging geopolitical strife. The first retrospective of Woolfalk's two decades of world-building installations, Saya Woolfalk: Empathic Universe, on view at MAD through Sept. 7 introduces audiences to an imagined race of women called Empathics. Woolfalk's Empathics create a singular visual narrative through a truly immersive and interactive installations that invite close inspection. She wants viewers to become intimately acquianted with her array of colorful imagery, symbolism, and folklore. Her garment-based sculptures, video, paintings, works on paper, and performances, break down cultural boundaries and re-imagines a universe by welcoming viewers into her feral, fantastical feminist dialogue. FEATURED | Frase ByForbes™ Unscramble The Anagram To Reveal The Phrase Pinpoint By Linkedin Guess The Category Queens By Linkedin Crown Each Region Crossclimb By Linkedin Unlock A Trivia Ladder The emergence of Empathics is timely and urgent, as we grapple with semantic rage that divides folks encumbered by the hateful, inhumane pettiness of political sunder. First introduced in 1909 by psychologist Edward B. Titchener, the English term empathy derives from the German einfühlung, meaning "feeling into.' Art that stirs emotions fosters empathy and enables people to see beyond their own socioeconomic and cultural. Controversy swirls from both sides of political duopoly in the United States. Self-described conservatives recklessly dispensing nonsense terms like "selective empathy" or "toxic empathy". Some conservatives claim that an overemphasis on empathy may lead to policies that favor certain groups, espcially those aligned with liberal causes. While empathy has long been associated with liberal ideals, new psychological research published in Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin suggests that liberals may struggle more than conservatives to empathize with political opponents. On a blazing summer day in New York City, Woolfalk's otherworldly world provided an oasis for the body, soul, and creative spirit.
New York Times
10-07-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Jonathan Adler at MAD: A Potter's Way With Puns and Commerce
At the Museum of Arts and Design at 2 Columbus Circle in New York in early June, Jonathan Adler, the potter and founder of the home furnishings company that bears his name, looked up at a blue and white ceramic apothecary jar he had designed in 2018. It had wavering stripes and the letters LSD on it. 'It's a nod to my love of Delft pottery and reimagined as if the potter was on an acid trip,' Adler said, adding that he does not partake. Around him, an opening night party for the show he had assembled from the museum's extensive ceramics collection and his own work raged and raved. Adler, 58, moved among family, friends and vitrines spotlighting notable ceramic art works that had inspired him since he was a pottery-obsessed 'nerd' growing up in New Jersey. He often took the train to the institution then known as the American Craft Museum and located on East 53rd Street. Many of the 300 or so objects on display — divided into categories including animals, erotica, optimism, metallica and more — offered a provocative lesson about humor and irreverence in the history of ceramics. In a section about Americana, Adler's grenade vases and rocket decanters (inspired by euphemisms for inebriated like 'bombed,' 'blasted' and 'tanked') sat in dialogue with Howard Kotler's American Supperware from the late 60s. Kotler's plates depict flags and the White House in states of collapse. 'His work spanned so many different ideas and not only mixed materials but mixed art with commerce,' Adler said. A section devoted to erotica took in Adler's porcelain breast-patterned vases and his suggestive banana versions, playing off Marvin Lipofsky's glass lips from 1967. In a section concentrating on animals, Adler admired a 1994 cast bronze 'Monkey Chair' with primate faces and bodies as arms, and swirling tails as the back. 'Judy Kensley McKie finds ways to toy with animal forms in an idiosyncratic and fantastic style,' he said of the Boston-based sculptural furniture maker who is now in her 80s. As he breezed past works from the museum's collection, he admired them like old friends. 'Ruth Duckworth's work removes the noise of decoration to expose pure form,' he said of her white cups backed with square blades. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
