Booth 10.28

MAVIS PUSEY from BOB BLACKBURN’S ARCHIVES

CERAMICS and WORKS on PAPER by GLENDALYS MEDINA

We are pleased to participate in NADA Projects in Miami with an etching from Robert Blackburn's Archive,Operation 7 (1973) by Mavis Pusey, and NEW Ceramics and Works on Paper by Glendalys Medina. Medina’s abstract forms originate from hip-hop, both in the structure of its tempo, and the actual geometric design of the boom box frame. She continues the rich history of artists revealing abstraction through the repetition of an urban landscape and musical rhythms, as well as the importance of improvisation that can be found in a performance or rehearsal space. The playfulness in Medina’s compositions is contrasted against the tone of her political references, namely, the Domino Sugar Industry, the expulsion of Puerto Ricans from their land, and the extermination of indigenous people- however, not of its culture. The Taíno patterns of gold and luster glazes exist on the ceramics on panel, titled Token Face, as well as her, large-scale drawings of Caribbean instruments, and her NEW Publication.

Mavis Pusey was influenced by music, jazz and her local urban environment. Pusey wrote:

My work consists of geometric forms in a variety of rhythmical configurations. These forms are based on buildings around the Manhattan area. I am inspired by the energy and the beat of the construction and demolition of these buildings—the tempo and movement mold into a synthesis and, for me, become another aesthetic of abstraction. I use color and texture to convey the tension that is the heartbeat of the city.

I see the new construction as a rebirth, a catalyst for a new environment, and since the past must be a link to the future, in each of my works…. there is a circle to depict the never-ending continuation of natural order and all matter.

Mavis Pusey (b. 1928) born Kingston, Jamaica. Moved to NYC to study at the Art Students League with Will Barnet. Her work was handled by the Associated American Artists, New York; Curwen Gallery, London; Roads Gallery, New York and Louis Soulanges, Paris. Her works are in numerous private and public collections. She has exhibited at the Rainbow Art Foundation, and was included in numerous major exhibitions including the seminal "Contemporary Black Artists in America" held at the Whitney in 1971 and her work is included in the new Smithsonian African-American Museum in Washington, DC. and in the National Museum of Women in the Arts, where her work was exhibited in "Magnetic Fields: Expanding American Abstraction, 1960s to Today" in January of 2018.  Work available at The Annex Galleries.

Glendalys Medina (b. 1979) born in Puerto Rico and raised in the Bronx. Medina is an interdisciplinary artist who received her MFA from Hunter College. Medina’s work has been exhibited at such notable venues as The Studio Museum in Harlem, The Kitchen, The New Museum, PAMM, Artists Space, Museum of Contemporary Art in Vigo Spain, the Bronx Museum of Art and El Museo del Barrio. Medina will be a Resident at Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts in 2019, was a SIP fellow at EFA Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop in 2016, a BACK IN FIVE MINUTES artist resident at El Museo Del Barrio in 2015, a resident at Yaddo in 2018 and 2015, a Rome Prize fellow in Visual Arts in 2013, a NYFA Fellow in Interdisciplinary Art in 2012, and a participant in the Bronx Museum Artist in the Marketplace residency in 2010. Upcoming exhibitions include Smack Mellon and a solo exhibition at Participant Inc. in fall 2019.


NADA Projects include a diverse group of institutions, non-profit organizations, collectives, publications, and companies working with contemporary art.

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