MAX COLBY AT ROCKEFELLER CENTER
Presented in partnership with Rockefeller Center at Rockefeller Center
Press Release
NEW . YORK, NY - Rockefeller Center and Art Production Fund today announce the artist lineup for the fourth year of the Art in Focus public art program, featuring various site-specific installations by a diverse group of acclaimed contemporary artists.
This year’s Art in Focus artists follow in the footsteps of Sanford Biggers, Hiba Schahbaz, Hilary Pecis, Maurice Harris, Lisa Congdon, Oliver Jeffers, Genevieve Gaignard, Hein Koh, LaKela Brown, Lucy Sparrow, Ryan Flores, Vanessa German, Portia Munson, and Angelica Hicks who have all participated in the program in years past.
The year-long public program consists of five separate installations and will kick off on Tuesday, January 18 with an installation by Brooklyn-based multidisciplinary artist MAX COLBY. Following Colby are mixed media artist HUGO MCCLOUD, NYC-based ceramic artist EMILY MULLIN, painter ARGHAVAN KHOSRAVI, and renowned artist and filmmaker ALEX PRAGER who will create an immersive installation during Rockefeller Center’s 2022 holiday season.
The 2022 Art in Focus program presents artists exploring and reinterpreting materials as a way to capture the human experience. A selection of painters, sculptures, photographers and more, these artists use materials in innovative ways to offer a closer look at the unique characteristics of people, objects and elements that are found in their daily lives.
“This year’s Art in Focus program purposely highlights artists across multiple mediums who are using mixed materials to represent their personal lives or inspirations in unexpected ways.
Max Colby launches the 2022 slate of artists for our Art in Focus programming by coupling the intricate bead work of her sculptures with a 125-foot mural, inspired by historical Crewel embroidery, for an effect that is eye-catching from a distance and mesmerizing when seen at close range.
“The works of Max Colby, and all of the 2022 Art in Focus artists, are intended to offer visitors, tenants and the observant eye alternative perspectives of our daily lives from every vantage point at Rockefeller Center.” - EB KELLY, Managing Director and Head of Rockefeller Center
“Beginning with the thought provoking and visually seductive work of Max Colby, this year’s exceptional group of artists will each bring their unique perspective to Art in Focus. Building upon the incredible reputation of the program to date, we look forward to seeing how the 2022 artists are inspired by this iconic NYC location. ” - CASEY FREMONT, Executive Director, Art Production Fund
Max Colby’s installation at Rockefeller Center will be on view from January 18, 2022 and will showcase a wide range of her practice, from sculpture and installation to painting and relief. Through lush, highly embellished, and material rich work, she reframes traditional notions of domesticity, power, and gender from a trans and non-binary perspective. Colby’s activation of material is unabashedly camp, providing a space to reimagine our relationship to gender, class, and the mundane.
“Activating Rockefeller Center is such a special opportunity. I’ve long admired its Art Deco architecture but there’s also a wonderful irony in the coupling – Rockefeller Center is home to many sites of American cultural production, popular television, shopping, etc. which reflect conversations my work engages with. I’m delighted to offer this work to the public and provide unique opportunities for the generation of new, joyous experiences.” – MAX COLBY
In the lobby of 45 Rockefeller Plaza, visitors encounter three custom installations of works from her series ‘They Consume Each Other,’ comprised of 27 sculptures sitting atop custom glass plinths in entirely mirrored vitrines. ‘They Consume Each Other’ is her most prominent and ambitious body of work to date.
A 125-foot mural in the concourse of 45 Rockefeller Plaza features paintings from Colby’s 2020 series which copy 18th and 19th-century Crewel embroidery works from prominent public collections paired atop contemporary sticker sets. Colby’s research on Crewel embroidery has been a pillar of her practice for over 10 years. “Popular in Colonial America and Elizabethan and Victorian England, ‘crewel’ style is known for its pastoral floral imagery, bringing a connection between ‘natural history’ and gendered labor and aesthetics. The mural at 45 Rock will be the first time this dimension of my practice is highlighted and connected to larger, more complex works.” says Colby.
Murals displayed throughout Rockefeller Center feature additional iterations of They Consume Each Other through luscious close-up details and representations of Colby’s largest work from the series – a unique installation of 45 sculptures. In addition, images of several works from her Elegies series will greet visitors at 10 and 45 Rockefeller Plaza.
MAX COLBY (born 1990, American) lives and works in New York City. Through lush, highly embellished, and material rich work, she reframes traditional notions of domesticity, power and gender from a trans and non-binary perspective. She received her BFA from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and Tufts University in 2012. Colby is internationally exhibited including Shoshana Wayne Gallery, Wave Hill, the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art, Jane Lombard Gallery, Isabel Croxatto Galleria, Sugar Hill Children’s Museum of Art and Storytelling, and Museum Rijswijk, among others. She has completed residencies at the Museum of Arts and Design, the Wassaic Project, MASS MoCA and a Leslie-Lohman Museum Fellowship. Known for her installations and sculptural work, Colby has received numerous research and project grants from Foundation for Contemporary Arts and YoungArts, among others.
ART IN FOCUS is a multidisciplinary program that showcases installations by contemporary artists inspired by the New York City landscape and contemporary life. Artists featured in the series will have their work displayed in a number of prominent and unexpected public locations throughout Rockefeller Center. Art in Focus is presented in partnership with Rockefeller Center and Art Production Fund, a non-profit organization dedicated to commissioning and producing ambitious public art projects, reaching new audiences, and expanding awareness through contemporary art. Past Art in Focus artists include Joana Avillez (Rockefeller Center Holiday Map, 2018), Hein Koh (Braving the Cold, 2019), Portia Munson (Pink Projects, 2019), LaKela Brown (2019), Lucy Sparrow (Lucy’s Delicatessen on 6th, 2019), Angelica Hicks (Rockefeller Center Holiday Map, 2019), Vanessa German (The Holiest Wilderness is Freedom, 2020), Ryan Flores (Low Lifes: An Upside Down Love Letter, 2020), Genevieve Gaignard (2020), Oliver Jeffers (Rockefeller Center Holiday Map, 2020); Hiba Schahbaz (In My Heart, 2021), Sanford Biggers (2021), Hilary Pecis (2021), Maurice Harris (2021), and Lisa Congdon (Rockefeller Center Holiday Map, 2021).
TISHMAN SPEYER (www.tishmanspeyer.com)
Tishman Speyer is a leading owner, developer, operator and investment manager of first-class real estate in 30 key markets across the United States, Europe, Asia and Latin America. We develop, build and manage premier office, residential and retail spaces for industry-leading tenants, as well as state-of-the-art life science centers through our Breakthrough Properties venture. With global vision, on-the-ground expertise and a personalized approach, we are unparalleled in our ability to foster innovation, quickly adapt to global and local trends and proactively anticipate our customers’ evolving needs. By focusing on health and wellness, enlightened placemaking and customer-focused initiatives such as our tenant amenities platform, ZO., and our flexible space and co-working brand, Studio, we tend not just to our physical buildings, but to the people who inhabit them on a daily basis. Since our inception in 1978, Tishman Speyer has acquired, developed, and operated 484 properties, totaling 219 million square feet, with a combined value of over $121 billion (U.S.). Our current portfolio includes such iconic assets as Rockefeller Center in New York City, The Springs in Shanghai, TaunusTurm in Frankfurt and the Mission Rock neighborhood currently being realized in San Francisco.
ART PRODUCTION FUND is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to commissioning and producing ambitious public art projects, reaching new audiences and expanding awareness through contemporary art. Past projects include: Elmgreen & Dragset,“Prada Marfa,” Valentine, TX, Ugo Rondinone, “Seven Magic Mountains,” Las Vegas, Jeff Koons, “Seated Ballerina,” Rockefeller Plaza, NYC, Zoe Buckman, “CHAMP,” LA; Raul de Nieves “When I Look In To Your Eyes I See the Sun,” Miami; Lucy Sparrow “Lucy’s Delicatessen on 6th,” Rockefeller Center, NYC; Nancy Baker Cahill “Liberty Bell”, multiple cities; Sanford Biggers “Oracle”, Rockefeller Center, NYC. For more information, please visit artproductionfund.org / @artproductionfund
For more information about Rockefeller Center visit www.rockefellercenter.com and follow Rockefeller Center on Twitter @rockcenternyc, Instagram @rockefellercenter, and Facebook @rockefellercenternyc.
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