New Formations

What Makes It Great? / Featured / December 8, 2022

By Suzanne Révy

“What a piece of work is a man, How noble in reason, how infinite in faculty, In form and moving how express and admirable, In action how like an Angel”

~William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act II, scene 2

Are angels among us? Do they glide and move through our bodies? Do we dance to their beat? The human figure is a radiant form, particularly when walking, running or dancing. Exercise can be the elixir of life, reducing stress and tension, lengthening and improving our days. The extraordinary beauty of bodies in motion can be found in New Formations organized by Sarah Montross, Chief Curator, along with Curatorial Fellow Haley Crouser. Exploring bodily movements in dance, sport and public celebrations through photography, video, painting and installation, the exhibition is currently on view – alongside a smaller but no less absorbing show called Downstream – at the DeCordova Sculpture Park and Museum in Lincoln, MA through March 12th, 2023.

“Photo multigraph #1 (Long Mirror and Socks on Teal)” by Heather Rasmussen, 2021, pigment print, 30″x40″ courtesy of the artist, The Pit, Los Angeles, and the DeCordova Sculpture Park and Museum. © Heather Rasmussen

Dara Friedman’s video “Dancer” 2011 (left) and Senga Nengudi’s “Performance Piece” 1978 (right), installation image courtesy of the DeCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, photo by Me Taing.

“BU Terrier Invitational Day” by Pelle Cass, from the series Crowded Fields, courtesy of the artist, DeCordova Sculpture Park and Museum and Abigail Ogilvy Gallery, Boston, MA.

From the series Dreaming in Real Time by Tyler Mitchell, courtesy of the artist and the DeCordova Sculpture Park and Museum.

New Formations is an immersive and physically satisfying show that revels in the human figure through both documentary and conceptual frameworks. Performative pieces include work by Senga Nengudi, who employed the elasticity of pantyhose to underscore the limits of her body in performance pieces from the late 70’s and a large black and white film by Dana Friedman featuring over sixty joyful dancers on the streets of Miami. Heather Rasmusson’s studies of dancers amidst the ubiquitous mirrors used to scrutinize every inch of their bodies are colorful statements of form, while Pelle Cass compresses time in his image collages of divers and pole vaulters in college athletic competitions. In contrast, Tyler Mitchell presents bodies at rest. The idyllic scene of his Black family enjoying a picnic on a football field disrupts the notion of violence in sport, particularly on Black male bodies.

From the series Americans Parade by George Georgiou, 2016, courtesy of the artist and the DeCordova Sculpure Park and Museum.

Vernacular snapshots from the Peter Cohen Collection, installation view courtesy of the DeCordova Sculpture Park and Museum.

Photojournalist George Georgiou turned away from spectacle to photograph the spectators in his series Americans Parade. His large black and white prints bask in the revelry of ritual and cultural heritages through dress and body language in Louisiana, Texas and California. Made at parades during the divisive presidential campaign of 2016, the pictures seek moments of public unity among the many gestures and expressions of ennui and anticipation. And a series of vernacular pictures donated to the museum from the Peter Cohen Collection are organized into themes from “Pose” to “Procession” to “Pyramids” which offer glimpses into everyday shenanigans of people mugging for the camera. They are a delight.

“Woman Sitting on an Open Fire Hydrant, Chicago” by Paul D’Amato, 1991, installation photograph by Suzanne Révy.

“Self-portrait with Dan” by Arno Rafael Minkkinen, 1993, courtesy of the artist and the DeCordova Sculpture Park and Museum.

Downstream is a small but powerful exhibit looking at inequities in the availability of precious resources like water between different socio-economic groups. Featuring photographs by Charles “Teeny” Harris, Paul D’Amato and Arno Rafael Minkkinen among others, it underscores the life-sustaining importance of water while also plumbing its sheer pleasures. Denizens in urban areas frolic in fire hydrants or among the puddles while more affluent communities access clean ponds and shores. The looming problem of plastic pollution in our oceans is highlighted by a display of varied cups in a central vitrine of the exhibit. Downstream is an affecting reminder of how art can raise awareness and make hard truths easier to swallow.