This spring, Wrightwood 659 hosts Chryssa & New York, the first museum exhibition in North America in more than four decades to focus on the Greek-born artist Chryssa (1933–2013). Co-organized by Dia Art Foundation and the Menil Collection, Houston, in collaboration with Alphawood Foundation, the critically acclaimed exhibition makes the final stop on its national tour at Wrightwood 659 (659 W. Wrightwood Avenue in Chicago) starting today through July 27, 2024.

In their respective practices, Chryssa and Tadao Ando each articulate a fascination with the relationship between visibility and obscurity. Chryssa’s relief sculptures and ‘static light’ theory resonate with Ando’s architectural choreography of illumination and shadow, underscoring the importance of darkness, which he states “kindles the brilliance of light.” In this tour, Ashley Janke, Assistant Curator, Wrightwood 659, emphasizes the shared belief between artist and architect in the intrinsic power of light to define and transform space and form.

About the Exhibition

Co-organized by Dia Art Foundation and the Menil Collection, Chryssa & New York is the first comprehensive survey of works by Greek-born artist Chryssa (1933–2013) to take place in North America since 1982. Wrightwood 659, Chicago, will host the exhibition in May 2024, presented by Alphawood Exhibitions. Chryssa & New York premiered at Dia Chelsea, New York, on March 2, 2023 and opened at the Menil Collection, Houston, on September 29, 2023.

A leading figure of the New York art world in the 1950s and ’60s, Chryssa developed an innovative approach to activating sculptural surfaces through subtle manipulations of light and shadow. Pathbreaking in its use of signage, text, and neon, her vastly underrecognized body of work bridges Pop, Conceptual, and Minimalist ideas of art making. This exhibition focuses on works from these decades through to the early 1970s, bringing together Chryssa’s deeply formal concerns and critical interest in exploring the United States following World War II.

Chryssa & New York presents the full breadth of the artist’s dynamic oeuvre, including early works such as the enigmatic Cycladic Books series (1954–57) as well as numerous reliefs in plaster and metal that deftly capture the phenomenon of passing natural light. The newly restored The Gates to Times Square (1964–66) is displayed alongside works detailing Chryssa’s processes in realizing that monumental sculpture, her transitional pieces combining metal and neon, as well as examples of Studies for The Gates (1966–67).

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Tags: Chicago, Chryssa, Chryssa & New York, Lincoln Park, Sculpting Light: Tour of Chryssa and Ando, Wrightwood 659