Judy Chicago in collaboration with Pyro Spectaculars by Souza, "Diamonds in the Sky," 2021. Fireworks performance Belen
NM © Judy Chicago/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; © Donald Woodman/ARS, New York.
Renowned American artist Judy Chicago’s pyrotechnic artwork will conclude the 2022 Toronto Biennial of Art on the evening of June 4.
Chicago, best known for her feminist art, will create a smoke sculpture, A Tribute to Toronto, over Lake Ontario. Yellow, green, white, purple and blue non-toxic pigments will be released into the air from a barge. The combination of sunset hues and air dynamics will create an immersive colour experience to wrap up the biennial, which began March 26.
Colour is “a doorway to many aspects of the human condition,” says Chicago, who began working with pyrotechnics as material in the late 1960s. Around that time, her work critiqued the male-dominated Land Art scene that made intrusive interventions into the earth.
Toronto is a city of firsts for Chicago, who premiered The Dinner Party at the Art Gallery of Ontario in the 1980s.
“Her return to Toronto with this work provides an exciting opportunity for our community and the art world to experience art history in the making,” said Patrizia Libralato, the biennial’s executive director.
Chicago will hold a public conversation with curators on June 1 at the Art Gallery of Ontario.
Source: Toronto Biennial of Art