Chryssa & New York

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 will premiere at Dia Chelsea, New York, March 2-July 23, 2023 and will open at the Menil Collection, Houston, 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).

Dia and the Menil’s exhibition is accompanied by the first major publication about Chryssa in more than thirty years.

Chryssa & New York is co-organized by Dia Art Foundation and the Menil Collection, Houston, in collaboration with Alphawood Foundation at Wrightwood 659, Chicago.

The exhibition is co-curated by Megan Holly Witko, External Curator, Dia Art Foundation, and Michelle White, Senior Curator, the Menil Collection, Houston.

Chryssa & New York is made possible by lead support from the Henry Luce Foundation.

The Dia presentation is made possible by major funding from Irene Panagopoulos and Stavros Niarchos Foundation. Significant support by the Brown Foundation, Inc. of Houston, and additional support by James L. Cahn and Jeremiah J. Collatz and D. Daskalopoulos Collection.

The publication is made possible by generous support from the Anthony E. Comninos Foundation, and additional support by Katherine Embiricos and Christos Papazis.

All exhibitions at Dia are made possible by the Economou Exhibition Fund.

Major funding for the Menil Collection presentation is provided by a gift in memory of Virginia P. Rorschach. Additional support comes from the City of Houston through Houston Arts Alliance.

Major support for the exhibition catalogue is provided by the Menil Collection Publishing Fund.

Image: The Gates to Times Square, 1964-66, Copyright estate of Chryssa, National Museum of Contemporary Art, Athens. Image courtesy of Buffalo AKG Art Museum. Photo: Bill Jacobson Studio, New York.