Winter 2020 exhibitions

Sterling Ruby
February 26–May 26
The first comprehensive museum survey for American/Dutch artist Sterling Ruby (b. 1972, Germany) features over 70 works, from his renowned ceramics and paintings to lesser-known drawings and sculptures, that demonstrate the relationship between material transformation in Ruby’s practice and the rapid evolution of American culture, institutions, and labor. His work embraces America’s icons, from the Stars and Stripes to American craft and handmade traditions, even as it delves into darker forces at play.  Sterling Ruby is co-presented with Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami, and is accompanied by an illustrated catalogue edited by Alex Gartenfeld and Eva Respini. Organized by Eva Respini, Barbara Lee Chief Curator, ICA/Boston, and Alex Gartenfeld, Artistic Director, ICA, Miami, with Jeffrey De Blois, Assistant Curator and Publications Manager, ICA/Boston.

Eva LeWitt
March 28–March 14, 2021
The vibrant sculptures of New York–based artist Eva LeWitt (b. 1985, Spoleto, Italy) transform industrially manufactured materials into hand-fashioned environmental arrangements of hanging geometric forms and gradations of undulating color. For the ICA’s Sandra and Gerald Fineberg Art Wall, LeWitt will conceive of a monumental hanging wall sculpture made of colorful coated mesh whose design creates a number of interlocking minimal forms that resemble landscape elements and produce an optical moiré effect. Organized by Jeffrey De Blois, Assistant Curator and Publications Manager.

Virgil Abloh: “Figures of Speech”
July 4–October 18
Virgil Abloh: “Figures of Speech” is the first museum exhibition devoted to the work of the genre-bending artist and designer Virgil Abloh (b. 1980, Rockford, IL). The current artistic director of Louis Vuitton’s menswear, Abloh is known for his work in conceptual art from painting to sculpture to the broad field of design. The exhibition explores defining highlights of Abloh’s career, including signature clothing collections from his stand-alone brand Off-White™, distinctive furniture and graphic design, and collaborations with contemporary artists. Virgil Abloh: “Figures of Speech” is organized by Michael Darling, James W. Alsdorf Chief Curator of the MCA Chicago. The exhibition is designed by Samir Bantal, Director of AMO, the research and design studio of OMA. The ICA’s presentation is coordinated by Ruth Erickson, Mannion Family Curator.

William Kentridge: KABOOM!
July 22–January 3, 2021
The ICA presents the museum premiere of KABOOM! (2018), a recent major acquisition and room-filling multimedia installation by William Kentridge (b. 1955, Johannesburg, South Africa). KABOOM! tells the story of the nearly two million African porters and carriers during World War I. Set to a rousing, orchestral score co-composed by Philip Miller and Thuthuka Sibisi, the monumental, three-channel work is projected onto a scale model of the stage from Kentridge’s performance The Head & the Load. Kentridge builds up dynamic layers of drawings, moving images, and texts projected onto sculptural paper props and found objects to embody the dramatic arc and theatrical intensity of The Head & the Load. Organized by Jeffrey De Blois, Assistant Curator and Publications Manager.

Raúl de Nieves
July 22–January 3, 2021
New York-based artist Raúl de Nieves (b. 1983, Michoacán, Mexico) is an interdisciplinary artist, performer, and musician whose multifaceted practice ranges from stained-glass style narrative paintings, to energetic performances, to densely adorned figurative sculptures encrusted with bells, beads, bangles, sequins, and other everyday materials. These opulent sculptures reference ritual costumes in Mexican culture and evoke other global theatrical traditions from Japanese kabuki to circus performance to religious processional attire. De Nieves’s works all share a distinctive visual language of forms and motifs drawn from Mexican craft traditions, religious iconography, and mythology to explore the transformational possibilities of adornment and the mutability of identity. Organized by Jeffrey De Blois, Assistant Curator and Publications Manager.