Summer 2021 exhibitions

Eva LeWitt
Through October 23, 2022 
The vibrant sculptures of New York–based artist Eva LeWitt (b. 1985, Spoleto, Italy) transform industrially manufactured materials into hand-fashioned environmental arrangements. For the ICA’s Sandra and Gerald Fineberg Art Wall, LeWitt created a monumental sculpture made of bands of colorful coated mesh fabric whose shifting linear composition creates a number of interlocking circular forms. Organized by Jeffrey De Blois, Assistant Curator and Publications Manager. 

Firelei Báez 
July 3–September 6, 2021 
ICA Watershed 
The ICA Watershed features a newly commissioned, monumental sculpture by acclaimed artist Firelei Báez (b. 1981, Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic). In her largest installation to date, Báez reimagines the archeological ruins of the Sans-Souci Palace in Haiti as though they were revealed in East Boston after the sea receded from the Watershed floor. Báez embeds Sans-Souci within the geological layers of Boston, where histories of revolution and independence are integral to the city’s identity. The work’s intricately painted architectural surfaces include symbols of healing and resistance, patterning drawn from West African indigo printing traditions (also used in the American South), and sea growths native to Caribbean waters. Organized by Eva Respini, Barbara Lee Chief Curator. 

Virgil Abloh: “Figures of Speech”
July 3–September 26, 2021  
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 the MCA Chicago.  

The Worlds We Make: Selections from the ICA Collection
August 14, 2021–January 2, 2023 
With every call for social change arrives the possibility to make the world anew. The Worlds We Make explores how artists imagine, dream, and realize the world otherwise. Drawn from the ICA’s permanent collection and Boston-area collections, these works consider world-making in relation to broader themes such as climate and the natural environment, historical narratives and speculative fictions, the supernatural and the planetary. The exhibition includes works by María Magdalena Campos-Pons, Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Jeffrey Gibson, Lorraine O’Grady, Matthew Ritchie, and Yinka Shonibare CBE (RA), among others. Organized by Anni Pullagura, Curatorial Assistant.   

Raúl de Nieves: The Treasure House of Memory 
September 1, 2021–July 24, 2022 
Raúl de Nieves (b. 1983, Michoacán, Mexico) is an interdisciplinary artist whose practice ranges from stained-glass style narrative paintings, to energetic performances, to densely adorned figurative sculptures encrusted with bells, beads, bangles, sequins, and other homespun materials. Conceived for the ICA, The Treasure House of Memory is a body of interconnected works that explore themes of personal transformation through an inventive adaptation of iconographic traditions inherited from the past and rendered in the artist’s vibrant visual language. Organized by Jeffrey De Blois, Assistant Curator and Publications Manager.  

2021 James and Audrey Foster Prize
September 1, 2021–January 30, 2022
The 2021 James and Audrey Foster Prize exhibition features the work of Boston-area artists Marlon Forrester (b. 1976, Georgetown, Guyana), Eben Haines (b. 1990, Boston), and Dell Marie Hamilton (b. 1971, New York). This group of artists works across a range of media, with unique artistic practices that share the impulse to create connections with others through their work. The individual projects reflect each artist’s approach to community and exchange. Organized by Jeffrey De Blois, Assistant Curator and Publications Manager.