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Inner CircleHowardena Pindell
For nearly six decades, artist Howardena Pindell has explored and expanded the language of abstraction while struggling against a racist and misogynistic culture. “When you work with abstraction you’re working with your own intuitive feelings about space, color, line, shape,” says Pindell. “Its purpose is almost a way of opening up our thought process because you’re reading someone else’s language and you’re interpreting it through your own language.” Fascinated by circles and numbers, Pindell has developed a formal language that speaks to both universal and personal experiences through her paintings and paper works. In this Extended Play film, Pindell reflects on formative childhood memories, her confrontations with systemic prejudice, and the enduring joy she finds in being an artist.
More information and creditsCredits
Director & Producer: César Martínez Barba. Executive Producer: Tina Kukielski. Series Producer: Ian Forster. Editor: César Martínez Barba. Cinematography: Sophie Feuer, César Martínez Barba. Sound: Brit Fryer, Fivel Rothberg. Gaffer: Kevin Deming. Production Assistant: Vashi Chintalapalli. Colorist: Max Blecker. Sound Mix: Collin Blendell. Motion Graphics: Serena Ajbani. Music: Joel Pickard. Associate Producer: Andrea Chung. Assistant Curator: Jurrell Lewis. Assistant Editor: Michelle Hanks.
Artwork Courtesy: Howardena Pindell, Garth Greenan Gallery. Archival Images: Howardena Pindell, Lilo Raymond, Amy Stromson.
Special Thanks: Julian Corbet, Katharine Delamater, Dieu Donné, Howardena’s Studio Team, Amy Jacobs, Pete Quandt, Erin Weckerle
Extended Play is presented by the Marina Kellen French Foundation. “Howardena Pindell: Inner Circle” is supported in loving memory of Adrienne Beckmann by John and Deborah Beckmann and Jacob Kotzubei. Additional support is provided by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature, the Every Page Foundation, the Henry Nias Foundation, and individual contributors.
Closed captionsAvailable in English, German, Romanian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Italian
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Howardena Pindell was born in 1943 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and currently lives and works in New York City. She graduated with a BFA from Boston University in 1965 and an MFA from the Yale School of Art and Architecture in 1967. Pindell’s large-scale abstract paintings and mixed-media works combine conventional and unconventional materials and techniques: exploring color, structure, and texture. By developing a visual language through the use of circles, numbers, and grids, the artist’s work reflects her interests and struggles ranging from her observations of the cosmos to systemic prejudice in the United States.
“When you work with abstraction you’re working with your own intuitive feelings about space, color, line, shape. Its purpose is almost a way of opening up our thought process because you’re reading someone else’s language and you’re interpreting it through your own language.”
Howardena Pindell