Brooklyn Abstraction: Four Artists, Four Walls
August 12, 2022–August 6, 2023
Beaux-Arts Court, 3rd Floor
Maya Hayuk presents her new modular installation 70 x 15’ (21 x 4.5m) at The Brooklyn Museum, New York. “Frontline Flashpoints Facing East, Ukraine”, 2022, portrays abstracted physical and psychological landscapes of the war’s front line, simulating the flash points of explosions intersecting with the hope of sunrise over a distorted horizon line. The work references the Ukrainian flag’s minimalist symbolism of a field of wheat under a clear blue sky through the lens of PTSD 🇺🇦
This installation of works by Maya Hayuk, José Parlá, Kennedy Yanko, and the late Leon Polk Smith—four artists with strong connections to Brooklyn—creates a dynamic environment through four distinct, visually immersive experiences. Animating the monumental architecture of the Museum’s Beaux-Arts Court, each artist transforms the iconic space with brilliant and subtle colors, intriguing surfaces, and wide-ranging materials.
The Museum’s considerable collection of hard-edge paintings by Smith, which sharply delineate the shaped canvases, serves as the impetus for the installation. The newly created works by the three living artists, all of whom work in Brooklyn today, similarly engage with space in innovative ways: Hayuk with her tactile, abstract modular pieces; Parlá with his large environmental paintings; and Yanko with her metal and paint sculptures.
Brooklyn Museum
200 Eastern Parkway
Brooklyn, New York 11238-6052
Wed – Sun 11 am–6 pm
