Chryssa & New York
As a Greek American neighborhood in Chicago, our Greektown community is always on the lookout for ways to engage in Greek culture in our city!
This spring, Wrightwood 659 – a Chicago art space dedicated to socially engaged art – hosts Chryssa & New York, the first museum exhibition in North America in more than four decades to focus on the Greek-born artist Chryssa (1933–2013). The exhibition is co-organized by Dia Art Foundation and the Menil Collection, Houston, in collaboration with Alphawood Foundation at Wrightwood 659. The critically acclaimed exhibition makes its final stop on its national tour at Wrightwood 659 from May 3 through July 27, 2024. An American art pioneer in light art and luminist sculpture, Chryssa was known for her neon, steel, aluminum and acrylic glass installations. The pieces are visually stunning with roots in both ancient Mediterranean art and American commercial culture, including towering sculptures and dazzling lighting, combining materials like metal and neon.
As an immigrant, a woman, and a queer artist, Chryssa became a leading figure of the New York art world in the 1950s and ’60s within avant-garde circles. Born in Athens, Chryssa studied art in Paris and at the California School of Fine Art before settling in New York City in the late 1950s. In the 60s, she held a solo exhibition at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and was considered a leading artist of her generation. Chryssa’s work has been exhibited at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Buffalo AKG Art Museum; and the Tate Modern, London, among other renowned institutions. In addition to major loans from American and European museums and private collections, the Chicago stop on the national tour includes a new section on the artist’s relationship to Chicago, featuring works and archival materials from the Art Institute of Chicago the Smart Museum of Art and DePaul Art Museum.
For more information on the exhibit or to learn how you can visit the exhibition, visit https://wrightwood659.org/exhibitions/chryssa-new-york/
