Howardena Pindell
Howardena Pindell
Howardena Pindell
Howardena Pindell
Howardena Pindell
Howardena Pindell
Howardena Pindell
Howardena Pindell
Howardena Pindell
Howardena Pindell
Working across figuration, abstraction and conceptualism, Howardena Pindell has since the 1970s examined a wide range of subject matter, from the personal and diaristic to the social and political. Hers is a complex and nuanced body of work, a fusion of sensuality and intellectual enquiry in which texture, colour, structure and process are employed to mine history (and hidden histories) and address intersecting issues such as racism, feminism, violence and exploitation.
Pindell is known for employing unconventional materials such as glitter, talcum powder, even perfume, in her work and for rendering visible traces of labour, such as obsessively affixed dots of pigment and paper circles made with a hole punch, or canvases cut into strips and sewn back together, which signify wider, metaphorical processes of deconstruction and reconstruction.
Trailblazing early works include Video Drawings, shown in the inaugural exhibition at P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center in Queens, which led to a long series of works that feature her drawings superimposed over sporting events, news broadcasts and televised elections; and Free, White and 21, 1980, a video in which the artist plays herself and, wearing a mask, a white woman, whose conversation relays Pindell’s own experiences of racism. Her ravishing, pointillist paintings of the 1970s, created by spraying paint through a template, prefigure what is now regarded as her signature aesthetic, in which colourful paper circles are meticulously affixed to unstretched canvases.
Pindell’s achievements as an artist are equalled by her role as a curator, educator and activist. She was the first black female curator at the Museum of Modern Art, and a co-founder of the pioneering feminist A.I.R. Gallery. In 1979, she began teaching at the State University of New York, Stony Brook, where she remains a professor.
Born in Philadelphia in 1943, Howardena Pindell has exhibited extensively throughout her career. Recent institutional solo exhibitions include Howardena Pindell: Rope/Fire/Water at The Shed, New York (2020-2021) and the major survey exhibition Howardena Pindell: What Remains To Be Seen, which toured from the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (2018) to Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond (2018) and Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Massachusetts (2019).
Notable solo exhibitions also include Spelman College, Atlanta (1971); A.I.R. Gallery, New York (1973, 1983); Just Above Midtown, New York (1977); Lerner-Heller Gallery, New York (1980, 1981); The Studio Museum in Harlem New York (1986); Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford (1989); Cyrus Gallery, New York (1989); G.R. N’Namdi Gallery, Chicago, Detroit, New York (1992, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2002, 2006); Garth Greenan Gallery, New York (2014, 2017, 2022); Spelman College Museum of Fine Art, Atlanta (2015); and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (2018).
Pindell’s work has been featured in many landmark museum exhibitions, such as Contemporary Black Artists in America at the Whitney Museum of American Art (1971); Rooms, P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center (1976); Another Generation, The Studio Museum in Harlem (1979); Afro-American Abstraction, P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center (1980); The Decade Show: Frameworks of Identity in the 1980s, New Museum of Contemporary Art (1990); and Bearing Witness: Contemporary Works by African-American Women Artists, Spelman College Museum of Fine Art, Atlanta (1996).
Her works have also been exhibited in important group shows, such as Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power at Tate Modern, London (2017), which toured to Brooklyn Museum, New York (2018-2019), and The Broad Museum, Los Angeles (2019); We Wanted a Revolution: Black Radical Women, 1965–1985, Brooklyn Museum, New York (2017); Energy/Experimentation: Black Artists and Abstraction, 1964–1980, The Studio Museum in Harlem (2006); High Times, Hard Times: New York Painting, 1967–1975, Weatherspoon Art Museum, University of North Carolina, Greensboro (2006); WACK! Art and the Feminist Revolution, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (2007); Target Practice: Painting Under Attack, 1949–1978, Seattle Art Museum (2009); Black in the Abstract: Part I, Epistrophy, Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston (2013); and Painting 2.0: Expression in the Information Age, Museum Brandhorst; 2016, Museum Moderner Kunst (2015–2016).
Pindell’s work is in the permanent collections of major museums internationally, including Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo; Brooklyn Museum; Corcoran Gallery of Art; Fogg Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge; High Museum of Art, Atlanta; Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Copenhagen; Metropolitan Museum of Art; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; Museum of Modern Art; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia; Philadelphia Museum of Art; Rose Art Museum, Waltham, Massachusetts; The Studio Museum in Harlem; Smithsonian Museum of American Art, Washington, D.C.; Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond; Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; Whitney Museum of American Art; Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven.
Howardena Pindell: A New Language, the artist's first solo exhibition in a public organisation in the UK, was on view at Fruitmarket Gallery in Edinburgh (13 November 2021–2 May 2022), travelling to Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge (2 July–30 October 2022), Spike Island, Bristol (18 February–21 May 2023). The exhibition will be on view at the Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, (29 June–5 November 2023).
Survey: Selected Works
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Songlines: Labyrinth (Versailles), 2017
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Untitled #52, 2010
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"Till Birnam Wood Remove to Dunsinane" (Macbeth, Act 5, Scene 3), 1991
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Autobiography: Water (Ancestors/Middle Passage/Family Ghosts), 1988
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Autobiography: Air (CS560), 1988
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Autobiography: Africa (Red Frog II), 1986
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Untitled #101, 1979
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Autobiography: Japan (Mountain Reflection), 1982–1983
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Untitled, 1971
In Focus
Howardena Pindell at Victoria Miro Mayfair
In this film, Howardena Pindell reponds to seeing her work installed at Victoria Miro Mayfair. The artist's first solo UK exhibition continues until 27 July 2019.
Related
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Exhibition Posted June 30 2023
Howardena Pindell: A Renewed Language at IMMA
On view 30 June–30 October 2023, the artist's first solo exhibition in Ireland features new works in addition to seminal works from the 1970s onwards. IMMA, Dublin -
Interview Posted June 21 2023
Howardena Pindell talks to Something Curated
'I am amazed at how beautiful the circle can be.' Something Curated -
Gallery Exhibition 8 June - 29 July 2023
Howardena Pindell: New Works
Howardena Pindell’s spray dot paintings are among her most iconic works. The artist first created these sensuous paintings in New York in the early 1970s. In the past few years, for the first time in decades, Pindell has revisited this technique with renewed creativity and excitement. Conceived for the gallery in London, this exhibition marks the first solo presentation of these new works, featuring a monumental diptych. Victoria Miro Gallery II -
Interview Posted March 9 2023
As her exhibition, A New Language, opens at Spike Island, Bristol, Howardena Pindell talks to AnOther
‘I hope… the issue-related paintings are challenging, in a good way, and help people reflect and care about the world.’ Alayo Akinkugbe, AnOther -
Exhibition Posted February 16 2023
Howardena Pindell: A New Language at Spike Island, Bristol
The acclaimed exhibition (18 February–21 May 2023) surveys Howardena Pindell’s six-decade-long career, from early abstract paintings to more overtly political works that tackle subjects including slavery, violence against Black and Indigenous people, and the AIDS pandemic. Spike Island, Bristol -
Review Posted July 28 2022
Howardena Pindell: A New Language is reviewed by Frieze
'With a throughline of painstaking precision that creates coherence out of chaos, Pindell’s means of reckoning with these inexplicable horrors evolves from abstraction to direct filmic confrontation. Hers is a language established in its truths.' Lauren Dei, Frieze -
Review Posted July 10 2022
Laura Cumming reviews Howardena Pindell: A New Language for The Observer
★★★★★ 'And so these works come to have another meaning, another significance, another effect upon the viewer. Their beauty is doubly political, by the end of this unmissable exhibition – as a message but also a comforting beneficence.' Laura Cumming, The Observer -
Review Posted July 1 2022
The Guardian reviews Howardena Pindell: A New Language at Kettle’s Yard
★★★★★ 'The themes of structure versus chaos, pattern in variety, which Pindell’s early paintings explore is not just aesthetic. It suggests the bigger patterns of history and power, the structure of human relationships.' Jonathan Jones, The Guardian -
Exhibition Posted June 14 2022
Howardena Pindell: A New Language at Kettle’s Yard
Howardena Pindell: A New Language, the artist’s first solo institutional exhibition in the UK (on view at Kettle's Yard, Cambridge from 2 July 2022), brings together work from Pindell’s six-decade-long career, including paintings, works on paper, and video. The exhibition tracks the development of Pindell’s artistic language, and examines her work as exemplary in articulating empowerment. Kettle's Yard, Cambridge -
Interview Posted November 27 2021
Howardena Pindell talks to the Guardian
‘I could have died – that’s when I decided to express my opinion in my work’ Skye Sherwin, The Guardian -
Exhibition Posted November 13 2021
Howardena Pindell: A New Language at Fruitmarket, Edinburgh
The artist's first solo exhibition in a public organisation in the UK (13 November 2021–2 May 2022) is organised by the Fruitmarket, Edinburgh in collaboration with Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge and Spike Island, Bristol. Fruitmarket, Edinburgh -
Exhibition Posted September 22 2021
The RA Summer Exhibition 2021 featuring work by Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Chantal Joffe, Isaac Julien, Grayson Perry, Howardena Pindell and Conrad Shawcross
Opening on 22 September 2021–2 January 2022, this year's exhibition includes work by Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Chantal Joffe, Isaac Julien, Grayson Perry, Howardena Pindell and Conrad Shawcross. Royal Academy of Arts -
Exhibition Posted September 17 2021
On the Basis of Art: 150 Years of Women at Yale
This new exhibition at Yale University Art Gallery celebrates the vital contributions of generations of Yale artist-alumni, including Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Wangechi Mutu, Howardena Pindell, Sarah Sze and many more. Yale University Art Gallery -
News story Posted November 12 2020
Howardena Pindell shortlisted as Apollo Artist of the Year
Howardena Pindell is shortlisted by the Apollo Awards 2020 as Artist of the Year. Apollo Magazine -
Interview Posted November 2 2020
Howardena Pindell talks to The Guardian
The 77-year-old talks about her latest work and a career in a world where ‘people didn’t want to talk about racism’ Nadja Sayej, The Guardian -
Exhibition Posted October 16 2020
Howardena Pindell: Rope/Fire/Water opens at The Shed
For her solo exhibition at The Shed (16 October 2020–11 April 2021), Howardena Pindell presents a number of works including Rope/Fire/Water, her first video in 25 years. The Shed, New York -
Interview Posted October 16 2020
Howardena Pindell talks to The New York Times
At 77, Howardena Pindell Exorcises a Chilling Memory From Childhood. Jillian Steinhauer, The New York Times -
Interview Posted October 16 2020
‘I put myself – the Black body – in the work,’ – Howardena Pindell talks to Time about her new exhibition at The Shed
In 1979, Howardena Pindell quit her job in the curatorial department of The Museum of Modern Art to start teaching at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Months into her new profession, she was a passenger in a car accident that left her with a hip injury and a dent in her head, causing memory loss. The near-death situation inspired an epiphany for Pindell, already an artist outside of her working hours: she needed to voice her opinion, she needed to do it now, and her art was the perfect way to do it. Anna Purna Kambhampaty, Time -
News story Posted September 30 2020
Howardena Pindell is interviewed by Whitehot Magazine
Howardena Pindell speaks to Whitehot Magazine ahead of her upcoming exhibition Rope/Fire/Water at The Shed later this month. Chase Szakmary, Whitehot Magazine -
Exhibition Posted September 11 2020
Howardena Pindell on view at Art Omi
Currently on view at Art Omi – Howardena Pindell (18 July – 1 November), a solo exhibition featuring photo collage and video works by the influential American artist. Pindell has since the 1970s examined a wide range of subject matter, from the personal and diaristic to the social and political. Ghent, NY -
Event Posted March 3 2020
Howardena Pindell in conversation at The Armory Show
Taking place at 2pm on Sunday 8 March 2020, Truth, Fiction, and Memory is an in-conversation event featuring the artist, and writer and editor Kimberly Drew. The Armory Show, New York -
News story Posted February 11 2020
The Art Newspaper’s top shows to see during Frieze LA, featuring Howardena Pindell and Do Ho Suh
TAN's selections include MOCA's With Pleasure: Pattern and Decoration in American Art 1972-1985, featuring Howardena Pindell, and Do Ho Suh's 348 West 22nd Street, on view at Los Angeles County Museum of Art. The Art Newspaper -
News story Posted January 22 2020
Howardena Pindell is announced as a 2020 USA Fellow
Pindell is among the 50 artists across ten creative disciplines announced as Fellow by United States Artists (USA) on 22 January 2020. -
Exhibition Posted January 6 2020
Black Refractions: Highlights from the Studio Museum in Harlem travels to SCMA
This major traveling exhibition (on view at SCMA 17 January–12 April 2020) features works by Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Isaac Julien, Wangechi Mutu and Howardena Pindell. Smith Art Museum, Northampton, MA -
Exhibition Posted December 20 2019
Just announced – Howardena Pindell: Rope/Fire/Water at The Shed, New York in October 2020
An exhibition (7 October 2020–17 January 2021) examining the violent, historical trauma of racism in America and the therapeutic power of artistic creation. The Shed, New York -
News story Posted November 27 2019
Howardena Pindell is honoured with the rank of Distinguished Professor by the State University of New York
The artist is one of three faculty from Stony Brook University’s College of Arts and Sciences honoured with the rank of Distinguished Professor by the State University of New York Board of Trustees. Stony Brook University, New York -
Exhibition Posted November 22 2019
Howardena Pindell features in Making Knowing: Craft in Art, 1950–2019 at the Whitney
The exhibition (22 November 2019–January 2021) foregrounds how visual artists have explored the materials, methods, and strategies of craft over the past seven decades. Some expand techniques with long histories, such as weaving, sewing, or pottery, while others experiment with textiles, thread, clay, beads, and glass, among other mediums. The traces of the artists’ hands-on engagement with their materials invite viewers to imagine how it might feel to make each work. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York -
Talk Posted November 11 2019
Wangechi Mutu and Howardena Pindell take part in Conversation, Looking Back at 50 Years of Change in the Visual Arts
On the 50th anniversary of African American Studies at Yale, this panel (Thursday, 14 November, 2019, 5.30 pm) brings together Yale School of Art alumni Howardena Pindell, M.F.A. 1967, Wangechi Mutu, M.F.A. 2000, and Kevin Beasley, M.F.A. 2012, with Courtney J. Martin, Director of the Yale Center for British Art, to reflect on changing perceptions of black visual arts since 1969 and to share views on how to ensure an inclusive global art world for the future. Yale University Art Gallery -
Exhibition Posted November 9 2019
Soul of a Nation, featuring Alice Neel and Howardena Pindell, travels to the de Young Museum, San Francisco
Originating at Tate Modern, the exhibition (9 November 2019–15 March 2020) offers a survey of diverse artistic responses to the most seismic years of Black social activism, 1963 to 1983. The de Young Museum, San Francisco -
News story Posted October 22 2019
Smithsonian Institution’s Archives of American Art honours Howardena Pindell
This year’s gala (22 October 2019) marks the 65th anniversary of the Archives and will honor the achievements of artist Howardena Pindell, the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and art historian Alexander Nemerov. New York -
Event Posted August 28 2019
Howardena Pindell takes part in a MoMA panel discussion
In celebration of the publication of Among Others: Blackness at MoMA, Howardena Pindell takes part in a panel discussion on 8 September 2019. MoMa -
Interview Posted July 10 2019
Howardena Pindell talks to The Brooklyn Rail
'I find it very soothing to replace the circle as a negative symbol with something that’s positive.' Toby Kamps, The Brooklyn Rail -
Exhibition Posted June 28 2019
Howardena Pindell is featured in ACE: Art on Sports, Promise, and Selfhood
The artists in this exhibition (28 June–7 December 2019) use sports and athletic culture to explore how youth, gender, race, promise, and identity are intertwined with athleticism. University Art Museum, University at Alabama -
Interview Posted June 14 2019
Apollo interviews Howardena Pindell
‘There are some black artists who don’t want to be in shows that are labelled “black art”. I don’t mind it because I want people to be able to find me,’ Gabrielle Schwarz, Apollo -
Review Posted June 7 2019
The Art Newspaper recommends Howardena Pindell’s exhibition at Victoria Miro Mayfair
Victoria Miro has organised the first solo presentation of the US artist Howardena Pindell in the UK, spanning a series of pointillist-like spray paintings from the early 1970s and recent mixed-media works. The Art Newspaper -
Interview Posted June 7 2019
Howardena Pindell talks to the Financial Times
Ahead of her London exhibition, the African American painter looks back at a remarkable career. Rachel Spence, The Financial Times -
Interview Posted June 7 2019
The Art Newspaper Podcast, featuring Howardena Pindell
The artist talks to Ben Luke about the use of the circle in her abstract paintings, its origins in segregation in the US and the resistance to her art that she encountered among her peers. The Art Newspaper -
Interview Posted June 6 2019
Artnet interviews Howardena Pindell
Hettie Judah interviews the US artist on the eve of her first solo UK exhibition. Hettie Judah, Artnet -
Gallery Exhibition 5 June - 27 July 2019
Howardena Pindell
Victoria Miro presents an exhibition of recent works and large-scale paintings from the 1970s by Howardena Pindell, the gallery’s first presentation since announcing representation of the US artist, and Pindell’s... Victoria Miro Mayfair -
Channel June 5 2019
Howardena Pindell at Victoria Miro Mayfair
Held at Victoria Miro Mayfair (5 June–27 July 2019) Howardena Pindell’s first solo exhibition in the UK included abstract paintings and collages drawn from two distinct periods in the artist’s career: large-scale spray paintings from the early 1970s; and smaller wall-mounted three-dimensional works completed since 2007. -
Preview Posted May 27 2019
Howardena Pindell talks to Vogue
'It has been a rollercoaster experience,' she says of her five decades in the art world. She is 'stunned' by the upsurge of interest in her work, and grateful. 'For years I considered it under the radar; a message tossed out to sea in a bottle.' Louis Wise, Vogue -
Event Posted May 3 2019
Howardena Pindell in conversation with Jo Applin, Naomi Beckwith and Amy Tobin
Organised by the Courtauld Institute of Art, this public event (3 June 2019) features Howardena Pindell in conversation with Jo Applin, Reader in the History of Art, Head of History of Art Department at the Courtauld, Naomi Beckwith, Senior Curator, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, and Amy Tobin, Curator at Kettle’s Yard, University of Cambridge. The Courtauld Institute of Art, Vernon Square, London -
Exhibition Posted May 1 2019
Black Refractions: Highlights from the Studio Museum in Harlem travels to The Gibbes Museum
This major traveling exhibition (on view at The Gibbes Museum, 24 May–18 August 2019) features works by Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Isaac Julien and Wangechi Mutu. The Gibbes Museum, Charleston -
Exhibition Posted March 24 2019
Soul of a Nation, featuring Howardena Pindell, travels to The Broad
Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power (23 March–1 September 2019) shines light on a broad spectrum of Black artistic practice from 1963 to 1983, one of the most politically, socially, and aesthetically revolutionary periods in American history. The Broad, Los Angeles -
News story Posted March 23 2019
Howardena Pindell talks to The New York Times
Pindell discusses her response to the resurgence of interest in her work as part of an extensive feature about the rise of older African-American artists. Hilarie M Sheets, The New York Times -
Review Posted March 7 2019
The Boston Globe reviews Howardena Pindell:What Remains To Be Seen at Rose Art Museum
'On either side of the divide, she’s nothing less than heroic. Early works are demure subversion — playful, knowing, sensual, elegant.' Murray Whyte, The Boston Globe -
Exhibition Posted February 1 2019
Howardena Pindell:What Remains To Be Seen at Rose Art Museum
This major exhibition (1 February–19 May 2019) spans the New York–based artist’s five-decade career, featuring early figurative paintings, pure abstraction, and conceptual works, as well as personal and political art that emerged in the aftermath of a life-threatening car accident in 1979. The exhibition traces themes and visual experiments that run throughout Pindell’s work up to the present. Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts -
Event Posted January 28 2019
Howardena Pindell in conversation with Naomi Beckwith and Valerie Cassel Oliver
To mark the opening of Howardena Pindell: What Remains To Be Seen at Rose Art Museum, the artist discusses her work (1 February 2019) with the exhibition curators. Rose Art Museum, Waltham, Massachusetts -
News story Posted January 18 2019
As reported in Artforum and Art News, Howardena Pindell is awarded the College Art Association’s 2019 Distinguished Artist Award for Lifetime Achievement
The College Art Association has revealed the winners of its 2019 awards for distinction, with Howardena Pindell receiving the 2019 Distinguished Artist Award for Lifetime Achievement. Alex Greenberger, Art News -
News story Posted January 18 2019
Culture Type reports on Victoria Miro’s representation of Howardena Pindell
'The UK-based gallery is working with the multidiscplinary artist in collaboration with Garth Greenan Gallery, her rep in New York. Pindell’s first exhibition with Victoria Miro is planned for June 2019 in London.' Victoria L Valentine, Culture Type -
News story Posted January 16 2019
Victoria Miro announces representation of Howardena Pindell
The first solo exhibition of works by the artist in the UK will be held at Victoria Miro Mayfair in June 2019. -
Exhibition Posted January 16 2019
Black Refractions: Highlights from the Studio Museum in Harlem at the Museum of the African Diaspora
This major traveling exhibition (16 January–14 April 2019) features works by Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Isaac Julien, Wangechi Mutu, Chris Ofili and Howardena Pindell. Museum of the African Diaspora, San Francisco, California -
Review Posted December 30 2018
Laura Cumming selects Surface Work for her best art of 2018
'A century of abstract painting by women: rare and revelatory.' The Observer Laura Cumming -
Review Posted April 10 2018
Frieze reviews Howardena Pindell: What Remains To Be Seen at MCA Chicago
'Pindell’s best works are incisive, but also uplifting; the various socio-political issues they address are unified by sensuous detail that invites viewers in for a closer look.' Natalie Haddad, Frieze -
Review Posted April 2 2018
Hyperallergic reviews Howardena Pindell: What Remains To Be Seen at MCA Chicago
'The works exemplify her adeptness at transforming detritus into elegant abstractions with alluring optical depth, as well as her long-lasting exploration of order within chaos, and vice versa.' Claire Voon, Hyperallergic -
Interview Posted February 1 2018
Howardena Pindell talks to Artforum ahead of her survey exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago
'As the show's title, What Remains To Be Seen, suggest, I like challenging people to figure out what's painted and what isn't…' Artforum
Previous exhibitions at Victoria Miro
Howardena Pindell: New Works
Howardena Pindell’s spray dot paintings are among her most iconic works. The artist first created these sensuous paintings in New York in the early 1970s. In the past few years, for the first time in decades, Pindell has revisited this technique with renewed creativity and excitement. Conceived for the gallery in London, this exhibition marks the first solo presentation of these new works, featuring a monumental diptych.