Hard Art brings three generations into conversation in New York
· BehindLines newsroom
At MoMA PS1 in Queens, New York, Hard Art brings together more than forty Black artists around the many forms of abstraction in the United States. The museum's current calendar places the exhibition between 5 November 2026 and 15 March 2027. Its presentation connects three generations, from historical practices to recent works.
The exhibition extends beyond paintings. Sculpture, video and sound broaden what a visitor might understand by abstraction. Artists including Frank Bowling, Ed Clark and Barbara Chase-Riboud appear alongside Torkwase Dyson, Nikita Gale and Carolyn Lazard, among others.
Looking with your ears as well
An example described by Mariane Ibrahim gallery illustrates this variety. In Landscape (Western Hemisphere), a video Lorraine O'Grady made in 2010–2011, close views of hair moved by fans become a shifting landscape. A soundtrack combines natural and urban soundscapes.
The gallery presents the work as a reflection on identities and cultural mixing. That interpretation comes from a party involved in the artist's work; it is not an independent assessment of the entire exhibition. The example nevertheless helps explain how an abstract image can retain a connection to a body and a history.
A history built through connections
Led by Connie Butler, with Sheldon Gooch, the museum organises this encounter thematically. The approach invites visitors to compare artistic practices rather than simply follow a sequence of dates.
According to the museum, the title refers to words Peter Bradley used about The DeLuxe Show. Abstraction emerges as an invitation to look for longer. This guiding idea offers a question to carry through the galleries: what changes when a painting, a material and a sound become neighbours? The documents consulted describe a curatorial intention; they do not replace a critical visit.