Colour is the quintessential element of art. In recent works by Judy Chicago, colour is also the central protagonist, although the artist uses it to enhance the aspects of her sculptural works. The piece Moving Parts, for example, combines clear acrylic forms with colours to achieve a similar visual effect to some of her previous works.

A selection of Chicago’s new sculptures and old drawings will feature in the Judy Chicago: Making Advances exhibition at the Jessica Silverman gallery this November.

Moving Parts

The central art piece of the exhibition is a series of five new sculptures titled Moving Parts (1967/2022). Made of clear acrylic forms on variously coloured mirrors, the work contains 13 moveable pieces that capture and refract brilliant colours of gold, blush, purple, teal, and magenta through their cylindrical forms and rounded tops.

The piece is set against a mirrored base; its polymorphic and erotically suggestive parts that seem to extend in multiple directions create an illusion of overlapping planes and sharply edged colours. The overall effect is reminiscent of the radiating petal formations from Through the Flower imagery Chicago created in 1974.

The work Moving Parts is based on Chicago’s piece created in 1967. Titled 3.5.5 Acrylic Shapes, it was set on a colourless mirror and had moveable parts that challenged the rigid, dictatorial norms of much minimalist art. While, in 1967, coloured mirrors were not available, Chicago integrated them into the new piece, expanding the original meaning. By seamlessly merging form, colour, and surface, Chicago extends her feminist gesture allowing colour to get integrated into the perceptual experience instead of being imposed upon a surface.

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