The Surprise Behind a Door Marked “Private” in a NYC Gallery
How an Unplanned Adventure Led Me to Wangechi Mutu’s Mesmerizing Second Born
There are far too many galleries in New York City to see them all. At least for me- I’m only here for a month. There are the big name galleries and the niche galleries. There are gallery-type exhibits at museums and artist-owned storefronts. Some galleries are a collective where artists pay to exhibit, and others are curated with works from artists they represent exclusively. Needless to say, it’s New York City, so there’s something for everyone.
My style of gallery hopping is to do literally that- I roam from place to place, window gaze along the way, and stop in when I get a good vibe. I know! It’s hardly scientific and maddeningly unplanned. But I find the best art by serendipity and magical timing.
That is how I came to discover Wangechi Mutu’s Second Born (2013, collage) at Pace Prints. This collage instantly caught my eye- in a back room, down a hallway, barely visible behind the door marked “private.” The gold leaf shone. The oversized eyes of an alien-looking woman called me. I recognized something. Serendipity. I had to get back there.
So I went to find a gallery assistant. The pensive lady, much to my surprise, immediately walked me through the “private” door giving me a VIP moment to smile about.
And then there I was, looking at a goddess of mother earth, an alien woman, a futuristic creature of imagination. She’s looking over her shoulder at the viewer, cradling a child, a serpent spewing droplets from her volcanic stack of hair. Flowers of flames light the netted hillsides behind her. Upon closer examination, all of her features are brightly splotched cushions of paint, or magazine clipped flowers and slugs. Paper eyes are pasted onto oversized cutout glasses. A fashionable gown and pieces of jewelry ornament her hair. The whole landscape is netted yet grows wild.
Second Born is wild and comforting at the same time. It’s an astonishing array of detail up close, and from a distance might be a scene from a science fiction movie. I couldn’t quit looking at the details and my mind went wild with stories.
Wangechi Mutu was born in Kenya but then came to the United States to study fine art. Her multimodal art forms express many topics, including womanhood, racism, misogyny, and diasporic identity. Her artistic subjects, often women, are a united mix of fantasy, landscape pieces, animal, human, and plant.
Her themes emphasize issues of belonging, migration, and identifying homelands. As someone who has lived in multiple countries, I understand the complexity of belonging and affiliation. The emotional landscape of cultural discovery and disjointed identity can only be felt through artistic expression.
If a plant has just one root that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s going to stand straight and strong. The idea of having many roots, of having your feet really grounded in different places, is extremely empowering for me.
-Wangechi Mutu
In Second Born, I saw love, grief, hope, and perseverance. I know that look of fatigue. I have felt that fire of blooming. I know, as that migrating woman does, that there is more to come. Second Born is the middle of a story; the midpoint of a long journey. It walks.
If you’ve ever seen art that tells part of your story, how do you capture that moment? Tell me- I’d like to know!
Thank You 🙌 Merci 🫶 Grazie 👍
Thank you for reading Art Advisor. When you open, read, share, like, and comment it really makes me feel supported in my art (writing, educating, and advising) as I strive to support others in theirs. If you support the arts, subscribing, liking, and sharing are the best things you can do for us artists (air kisses!).
I’m expanding my work in the arts, and am working on expanded content and various forms of secret things 😀. Art Advisor will always have a free version here on Substack, but look for paid subscription offerings coming soon. You’re going to 🩷 it!
In Spain, I took in so much art it felt overwhelming and yet the Rubens always stay with me. It’s something about the light, the subject, the soft lines, they pull me in. I want to inhabit the space…Thanks for sharing. I take in art the same in New York. It’s random, but lovely.