In Conversation with the Cosmos is the first comprehensive survey in the United States dedicated to the late Filipino artist David Medalla (1938–2020). The exhibition contextualizes the elusive and experimental practice of an artist whose pioneering work spanned kinetic, performance, and participatory art movements. Medalla’s life and work cultivated intimate forms of exchange between collaborators, friends, and lovers in the service of “cosmic propulsions,” “Impromptus,” and other otherworldly propositions. Beginning with paintings and drawings from the late 1950s and concluding with the works he produced before his death, In Conversation with the Cosmos presents the accumulations of a creative life imbued with an anti-institutional ethos and a commitment to impermanence and change.
David Medalla: Conversation with the Cosmos
Adam Nankervis, David Medalla in conversation with the cosmos, 2017. C-print. 31 7/16 × 23 5/8 in.
David Medalla, Lava Machine, 1962. Acrylic on paper. 19 11/16 × 12 13/16 in.
David Medalla, Untitled, 1973. Ball point pen, colored pencil, felt-tip market, water color on aluminum-foil coated board. 5 7/6 x 4 1/2inches
David Medalla, Untitled, c1957. Graphite and China Ink on Paper, 11 x 8 7/16 inches
David Medalla: In Conversation with the Cosmos, installation view.
David Medalla: In Conversation with the Cosmos, installation view
See Also
1976
Warhol acquires the first of several compact 35 mm cameras, and over the next 11 years shot approximately 130,000 black-and-white images, claiming that “having a few rolls of film to develop gives me a good reason to get up in the morning.”