Pink handsewn petals and chain links; vintage linens stitched into boxing gloves — the dualities of tenderness and strength become kaleidoscopic refrains in MENDED by Zoë Buckman, presented nightly in November across 90+ billboards in Times Square.
Through a multidisciplinary practice that includes sculpture, public installations, ceramics and photography, Buckman takes a decidedly feminist approach in her exploration of identity, trauma, grief, and empowerment. Often taking on gendered violence as subject matter, the artist uses materials that ride the contradictions between soft and hard, feminine and masculine, intimacy and aggression. The visuals of her Midnight Moment weave together imagery and motifs found throughout her work - footage of boxing gloves, domestic textiles, metal chains, and florals. Periodically abstracted and reconfigured into mesmerizing mandalas, the resulting video takes us on a journey that mirrors the swing from chaos to focused introspection that often accompanies the various stages of grief.
MENDED is an adaptation of work originally created for Loss Tapes, a collaborative digital series and NFT residency in which Buckman has continued her exploration of the varied qualities of grief and power in the female experience. The original iteration of the work features an accompanying score by Dave Guy and Homer Steinweiss, whose rich tones of horns, percussion, and vintage synths infuse the escalating visual sequences with the feel of a victory march.
Midnight Moment is the world’s largest, longest-running digital art exhibition, synchronized on over 90 electronic billboards throughout Times Square nightly from 11:57pm to midnight. This year, Times Square Arts is celebrating the ten year anniversary of the Midnight Moment series with a roster of all women and femme-expansive artists until April 2023.
ABOUT ZOË BUCKMAN
Zoë Buckman was born in 1985 in Hackney, East London. She studied at The International Center of Photography (GS ‘09) and was awarded an Art Matters Grant in 2017. She has shown in solo exhibitions at Gavlak Gallery, Los Angeles; Papillion Art, Los Angeles; Project for Empty Space, Newark; Garis & Hahn Gallery, Los Angeles; and Milk Gallery, New York. Group exhibitions include Camden Arts Centre, London; The Studio Museum in Harlem, The Children’s Museum of the Arts, New York; Paul Kasmin Gallery, New York; The Tarble Arts Center, Illinois; Goodman Gallery, South Africa; Jack Shainman Gallery, New York; Unit London; NYU Florence, Grunwald Gallery of Art Gallery, Indiana University; The Democratic National Convention, Philadelphia; The National Center for Civil and Human Rights, Atlanta; and The National Museum of African-American History & Culture, Washington, D.C.; The Visual Arts Center of New Jersey; The Centre Regional D’Art Contemporain, Sète, France and Smack Mellon, New York. Public art installations include For Freedoms “50 State Initiative”, “Inaction is Apathy” billboard at 21c Museum Hotel Bentonville, Arkansas and “Champ” at The Standard, Downtown LA with Art Production Fund. Buckman currently lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.
ABOUT PIPPY HOULDSWORTH GALLERY
Inaugurated in 1999, Pippy Houldsworth Gallery is a leading contemporary art gallery that represents a diverse roster of emerging and established artists. Since moving to its current premises on Heddon Street in 2011, the gallery has focused on the representation of female artists, who now account for 90% of the programme. Renowned for its emphasis on institutional acquisitions, the gallery is proud to have placed significant artworks in museum collections worldwide.
