NEW YORK—Strolling the High Line is one of the best ways to spend a Sunday afternoon in New York City and it just got even better. Since May 2, views from the elevated walk way have been enhanced by a new billboard featuring “Groovin High,” an adapted work by Faith Ringgold. Don’t miss the opportunity to experience her work in its final days on view.
The park describes the work thus: “‘Groovin High’ is evocative of Ringgold’s memories of Sunday afternoon dances at the Savoy and her connection to the African American communities of her native Harlem.”
Known for her incredible 1970s story quilts, Ringgold’s 2013 solo exhibitions at ACA Galleries in New York and the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C., introduced many to a little known foundation of her practice that began a decade earlier—a series of bold, dynamic paintings inspired by black pride and the civil rights and feminist movements.
The appearance of her work along the High Line marks another refreshing development in a career of one of the most important black women artists of the past half century. Ringgold is the first black artist to participate in the park’s billboard project.
“Groovin High” is on view May 2 to June 2, 2014 at 18th Street and Tenth Avenue.
All photos by Arts Observer
View from the High Line.
Street-level view of the billboard which rises above a parking lot at 18th Street and 10th Avenue.