deCordova debuts three new exhibitions

The deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum will host an opening reception on Thursday, Oct. 5 from 6:30–8:30 p.m. for three exhibitions opening on October 6: Screens: Virtual Material; Cool Medium: Art, Television & Psychedelia, 1960-1980; and Bodies in Water. Please RSVP to  rsvp@decordova.org.

Screens: Virtual Material

Screens focuses on the increased presence of screens, both digital and tactile, within contemporary art. The exhibition features large-scale works by six leading contemporary artists: Brian Bress, Marta Chilindron, Liza Lou, Matt Saunders, Josh Tonsfeldt, and Penelope Umbrico. From metal fences and folding architecture to television monitors and video projections, screens are the primary artistic medium and conceptual focus in these immersive sculpture, installations, and multimedia artworks.

Cool Medium: Art, Television & Psychedelia, 1960–1980

Cool Medium explores how the emergence of color television and psychedelic culture—and the hypnotic properties of both—intersected with visual art. Drawn primarily from deCordova’s permanent collection, Cool Medium includes painting, photographs, and prints that relate to the visual language of the television screen and conditions of mass media culture. The works in the exhibition mirror the saturated colors and patterns shown on television in the 1960s and 1970s, and also address cultural issues of drug use, paranoia, space exploration, and media saturation.

Bodies in Water 

Bodies in Water shows the many creative ways photographers have been inspired by water. The works in the exhibition, showcasing deCordova’s deep holdings of photography, feature human bodies immersed in, emerging from, and interacting with water in visually bold and thought-provoking ways. While some artists address water as a form of recreation or relaxation, others focus on its scarcity or potentially dangerous nature.