Here Pindell inscribed numbers onto punched dots and then pasted them onto a sheet of graph paper. The dots sit uncomfortably in the grid of squares, creating an ordered but dense thicket of visual information. Pindell’s numerical notations appear purposeful, perhaps even algorithmic, but they amount to nothing but diagrammatic babble, taunting our desire to make sense of—to rationalize—their content.
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the artist, New York (1973–78; sold through Just Above Midtown Gallery, New York to MMA)
New York. A.I.R. Gallery. "Howardena Pindell," January 13–31, 1973, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Recent Acquisitions: Twentieth Century Art Department," October 16, 1979–January 30, 1980, no catalogue.
New York. Studio Museum in Harlem. "Energy/Experimentation: Black Artists and Abstraction, 1964–1980," April 5–July 2, 2006, unnumbered cat. (p. 92).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art [The Met Breuer]. "Delirious: Art at the Limits of Reason, 1950–1980," September 13, 2017–January 14, 2018, no. 9.
Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. "Howardena Pindell: What Remains To Be Seen," February 24–May 20, 2018, unnumbered cat. (p. 9).
New York. Museum of Modern Art. "Just Above Midtown: Changing Spaces," October 9, 2022–February 18, 2023, unnumbered cat. (p. 172).
Lowery Sims. "The Metropolitan: Collecting Black Art." Routes Magazine 3 (May 1980), p. 25.
Kelly Baum inDelirious: Art at the Limits of Reason, 1950–1980. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art [The Met Breuer]. New York, 2017, pp. 42, 211, 221 n. 122, colorpl. 9.
Howardena Pindell (American, born Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1943)
1979–80
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