HOWARDENA PINDELL

With thousands of her signature circles in whites and pastels, Howardena Pindell pays tribute to artist and mentor Joseph Albers (German-American, 1888–1976), one of the greatest color theorists of the 20th century. An homage in both design and title, Pindell incorporates Albers’s signature squares and gives her work the same title he used throughout his career. A multi-disciplinary artist, scholar, professor, curator, and activist who began her career in the 1970s, Pindell never shied away from sharing the realities of being a Black woman in the arts. While more non-Black female artists working in abstraction found opportunities to exhibit their work in the early 70s, and her peers began to rise in their curatorial roles, Pindell remained sidelined in both realms. Yet, Pindell always persisted. 

For Pindell, the circle has limitless potential in its formal qualities. Pindell uses it in her abstractions in various ways. She makes small paper circles with a hole punch, often paints them, and then stacks one upon the other. She also uses sheets with punched-out circles as a stencil, spraying layers of paint through the holes and right onto the canvas. Pindell used this technique in Homage to the Square. Circles are also personal and metaphoric for Pindell. As a young child eating at a restaurant, she lifted her cup and noticed a red circle on it, learning around age five that even restaurant dishes were segregated. Circles have other potencies as well, including transcendent, meditative, even supernatural qualities, both for Pindell and many others. 

“Howardena Pindell: Inner Circle”  

Art21 "Extended Play"