Forever de Young is a free open-air art performance by Judy Chicago.
The de Young Museum has always pushed the boundaries to bring us accessible and exciting fine art pieces. On October 16, they will welcome decorated artist Judy Chicago to present a stunning performance of her site-specific Atmospheres series. Forever de Young will launch enormous multicolored clouds into the sky in front of the museum from a 27-foot-high scaffold, creating a glorious multidimensional effect. According to the museum, the effects are created with non-toxic color pigments that are commonly used in theater and film productions. It’ll all go down on Saturday, October 16 at 5:30pm, weather permitting.
Watch the vibrant plumes mix with the wind and sunlight to create a one-of-a-kind performance and constantly-changing color effects. This performance at the de Young recalls artist Judy Chicago’s Atmospheres series, which took place around California in the ’60s and ’70s. The live sculptures are ephemeral, soft clouds that have since been celebrated as feminist responses to the Light and Space movement, which originated in the ’60s in Southern California.
While many works coming out of the movement have more to do with permanent installations of neon, glass, resin, and fluorescent lights within objects, Chicago’s work offers a softer, liberated, and decidedly feminine interpretation. The vivid puffs billow and mix in the air to express her interest in the emotive capacity of color. As the pigments are released from the rigid structures of painting and sculpture, they become fleeting, and effervescent, and ever-changing.
Forever de Young is part of the museum’s exhibition, Judy Chicago: A Retrospective, which celebrates the feminist artist by showcasing about 130 works from her career spanning over 6 decades. See it on display until January 9, 2022.
Chicago’s breathtaking art performance will take place in front of the de Young Museum at 50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive in Golden Gate Park. Catch it at 5:30pm on Saturday, October 16 (weather permitting). You can also livestream the performance on YouTube. Get updates by following the de Young Museum on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter; or check back on their website.
Featured image: Judy Chicago in collaboration with Pyro Spectaculars by Souza, Diamonds in the Sky (detail), 2021. Fireworks performance, Belen, NM. © Judy Chicago/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photograph © Donald Woodman / ARS, New York. Image courtesy of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco