YONKERS, NY.- The Hudson River Museum presents two timely and powerful exhibitions that grapple with issues of “heat” in literal and metaphorical ways, and from the ideological to the environmental. DRAW: Heat features more than forty contemporary artists who explore the theme of heat through the ephemerality and urgency of drawing. Throwing Shade on Extreme Heat: Designing Shade Structures for Yonkers, a partnership with Yonkers-based environmental nonprofit Groundwork Hudson Valley, addresses extreme heat challenges in Southwest Yonkers through community-driven solutions and innovative environmental strategies.
Director and CEO Masha Turchinsky states, “We’re bringing together artistic rigor, climate resilience, and community input around the topic of heat in two captivating exhibitions this fall. In DRAW: Heat, the mark of the human hand conveys the emotional and environmental weight of this global issue, while underscoring the range of personal and geopolitical stakes involved. On the local level, Throwing Shade on Extreme Heat showcases the results of an excellent collaboration with Groundwork Hudson Valley that addresses extreme heat challenges and solutions in Southwest Yonkers. It will be exciting for the public to play an active role in exploring this fascinating topic with us.”
Drawing has always been fundamental to artists, offering great freedom to work out ideas, experiment with techniques, and create striking works of art in a wide range of media. In DRAW: Heat, forty-three contemporary artists from across the United States, including the local Westchester and Hudson Valley region, explore “heat” in its many manifestations: the extreme heat caused by global warming, inequities of who is most affected by heatwaves, trends that make ideas “hot,” the passion behind an idea or argument, and even the perceived heat of contrasting ideologies. The exhibition is guest curated by artist, educator, and activist Tomas Vu, with Brian Novatny, Predrag Dimitrijevic, and HRM Curatorial Chair Laura Vookles serving as curatorial advisors, and is the latest installment in the DRAW Project series.
Curator Tomas Vu states, “The DRAW team and I are proud to be partnering with the Hudson River Museum on this upcoming exhibition. The concept of DRAW: Heat was born out of a conversation with the Museum where we began to imagine heat not only as a force of nature, but as a metaphor for our most pressing environmental and geopolitical tensions. In this exhibition, “heat” is translated through the elastic language of drawing, where interruption and intervention ignite new forms of vision and resistance. From many voices come many interpretations, and a myriad of starting points for reflections and solutions surrounding this prescient topic.”
DRAW: Heat showcases works by artists at various stages in their careers, from emerging to established. Featured artists are Ricardo Arango, Shanequa Benitez, Sanford Biggers, Natalie Birinyi, Margaret Braun, Ernesto Caivano, Nathan Catlin, Alejandro Contreras, William Córdova, Juan Hernandez Diaz, Predrag Dimitrijevic, Rafael Domenech, Adrián Fernández, Baris Gokturk, Richard Haas, Erika Harrsch, Emily Henretta, Christine Hiebert, Sonia Rosa Kahn, William Kentridge, Calvin Kim, Fred HC Liang, Thomas Lollar, Nicola López, Linn Meyers, LeRoy Neiman, Shirin Neshat, Brian Novatny, Jennifer Nuss, Rocío Olivares, Paul Rho, Jamel Robinson, Cristin Shea, Shahzia Sikander, Luis Silva, Kiki Smith, Sarah Sze, Motohiro Takeda, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Oscar Tuazon, Rafael Villares, Tomas Vu, Kara Walker, Zhiqian Wang, Beau Willimon, Thomas Ray Willis, Type A (Adam Ames, Andrew Bordwin), Sun Xun, and Yuan Zuo.
The artworks—ranging from small sketches and prints to large-scale drawings, sculptures, and video—are displayed salon-style, echoing the dynamic, interconnected exchanges found in artists’ studios and informal critiques. This curatorial approach fosters an immersive and entwined experience, guiding viewers through diverse artistic perspectives that flow from abstraction to observation to conceptualism.
