Prayer / Pattern / Prayer at Morgan Lehman Gallery,
curated by Jan Dickey
January 9 – February 15, 2025
The exhibition “Prayer / Pattern / Prayer” at Morgan Lehman Gallery, curated by Jan Dickey, is a vibrant meditation on the enduring spiritual resonance of patterns in human culture. The show features the works of eight artists whose practices are rooted in the diverse exploration of pattern as a means of connection.
The curatorial framework for “Prayer / Pattern / Prayer” is grounded in the idea that the repetition and rhythm of pattern is a universal language that transcends time. It is an ancient technology that speaks to us; holding between the teeth of its overlapping edges a message about who we are and where we come from. Dickey draws a compelling parallel between cave paintings like those in Cuevas de las Manos, and contemporary artistic practices (an association every artist working today would likely love). Throughout this show, pattern is highlighted as a fundamental and sacred act—a form of prayer that connects the creator to the great something beyond themselves.
Standing as sentinels at the entrance of Morgan Lehman Gallery, Lilian Shtereva’s fiber and wood sculptures embody this sense of living reverence. Titled with poetic and longing names like “sitting on a stump with a pillow sham, near the shrub roses – close to home” The Bulgarian artist pulls from the tradition of Попрелка, or “poprelka,” where women gathered to mend and gossip. Standing like baby deer on unfamiliar wooden legs, visitors cannot help but imagine the comfort one might feel if they were a cat or a small bird elevated to the cushioned height of a sultan on his throne.
20h x 16w in, 50.80h x 40.64w cm.
Similarly drawing inspiration from his Andean heritage, Miguel Arzabe’s woven paintings repurpose discarded strips of his own work to create glowing compositions. Arzabe’s work feels modern as it pricks the viewer’s senses with memories of pixels and MS Paint color fields, but the tight weaving of sturdy fabric calls to mind something far more tactile and storied. Unnatural budding greens cut through the insistence of reds to agitate and vibrate against one another.
Lehuauakea’s work, rooted in they/them Native Hawaiian tradition of kapa-making, is a love song to the cultural resilience and materiality found in the Hawaiian Islands. The labor-intensive process of creating Kapa, a type of barkcloth, becomes a way to honor heritage and address themes of environmental stewardship and identity. Lehuauakea’s singular piece in the show “Puka Homo ‘Ekahi: Portal to Grant Permission” pulls the viewer into its center. Like Masaccio’s, “Holy Trinity,” one feels like they are stepping down into a real space of rhythmic encircling Hawaiian words. Banned from 1896 to 1987, ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi, the Hawaiian language, is another rhythmic technology that sings to us through time.
The interplay between personal narrative and material exploration is particularly poignant in Ingrid Yi-Chen Lu’s work. Her use of experimental but familiar objects like sparkling sequins, coquette ribbons hung loose like garters, and comically large pushpins creates a tactile and diaristic visual language that speaks to themes of memory and childhood. The placement of her pieces in the gallery space—some pinned to the walls with aforementioned huge pushpins, others leaning contrapposto—emphasizes their living nature both in the gallery and the studio.
Myles Bennett’s monumental piece, which served as the poster image for the show, is a standout. Its sweeping, wing-like forms and delicate threads fill the viewer with a sense of movement and holographic transformation. The meticulous process of removing the canvas’s weft to leave behind loose, harp-like strands underscores the exhibition’s theme of pattern as an act of devotion.
Aya Uekawa’s works bring a different dimension to the show by introducing the figure. “Anonymous (Strength)” comes from her 2022 series “Victorian Minorities” in which she layers portraits of anonymous figures from history with abstract patterns. It is the fate of so many of us to dissolve back into the cosmic cacophony of history, but Uekawa pulls these women out through the noise. Uekawa’s attention to the psychological depth of her subjects (as real women who really lived) adds a poignant, humanizing element to the exhibition. For the treasure hunters among us, you can also find a secret painting of hers in the gallery office. You will not be disappointed.
The exhibition as a whole is a joyous and refreshing celebration of diversity, color, and texture. At a time when things feel so uncertain, “Prayer / Pattern / Prayer” offers a timely reminder of the tools at our disposal to connect and unify. Morgan Lehman Gallery has provided New York a testament to the enduring significance of a primordial and universal art form that talks to us and through us; in voices and tones that ally us firmly with one another.
Participating Artists: Miguel Arzabe, Myles Bennett, Lehuauakea, Beck Lowry, Ingrid Yi-Chen Lu, Lilian Shtereva Richard Tinkler, and Aya Uekawa
