Nona Hendryx Debuts New Body of Work
Nona Hendryx
Bringing two disciplines together is inspiring, challenging and a beautiful cruelty – Nona Hendryx
The Sol Studio
2073 Seventh Avenue at 124th Street
Through October 18, 2015
In her New York solo exhibition debut, 70s female rock pioneer and performance legend Nona Hendryx merges her longstanding background in music and performing arts with an evolving exploration into visual and digital art in Transformation; The Beautiful Cruelty Of Time and Distance.
For decades Nona Hendryx has used music as material for provocation and change. Her work in visual art was a silent inspiration and accompaniment to the music – a private practice that helped Hendrix fuel the narratives being presented through sound. Transformation presents a rare glimpse into this intimate space where Hendryx’s visual mind takes shape through a series of 18 works ranging from sculptures and paintings to assemblage. Each work channels musical and visual landscapes using found objects, mixed media, and technology.
Nona Hendryx, a member of Labelle, revolutionized both television and live performances with the Wear Something Silver rock, R&B, gospel and funk performance at New York’s Metropolitan Opera House in 1974. Firmly planted in an autonomous liberation at the socio-political intersection of race, sex and class, their groundbreaking campaign as music pioneers soon saw Labelle securing three gold albums and a #1 worldwide platinum hit with the single “Lady Marmalade (Voulez-Vous Coucher Avec Moi Ce Soir? )”. Hendryx’s solo projects include eight studio albums in addition to collaborations with Prince, Peter Gabriel, Talking Heads, Laurie Anderson, Vernon Reid of Living Color, Afrika Bambaataa, Bono and the soul-influenced funk band Cameo. She has had several top ten hits and a Grammy nomination for “Rock This House,” from her album The Heat, 1985, with Keith Richards on guitar. She frequently writes music for theatre and film including the 2010 Oscar-nominated Precious and co-writing and appearing on the 2012 Terri Lyne Carrington Grammy Award winning (Best Jazz Vocal Album), “Mosaic” with Esperanza Spalding, Cassandra Wilson, Diane Reeves and Sheila E among others. Nona curated two ‘sold out’ nights of Parallel Lives, a tribute show celebrating the lives of Billie Holiday and Edith Piaf, for their duo Centennials at for Harlem Stage in NY.
Nona is an Ambassador for Artistry in Education at Berklee College of Music in Boston working to develop and integrate the Music Ensemble, Music Theatre and Electronic Production and Design Departments. Nona Hendryx at Sol Studio in Harlem
“Wear Something Silver” it should be credited that both conceptually and all costumes for Labelle were conceived and designed one of a kinds by the designer Larry LeGaspi.