William Villalongo: Myths and Migrations

Exhibition Info
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Fisher Brooks Gallery
Samuel M.V. Hamilton Building
Curated by
Daniel Strong, Associate Director and Curator, Grinnell College Museum of Art, organized for PAFA by Leah Triplett, Director of Exhibitions & Contemporary Curatorial Initiatives
Bodies, objects, and interstitial spaces in Villalongo’s work help navigate ideas about seeing and being seen, while also connecting contemporary concepts of presence and erasure with their antecedents through time and across cultures.

This exhibition presents 20 years of work by New York-based artist William Villalongo, including figural and narrative paintings, works on paper, and sculpture that incorporate flocking, cut paper, and collage. His practice is informed by research in the natural and social sciences, mythologies and folklore, popular culture imagery, and the history of art — particularly African objects and their appropriation in Euro-American art movements — exploring invisibility and revelation of Black presence against the backdrop of race. Bodies, objects, and interstitial spaces in Villalongo’s work help navigate ideas about seeing and being seen, while also connecting contemporary concepts of presence and erasure with their antecedents through time and across cultures.


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William Villalongo is an assistant professor at the Cooper Union School of Art in New York. In 2016, he co-curated Black Pulp!, a traveling exhibition of a collection of printed media produced by Black publishers, Black artists, and non-Black artists, with fellow artist Mark Thomas Gibson. Villalongo is a 2021 recipient of the Rome Prize in the visual arts, awarded by the American Academy of Arts and Letters. His work is included in the permanent collections of the Baltimore Museum of Art; the Denver Art Museum; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C; the Princeton University Art Museum;  the Studio Museum in Harlem, NYC; the Whitney Museum of American Art, NYC; and the Yale University Art Gallery, among others.

The artist received his B.F.A. from The Cooper Union School of Art, NYC, and his M.F.A. from the Tyler School of Art at Temple University, Philadelphia. 

Featured image: William Villalongo, Specimen, 2023. Stenciled linen pulp paint, black abaca, and collaged inkjet prints on black cotton base sheet, 21 in. dia. Grinnell College Museum of Art Collection.

Exhibition Support

William Villalongo: Myths and Migrations is generously supported at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts by the William Penn Foundation.

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Additional generous support provided by Kristin and Jamie Biddle, Aliya and Reginald Browne, Linda Aversa-Caldwell and Donald R. Caldwell, Susan Inglett, Susan and Leonard Klehr, Robert Kohler, J. Brien and Maggie Murphy, and Conrad Woody. 

Special Exhibitions at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in 2024-25 are generously supported by Emily and Mike Cavanagh, Ro and Martin King, Jannie Lau and Todd Longsworth, J. Brien and Maggie Murphy, Vesna Todorovic Sacks and Howard J. Sacks, Aliya and Reginald Browne, Linda Seyda and Robert Boris, and anonymous. 

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The Philadelphia Inquirer | African mythology and folklore collide in William Villalongo’s entrancing velvety portraits

"Much has been written about Henry Box Brown’s body. The 33-year-old enslaved man from Virginia was 5′10″ and around 200 pounds in the spring of 1849 when he forced himself into a wooden box not much bigger than an oven. It was addressed to the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society in Philadelphia, where he re-emerged 27 hours later as a free man.

The story of Brown’s extraordinary escape to freedom has been retold for generations through books, films, and stage productions (including a play by Tony Kushner). Few works, however, have captured the depth and defiance of Brown’s eyes like artist

Related Events
Exhibition Reception

Opening Reception | William Villalongo: Myths and Migrations

Join the artist, curators, and PAFA community at the opening of this landmark exhibition presenting 20+ years of work by New York-based artist William Villalongo. Myths & Migrations includes Villalongo's iconic paintings, works on paper, and sculpture using velvet flocking, cut paper, and drawing. Come celebrate the only east coast stop of Myths & Migrations!

Recently featured in the Philadelphia Inquirer, Villalongo's practice is informed by research in the natural and social sciences, mythologies and folklore, popular culture imagery, and the history of art — particularly African objects and their appropriation in Euro-American art movements — exploring invisibility and revelation of Black presence against the backdrop of race. Bodies, objects, and spaces between in Villalongo’s work help navigate ideas about seeing and being seen, while also connecting contemporary concepts of presence and erasure with their antecedents through time and across cultures.

Featured Image: William Villalongo, The Thirsty Laborer (If You Build It), 2012. Medium Acrylic, velvet flocking and

William Villalongo: Myths and Migrations

F L O C K

We invite visitors to flock to PAFA on June 7th at 2pm for a series of object lessons. To flock means to both cover with velvety material--a technique Villalongo uses recurrently in pieces that comprise the exhibit--and to gather together in a group, often with a guide or a leader. During these lessons, participants will guide visitors through a series of encounters with pieces from Villalongo's exhibition, sharing how they navigate the wonderful tangle of thoughts, memories, sensations, hopes, and frustrations those works summon. Ultimately, the event will both welcome visitors to the fold of Villalongo's appreciators and help them plot their individual explorations of deep time, the contemporary moment, and the futures that remain ever possible in concert with his work.

Organized by William Villalongo and Sasha-Mae Eccelston and featuring Mark Thomas Gibson, Lyra Monteiro, Marques Redd, and Saya Woolfalk.

This approximately 90-minute program will guide viewers through the