New York Avenue Sculpture Project: Betsabeé Romero
September 28, 2018–September 20, 2020
National Museum of Women in the Arts
Washington, D.C.
www.nmwa.org
The dynamic works of Mexico City-based Betsabeé Romero (b. 1963) form the next chapter in NMWA’s public art program, the New York Avenue Sculpture Project, established in 2010. Signals of a Long Road Together comprises four sculptures developed expressly for this installation. Using a process similar to tattooing, Romero carves figures and intricate patterns into the sidewalls and treads of tires, and then fills in the motifs with gleaming metallic paint. She will assemble her carved and painted tires into totemic structures that speak to themes of human migration and the natural environment. Romero’s sculptures are the first in the New York Avenue Sculpture Project to incorporate interior lighting, which gives each piece an otherworldly glow.
Image: Betsabeé Romero, Huellas y cicatricez (Traces and scars) (rendering), 2018; Four tires with en¬graving and gold leaf and steel support, approx. 192 1/2 x 86 5/8 x 9 3/4 in.; Courtesy Betsabeé Romero Art Studio
