Solange Embraces Mysterious Marfa

Can Beyonce be far Behind:

By Matthew Ramirez & Catherine D. Anspon // Aug 24, 2017

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Solange performing at Discovery Green as part of the Super Bowl Live! experience in Houston this past February. (Photo Mike Coppola/Getty Images)

Solange's innovative and epic "Scales" at the Guggenheim, May 2017 (Photo Carys Huws/Red Bull Content Pool)

The call of West Texas: Donald Judd's "100 untitled works in mill aluminum," 1982-1986, at the Chinati Foundation, Marfa (Photo Douglas Tuck, courtesy Chinati Foundation. Donald Judd Art © 2017 Judd Foundation / Artists Rights Society [ARS], New York.)

On the route for all art pilgrims: Donald Judd's "100 untitled works in mill aluminum," 1982-1986, at the Chinati Foundation, Marfa (Photo Florian Holzherr, courtesy the Chinati Foundation. Donald Judd Art © 2017 Judd Foundation / Artists Rights Society [ARS], New York.)

Solange is set to perform alfresco in response to Donald Judd's "15 untitled works in concrete," 1980-1984, at the Chinati Foundation, Marfa. (Photo Douglas Tuck, courtesy the Chinati Foundation. Donald Judd Art © 2017 Judd Foundation / Artists Rights Society [ARS], New York.)

Bridget Riley's "Big Blue," 1981. The Op Art master is the featured artist at this fall's Chinati Foundation Open House Weekend with an ambitious wall painting set to be on view through 2019. (Photo © Bridget Riley 2017. All rights reserved.)

Solange sagely employed Instagram to share the news with her fans about her Marfa performance.

Solange has revealed she’ll be performing her “Scales,” — a concert-meets-art installation collides with performance event — again. And this time, she will present it in the rarefied air of the Chinati Foundation in Marfa, Texas, during the annual Open House Weekend convergence (which runs Friday, October 6 through Sunday, October 8).

Knowles is going to headline on Sunday, October 8, in a reportedly free performance set outdoors amidst one of Chinati’s most revered artworks (more details forthcoming from the foundation).

Those-in-the-know know that the 15-acre compound is a contemporary arts frontier palace founded by minimalist sculpturist Donald Judd, whom Solange has called one of her top inspirations. “Scales” will arrive in Marfa on the heels of its grand debut at the Guggenheim Museum in May, which followed an exclusive, insider “warm up” version at The Menil Collection in Houston this past April.

Far from a mere concert, “Scales” unites costumes, lighting, dance, and audience interaction as Solange explores themes of race, femininity, sexuality, depression, and more, echoing a church revival or graceful dance interpretation more than a traditional concert experience. Already beautiful against the stark backdrop of the Menil and the grand atrium of the Guggenheim, the Chinatai Foundation in the destination art oasis of Marfa, expands Solange’s willingness to fuse her music and message within the context of fine art, an ability rarely afforded to black women artists.

Knowles is not the only power female in this fall’s Chinati lineup. Brit ’60s Op Art sensation Bridget Riley is the featured visual talent this season. Stay tuned as word’s out Riley is creating a site-specific wall painting whose unveiling coincides with the artful weekend in early October way out West.

Riley joins an esteemed lineup of (mostly) male talents to date celebrated and exhibited in the eagerly watched art fish bowl that is Marfa during its October Open House. Past soloists have included sculptors Larry Bell, John Chamberlain, and Dan Flavin, signaling, especially with Riley pairing with Solange, a welcome embrace of diversity.