Tschabalala Self “Art Lovers” Sculpture at the New Museum

This fall, the Bowery will once again become a canvas for innovation as Tschabalala Self unveils “Art Lovers”, a large-scale public sculpture commissioned for the facade of the New Museum. This will mark Self’s first monumental public work in New York City, and its debut will coincide with the grand opening of the Museum’s OMA-designed expansion.

Tschabalala Self, born in Harlem in 1990 and now based in New York’s Hudson Valley, has consistently challenged conventional notions of figuration and form. Known for her seamless blend of painting, printmaking, and sculpture, she crafts subjects that are at once surreal and deeply familiar. Her art interrogates selfhood, gender, desire, and belonging—all through a vibrant, unapologetically bold lens.

Having previously exhibited at the New Museum in the critically acclaimed 2017 group show “Trigger: Gender as a Tool and a Weapon”, Self now returns to the institution in a new capacity—this time, as a singular voice joining a legacy of transformative facade commissions. With this project, she enters a prestigious lineage that includes Chris Burden, Isa Genzken, Glenn Ligon, and Ugo Rondinone, each of whom has turned the Museum’s exterior into a stage for sculptural experimentation.

Tschabalala Self: Sculpting Intimacy into the City’s Landscape

The sculpture, titled “Art Lovers”, depicts a romantic embrace between two figures—a gentle, celebratory ode to love and intimacy, framed within the hard-edged geometry of the city. Positioned on the Museum’s third floor, it will be clearly visible to pedestrians on Bowery and Prince Street.

But its placement is also symbolic: the figures meet at the architectural “kiss point” where the existing SANAA-designed structure unites with the bold new OMA addition. As Massimiliano Gioni, Edlis Neeson Artistic Director of the New Museum, aptly describes, “Art Lovers” acts as a “giant lapel pin” for the facade—an insignia of affection pinned to the chest of the institution itself.

This sense of intentionality is a hallmark of Tschabalala Self’s practice. Her works are never merely decorative; they’re deeply conceptual, rooted in layered histories and personal resonance. With “Art Lovers”, she’s giving form to the emotional terrain of public space—how museums, sidewalks, and facades can serve as backdrops to the dramas and tenderness of urban life. This sculpture invites you to feel love etched into the city’s ever-evolving architecture.

^{Photos: Christian Defonte}