Leeza Meksin
Turret Tops and Before
by Leeza Meksin
Leeza Meksin: Turret Tops and Before chronicles Meksin’s site-specific outdoor installation Turret Tops on view at the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum in Lincoln, MA from August 24, 2019 to October 26, 2020, and other textile works and installations.
For Turret Tops, Meksin created two life-sized replicas of the deCordova’s iconic turrets that grace the museum building. Meksin’s turrets, installed on the grounds of the Sculpture Park, were dressed in brilliant plum and pink neoprene each with unique ornamental fastenings reminiscent of fashions used to adorn our bodies and architectural environments we inhabit. The installation prompted visitors to consider assumptions about clothing, gender, architecture, and ornament. During the summer of 2020, the outer layers of Turret Topswere removed to display the patterns left on the neoprene below after months in the sun. This publication traces this significant project throughout its 14-month exhibition period and includes extensive seasonal documentation showcasing the incremental material transformation of the installation. Additionally, this publication documents over fifteen different bodies of textile-based work created by Meksin between 2007 to 2021.
Turret Tops and Before features contributed essays and interviews by Lizzy De Vita, Wayne Koestenbaum, Sarah Montross, Eileen Myles, Sophie Pinkham, and Pamela Sneed.
Leeza Meksin is an interdisciplinary artist working in painting, installation, public art, and multiples. She is a co-founder and co-director of Ortega y Gasset Projects, an artist-run gallery and curatorial collective based in Brooklyn, NY. Meksin divides her time between Brooklyn and Ithaca, NY.
Turret Tops and Before is co-published by Space Sisters Press and deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum.
