Rockefeller Center and Art Production Fund are pleased to present work by interdisciplinary artist Basil Kincaid throughout the Rockefeller Center campus, beginning April 24, 2023.

Basil Kincaid’s artistic practice is actualized through various creative techniques such as quilting, collage, installation, and performance to construct new narratives of possibility. Kincaid’s work incorporates found or donated materials, often sourced through social media, weaving together lived experiences while also reducing waste. The Art In Focus presentation underscores how each of the artist’s mediums—fiber, collage, drawing, performance—informs the other and become nourishing environments: visions for a full, thoughtful existence. The installation will feature woven quilts, a 125-foot mural, and a monumental sculptural quilt.

The vitrine spaces at 45 Rockefeller Plaza act as capsules - they’re earthly environments where quilted beings exist among picnicking friends. The quilts displayed were produced using cloth salvaged and gathered across St. Louis and Ghana, and address the sensations and creation process of integrating in a community, as well as the integration of potentially disparate parts of self.

In conversation with the vitrine spaces, the 125-foot mural in the concourse of 45 Rockefeller Plaza features photographs showcasing miniature resin figurines of the artist holding charged postures; they extend the energy of joy, wonder, tenacity, and ambition outwards onto viewers. Detailed imagery highlighting the physically and emotionally laborious task of constructing such intricate quilts and embroideries can be viewed at 10 Rockefeller Plaza, 30 Rockefeller Plaza, 50 Rockefeller Plaza, and Radio Park. As part of the Art Sundae installation, the artist will also install The River, a monumental sculptural quilt in the 10 Rockefeller Plaza window.

Reflecting on the profoundly human legacy of Rockefeller Center, this iteration of Art In Focus speaks to the permeability of space, the heritage of place, and the ability people have to connect and co-create new realities through memory, material, and imagination. It represents the courage to create and experience joy and the victory that is maintaining an open, loving heart when so much of the contemporary experience is designed to harden.

"While conceptualizing my work within the walls of Rockefeller Center, I found myself wanting to magnify the works' details. Highlighting the intricacy of the embroidery as a medium to hold content, and the way it acts as a through-line, unifying my drawing and fiber art practices. I hope that walking through the exhibition feels like a field study of intimacy, nourishment, familial joy, and individual purpose." - BASIL KINCAID

“Rockefeller Center is a beloved destination for community gathering in New York City. The campus is rich with layered memories, and the presence of Kincaid’s quilted works beautifully spotlights both the history and contemporary community of such an iconic space.”

– Casey Fremont, Art Production Fund

“Basil Kincaid’s art represents a commitment to sustainability that is also deeply embedded in the fabric of Rockefeller Center. From the Channel Gardens at street-level, to the rooftop Radio Park, the Center provides unexpected oases of greenery in the heart of the city.”

– EB Kelly, Head of Rockefeller Center and Senior Managing Director at Tishman Speyer

Learn more here.