a'driane nieves: A Time for Furious Dancing

Curated by Dexter Wimberly

A Time for Furious Dancing includes new and recent work by a’driane nieves, a self-taught, interdisciplinary artist whose practice explores the interior landscape of the self. Born in 1982 in San Antonio, Texas, nieves investigates the physical, epigenetic, psychological, and emotional effects of trauma—ancestral, inherited, historical, and personal—on identity and behavior. Drawing deeply from memory and emotion, her abstract compositions serve as a vessel for confronting pain and reclaiming joy, offering viewers an intimate visual language of transformation. The exhibition’s title is inspired by Hard Times Require Furious Dancing, a collection of poems by Alice Walker, published in 2010. The book explores themes of joy, sorrow, love, loss, and resilience in the face of personal and global challenges. A Time for Furious Dancing marks the artist’s first solo museum exhibition in the United States.

Generous support for this exhibition is provided by Mandy Hauschild Bowkett, Vorlea & Jerome Chaney, Sarah Frandson Dorfman, Kristina Linney, Gina Love & Steven Feldman (The Love-Feldman Collection), Julia Mallory, Whitney Valentine-Wafer, and Lori and Roger Weeks.

a'driane nieves (b. 1982, San Antonio, Texas) is a visual artist and writer whose interdisciplinary practice explores the interior landscapes of the self. A self-taught painter, she began painting in 2011 as a form of art therapy during recovery from postpartum depression and a bipolar disorder diagnosis. What started as personal healing evolved into a deeper investigation of emotional suppression and memory.

Influenced by artists such as Joan Mitchell, Cy Twombly, Alma Thomas, and Mary Lovelace O’Neal, nieves works with painting, writing, soft sculpture, and text-based media. Her abstract expressionist approach embraces vulnerability, healing, and nonlinear narratives. Text often appears in her work as fragments—sometimes legible and obscured—reflecting the complexity of self-expression.

As a Black, queer, neurodivergent woman, nieves uses her practice to assert her presence and agency, creating space for others to do the same. She is also the founder of an arts nonprofit and magazine focused on creative access and community building.

Her work has been exhibited internationally at venues including Consortium Museum (France), Art Basel (Switzerland, Hong Kong, Miami), Frieze (London, Seoul), Galerie Marguo (Paris), Various Small Fires (Los Angeles), Standing Pine Gallery (Tokyo), and BODE Projects (Berlin). Her work is also held in collections across North America, Europe, and Asia.

Image courtesy Rosie Simmons, photographer

Dexter Wimberly is an American curator based in Japan who has organized exhibitions at institutions and galleries around the world including the Museum of Arts and Design in New York City; The Harvey B. Gantt Center in Charlotte, North Carolina; KOKI ARTS in Tokyo; BODE in Berlin; Lehmann Maupin in London; SECCI in Milan; and The Third Line in Dubai. His exhibitions have been reviewed in The New York Times and Artforum, and have received support from The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. Wimberly is a Senior Critic at New York Academy of Art, and the founder and director of the Hayama Artist Residency and The Kyoto Retreat in Japan.

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