Raque Ford

Raque Ford is a New York–based artist whose work incorporates Minimalism, abstraction, and narrative fiction. Her art has been featured at numerous galleries and institutions, including the Fall River Museum of Contemporary Art in Massachusetts as well as New York’s 321 Gallery, P.P.O.W, SculptureCenter, and Shoot the Lobster. Ford’s work will appear in this year’s edition of “Greater New York” at MoMA PS1, and her first solo exhibition with New York’s Greene Naftali will open in March 2022. 

1. WANDA COLEMAN, WICKED ENCHANTMENT: SELECTED POEMS (BLACK SPARROW PRESS, 2020)

   I discovered this book when I took a writing class taught by poet Emily Hunt. Coleman’s work is beautiful, sad, angry, funny, horny, and messy. When I read this collection for the first time, I felt very seen. I recommend the poem “Wanda Why Aren’t You Dead,” as it fluctuates beautifully between Coleman’s interior voice and exterior anxieties.

   Wanda Coleman, Los Angeles, 1980s–90s. Photo: Michael J. Elderman.
2. LANA DEL REY

   I’m continuously drawn to Lana Del Rey and her public persona, which I’d describe as very basic yet a little off. At first, it started as a love-hate relationship with the singer, but now I’m a full believer. Her lyrics, richly layered and macabre, gorgeously complement the visual language of her music videos, which are rife with glamorous, creepy Americana. I adore her new album Chemtrails Over the Country Club (2021) for how the words in certain songs are either smashed together or very intentionally drawn out.

   Still from Lana Del Rey’s 2021 video Chemtrails Over The Country Club, directed by Lana Del Rey.
3. SKY ROJO (RED LEATHERETTE, 2021–)

   I started watching this Netflix show from Spain on a whim and really liked it. It follows three women who are prostitutes trying to escape their pimp. It’s a very stylized Latin pulp series that’s violent, morally ambiguous, and packed with loads of dark humor. If you like the John Wick movies and Euphoria eye shadow looks and grudgingly appreciate girlboss memes, you will enjoy this show.

   Sky Rojo (Red Leatherette), 2021–, production still from a TV show on Netflix. Season 1, episode 4, “Sex and Blood.” From left: Gina (Yany Prado), Wendy (Lali Espósito), Coral (Verónica Sánchez). Photo: Tamara Arranz.
4. LIVEAUCTIONEERS APP

   My mother loves antiques and a good deal, so I grew up going to a lot of auctions. During quarantine, my go-to was the LiveAuctioneers app, which I used initially to find furniture for my apartment and eventually to hunt for anything that seemed like treasure. The app is a valuable tool that helped me learn more about things that caught my eye, which leads to my following entry.

5. CINZIA RUGGERI (1942–2019)

   During one of my online auction forays, I found a dress designed by artist and couturiere Cinzia Ruggeri that started a small but powerful obsession with her work. Ruggeri blurred the lines between fashion and art, but saying that feels too easy—her magic is difficult to describe. I hope someone mounts an exhibition of her work here in the United States. I really regret not buying that dress.

   Cinzia Ruggeri, Guanto-borsa schiaffo (Slap-Glove Bag), 1983, leather, 7 7⁄8 × 7 7⁄8 × 2".
6. CFGNY

   The clothing line/art project CFGNY is a collaboration by Daniel Chew, Ten Izu, Kristen Kilponen, and Tin Nuygen (Daniel and Tin started the brand in 2016). I’m inspired by the ways they address race, identity, and sexuality through fashion. I also love that CFGNY’s creators sometimes characterize their work as being “vaguely Asian.”

   West Dakota wearing Look 17 from CFGNY’s 2019 collection “Surface Trend.” Photo: Mary Inhea Kang.
7. BRITTNI ANN HARVEY

   I met Brittni a few years ago in Miami and we’ve stayed in touch ever since. She’s an amazing artist based in Fall River, Massachusetts, who uses embroidery and weaving to create her paintings and sculptures. (She has also incorporated bronze into her repertoire to create these marvelous “robot dogs,” as she calls them.) I’m excited to see what she makes for her inaugural show this fall at Rosie Motley’s new gallery Someday, in New York’s TriBeCa.

   Brittni Ann Harvey, Deficiency Needs I, 2020, oil and embroidery on burlap, 36 × 24".
8. AROOJ AFTAB, VULTURE PRINCE (2021)

   I’m lucky to have met Arooj through a friend. She’s an extraordinary and lovely person. But on top of all that she’s an extremely talented musician. Her third album, Vulture Prince, is a must-have. When I was younger, my father taught me how to closely listen to music, and when I heard a voice I really liked, it would give me goose bumps. Sadly, I hadn’t felt that way about music in a long time, and I assumed it was because I had gotten older or my hearing had gone bad. But Vulture Prince left me speechless. Give it a go and you will feel the same. Trust me.

   Arooj Aftab performing at C’mon Everybody, New York, April 29, 2016. Photo: Soichiro Suizu.
9. PANGEA ART REPUBLIC

   In August I traveled to Puerto Rico for the first time and visited the Pangea Art Republic, a “diaspora territory where everyone is welcome,” according to its founder, artist Papo Colo. (He also cofounded Exit Art, an alternative arts venue in New York that ran from 1982 until 2012.) Colo lives and works in this endlessly mutable space in the El Yunque rain forest and invites a wide range of artists, performers, and musicians to participate in collaborations and exhibitions. But the real stage for all this creation is El Yunque itself, which is breathtaking. When I was there, it was raining heavily, which made my experience even more otherworldly. The inclement weather activated Colo’s rain sculpture, an enclosed spotlighted portion of a twenty-five-foot-tall tree nestled at the heart of one of the residency’s buildings. Everyone there felt so lucky to be able to live beside it.

   An installation by Papo Colo at Pangea Art Republic, Rio Grande, Puerto Rico, 2019.
10. FRIENDSHIP CEMETERY

    The cemetery is located in Hot Springs, Arkansas, where my mother’s family is from, and was established in 1924 for the city’s Black community. It’s a pretty but sadly unkept graveyard that holds some of my ancestors as well as a lot of former slaves. I was really moved by Hot Springs and the memorial site when I visited this past summer. The experience informed the writing for my piece that will be in the current edition of the “Greater New York” survey at MoMA PS1, which opens this month.

    Friendship Cemetery, Hot Springs, AR, 2014. Photo: Lisa Love.