For the sixth iteration of the collaborative Fresh paint exhibition series, the Parrish Art Museum and The Flag Art Foundation are pleased to present a recent work by the artist Tschabalala Self (American, b. 1990 in Harlem, NY). Self’s painting Adam and Eve (2025), made for her recent solo exhibition at the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, will be presented for the first time in the U.S. at the Parrish. For over a decade, the artist has built a singular style from the syncretic use of painting, printmaking and sculpture to explore ideas surrounding figuration. She constructs depictions of predominantly women using a combination of sewn, printed, and painted materials, traversing different artistic and craft traditions. Ambiguity and multiplicity are core principles of Self’s work, which melds fact with fiction. This accumulative approach is evident in Adam and Eve, in which Self has set the central figures against a dense backdrop of blooms and foliage, rendered through a process of relief printing. The assemblage elements of the work are gathered from collected textiles, occasionally found from reworked paintings. Self’s stitchwork serves two functions, holding the disparate elements together while acting as a drawn line, accentuating the figures’ contours and delineating their finer details.

Adam and Eve is part of Self’s ongoing exploration into the history and nature of symbolism within Western culture. Symbols, much like Self’s work, exist somewhere between representation and abstraction—an object transformed into an icon, which serves as a stand-in for abstract concepts. Concerned with “the iconographic significance of the Black female body in contemporary culture,” Self maintains an interest in how various cultural messages become coded within emblems, allegories, and, in the case of Adam and Eve, biblical stories. Inspired by Genesis—with its themes of temptation, defiance, and the power of choice—the work’s diptych format emphasizes the dual possibilities that the forbidden fruit represents. “The apple simultaneously holds the power for expansion and destruction,” explains Self. “The collision of the two will create the chaos that we are familiar with in our current state of being. Will Eve lose God’s favor? Will this loss result in her ultimate salvation through choice?’” Released from predetermined plot lines, Self’s Eve is an embodiment of free will.

Fresh paint is a rotating series of single-artwork exhibitions at the Parrish that spotlight new or rarely exhibited works by both emerging and established artists. By circumventing traditional exhibition planning timelines—which can extend years into the future—Fresh paint provides a platform for artists to promptly showcase freshly created artworks and ideas, allowing for a more direct response to current issues and cultural movements. This approach fosters a timelier dialogue between the Museum, visitors, and our surrounding community. Presented in the Parrish’s Creativity Lounge located in the Lobby, Fresh paint is open to the public at no charge during regular Museum hours.

Each Fresh paint installation is accompanied by two sets of interpretative texts: one is a commissioned piece of writing by an invited author, critic, poet, or scholar; the other is a collaboration between members of the Parrish Teen Council ARTscope, a youth-focused educational initiative that offers participants a comprehensive exploration of the visual arts, career pathways, and practical experience in museum operations.