A Conversation Between Thaddeus Mosley and Jenée Strand

Thaddeus Mosley
in conversation with
Jenée Strand
Assistant Curator, Public Art Fund
at Karma, New York
Friday, April 18, 12–1 pm

Karma
549 West 26th Street
New York

Karma presents a conversation between artist Thaddeus Mosley and assistant curator of PAF Jenée Strand, on the occasion of Mosley’s exhibition Proximity at 549 West 26th Street, New York, on view from April 17–May 24, 2025.

Thaddeus Mosley creates monumental sculptures crafted from the salvaged wood from Pennsylvania’s forests. Using only a chisel and gauge to maintain the integrity of the original log, Mosley reworks timber—primarily from indigenous Pennsylvanian hardwoods such as sycamore, cherry, and walnut—into biomorphic forms. Through a process of direct carving, the artist’s marks respond to and rearticulate the natural gradations of the material’s surface. With influences ranging from Isamu Noguchi to Constantin Brâncuși—and the Bamum, Dogon, Baoulé, Senufo, Dan, and Mossi works of his personal collection—Mosley’s “sculptural improvisations,” as he calls them, also take cues from the modernist traditions of jazz. “The only way you can really achieve something is if you’re not working so much from a pattern. That’s also the essence of good jazz,” he says of his method. Mosley lives in Pittsburgh.

Jenée-Daria Strand is the Assistant Curator at Public Art Fund where, since 2022, she has supported contemporary artists in realizing new commissions. Formerly, she was a Curatorial Associate at the Brooklyn Museum. She has curated independent projects for NADA Miami/TD Bank, ISCP, White Columns, amongst others, and has contributed written work to publications by the Studio Museum in Harlem, Brooklyn Museum, Lehmann Maupin, and more. Jenée holds an MA in Museum Studies from NYU and a BFA in Dance/Performance Studies from Florida State University. In 2024, she was an inaugural member of the Studio Museum’s curatorial fellowship, and in 2025 she joined the board of Future Leaders Institute Charter School, located in Harlem.