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Hyperallergic reviewed “Conduits of the Unseen: Women Artists Imagine Other Worlds,” an exhibition at Andrew Edlin Gallery in Tribeca featuring 17 women artists whose work emerged through spirit communication. The review describes curator Susan Aberth’s reading of the works as challenging patriarchy, while the exhibition also revisits how spiritualist women’s practices influenced Surrealist ideas.
Hyperallergic has reviewed “Conduits of the Unseen: Women Artists Imagine Other Worlds,” an exhibition at Andrew Edlin Gallery in Tribeca bringing together 17 women artists whose work developed through spirit communication. The review presents the show as an examination of how these artists’ esoteric practices can challenge social hierarchies, including patriarchy.
The review opens with work by Paulina Peavy, whose paintings are displayed against cobalt-blue walls at the gallery. Her vivid forms combine reds, blues and yellows, with imagery the review describes as resembling folds, droplets, petals and eyes. The works are dated broadly from the 1930s to the 1980s.
According to the review, Peavy said that a nonbinary spirit named Lacamo began communicating with her in the 1930s. Peavy attributed her work to that communication and described a vision of humanity evolving toward “one-gender perfection.” That account is presented as Peavy’s belief, not as an independently verified explanation of how the paintings were made.
The exhibition includes 17 women artists and frames their work through the role of spirit communication. In a lecture about the show, curator Susan Aberth said she saw a shared intention among the artists: their messages were meant to improve the world. Aberth summarized the spirits’ message, as she understood it, as opposition to patriarchy.
Spiritualist Women and Surrealism
The exhibition’s argument reaches beyond the individual works by asking viewers to consider how spiritualist women shaped modern art, and how their ideas were later described. The review notes that André Breton adopted the Surrealist concept of “psychic automatism” from mediums. The practice involves reducing conscious control so that less deliberate thoughts can emerge.
Aberth argues that Breton took the concept from spiritualist women but removed its metaphysical content, recasting it as an expression of the individual psyche. The account matters because it puts the artists’ spiritual beliefs back into discussions of an influential art practice, rather than treating those beliefs as incidental to the work. The exhibition also connects that recovery to its feminist reading: the artists’ accounts of communication and alternative worlds are presented as a challenge to established gender hierarchies.
These are the curator’s and exhibition’s interpretations, as reported by Hyperallergic. The source does not establish a single explanation for the artists’ practices or claim that all viewers will read the works in the same way.
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The Show’s Spiritualist Lineage
“Conduits of the Unseen: Women Artists Imagine Other Worlds” belongs to a broader wave of occult-themed exhibitions, according to the review. Rather than treating esoteric subject matter as an aesthetic alone, the show asks what such practices may make possible and how artists use them to imagine other forms of life and society.
The review links that focus to the history of mediums and Surrealism. It describes psychic automatism as a practice that originated among mediums before Breton incorporated it into Surrealist thought. Aberth’s account emphasizes a difference between the spiritualists’ metaphysical framework and Breton’s later emphasis on the psyche. The source provides no further dates for the exhibition or a complete account of each participating artist’s background.
““Their messages are specifically meant to better the world. And how do you better the world? All of the spirits say, ‘Get rid of patriarchy.’””
— Susan Aberth, curator, as quoted in her exhibition lecture
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Exhibition Details Not Supplied
The source material does not state the exhibition’s opening or closing dates, whether it is still on view, or whether the gallery has announced related events. It also does not provide a full artist list or detailed descriptions of the other artists’ work. Peavy’s account of Lacamo and Aberth’s interpretation of the group’s messages are attributed perspectives; the review does not independently verify spiritual communication or establish that every artist shared the same beliefs.
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Check Gallery Dates and Programs
Readers interested in seeing the exhibition should check Andrew Edlin Gallery’s current listings for dates, access information and any associated programs. The source gives no announced future milestone or gallery statement, so the exhibition’s current status and any next events remain unconfirmed in the material available for this report.
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Key Questions
What is “Conduits of the Unseen”?
It is an exhibition at Andrew Edlin Gallery in Tribeca bringing together 17 women artists whose work emerged through spirit communication, according to the Hyperallergic review.
Who is Paulina Peavy?
Paulina Peavy is one of the artists featured in the exhibition. The review describes her paintings, dated from roughly the 1930s to the 1980s, and reports her account that a nonbinary spirit named Lacamo communicated with her.
What does the exhibition say about patriarchy?
Curator Susan Aberth said in a lecture that she saw the artists’ messages as intended to improve the world, and summarized the spirits’ message as opposition to patriarchy. This is Aberth’s interpretation as reported by Hyperallergic.
How does the review connect the exhibition to Surrealism?
The review says André Breton adopted psychic automatism from mediums. Aberth argues that he removed the practice’s metaphysical content and reframed it as an expression of individual psychology.
When can visitors see the exhibition?
The source does not give exhibition dates or current viewing status. Visitors should consult Andrew Edlin Gallery’s listings for up-to-date information.
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