A Portal In the City
Abstract Futures: A Tribute to a True Pioneer of Abstraction
While meandering through the bustling pulse of Midtown Manhattan on an especially grey, rainy day, I ducked into a subway near Grand Central Station and found myself transported by Abstract Futures, a stunning mosaic by the feminist, spiritualist art collective Hilma’s Ghost.
Commissioned by the MTA, the installation made commuting feel more like stepping through a portal. I stood there for a while, fairly mesmerized, saturated by radiant colors, abstract tarot imagery, and sacred geometry. Occult symbols danced across the tens of thousands of tiny shards of tiled glass, inviting quiet contemplation and a deeper kind of seeing in an otherwise rushed and chaotic junction of Manhattan.
I first encountered Hilma’s af Klint’s work at the Guggenheim’s Paintings for the Future exhibition in 2018-19, and it left a lasting impression. I quickly became obsessed with her. Like many others, I hadn’t heard of Hilma before that show, even though she was creating radical abstract work as early as 1906, years before more widely recognized artists like Kandinsky were credited with pioneering abstraction. Her visionary contributions went largely unnoticed for decades, but perhaps that was not only because she was a woman, but it was by design. Hilma believed the world wasn’t prepared for the meaning of her paintings yet. She left instructions for them to remain unseen until at least 20 years after her death. Nothing says esotericism more then letting your paintings rich symbolism remain hidden for decades, like sacred knowledge awaiting the right moment to be revealed, or like a seed, waiting for the perfect conditions to germinate.
Hilma was channeling mystical energies, translating invisible forces into spirals, symbols, and color long before the art world could really understand it. Hilma Af Klint is finally now having her moment and getting the recognition she deserves. I wonder if that means we, as a society, are ready to embrace the occult more, or new ways of seeing that aren’t rooted in our logical faculties. Abstract Futures feels like a continuation of Hilma’s legacy, a living altar to a future informed by intuition, the feminine, and the wild unseen world.
In true homage to Hilma’s spirit, the artists behind the mural encourage visitors to quietly whisper the names of ancestors, spirit guides, and departed hero/ines to activate its magic.
So, if you ever find yourself near Grand Central (look for the 7 train entrance on 42nd between 3rd and Lex), slow down for a moment, pause. Let the color and symbolism saturate your being. You might leave with an imprint from another realm…
