David Medalla: In Conversation with the Cosmos

Medalla's first major retrospective draws from his archive of kinetic art designs and works on paper to outline his transformative impact on the 20th-century avant-garde

This comprehensive survey of drawings and works on paper by the late Filipino artist David Medalla (1942–2020) explores his prolific career from the mid-1950s to the late 2010s. The book tracks and contextualizes Medalla’s pioneering involvement in artistic movements—from kinetic art to performance and participatory art—while providing insight into more intimate forms of exchange between contemporaries and friends to underscore the interpersonal narratives that often tend to evade art history. In anticipation of a major retrospective exhibition of Medalla’s art at the Hammer Museum, this volume charts the artist’s persistent presence that has sometimes been omitted from the histories of art movements in which he played a significant role. This publication showcases Medalla as an influential figure in 20th-century international art by revealing a more intimate perspective that parallels the life he pursued through political action, public performances and exhibitions.