Great Hall Exhibition Series Fall 2026

Marica Vilcek Great Hall

1 Untitled, 2026, 0.7mm steel wire, hand coiled. 68 x 70 x 10 cm
2 Untitled, 2026, 0.7mm steel wire, hand coiled. 61 x 21 x 3 cm
5 Untitled, 2026, 0.7mm steel wire, hand coiled. 55 x 15 x 7 cm

Tith’s meditative process of coiling and shaping resonates with cyclical understandings of existence in local spiritual practices, especially in Cambodian anthropologist Ang Chouléan’s discussion of vat sangsa, or the cycle of life, in which vat suggests a perpetual process. In syncretic Cambodian traditions in which Buddhist teachings meet animistic beliefs, distinctions between the material and immaterial and the human and non-human remain permeable. In this sculpture, these ideas infuse the process of making, as repeated acts of coiling give abstract form to continuity and transformation. As Tith approaches the resulting works as existing in a “living condition,” their repetitively coiled wires and organic structures suggest an ongoing process of meditation that flows into the space with the viewers.

4 Untitled, 2026, 0.7mm steel wire, hand coiled. 116 x 116 x 300 cm

Suspended from a circular frame, strands of coiled wire form a porous enclosure, accumulating in density as they descend. The density of tightly wound coils toward the base makes the immense labor in Tith’s making particularly visible, while shorter strands protrude outward from the vertical volume, twisting in knots and loose spirals. Tith sources her primary material, 0.7mm steel wire, from Japan, a detail that situates her practice within contemporary networks of material exchange shaped by Cambodia’s complex history of French colonialism, Japanese imperialism, and other historical traumas such as the Khmer Rouge. Tith’s abstract forms do not make such histories explicit—refusing to give in to expectations of “post-conflict” narratives—but also do not turn away from their haunted past. The artist frames her practice as a means to consider how a generation living in their aftermath might preserve cultural inheritance while developing artistic languages that extend beyond nationally prescribed identities.

7 Untitled, 2026, 0.7mm steel wire, hand coiled. 219 x 204 x 3 cm

A cascade of coiled lines intersect delicate horizontal bands that spread wider as the loose warp and weft approaches the ground. The artist’s intuitive process allows the material to guide her and the resulting organic shapes to take on lives of their own. As this sculpture’s coils descend, the form loosens. Tith has worked with her labor-intensive method—twisting steel wire around a copper rod to create long coils, before shaping the coils into abstracted shapes—since 2009, and it offers her a means to reflect on questions about politics, memory, and history.

3 Untitled, 2020, acrylic on paper. 85 x 60 cm
12 Untitled, 2021, watercolor on paper. 85 x 60 cm

In addition to working in watercolor, pen, and pencil, Tith also uses her wire coils themselves, the basis for her sculptural works, as tools for mark making. In these larger works on paper, the coils have been dipped in acrylic and applied to the surface like a brush. The resulting marks are an index of their potential for movement, imprinting the affective charge of their forms onto another medium—paper.

6 Untitled, 2021, watercolor on paper. 14.8 x 21 cm
8 Untitled, 2021, watercolor on paper. 21.0 x 29.7 cm
9 Untitled, 2021, watercolor on paper. 19 x 24 cm
10 Untitled, 2021, watercolor on paper. 10.5 x 14.8 cm
11 Untitled, 2021, watercolor on paper. 10.5 x 14.8 cm
13 Untitledd, 2021, watercolor on paper with frame. 26.5 x 32.2 x 2.7 cm
14 Untitled, 2021, colored pencil on paper. 21 x 29.7 cm

Tith began incorporating painting and drawing into her artistic practice in 2021 after attending a residency at Rijksakademie in Amsterdam. In the early 20th century, students at art schools founded by the French were taught to copy examples of “Khmer” traditional art using grid techniques; later schools of thought emphasized painting from life. Tith’s own formal education at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Phnom Penh, where she graduated in 2008, emphasized classical modes of drawing. In contrast, her watercolors and other works on paper deal with abstraction and experimentation, foregrounding the fluidity of identity, process, and cultural heritage.

John Loeb Room

West Wall

15 Untitled, 2024, watercolor on paper. 29.7 x 21 cm
16 Untitled, 2021, acrylic on paper. 14.5 x 21 cm
17 Untitled, 2021, watercolor on paper. 42.5 x 60 cm
18 Untitled, 2019, pen and pencil on paper. 10.5 x 14.8 cm
19 Untitled, 2019, pen and color pencil on paper. 21 x 29.7 cm
20 Untitled, 2021, pencil and watercolor on paper. 10 x 14.3 cm
21 Untitled, 2021, pencil on paper. 21 x 29.7 cm
22 Untitled, 2021, acrylic on paper. 42 x 29.7 cm
23 Untitled, 2019, pen and color pencil on paper. 29.7 x 21 cm
24 Untitled, 2021, acrylic on paper. 21 x 29.7 cm

East Wall

25 Untitled, 2021, acrylic on paper. 42 x 29.7 cm
26 Untitled, 2021, watercolor on paper with frame. 26.5 x 32.2 x 2.7 cm
27 Untitled, 2021, watercolor on paper with frame. 26.5 x 32.2 x 2.7 cm
28 Untitled, 2020, pencil on paper. 29.7 x 21 cm
29 Untitled, 2021, acrylic on paper. 25.5 x 17.7 cm
30 Untitled, 2021, acrylic on paper. 25.5 x 17.7 cm
31 Untitled, 2021, acrylic on paper. 17.7 x 25.5 cm
32 Untitled, 2021, acrylic on paper. 25.5 x 17.7 cm
33 Untitled, 2019, pen on paper. 21 x 29.7 cm

Marble Room

West Vitrine

34 Primary sources and NYU Libraries Collections materials

East Vitrine

35 Primary sources and NYU Libraries Collections materials, listening station

Stephen Chan Library of Fine Arts

[second floor; guide required to access]

36 Primary sources and NYU Libraries Collections materials, book cart

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