Image: Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.
The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden says one of the commissions for its Sculpture Garden will be 'Cool Composition' (2026), a giant lime-green bronze box fan by Woody De Othello. The work is described by the museum as standing almost 8 feet tall and slouching over the northeast overlook. In the museum’s newsletter, the piece is singled out as part of the Garden’s revitalization, with installation expected soon.
The museum’s notice comes as The New York Times has turned attention to De Othello, a Miami-born, Oakland-based artist whose sculpture and clay practice draws on the centuries-old West Central African tradition of nkisi. According to the Hirshhorn’s summary of the Times feature, nkisi refers to objects believed to contain spiritual forces and confer protection. The newsletter also notes that De Othello works in clay and bronze, materials central to the sculptural presence of 'Cool Composition'.
The commission joins a broader effort to animate the Hirshhorn’s outdoor galleries with free public programs and new work. The museum’s email frames the Sculpture Garden as a site of ongoing change, inviting supporters to become “Groundbreakers” and pointing to the museum’s revitalization campaign. It also references Hiroshi Sugimoto’s involvement in the Garden, saying that this fall the museum will unveil his vision for the Sculpture Garden, which is intended to expand access to the national collection.
De Othello’s practice has been presented by the Hirshhorn in the context of a larger conversation about contemporary sculpture and the legacies that shape it. In the museum’s wording, the box fan has “an Alice in Wonderland quality,” suggesting an object enlarged and transformed into something uncanny while remaining tied to an everyday form. The work’s lime-green surface and bronze construction place it squarely within the museum’s interest in sculptural objects that alter scale and expectation.
The newsletter does not give a public opening date for 'Cool Composition', but it places the installation within the museum’s current Sculpture Garden program. The same message also points readers to a seven-minute short about Othello, indicating that the museum is pairing the commission with interpretive material as the work enters the outdoor collection.
Beyond De Othello, the Hirshhorn’s weekly highlights include a range of public programs, from a two-day “Mighty Young Composers!” concert sequence for children in early July to a gallery experience on the revolutionary legacy of Isadora Duncan later in the month, as well as a Transatlantic Rising Stars film series in August. Those listings sit alongside the sculpture news in the museum’s newsletter, but 'Cool Composition' remains the central art announcement in the dispatch.
