MOCA launches Building Art, a series of outdoor artworks created for the facade of the museum, featuring work by leading contemporary artists. Beginning March 28, 2022, MOCA will present Sonic Boom by artist Derek Fordjour on the exterior of the MOCA Grand Avenue building.

Artist Derek Fordjour worked with MOCA to develop his concept for the artwork, engaging with museum staff to select the featured work. Measuring more than 5,400 square feet, Sonic Boom features drum majors and majorettes in syncopated arrangements. Based on one of the artist’s most iconic series of paintings, these figures honor the Historically Black College and University (HBCU) marching band experience and symbolize the daily performance of Blackness itself. Sonic Boom takes its title from the Jackson State University marching band, known as the “Sonic Boom of the South.”

Mindful of climate impact and in keeping with the sustainability mission of MOCA’s Environmental Council, which was formed in October of 2020, the materials of the work will be removed and reused by the artist in future projects with MOCA’s support.

This project by Derek Fordjour is generously supported by an anonymous donor.

About the artist:
Derek Fordjour (b. 1974, Memphis, USA) is a painter who depicts the codes, regalia, and structures of competition and play, revealing passion and discipline—as well as style—as steps toward uplift. Attuned to the power and spectacle of display, the artist is also a maker of objects and installations as standalone scenes and as staging devices for his paintings. Fordjour’s work is held in public collections including the Studio Museum in Harlem, the Perez Art Museum, the Dallas Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. He lives and works in New York City.