Zeena Parkins will debut a new composition that pays tribute to the fearless American artist Jay DeFeo with a performance at Paula Cooper Gallery during the exhibition Garnets on the Boulder: Jay DeFeo Paintings of the 1980s. The composition captures DeFeo’s bold experimentalism and love of beauty with a lush, exotic extended work for harp and percussion. Performing with Zeena on a unique instrument built by legendary composer Lou Harrison is her close collaborator, William Winant. One of Zeena’s most important and compelling releases, this is a major composition by a pioneering harpist/composer who still surprises after forty years of groundbreaking work!
Composer, harpist, improviser, and educator Zeena Parkins has been a mainstay of the Downtown scene since 1984, performing with Butch Morris, Fred Frith, John Zorn, Bjork, Ikue Mori, Laetitia Sonami, Yoko Ono, Courtney Love, Pauline Oliveros, and countless others.
GARNETS ON THE BOULDER
Jay DeFeo Paintings of the 1980s
Paula Cooper Gallery
534 West 21st Street
October 30 – December 13, 2025
