October’s Midnight Moment: Yvette Mayorga’s 'PLEA$URE GARDEN$'

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
May Orga S Midnight Moment debuts in tandem with Magic
Grasshopper, the artist S largest installation to date.
October 1st to 31st, 11:57 PM to12:00 AM, Times Square between
41st and 49th Streets. Times Square Arts, the public

(00:20):
platform for contemporary visualarts and performance, is pleased
to announce Yvette May Orga as October as Midnight Moment.
Her video work Plea Your Garden,screening nightly from 11:57 PM
to 12:00 AM from October 1st to 31st, 2025, is presented

(00:41):
alongside her 30 foot long pink kinetic sculpture Magic
Grasshopper, which will be unveiled on October 15th at 5:30
PM with remarks by the artist and a special live performance.
Plea Your Garden is an invitation to step inside Maorga
S lush and layered candy coloredworld.
The stop motion animation transforms Maorga S blooming

(01:04):
flowers, nail charms, and smileyfaces into a maximalist
dreamscape full of childhood nostalgia, art historical
references, and alluring compositions of beauty and
leisure in a style the artist refers to as Latinx Sako
emerging of Latinx and Rococo aesthetics.
Vessels and vehicles glide across painterly landscapes,

(01:27):
balloons drift skyward, telenovelas flicker on a living
room TV, and lovers dance in slow motion in tactile layers of
desire and excess. While Majorca S midnight moment
is only on view in the evening, visitors can experience Magic
Grasshopper at any time of day from October 15th to December

(01:48):
2nd, 2025. The artist S largest public work
to date, Magic Grasshopper subverts childhood nostalgia,
confectionery arts, and the color pink to critically explore
the intersection of migration, feminized labor, and colonial
histories. Sighted in Times Square, a

(02:09):
crossroads of New York City thatconnotes big dreams and new
beginnings, Magic Grasshopper and plea Your Garden mirror the
district S scale and sense of possibility while inviting us
into deeper conversations about the journeys taken in pursuit of
a more promising future. Elaborately piped in May Orga S
signature faux frosting thickened acrylic applied

(02:31):
through pastry bags. The carriage is drawn by
carousel style horses and set upon spinning gold rimmed wheels
inspired by the Mexican Americanlow rider culture of the artist
S hometown. Wrapped around the float are
painterly scenes of migration, challenging European art
historical tropes with personal and collective contemporary

(02:52):
narratives. Magic Grasshopper will be
unveiled on October 15th, 2025 at 5:30 PM on Broadway Plaza
between 46th and 47th Streets, featuring a live performance by
a special guest and remarks by the artist.
Additional programming will be announced soon.

(03:14):
About Yvette Mayorga Yvette Mayorga B 1991 is a
Chicago-based multidisciplinary artist known for her Rococo
inspired reliefs that merge confectionery labor with found
images to explore themes of belonging.
Dominated by the color pink, Maorga celebrates femme power
while questioning the allure of consumer culture and the

(03:36):
American dream. As a first generation Latinx,
Maorga holds AMFA in Fiber and Material Studies from the School
of the Art Institute of Chicago and ABFA from the University of
Illinois. Her work has been exhibited
nationally and internationally, including exhibitions at the
Museum of Arts and Design, New York, Vincent Price Art Museum,

(03:59):
California, El Mucio del Barrio,New York, the Center for Craft,
NC Mucio Universitario del Chapo, Mexico, LACMA, CA and
solo exhibitions at the AldridgeContemporary Art Museum, CT
2024, the Momentary at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art,

(04:22):
AR2022, and her first institutional international solo
museum exhibition, La Jolla de Oro at Museo de Arte de
Zappopin, Mexico, 2024, which was reviewed by the New York
Times. Maorga S works are in the
permanent collections of the Smithsonian Institution S

(04:44):
Renwick Gallery, Washington, DC,the Davis Museum at Wellesley
College Moth, the City of Chicago.
Permanent public Art collection at O'Hare International Airport,
IL Good Museum of Art at Dartmouth College, New Hampshire
21 C Museum Hotels KY Ceramicasuro, Mexico Crystal

(05:07):
Bridges Museum of American Art, Arkansas DePaul Art Museum, IL
El Museo del Barrio, New York, John D and Catherine T MacArthur
Foundation, IL Museum of Fine Arts Boston Mott and New Mexico
State University Art Museum, NM.She has been featured in Art

(05:29):
Forum, a Art News, Dazed Gallery, Hyper Allergic, Teen
Vogue, The Guardian, The New York Times and W Magazine
website www.yvettemaorga.com. About Times Square Arts Times

(05:50):
Square Arts, the public art program of the Times Square
Alliance, collaborates with contemporary artists and
cultural institutions to experiment and engage with one
of the world's most iconic urbanplaces.
Through the squares, electronic billboards, public plazas,
vacant areas and popular venues,and the Alliance's own online

(06:12):
landscape, Times Square Arts invites leading contemporary
creators such as Charles Gaines,Joan Jonas, Jeffrey Gibson,
Pamela Counsel, Mel Chin, and Kahinda Wiley to help the public
see Times Square in new ways. Times Square has always been a
cultural district and place of risk, innovation and creativity,

(06:35):
and the arts program ensures these qualities remain central
to the district's unique identity.