Rain Dance, 1974

Grigoriadis was raised in the Greek Orthodox Church, where she spent hours staring at the icon paintings that inspired Rain Dance. These richly hued works also teem with visual references to Assyrian reliefs, Mayan temple facades, art deco ornamentation, and knitting designs, among others. In this regard, Grigoriadis’s paintings are emblematic of P&D’s examination of the ancient, global origins of abstraction. While abstract art has almost universally been classified in art history as a European invention dating to the early 20th century, P&D artists delved into abstract art practices from around the world, with hundreds, if not thousands, of years of history. For Grigoriadis, this
constituted a feminist gesture; she aimed to challenge the art historical rhetoric that demeaned both decorative and non-Western art through pejorative associations with femininity and craft by exalting those traditions in bold colors, glistening paints, and opulent patterns.