Simone Leigh’s art career is soaring to new heights. The Brooklyn-based artist, who was awarded the 2018 Hugo Boss Prize, is featured at two New York museums and is about to unveil her most ambitious sculpture yet, Brick House. Part of her Anatomy of Architecture series, Brick House is a 16-foot-tall bronze bust that sits on the Spur at the High Line, peering out over 10th Avenue. It’s on view to the public starting June 5, 2019, and will be up through September 2020.

Leigh’s star has steadily been rising over the last few years. Working in sculpture, ceramics, video, and installation, her chief focus is exploring and honoring the black female experience. In 2014, Creative Time commissioned her to contribute a work to Funk, God, Jazz, and Medicine: Black Radical Brooklyn. She created Free People’s Medical Clinic (2014), a socially engaged project that offered free treatments and workshops in Stuyvesant Mansion, the former home of Dr. Josephine English, the first Black obstetrics and gynecology doctor in the State of New York.

2016 was a particularly busy year for the artist. Highlights included a solo exhibition at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles and a commission for the Studio Museum of Harlem’s inHarlem. For the latter, Leigh came up with A particularly elaborate imba yokubikira, or kitchen house, stands locked up while its owners live in diaspora. The work consisted of three structures reminiscent of Zimbabwean imba yokubikira (kitchen houses) installed at Marcus Garvey Park.

Simone Leigh, Figure with Skirt (Face Jug Series), 2018, Luhring Augustine

Last year, Luhring Augustine presented a solo exhibition of Leigh’s work. It included a new video work and recent sculptures from her Anatomy of Architecture series. These artworks found the artist merging the human form with architecture that evoked African folk traditions.

Currently, the 2019 Whitney Biennial includes work by Leigh, and, on the occasion of her 2018 Hugo Boss Prize win, the Guggenheim is hosting a solo show. The uptown exhibit is entitled Loophole of Retreat, named for the writings of former slave and abolitionist Harriet Jacobs. It features new work in Leigh’s Anatomy of Architecture series. Again, these works fuse the female body with domestic items and architectural forms. The show also features an audio installation the artist made in collaboration with Moor Mother. The show is up through October 27, 2019.

As for Leigh’s Brick House, the monolithic sculpture is the first commission for the High Line Plinth, which will feature a rotating program of public art commissions. Her work won out over 50 proposals from artists such as Cosima von Bonin, Jeremy Deller, Paola Pivi, and Haim Steinbach. Brick House, which is a tribute to black female beauty, combines the human form with architectural elements. It references a range of styles, including Batammaliba architecture; the telex of the Mousgoum people; and the restaurant Mammy’s Cupboard. With its imposing goddess-like presence, the sculpture holds its own against its much taller glass and steel neighbors.

The Plinth is the nucleus of the Spur, the newest section of the High Line. It is located at 30th Street and 10th Avenue.