Nobody sees a flower—really—it is so small it takes time—we haven't time—and to see takes time, like to have a friend takes time.
Georgia O’Keeffe, born on this day in 1887
The Whitney's latest exhibition, Programmed: Rules, Codes, and Choreographies in Art, 1965–2018, brings together thirty-nine Whitney Collection artists whose works derive from rules and instructions. Explore Jim Campbell’sTilted Plane—the immersive, flickering installation of lightbulbs gives the magical illusion of birds taking flight.💡🕊
Andy Warhol shot hundreds of movies – short and long, silent and sound, scripted and improvised. As part of the upcoming Warhol retrospective at the Whitney, we'll be screening a selection of his classic films! According to the New York Times, “they are films like few others, in part because, first and foremost, they are also sublime art,” Tickets to the film screenings are on sale now at whitney.org.
We remember September 11 with two Whitney Collection works by Ellsworth Kelly: Green Panel (Ground Zero) (2011) and Ground Zero (2003). Kelly imagined a large, gently sloping mound of earth covered in brilliant green grass when he conceived of a memorial Ground Zero in 2001. When the artist saw this aerial photograph of Ground Zero published in The New York Times in 2003, he was inspired to make this collage of a prospective memorial. Preserving Ground Zero as an undeveloped rectangle of green grass perfectly embodies Kelly’s interest in monochrome geometry and the landscape. When looking down from neighboring buildings on the site, viewers would see an uninterrupted expanse of color, as if looking at the ocean or sky. [Ellsworth Kelly (1923–2015), Ground Zero, 2003. Collage on paper (newsprint). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; gift of an anonymous donor. © Ellsworth Kelly] [Ellsworth Kelly (1923–2015), Green Panel (Ground Zero), 2011. Painted Aluminum. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Commissioned by the Whitney Museum of American Art. © Ellsworth Kelly]
[David Wojnarowicz (1954-1992), Untitled (Falling man and map of the U.S.A.), 1982. Screenprint: sheet, 23 15/16 x 17 7/8 in. (60.8 x 45.4 cm); image, 12 1/2 x 12 1/2 in. (31.8 x 31.8 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase with funds from the Print Committee 2001.269. © The Estate of David Wojnarowicz and P.P.O.W. Gallery, New York]
Back by popular demand: on Sunday, September 23, the Whitney will host a screening of Marion Scemama’s film, Self-Portrait in 23 Rounds: A Chapter in David Wojnarowicz’s Life, 1988—1991 (2018). Based on an interview with David Wojnarowicz conducted by Sylvère Lotinger in ‘89, the film intercuts scenes of Wojnarowicz with previously unseen footage from David Wojnarowicz Papers, Fales Library and Special Collections, New York University; P.P.O.W and the Estate of David Wojnarowicz; and Marion Scemama personal archives. Scemama will speak with Whitney Curator David Breslin following the screening.
[Image courtesy Marion Scemama]
Celebrate Labor Day with American art at the Whitney! 🌟 Experience iconic works from the Whitney collection, including this painting of Lancaster's industrial architure by Charles Demuth on view in Where We Are: Selections from the Whitney’s Collection, 1900–1960. [Charles Demuth (1883‑1935), Buildings, Lancaster, 1930. Oil and graphite pencil on composition board, 24 1/8 × 20 1/8in. (61.3 × 51.1 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; gift of an anonymous donor 58.63]
COMING SOON! Programmed: Rules, Codes, and Choreographies in Art, 1965–2018 spans over sixty years of conceptual, video, and computational art.
[Nam Jun Paik (1932–2006), Fin de Siecle II, 1989. Video installation, 207 television sets with seven video channels, 168 x 480 x 60 in. (426.7 x 1219.2 x 152.4 cm). The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Gift of Laila and Thurston Twigg-Smith 93.129]
Hear from Tom Kalin of the AIDS activist collective Gran Fury on the American Policy series by Hock E Aye VI Edgar Heap of Birds. Their works are on view in the exhibition An Incomplete History of Protest through Monday, August 27. Watch the full video on whitney.org.
ITSOFOMO (In the Shadow of Forward Motion) is a multimedia performance that David Wojnarowicz made in collaboration with composer and musician Ben Neill in 1989. Integrating music, text, and video in a multi-dimensional format, the work embodies the act of acceleration and its sensory manifestations. It is through this frame that Wojnarowicz addressed the accelerating AIDS crisis and the politics of AIDS in the United States at that moment.
The work debuted at The Kitchen in 1989 and has not been performed live in New York in 25 years. This September, Ben Neill and the percussionist Don Yallech, who played alongside Neill and Wojnarowicz in 1989, revisit this fierce meditation on history and power at the Whitney Museum.
Visit whitney.org for tickets.
[Image courtesy Ben Neill]
FINAL DAYS! See 80 years of art at its most urgent in An Incomplete History of Protest—on view through August 27.
[May Stevens (b. 1924), Dark Flag, 1976, from the series "Big Daddy" Paintings, 1967-76. Acrylic on canvas, 60 1/8 × 60 1/8 in. (152.7 × 152.7 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; gift of the artist 2005.34. © May Stevens. Courtesy the artist and RYAN LEE Gallery, New York]
The artists who made the furniture and display elements in the exhibition Eckhaus Latta: Possessed are part of Mike Eckhaus and Zoe Latta's close cohort of friends, mentors, and family members. Learn more about the exhibition on whitney.org!
[Installation view of Eckhaus Latta: Possessed (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, August 2-October 8, 2018). From left to right, front to back: Nora Jane Slade, Criss cross bamboosauce, 2018; Riley O’Neill, Basil’s tissue scaffold, 2018; Susan Cianciolo, Textile Curtain for dressing room, 2017-18; Lauren Davis Fisher, Friendshuh Prototypes, 2018; Sophie Stone, Untitled (Dressing Room Rug), 2018; Amy Yao, Farmer John, 2018; Torey Thornton, Benching Hierarchy Console (EL), 2018; Martine Syms, Taurus, 2018; Susan Cianciolo, Dress Mirror frame, 2017-18; Eckhuas Latta, Beaded Curtain, 2018. Photograph by Jason Mandella]
"What we call reality is an agreement that people have arrived at to make life more livable."— Louise Nevelson. See her drawings and prints in the exhibition Louise Nevelson: The Face in the Moon, now on view at the Whitney.
[Louise Nevelson (1899-1988), Portrait, 1953-55. Aquatint and etching: sheet, 24 1/8 × 19 1/4 in. (61.3 × 48.9 cm); plate, 19 5/8 × 15 7/8 in. (49.9 × 40.3 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; gift of the artist 69.242. © 2018 Estate of Louise Nevelson/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York]
In his performance, The OG of Undocumented Children, artist Guadalupe Maravilla continues his ongoing investigation of the displacement of Central American people. The artist himself crossed the US border when he was eight years old, escorted by a Coyote, or human trafficker, and a dog. To share his personal story, he enlists a cast of characters, including a troupe of Quinceañeras, two singers, an immigrant vampire family who drink the blood of Americans, and the Mexican gothic electro-drama band La Rubia te Besa. Drawing parallels between Mayan mythology and current events, Maravilla pursues a new visual language for border crossing stories.
Visit whitney.org to more about the Maravilla’s work, on view in Pacha, Llaqta, Wasichay: Indigenous Space, Modern Architecture, New Art.
Happy birthday, Andy Warhol! The countdown begins for the artist's monumental retrospective, Andy Warhol—From A to B and Back Again, opening November 12 at the Whitney. Visit whitney.org to purchase advanced tickets today!