Press RoomPhoenix Art Museum announces 2023-2024 exhibition season
Phoenix Art Museum announces 2023-2024 exhibition season
Sep, 20, 2023
Exhibitions and Special Installations
Phoenix Art Museum announces 2023-2024 exhibition season
Largest art museum in the Southwest to underscore careers of groundbreaking women and Latinx/e artists, highlight global contemporary art from Asia and Eastern Europe, celebrate excellence of Arizona artists
PHOENIX (September 20, 2023) – During the 2023-2024 exhibition season, Phoenix Art Museum will leverage its collection of more than 20,000 outstanding artworks and its partnerships with fellow art institutions to highlight the work and lasting impact of important women and Latinx/e artists, while providing an expansive view of art from throughout Asia, reaffirming the institution’s commitment to promoting local and Arizona-based artists, and championing global artistic experimentation. Major forthcoming exhibitions include a nationally traveling retrospective of Amalia Mesa-Bains and a showcase of self-portraits set in Southwest landscapes by photographer Laura Aguilar.
“The forthcoming exhibition season at Phoenix Art Museum builds on our commitment to engaging our community with the work of leading regional, national, and international artists and to mounting rigorously curated exhibitions that examine art history while reinvigorating many beloved works and galleries across the Museum,” said Jeremy Mikolajczak, the Sybil Harrington Director and CEO of Phoenix Art Museum. “In addition to presenting the exemplary scholarship of institutional colleagues, we are highlighting the careers of women, Asian, and Latine/x artists, whose creative contributions have been historically underrecognized, as well as elevating the work of Arizona-based creators whose voices are central to our cultural ecosystem.”
2023 Arizona Artist Awards On view through May 12, 2024 Organized by Phoenix Art Museum Images Each year, Phoenix Art Museum presents two awards to Arizona-based artists that include the opportunity to exhibit work in Museum galleries. Gabriela Muñoz and Jenea Sanchez of Fronterizx Collective, the 2023 Arlene and Morton Scult Artist Award winner, have collaborated since 2009, and their practice, which is rooted in their experiences as women of color who grew up in the liminal culture between Mexico and the United States, spans video, printmaking, paper-making, installation, performance, sculpture, and socially engaged projects. Through skill-sharing and mutual aid, Fronterizx Collective develops projects and artworks that center the experiences of women of color and explore issues of power, labor, and transnational feminism. Their solo exhibition at Phoenix Art Museum, Gabriela Muñoz & Jenea Sanchez: Empowered Fronterizx Bodies, links these themes in a showcase of their latest projects and installations.
The 2023 Lehmann Emerging Artist Award Recipients Exhibition features works by emerging artists Yaritza Flores Bustos and Alejandro Macias. Born in 1997, Flores Bustos migrated from Michoacán, México, at a young age with her family, who established a home in Maryvale in Phoenix’s Westside. Her interdisciplinary practice employs a range of media to develop a new archive that venerates the multiple languages essential to her community’s survival. Macias was born and raised in Brownsville, Texas. His practice mixes conventional, representational, and abstract approaches, a strategy that acts as a metaphor for his upbringing along the U.S.-Mexico border. His work explores themes of Mexican American identity, assimilation, civil rights, immigration, and the ever-shifting American political landscape.
You Who are Getting Obliterated in the Dancing Swarm of Fireflies Now on view From the collection of Phoenix Art Museum Images Phoenix Art Museum has re-opened its beloved infinity mirror room, You Who are Getting Obliterated in the Dancing Swarm of Fireflies (2005) by Yayoi Kusama, following vital restoration work after more than a decade on view. The revitalized installation offers an enhanced visitor experience. Its relocation to a more accessible location on the first floor next to the Art of Asia galleries also enables guests to consider how historical art forms and objects from Japan influenced Yayoi Kusama as she developed her practice and conceived her immersive art experiences.
Collection Spotlight /// Art of Asia Scenes and Seasons in Japanese Art On view through August 11, 2024 Organized by Phoenix Art Museum Images The beauty of the changing seasons is a historical theme in Japanese art. Two series of paintings, one from antiquity and one from the modern era, depict festivals celebrating seasonal changes. Lacquer works feature decorative motifs including birds and flowers, with cherry blossoms representing spring, colorful leaves symbolizing autumn, and snowy landscapes depicting winter. Other scenes, such as gazing at the moon, writing poetry, dancing, and visiting historic places, all have seasonal associations in Japanese culture.
Nature as Still Life in Chinese Painting On view through August 11, 2024 Organized by Phoenix Art Museum Images Featuring gifts from the Papp Family, this exhibition presents examples of the artistic study of nature’s microcosm, a practice that spans centuries. Works on view reflect the Chinese tradition of appreciating nature down to its smallest details, a practice rooted in Daoist philosophy, which views humankind as subservient to and in reverence of both the perfect and imperfect beauty of the natural world.
Princely States of the Punjab: Sikh Art and History On view through December 31, 2023 Organized by Phoenix Art Museum Images In the 19th century, the Sikh empire flourished in the Punjab region of northwest India. Ruled by locals in alliance with the British Raj, these states and their palatial courts attracted artists, poets, and musicians. This latest exhibition in The Khanuja Family Sikh Heritage Gallery illuminates the regal stature of the period’s Sikh rulers through examples of state portraiture, precious jewelry, and military photography and adornment.
Amalia Mesa-Bains: Archaeology of Memory November 5, 2023 – February 25, 2024 Organized by the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive in collaboration with the Latinx Research Center (LRC) at UC Berkeley Images Amalia Mesa-Bains: Archaeology of Memory is the first major retrospective to explore the historically significant work and career of Amalia Mesa-Bains, who has been heralded as a pioneer of feminist and Chicanx art. Mesa-Bains’ artistic contributions have been well recognized, including by a MacArthur “Genius” Grant in 1992. Archaeology of Memory brings together for the first time nearly 60 works created over 45 years, including the artist’s renowned altar-installations, in a long-overdue celebration of her enduring impact on contemporary art both within and beyond the United States. Visitors can also examine the artist’s lesser-studied handmade books and palimpsest prints characterized by her signature archeological aesthetic of layering and excavation.
Laura Aguilar: Nudes in Nature December 16, 2023 – November 17, 2024 Organized by Phoenix Art Museum and the Center for Creative Photography Images Laura Aguilar: Nudes in Nature is the newest photography exhibition presented through the landmark partnership between Phoenix Art Museum and the Center for Creative Photography at the University of Arizona in Tucson. Co-curated by the trustees of the Laura Aguilar Estate, Sybil Venegas and Christopher Velasco, the exhibition presents nearly 60 photographic works that shed light on the groundbreaking career of Laura Aguilar (1959–2018), an artist who explored the intersectionality within her personal identity as a Chicana and a lesbian living in poverty and with depression and learning disabilities. Late in her career, Aguilar captured intimate portraits of nude, large-bodied women—including herself—in natural settings to highlight the inherent connections between nature and the female form. She created various series within this framework, and Laura Aguilar: Nudes in Nature brings together for the first time works from five of those series.
Expanding Darshan: Manjari Sharma, To See and Be Seen December 16, 2023 – April 14, 2024 Organized by the Birmingham Museum of Art Images Expanding Darshan: Manjari Sharma, To See and Be Seen showcases the remarkable work of contemporary artist Manjari Sharma, who has photographically re-imagined encounters with Hindu deities in temple settings without using digital manipulation. These portraits, which address issues of identity, multiculturalism, and personal mythology, are paired alongside historical sculptural objects from the collection of the Birmingham Museum of Art, many of which are on view publicly for the first time. By presenting these works together, the exhibition creates a dialogue about the longstanding, inextricable relationship between art and religion.
Guarding the Art January 20 – July 28, 2024 Organized by Phoenix Art Museum // Concept conceived by the Baltimore Museum of Art Images TBD Guarding the Art features works from the PhxArt Collection selected by guest curators from the Museum’s security, event-rentals, and retail-services teams based on their unique insights and perspectives from regularly engaging with artworks and visitors in the galleries. The project challenges traditional museum hierarchies and curatorial formats and fosters dialogue about who can and should talk about art.
Barbie®: A Cultural Icon February 14 – July 7, 2024 Images Created by Illusion Projects and curated by costume historian Karan Feder, in collaboration with Mattel, Barbie®: A Cultural Icon examines the more than 60-year history of Barbie and the toy’s global impact on pop culture through a showcase of more than 250 vintage dolls, life-size fashion designs, and exclusive interviews. The exhibition traces the evolution of Barbie across six distinct sections, from her creation story to the influence of the Space Age and the creation of Christie, the first Black doll, to the arrival of Ken and the creation of the Barbie Dreamhouse. The exhibition also spotlights the continued diversification of characters within the Barbie universe, connecting them to contemporary fashion trends, perspectives, and identities.
The Power of Pink February 14 – July 7, 2024 Images Drawn entirely from the renowned PhxArt Collection, The Power of Pink celebrates the complex history of the color pink, which is typically associated with feminine expression. The exhibition traces the history of the hue and the evolution of its role in fashion, from its origins in 17th-century France, where it was worn by both men and women as a symbol of status, luxury, and power, to the 1940s North America, when mass-marketing efforts began to gender the color, assigning pink to girls and blue to boys. Featuring more than 10 garments and ensembles, the exhibition highlights major designers including Gianfranco Ferré, Christian Dior, Valentino, Yves Saint Laurent, and more.
Multiple Realities: Experimental Art in the Eastern Bloc, 1960s–1980s April 17 – September 29, 2024 Organized by the Walker Art Center Images This extensive survey features experimental art spanning the 1960s through the 1980s by more than 100 artists from East Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, and Yugoslavia. It traces how a generation of artists who experienced state-sanctioned control and oppression used experimentation and interdisciplinary practices to confront the harsh conditions of their everyday life, while circumventing and eluding the systems and authoritarian regimes that sought to surveil and silence them. In addition to well-known artists from the region, the exhibition highlights underrecognized figures, particularly women artists, artist collectives, and LGBTQIA+ artists, many of whom remain largely unknown.
Collection Spotlight /// American Modern May 15 – September 1, 2024 Organized by Phoenix Art Museum Images TBD The collection of Phoenix Art Museum is home to strong holdings in American Modernism from the first half of the 20th century, including paintings, works on paper, and sculptures by many renowned such as Alexander Archipenko, Oscar Bluemner, Stuart Davis, Georgia O’Keeffe, Louise Nevelson, Elie Nadelman, Joseph Stella, Abraham Walkowitz, and Max Weber. This exhibition, which features a significant cohort of women artists, examines their experimental works and practices and highlights the Southwest as an important center of the Modernism movement.
For more information, contact the Museum’s Communications Office at samantha.santos@phxart.org or 602.257.2117.
About Phoenix Art Museum Since 1959, Phoenix Art Museum has provided millions of guests with access to world-class art and experiences in an effort to ignite imaginations, create meaningful connections, and serve as a brave space for all people who wish to experience the transformative power of art. Located in Phoenix’s Central Corridor, the Museum is a vibrant destination for the visual arts and the largest art museum in the southwestern United States. Each year, more than 300,000 guests engage with critically acclaimed national and international exhibitions and the Museum’s collection of more than 20,000 works of American and Western American, Asian, European, Latin American, modern and contemporary art, and fashion design. The Museum also presents a comprehensive film program, live performances, and educational programs designed for visitors of all ages, along with vibrant photography exhibitions made possible through the Museum’s landmark partnership with the Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona. To learn more about Phoenix Art Museum, visit phxart.org, or call 602.257.1880.
