Shifting Landscapes | Art & Artists

Nov 1, 2024–Jan 25, 2026

Exhibition works

8 total
Southern Assemblage
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Southern Assemblage

A whimsical sculpture made of various materials, including wood, fabric, netting, and metal, creatively assembled into an abstract form.
A whimsical sculpture made of various materials, including wood, fabric, netting, and metal, creatively assembled into an abstract form.

Lonnie Holley, Untitled, 1995. Painted wood chair, wire wastebasket, computer keyboard, compact disk, floppy disk, light bulbs, cotton gloves, red circular paper self-adhesive labels, walkie-talkie, brass wire brushes, twine, and plastic sign, 41 1/8 × 36 × 26 in. (104.5 × 91.4 × 66 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; gift of Jacqueline and Maxwell Anderson 2003.264. © 2024 Lonnie Holley / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Southern Assemblage

Working with materials sourced from their local environments, self- and community-taught Black artists in the southeastern US have produced hybrid collage-paintings, complex sculptures, and abstractly patterned textiles that derive from their lived experiences. Martha Jane Pettway, one of a group of quiltmakers from Gee’s Bend, Alabama, makes her art from functional remnants—her quilt tops are pieced together from scraps of relatives’ clothes and used sugar sacks. Similarly, Joe Minter’s assembled sculptures share a visual vocabulary with the African Village in America, the immersive sculptural environment that he began working on in his Birmingham, Alabama, backyard in 1989. Purvis Young often portrayed the occupants of his historically segregated neighborhood in Miami on pieces of locally scavenged wood. Alabama artist and musician Lonnie Holley, who since the late 1970s has practiced what he calls “improvisational creativity,” makes sculptures and installations out of salvaged objects, while Bessie Harvey credits her sculptures, made from found wood and branches, to divine inspiration. Through these artists’ vision, everyday materials are transformed into something enduring, carrying the stories of their origins forward.

Abstract painting on an octagonal canvas with vibrant colors, featuring teal circles, red and black lines, and splashes of yellow and green.
Abstract painting on an octagonal canvas with vibrant colors, featuring teal circles, red and black lines, and splashes of yellow and green.

Purvis Young, Ants and the Establishment, c. 1980-85. Oil and enamel on plywood, 33 1/2 × 33 1/2 in. (85.1 × 85.1 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; gift of Daniel Aubry 2017.271. © 2024 Estate of Purvis Young / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Purvis Young
Ants and the Establishment, c. 1980-1985

Abstract painting with vibrant colors, depicting cityscapes, figures, and faces on a textured, multi-panel wooden surface.
Abstract painting with vibrant colors, depicting cityscapes, figures, and faces on a textured, multi-panel wooden surface.

Purvis Young, Angel, City, and Eye Assemblage, c. 1990-95. Oil and enamel on plywood, composition board, and found wood, 49 1/8 × 66 in. (124.8 × 167.6 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; gift of Daniel Aubry 2017.272. © 2024 Estate of Purvis Young / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Purvis Young
Angel, City, and Eye Assemblage, c. 1990-1995

Colorful abstract painting with figures in motion, vibrant reds, oranges, and blues, suggesting a lively street scene or celebration.
Colorful abstract painting with figures in motion, vibrant reds, oranges, and blues, suggesting a lively street scene or celebration.

Purvis Young, Overtown, 1988. Oil, housepaint, and found wood on panel, 33 × 11 3/8 × 2 5/16 in. (83.8 × 28.9 × 5.9 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; gift of Judith Alexander 2002.332. © 2024 Estate of Purvis Young / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Purvis Young
Overtown, 1988

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