On view
Floor 6
Open: Nov 1, 2024–Jan 2026
While the landscape genre has long been associated with picturesque vistas, Shifting Landscapes considers a more expansive interpretation of the category, exploring how evolving political, ecological, and social issues motivate artists as they attempt to represent the world around them. Drawn from the Whitney’s collection, the exhibition features works from the 1960s to the present and is organized according to distinct thematic sections. Some of these coalesce around material and conceptual affinities: sculptural assemblages formed from locally sourced objects, ecofeminist approaches to land art, and the legacies of documentary landscape photography. Others are tied to specific geographies, such as the frenzied cityscape of modern New York or the experimental filmmaking scene of 1970s Los Angeles. Still others show how artists invent fantastic new worlds where humans, animals, and the land become one. Whether depicting the effects of industrialization on the environment, grappling with the impact of geopolitical borders, or proposing imagined spaces as a way of destabilizing the concept of a “natural” world, the works gathered here bring ideas of land and place into focus, foregrounding how we shape and are shaped by the spaces around us.
Shifting Landscapes is organized by Jennie Goldstein, Jennifer Rubio Associate Curator of the Collection; Marcela Guerrero, DeMartini Family Curator; Roxanne Smith, Senior Curatorial Assistant; with Angelica Arbelaez, Rubio Butterfield Family Fellow; with thanks to Araceli Bremauntz-Enriquez and J. English Cook for research support.
Review accessibility information before visiting Shifting Landscapes.
Major support for Shifting Landscapes is provided by Judy Hart Angelo, the Henry Luce Foundation, and the Whitney’s National Committee.
Significant support is provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art.
Generous support is provided by The Keith Haring Foundation Exhibition Fund.
Aunque la pintura paisajista se ha asociado durante mucho tiempo con vistas pintorescas, Paisajes cambiantes considera una interpretación más amplia de esta categoría, explorando cómo la evolución de los temas políticos, ecológicos y sociales motiva a artistas cuando buscan representar el mundo que les rodea. La exhibición presenta obras de la colección del Whitney que abarcan desde la década de 1960 hasta el presente y está organizada en distintas secciones temáticas. Ciertas obras giran en torno a afinidades materiales y conceptuales: ensamblajes escultóricos construidos con objetos obtenidos localmente, enfoques ecofeministas del arte ambiental, los legados de la fotografía paisajista documental. Otras están vinculadas a geografías específicas, como los frenéticos paisajes urbanos del Nueva York moderno o la escena cinematográfica experimental de Los Ángeles en los años setenta. Algunas, muestran cómo artistas inventan mundos nuevos y fantásticos donde los seres humanos, los animales y la tierra se vuelven uno. Ya sea representando los efectos de la industrialización en el medio ambiente, abordando el impacto de las fronteras geopolíticas o proponiendo espacios imaginados como una forma de desestabilizar el concepto de un mundo “natural”, las obras reunidas aquí se centran en ideas de lugar y territorio, poniendo en primer plano cómo la gente da forma y a la vez es formada por los espacios que nos rodean.
New York Cityscapes
2
From the unruly energy of a single city block to the grandeur of its towering skyline, New York has long inspired artists. The works gathered here, ranging in date from the early 1970s to 2020, document the many ways the city has changed—whether gradually or abruptly—in the aftermath of significant economic, political, and catastrophic events. The early 1970s saw New York in a state of economic decay and social turmoil, yet artistic experimentation flourished, driving new developments in feminist art, neo-expressionism, and street photography. By the 1980s and early 1990s New York had come to be known as a global city; nonetheless many artists living here remained decidedly local in their focus, depicting their neighbors or the theater of daily life. In the wake of the attacks on September 11, 2001, unsettling images of the tragedy and an overwhelming sense of alienation impacted the way some artists portrayed the city. Two decades later, works made during the COVID-19 pandemic similarly bear signs of the loneliness, disruption, and uncertainty experienced by so many. Through all these profound shifts, the city has remained an important collaborator for artists seeking to understand how the built environment can embody the complexities of urban existence and offer new ways of seeing and understanding one’s place in it.
Artists
- Robert Adams
- Yuji Agematsu
- Laura Aguilar
- John Ahearn
- Felipe Baeza
- Firelei Báez
- Melvonna Ballenger
- Orian Barki
- Jean-Michel Basquiat
- Meriem Bennani
- María Berrío
- Diane Burns
- Jenny Calivas
- Carolina Caycedo
- Enrique Chagoya
- Tseng Kwong Chi
- Arch Connelly
- Agnes Denes
- Jane Dickson
- Chioma Ebinama
- rafa esparza
- Christina Fernandez
- Teresita Fernández
- LaToya Ruby Frazier
- Dalton Gata
- Aaron Gilbert
- Martine Gutierrez
- Keith Haring
- Bessie Harvey
- Lonnie Holley
- Nancy Holt
- Donna Huanca
- Peter Hujar
- Suzanne Jackson
- Ulysses Jenkins
- Luis Jimenez
- Michael Joo
- Sonya Kelliher-Combs
- An-My Lê
- Maya Lin
- Miguel Luciano
- James Luna
- Guadalupe Maravilla
- Hiram Maristany
- Leslie Martinez
- Patrick Martinez
- Gordon Matta-Clark
- Keith Mayerson
- Park McArthur
- Ana Mendieta
- Amalia Mesa-Bains
- Mundo Meza
- Alan Michelson
- Troy Michie
- Joe Minter
- Kenji Nakahashi
- Martha Jane Pettway
- Piliāmo'o
- Chuck Ramirez
- Sophie Rivera
- Alison Saar
- David Benjamin Sherry
- Trevor Shimizu
- Nicole Soto Rodríguez
- Anita Steckel
- Michelle Stuart
- Kunié Sugiura
- Tabboo!
- Salman Toor
- Rigoberto Torres
- Theo Triantafyllidis
- Artie Vierkant
- Carlos Villa
- Emmi Whitehorse
- Martin Wong
- Purvis Young
Audio guides
Shifting Landscapes
Floor 1
Hear directly from artists and curators on selected works from the exhibition.
View guideShifting Landscapes
Floor 6
Hear directly from artists and curators on selected works from the exhibition.
View guide