Taína H. Cruz: I Saw the Future and It Smiled Back

This artwork is featured on the building facade on Gansevoort Street across from the Whitney and the High Line.

Graffiti is a major inspiration for Taína H. Cruz’s (b. 1998, New York, NY) paintings and drawings, including those she created on-site on one of the Whitney’s fifth-floor gallery walls for the 82nd edition of the Museum’s Biennial. Her work, I Saw the Future and It Smiled Back, on the Gansevoort Street billboard, reflects a child-like sense of newness and anticipation.

This work is part of Whitney Biennial 2026.