Contemporary America

From the skyscapes to shoelaces — art as diverse as our contemporary culture.

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Alice Aycock, <em>Low Building with Dirt Roof (For Mary)</em>
Alice Aycock, Low Building with Dirt Roof (For Mary)

A work of non-functional architecture, Aycock’s structure evokes personal memories and associations to the ancient past.

Martin Puryear, <em>Lookout</em>
Martin Puryear, Lookout

Pierced with holes, this architectural sculpture offers both shelter from and exposure to the surrounding elements.

Rashid Johnson, <em>Stacked Heads</em>
Rashid Johnson, Stacked Heads

From Johnson's hollow, scarred bronze sculpture, nature is bursting forth.

Maya Lin, <em>Ghost Forest</em>
Maya Lin, Ghost Forest

Installed in Madison Square Park, these skeletal trees express the devastation of climate change.

Barbara Zucker, <em>Mix, Stir, Pour (White Floor Piece)</em>
Barbara Zucker, Mix, Stir, Pour (White Floor Piece)

Mix, Stir, Pour: a feminist action.

Amy Sherald, <em>Precious Jewels by the Sea</em>
Amy Sherald, Precious Jewels by the Sea

This monumental painting of Black people at the beach speaks to a dearth of Black figures in the art history canon

Alma Thomas, <em>Lunar Rendezvous—Circle of Flowers</em>
Alma Thomas, Lunar Rendezvous—Circle of Flowers

Thomas takes inspiration from both the 1969 moon landing and her backyard garden

Harry Fonseca, <em>Two Coyotes with Flags</em>
Harry Fonseca, Two Coyotes with Flags

Cartoonish coyotes play on Fonseca's overlapping identities as queer, American, and Indigenous.

Richard Mayhew, <em>Indigenous Spiritual Space</em>
Richard Mayhew, Indigenous Spiritual Space

Explosions of color signify a landscape, real or imagined

Norman Lewis, <em>Untitled</em>
Norman Lewis, Untitled

Lewis leaves behind the figure for abstracted fragments at the end of World War II

Representing the inner self: Charles Sebree’s <i>The Mystic</i>
Representing the inner self: Charles Sebree’s The Mystic

Charles Sebree expresses his inner self in The Mystic.

Kehinde Wiley, <i>Rumors of War</i>
Kehinde Wiley, Rumors of War

A monumental solution, rethinking the sculpture of Richmond