State of the Art:
Discovering American Art Now
September 13, 2014 – January 19, 2015
Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art
Bentonville, AR.
Traveling Locations:
2016
Telfair Museums, Savannah, GA.
Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, MN.
2017
Dixon Gallery and Gardens in Memphis, TN.
Frist Center for the Visual Arts in Nashville, TN.
The Mint Museum in Charlotte, NC.
Press Release & Info
The ultimate road trip, to a thousand destinations, for one unforgettable exhibition. In 2013, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art’s curatorial team hit the road to investigate what’s happening in American art today. Over the course of a year, the team logged more than 100,000 miles, crisscrossing the United States to visit nearly 1,000 artists. The journey began with a series of conversations with dozens of colleagues, curators, gallery owners, critics, and collectors who helped to generate a list of thousands of artists from across the US. After narrowing down the list through preliminary research, the Crystal Bridges team began making studio visits, conducting hundreds of hours of one-on-one conversations with artists, all in search of the most compelling American art being created today. Traveling to communities large and small, the Museum sought to discover artists whose work has not yet been fully recognized on a national level. The result of this unprecedented journey is a one-of-a-kind exhibition that draws from every region of the US, offering an unusually diverse and nuanced look at American art. The exhibition will examine the myriad ways in which today’s artists are informed by the past, innovating with materials old and new, and engaging deeply with issues relevant to our times. State of the Art: Discovering American Art Now, brings together the work of more than 100 artists in an unprecedented exploration of the power of today’s American art. The exhibition will reach beyond the boundaries of the Museum’s temporary exhibition spaces, extending into the permanent collection galleries and activating public and community areas indoors and out.