Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Crystal Bridges, Momentary announce artists for exhibit
BENTONVILLE — Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and the Momentary announced 60 artists have been selected for State of the Art 2020.
The exhibit will be featured as part of the opening of the Momentary, a contemporary art space scheduled to open Feb. 22 in the market district in the southeast area of downtown.
The exhibit will be on view for free at the Momentary and Crystal Bridges through May 24, according to a news release.
Lauren Haynes, curator of visual arts at the Momentary and curator of contemporary art at Crystal Bridges, is leading State of the Art 2020, along with Alejo Benedetti, assistant curator of contemporary art with Crystal Bridges, and Allison Glenn, associate curator of contemporary art with Crystal Bridges, according to Emily Neuman, the Momentary’s public relations manager.
The team visited studios across the country and chose 60 artists from varied backgrounds, Neuman said Tuesday.
“The focus is really find- ing artists who are creating no matter where they are in their career,” she said. “These are more artists that are creating today and telling the stories of today.”
More than 100 works will be featured in the exhibit, most of them created in the last three years, she said.
A number of artists are making site specific works in response to the interior architecture of both spaces and the history of Northwest Arkansas, according to the release. Art will include paintings, sculpture, photography, video, performance and mixed media.
“It’s just important to have artists in all mediums be represented in the show and those conversations that are being had today be relevant as well,” Neuman said.
The art will be organized into thematic sections, including world-building: creating real and fictional spaces; sense of place: investigating ideas of home, family, immigration and more; mapping: connections to and relationships with landscapes and power; and temporality: the concept of time and how people perceive it.
“State of the Art 2020 fits our vision for the Momentary and builds on some of what we’ve already done at Crystal Bridges — presenting contemporary artists who are making work that raise topics and important questions about this moment in time,” Haynes said. “As we traveled the U.S. talking with artists, connections between their work and ideas began to emerge, which drove the selection of themes.”
State of the Art 2020 is the continuation of an exploration into contemporary art beginning in 2014 when Crystal Bridges presented State of the Art: Discovering American Art Now, Neuman said. The exhibit sought to develop an understanding contemporary art is approachable and relevant to topics of the day.
The first iteration of State of the Art was a significant factor in the inspiration for opening the Momentary, she said.
“Seeing that response of the community engaging with the art, having those conversations, it really kind of started that thought that it would be great to have a place to have those conversations,” Neuman said.
Artists will be brought to Northwest Arkansas to engage with the community as part of State of the Art 2020, just as they did with the original exhibit, Haynes said.
“The exhibition will travel, and we are currently building the national tour with dates and venues to be announced at a later time,” she said. “In addition, we’re excited to commit to the next State of the Art in 2025, and plan to create a new exhibition every five years.”