Once Upon Now

Erica Ellis

July 22, 2025

Feb 28 – Jun 7, 2026

Details

The nine diverse works of American art in this exhibition span from 1915 to 2020, representing a remarkable slice of American art history. This selection weaves together ideas of identity, childhood, and environment. Through diverse mediums, styles, and cultural contexts, these works offer insights into the personal, cultural, and artistic conversations that shape our world. This project is made possible through our remarkable partnership with Art Bridges, whose mission is to bring art out of storage and into communities across America.

Themes of both celebrated and forgotten identities appear throughout—from the mystery of Richard Prince’s Nurse Elsa to the individuality of Alex Katz’s Dark Glasses and the haunting imagery of Edouard Duval-Carrié’s Lost at Sea. Rachel Rose’s Lake Valley transports us to the bittersweet nostalgia of childhood, where memories feel both real and imagined. Pop culture and American consumerism are brought into the conversation with Robert Gober’s Untitled (butter), which turns the familiar into something strange. Frank Stella’s maze-like Cinema de Pepsi Sketch I and Max Weber’s Interior with Music explore color, shape, and detail in bold ways. Félix González-Torres’ participatory work Untitled (L.A.) and Alfred Conteh’s Malik and Marquis invite reflection on friendship, loss and human connection.

Together, these works explore social issues that feel especially relevant today in the American political landscape—ideas of home, belonging, community, and time. Each artwork tells its own story, but together they create a larger history and experience. This exhibition does more than reflect the world: it helps us understand it and imagine the future we want to create.

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