backstory: Room to think

At the Neuberger, we often focus on creating space for questions. And, sometimes, we present ideas that may be uncomfortable, layered, or unresolved.

As a campus museum, that matters to us. A lot. Students encounter art while forming their perspectives. Alumni return with experience that reframes what they once saw. Neighbors of all ages bring community memory. We are a space for conversations across generations.

Next week, on Wednesday, February 25, we open Taking Collective Discontent to the Street: Nicolás de Jesús’s Street Banners, featuring the work of Nicolás de Jesús.

Some of you may remember meeting Nicolás when he exhibited here in fall 2022. We are exhibiting several of his monumental street banners, some old and some new. These banners confront histories of resistance, violence, and exclusion against Indigenous peoples across the Americas. The works you’ll see in the South Gallery have been carried through public squares and displayed in the heat of protest. Some scenes are explicit. Others lead with wit and irony. Nicolás carries the energy of the street into our galleries. Humor and gravity coexist.

Thanks to Patrice Giasson, our Alex Gordon Curator for the Art of the Americas, for organizing this exhibition. It opens next Wednesday, February 25. Come see it.

Be well.

Tracy Fitzpatrick, Director
Neuberger Museum of Art

P.S. Patrice will also lead a Drop-In Tour on March 11 where you can learn even more about the art and the artist.