Longing Grief And Spirituality Art Since 1980

Menil

Longing, Grief, and Spirituality: Art Since 1980

Jun 15, 2023 – Fall 2024

Main Building

Installation view of Longing, Grief, and Spirituality: Art Since 1980 at the Menil Collection, Houston. Photo: Caroline Philippone

Thornton Dial, Tiger on the Run, 1992. Oil paint, spray paint, rope, and rubber on canvas, 56 × 78 in. (142.2 × 198.1 cm). The Menil Collection, Houston. Gift of Stephanie and John Smither. © Estate of Thornton Dial / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Installation view of Longing, Grief, and Spirituality: Art Since 1980 at the Menil Collection, Houston. Photo: Caroline Philippone

Kara Walker, Freedom Fighters for the Society of Forgotten Knowledge, Northern Domestic Scene, 2005. Paper, 120 × 480 in. (304.8 × 1219.2 cm). The Menil Collection, Houston, Partial gift of John McEnroe. © Kara Walker. Photo: Sarah Hobson

Featuring works created over the past forty years, many of which are owned by the Menil, this display presents artists’ response to the precariousness of life through the expression of longing, grief, and spirituality. Artworks include Kara Walker’s powerful 40-foot-long silhouette work, Freedom Fighters for the Society of Forgotten Knowledge, Northern Domestic Scene, 2005; Andy Warhol’s expansive late painting, The Last Supper, 1985; Mel Chin’s monumental sculpture Our Strange Flower of Democracy, 2005, on special loan from the artist; and a major recent acquisition by Nari Ward, Say Can You See, 2021. The display highlights a myriad of artistic approaches to political issues of the past decades.

Curated by Michelle White, Senior Curator, The Menil Collection.