On View September 20, 2024

Continuing its commitment to celebrating artists from across the Garden State, the Morris Museum will present a fresh look at contemporary sculpture in an exhibition that opens September 20, 2024. On view into the winter months, New Sculpture/New Jersey exhibits the work of eleven sculptors working in a wide range of materials; malleable aluminum, cold-worked glass, and industrial robotics join the more traditional media of ceramics, forged iron, and steel. Showcasing just over 40 works together with short video interviews with the artists, the exhibition will connect visitors with the purpose, context, and meaning driving their work and motivating their choices.

Importantly, the project was born from the team asking the question: who is making sculpture today in New Jersey? and then exploring the myriad ways their chosen media and means of artmaking relate to new conversations about nature, art, and society. Guest curator Bryant Small, building on a concept begun last summer by former curator Michele Graves and director Tom Loughman, has developed a project that provides a snapshot of the exciting and boundary-extending creativity generated by a cross-section of renowned and mid-career sculptors contributing to our state’s vibrant arts scene.

These eleven acclaimed artists have received fellowships from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, Joan Mitchell Foundation, the John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, the Pollock-Krasner Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts. The artists, each with a career filled with notable achievements, are in the collections of our colleague institutions including Brooklyn Museum, Corning Museum of Glass, Guggenheim Museum, Grounds for Sculpture, Storm King Art Center, and Whitney Museum of Art. Their work has been the subject of solo exhibitions at institutions such as The Bronx Art Space, The Cleveland Museum of Art, Ground for Sculpture, LUX Art Institute, Neumeraki, and The Novado Gallery, and on public view at Portland International Airport.

The sculptors exhibiting in New Sculpture/New Jersey are: Christine Barney, Sunil Garg, Brian Gustafson, Valerie Huhn, Robert Koch, Josh Knoblick, Jamie Levine, Robert Lobe, Phillip A. Robinson Jr., Judi Tavill, and Katie Truk.