From legendary folk artists in Texas to Black cowboys in New Mexico, these 2022-23 exhibitions are sure to get you thinking and exploring this winter.
After a long, balmy fall, the chill is settling in for good now. It’s clear: winter is coming. Warm up with these hot exhibitions—on view now and through the winter months—throughout the Southwest. From legendary folk artists in Texas to Black cowboys in New Mexico, manga-inspired art in Arizona, and fashion design disruptions in Nevada, from architecture to cartography and back again—these exhibitions are sure to get you thinking and exploring.
Arizona Art Exhibitions
Mr.: You Can Hear the Song of This Town
November 6, 2022–March 12, 2023
Phoenix Art Museum
A rare opportunity to see works by famed kawaii-obsessive Japanese contemporary artist Mr., this major exhibition features the world premiere of a new thirty-foot-long canvas, along with other recent paintings and sculptures.
25 Million Stitches: One Stitch, One Refugee
November 12, 2022–January 21, 2023
Coconino Center for the Arts, Flagstaff
Conceived by Jennifer Kim Sohn, 25 Million Stitches visualizes the global refugee crisis by amassing 25 million hand-sewn stitches—each stitch representing one refugee—on panels sewn by 2,600 participants from across the world. The sheer scale of the installation, and what that represents as a global problem, can be overwhelming, but the content of each panel conveys a strong sense of hope.
Colorado Art Exhibitions
Luis Barragán: A Legacy. New Works Undressing the Mexican Soul
October 13, 2022–February 18, 2023
Museo de las Americas, Denver
In this unique exhibition devoted to the iconic Mexican architect Luis Barragán, curator Artemio García Uribe brings together works by five Mexican artists—Carine De Limelette, Karla de Lara, Luis Alfonso Villalobos, Carlos Vargas Pons, and Jorge Jurado—that show Barragán’s deep impact on culture and aesthetics.
Lauren Rosenthal McManus: Headwaters to Heartlands
November 4–December 2, 2022
Galleries of Contemporary Art, Colorado Springs
New Jersey-based artist Lauren Rosenthal McManus makes work exploring watersheds through site-specific, large-scale murals realized with pigments mixed from local soils and rocks. In this exhibition, held at GOCA’s downtown location, McManus maps the local Fountain Creek watershed.
Cherish Marquez: Topographic Memory
November 19–December 31, 2022
BMoCA at Anythink, Bennett
This exhibition likewise explores local topography, but this time through an interactive topographic map and exploratory video game of Bennett, Colorado created by Denver-based artist Cherish Marquez. Part of the BMoCA at Anythink Fall Artist Showcase, which brings exhibitions by regional artists to Anythink library branches, Marquez’s installation in Bennett precedes another exhibition at the Anythink Huron Street branch in the northern Denver suburb of Thornton, Social Signs, which features an AR-triggered, community-generated mural.
Nevada Art Exhibitions
OUT/FIT
October 25–December 3, 2022
Holland Project, Reno
Curated by Miwah Lee and Kelly Kirkland, OUT/FIT is part of the 2022 Curator Series at Reno’s top hotspot, gallery/music venue Holland Project. The exhibition features experimental fashion and deconstructed garments designed and produced by Los Angeles-based artists Charles Kelman, Nathaniel Santos, and Min Ji Son.
New Mexico Art Exhibitions
The Mary Morez Style: Transformations of Tradition
October 8, 2022–March 12, 2023
Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian, Santa Fe
This exhibition examines the oeuvre of groundbreaking artist Mary Morez (Navajo, 1946-2004), who melded traditional forms with abstraction and inspired a generation of Native art practitioners.
Outriders: Legacy of the Black Cowboy
October 15, 2022–May 7, 2023
Harwood Museum of Art, Taos
Outriders collects archival photographs and art depicting Black cowboys, expanding the narrative around the Western cultural icon.
Wen Liu: Molting/Mending
November 5, 2022–January 15, 2023
Roswell Museum
Wen Liu: Molting/Mending is the latest solo exhibition by an artist from the Roswell Artist in Residence program presented at the Roswell Museum. The SWC team got to witness these works in progress by Wen Liu during our studio visit last month—the finished works will truly be a sight to see!
Texas Art Exhibitions
Ecstatic Land
October 26, 2022–May 7, 2023
Ballroom Marfa
Co-organized by guest curator Dean Daderko and Ballroom Marfa director and curator Daisy Nam, Ecstatic Land brings together works by a wide range of multi-disciplinary and multi-generational artists—including Nancy Holt, Dineo Seshee Bopape, Christie Blizard, Elle Pérez, Sondra Perry, Laura Aguilar, Teresa Baker, and David Benjamin Sherry—that explores connections of landscape with emotion and embodied experience.
Moyo Oyelola: The Department of the People + Process
November 3, 2022–February 25, 2023
The Carver Museum, Austin
George Zupp and Andy Don Emmons
November 12–December 2022
Invisible Genie and Lasso Gallery, Amarillo
Two artist-run galleries–Lasso Gallery at Caliche Co. and Invisible Genie–in downtown Amarillo present a cross-venue showcase of two legendary Texas folk artists, George Zupp and Andy Don Emmons. A year in the making, this show promises to be a raucous good time.
Utah Art Exhibitions
Reclaiming Agency: Ukrainian Women Photographers Today
October 8–December 23, 2022
Southern Utah Museum of Art, Cedar City
Curated by Joanna Matuszak, Reclaiming Agency presents photographic work by ten Ukrainian women, showing how art can empower and transcend chaos and conflict.
THE CENTER CAN NOT HOLD
October 12, 2022–January 20, 2023
Granary Arts, Ephraim
In this thought-provoking exhibition, curated by Hikmet Sidney Loe (a Southwest Contemporary contributor), architects Anne Mooney, John Sparano, and Hannah Vaughn consider and deconstruct the idea of the “center”—geographically, culturally, and practically.
