Artists: Nina Chanel Abney, Doug Aitken, Hernan Bas, McArthur Binion, Amoako Boafo, Akea Brionne, Davariz Broaden, Marcus Brutus, Nick Cave, Jack Craig, Arthur Dove, Conrad Egyir, Olafur Eliasson, Beverly Fishman, Helen Frankenthaler, Jeffrey Gibson, Barkley L. Hendricks, Jammie Holmes, Anthony James, Lester Johnson, Rashid Johnson, Fidelis Joseph, Ewa Juszkiewicz, Kerry James Marshall, Tiff Massey, Tony Matelli, A.H. Maurer, Allie McGhee, Mario Moore, Sara Nickleson, A.F. Oehmke, Anders Ruhwald, Henry Taylor, Mickalene Thomas, Matt Wedel, and Tom Wesselmann.
Seen/Scene: Artwork from the Jennifer Gilbert Collection marks the first public debut of Gilbert’s private collection, featuring thirty-six contemporary artists. Curated by Laura Mott, Chief Curator at Cranbrook Art Museum, and seminal artist Nick Cave, the exhibition centers on portraiture and community, echoing Cave’s Here Hear project in Detroit a decade ago.
The exhibition asks: how do we truly see one another? What does it mean to really truly look at each other and ourselves as neighbors and a community? Through diverse approaches to the human figure—ranging from representational to abstract—the show reveals a spectrum of human experience and self-exploration.
Barkley L. Hendricks, for instance, portrayed people from his own community, as in Yock (1975), while Mickalene Thomas’s Clarivel #5 (2023) revisits 1970s aesthetics and critiques the reclining female figure, in dialogue with Tom Wesselmann’s Great American Nude #9 (1961). Mirrored and reflective works further expand on ideas of seeing. Doug Aitken’s EVERYTHING (flag) (2015) distorts viewers and surroundings, skewing and reframing ideas of citizenship, while Olafur Eliasson’s large wall work acts as a “device for the experience of reality,” prompting self-awareness and reflection. The collection highlights the city’s rich creative community as well as many alumni and current and former Artists-in-Residence from the Cranbrook Academy of Art. Works by McArthur Binion, Conrad Egyir, Beverly Fishman, Allie McGhee, Tiff Massey, Mario Moore, and others underscore this commitment to the city’s talent.
A special commission by Cave anchors the exhibition: a two-story virtual-reality sculpture from his Amalgams series, installed beneath the dome of The Shepherd. A virtual draft of a future bronze monument, it asks who is visible, who is celebrated, and who remains unseen in public monuments and the spaces they inhabit.
Presented at the Shepherd with support from Cranbrook Art Museum and Library Street Collective, Seen/Scene: Artwork from the Jennifer Gilbert Collection is accompanied by a forthcoming publication with an essay by Mott and design by Bob Faust.
