Oklahoma Contemporary
Nathan Young, Peyote Box
An open wooden box with two photos attached to the lid and various ceremonial objects surrounding it

ArtNow 2023

ArtNow: The Soul is a Wanderer

June 22, 2023 to Jan. 15, 2024
Eleanor Kirkpatrick Main Gallery

Opening Celebration and Artist Talk | 6 p.m. June 22
Tickets coming soon

"Crucial to finding the way is this: There is no beginning or end. You must make your own map." — Joy Harjo, A Map to the Next World, 2000


Blue strips of fabric hang from rectangular holes cut into a half circle of light-colored wood
Elspeth Schulze, A trying: of what, of weight

The Soul is a Wanderer is the latest iteration of Oklahoma Contemporary’s biennial ArtNow exhibition, surveying recent art from the region. This version, conceived by Tulsa-based guest curator Lindsay Aveilhé, brings together new and recently made artworks by 13 artists from various generations based across the state.

The Soul is a Wanderer takes its title and inspiration from a line in the poem A Map to the Next World (2000), by former United States Poet Laureate Joy Harjo (b. 1951, Tulsa; Muscogee (Creek) Nation). Harjo’s poem calls for a journey beyond the present, toward imagining alternate and emancipatory futures of our own making. Through distinct perspectives and approaches to media — painting, sculpture, video, performance, photography and ceramics — the works in the exhibition explore past, present, and future moments of passage, reckoning, and renewal.

ArtNow: The Soul is a Wanderer is a collaboration between Oklahoma Contemporary and Aveilhé, a curator and researcher based in Tulsa.


Participating artists


This exhibition is supported by George Records, Richard and Glenna Tanenbaum, the Kanady Family, the Gaylord Foundation, Annie Bohanon, the Chickasaw Nation, Velocigo, Love’s Travel Stops, Flogistix, BancFirst / BancFirst Trust, Ad Astra, the Merrick Foundation, Merrick Coe Fitzgerald, Delaware Resource Group, the Shirley and Bankhead Families, HSE Architects and B.C. Clark Jewelers.


Images:

Nathan Young, Peyote Box, 2016. Giclee print. Dimensions variable. Image courtesy of the artist.

Elspeth Schulze, A trying: of what, of weight, 2019. Plywood, blue tarp, thread, sand. 90 x 30 x 18 in. Image courtesy of the artist.

Hours

Monday 11 a.m. - 6 p.m.

Closed Tuesday

Wednesday 11 a.m. - 6 p.m.

Thursday 11 a.m. - 9 p.m.

Friday - Sunday 11 a.m. - 6 p.m.

see additional holidays

Location

Visit us at 11 NW 11th St.
Oklahoma City, OK 73103
Phone: 405 951 0000
Fax: 405 951 0003
info@okcontemp.org

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Oklahoma Contemporary
P.O. Box 3062
Oklahoma City, OK 73101

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