Last summer, Jeffrey Gibson received an honor that most artists wait a lifetime for. Would she represent the United States at the Venice Biennale, the art world’s version of the Olympics? Only a few weeks after acceptance, there was another auspicious ring on the phone.
It was curator David Breslin, wondering if Gibson would become the sixth artist to transform the facade of the Metropolitan Museum of Art with the newly commissioned sculptures.
“He called me from the beach,” recalls Gibson, a Choctaw-Cherokee artist known for enriching abstract works with queer and native themes.
For the commission, Gibson will return to the ancestral spiritual figures he began assembling in 2015. The challenge will be to translate these delicate structures of beads, fabrics and colors into four waterproof sculptures that will gaze at museum visitors from their plinths. above Fifth Avenue. It will be on air from September 2025 to May 2026.
Breslin, who heads the Met’s department of modern and contemporary art, described Gibson as “one of the most incredible artists of his generation.”
The curator also said Jennie C. Jones would be the final roof garden commission before the terrace is renovated as part of the construction of the museum’s Tang Wing, a $500 million complex that currently includes plans for 80,000 square feet of galleries. reaching five floors. heaven.
For the roof garden, which will be open from April 15, 2025 to October 19, 2025, Jones will experiment with stringed instruments, the most recent example her career exploring the relationship between acoustic sound, minimalist art and the history of the black avant-garde. This will be her first major exhibition since a 2022 show at the Guggenheim Museum, where she displayed canvases with red and yellow stripes meant to evoke the acoustic reverberations within the spiraling architecture of the building.
Although it was not originally planned for the artists to present their commissions at the same time, Breslin saw the threads of a strong curatorial program coming together. “They do so much with abstraction, and there’s sonic quality to both,” he said. “Neither is afraid of beauty and both believe we need to engage with issues of identity, place and consciousness.”
Gibson said the schedules had aligned so he could complete work for the Venice Biennale and the Met commission. Artwork for the Italian exhibit was shipped this month, though he remains focused on developing programming around the exhibit. But the studio has already turned to making sculptures for the facade of the museum.
“Part of the challenge,” Gibson said, “is working with engineers to find materials that allow me to maintain the tactile quality of my work while making something that can be outdoors.”
The high-profile opportunities for Gibson came during a period of mourning. In January, his gallerist Brent Sikkema was murdered in Rio de Janeiro. Brazilian authorities are still investigating the circumstances surrounding his death. this month, they called for the arrest of the trader’s husband, Daniel Sikkema, whose lawyers said he was innocent.
“He shared everything with me, from his relationship as a parent to life in New York,” Gibson said. “He always cared.”