Fall 2023 exhibitions

This fall, the Currier Museum of Art premieres a new site-specific commission by New York–based artist Saya Woolfalk; showcases large-scale work by the Ugandan master Sanaa Gateja; and reinterprets the museum’s collection, exploring the notion of abstraction.

​Sanaa Gateja: Selected Works
October 6, 2023–January 14, 2024

The Currier Museum of Art is delighted to present the New England premiere of four large-scale artworks by Sanaa Gateja (Ugandan, b. 1950). Prior to becoming one of the most prominent artists in East Africa, Gateja studied interior design in Italy and jewelry design at Goldsmiths in London. His intricate works oscillate between abstraction and figuration. Each composition is a new exploration, a novel exercise in shaping forms or patterns with color and vice versa. Gateja’s art is primarily created using beads made from recycled paper, which he rolls, dyes, and affixes to bark cloth. This signature technique has earned him the nickname “the Bead King” in his home country, and for the last thirty years, he has taught it to local communities and across the entire region. For his skill-sharing, teaching, and mentoring, which has resulted in the creation of new employment opportunities in rural areas, the artist was awarded the 2016 Bayimba Honors for philanthropic work. The exhibition in Manchester closely follows his inclusion in the 58th Carnegie International and his first solo show, at Karma in New York City. Gateja’s presentation is curated by the Currier’s Chief Curator, Lorenzo Fusi, with support provided by the Kimon & Anne Zachos Exhibition Fund.

Heart of a Museum, a new experiential installation by Saya Woolfalk
October 19, 2023–February 4, 2024

Saya Woolfalk’s (American, b. 1979) commission for the Currier Museum of Art investigates the history of the institution and revisits its iconography and original design. The mosaics adorning the former main entrance of the Currier (designed by Salvatore Lascari in 1929–1930) constitute the starting point for this new installation by Woolfalk, which reimagines the Western art canon’s singular cultural perspective. The artwork conceived by the artist for the Currier combines video projections, sculptural forms made of glass, wallpaper, and sound—creating an immersive environment where the viewer is invited to voyage, rest, and meditate as if in a sensorial temple. Born in Japan and based in New York City, Woolfalk’s multimedia work investigates race relations, sexuality, and multiculturalism through the lenses of hybridity. The commission at the Currier is jointly curated by the museum’s curatorial department (Jeff Allen, Emmett Donlon, Rachael Kane, Karen Papineau, and Kurt Sundstrom) and is generously supported by Pamela A. Harvey.

Toward the New: A Journey into Abstraction
November 16, 2023–March 31, 2024

In its enduring commitment to reinterpreting its museum holdings and proposing new perspectives, the Currier Museum of Art presents a new collection-based exhibition looking at the long journey toward abstraction that encompasses its many manifestations. Many painters celebrated the physical properties of paint for its own sake—its thickness, texture, color—beyond its historic role as a transmitter of visual information, while sculptors used modern materials and industrial processes. Artists featured in this exhibition employed a variety of tools for inspiration, including complex compositional formulas, bold geometric forms, experiments in visual perception and arbitrary color, and the unconscious. Many of the Currier’s all-time favorites are included in the show, such as Pablo Picasso’s Woman Seated in a Chair (1941), Josef Albers’s Homage to the Square: Early Rising I (1961), Alexander Calder’s Petit Disque Jaune (1967), and Joan Mitchell’s Cous-cous (1961–1962). The exhibition is curated by Bruce McColl and Andrew Spahr, respectively Director of Engagement and Director of Historic Houses at the Currier, with the generous support of Carol Almeda-Morrow and Joe Morrow.