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The Museum is closed today (2/6) due to inclement weather.
October 31, 2024 to March 16, 2025 (Galleries)
November 17, 2024 to November 2025 (Grounds)
A Garden of Promise and Dissent inaugurates The Aldrich’s newly renovated campus and Sculpture Garden. This intergenerational group exhibition of twenty-one artists explores the animation of the “garden” as a site of private expression (poetics) and public action (praxis). Gardens offer solace, community, nutrition, and well-being; they provide safe spaces for rebellion and empowerment; they alleviate climate change, revitalize, and widen access to land use–providing localized food resources and alternative medicine. Gardens symbolize growth, death, and regeneration as well as represent care, resilience, and hope. Gardens can be highly ordered and aestheticized or anarchic indicators of aspiration and failure. The artists in this exhibition radicalize the garden as a theme to tackle moral, social, economic, and ecological afflictions that trouble our planet. Spanning the galleries and grounds, works will be sited within the natural world and against the built environment, unsettling the gulf that exists between the two.
The exhibition will be accompanied by a catalogue.
Artists participating in the exhibition include Terry Adkins, Kelly Akashi, Teresa Baker, Alina Bliumis, Carolina Caycedo, Carl Cheng, Rachelle Dang, Anders Hamilton, Maren Hassinger, Hugh Hayden, Max Hooper Schneider, Athena LaTocha, Gracelee Lawrence, Cathy Lu, Jill Magid, Suchitra Mattai, Mary Mattingly, Brandon Ndife, Meg Webster, Faith Wilding, and Rachel Youn.
A Garden of Promise and Dissent is curated by Amy Smith-Stewart, Chief Curator.
All works h x w x d in inches unless otherwise noted.
1) Moko Fukuyama, Menagerie, 2024
Fallen timber, acrylic urethane paint, epoxy resin, inkjet print on photo paper, and steel
Courtesy of the artist
2) Gracelee Lawrence, Emotional Weather Forecast, 2022
Glass beads, stainless steel beads, stainless steel cable, and aluminum
Courtesy of the artist
3) Maren Hassinger, Garden, 2020
Concrete and wire rope
Courtesy of the artist and Susan Inglett Gallery, NYC
4) Anders Hamilton, Obelisk (Anew), 2024
Cremated morning glory, rare earth elements, ceramic, resin, steel, acrylic, and maple
Courtesy of the artist
5) Brandon Ndife, Shade Tree, 2022/2024
Polyurethane, resin, and metal hardware
Courtesy of the artist and Greene Naftali, New York
6) Maren Hassinger, Bushes, 2021
Wire rope
Courtesy of the artist and Susan Inglett Gallery, NYC
7) Gracelee Lawrence, Triecious Flowers Wilt and Bloom Just Like the Rest of Us, 2022
Glass beads, stainless steel beads, stainless steel cable, hardware
Courtesy of the artist
8) Mary Mattingly, Water Body, Water Time, 2024
Steel conduit, biochar and limestone pouring bowls, ceramic, driftwood, charred wood,
medical tubing and trays, and water from the headwaters of nine rivers in Ridgefield
Courtesy of the artist and Robert Mann Gallery
9) Rachel Youn, Parade Paradis, 2022
Artificial palm head, steel, coconuts, coconut bark, and motor
Courtesy of the artist and Sargent’s Daughters
10) Rachelle Dang, Chorus, 2023
Aluminum and Imron automotive paint
Commissioned by Lighthouse Works for Fishers Island, New York
Courtesy Someday, New York
11) Kelly Akashi, Heirloom, 2022
Lost-wax cast and wire-brushed bronze
Courtesy of the artist and Lisson Gallery
12) Gracelee Lawrence, Perceived Happiness as the Ultimate Revenge, 2019
Fiberglass, epoxy resin, foam, 3D printed plastic, epoxy putty, auto paint, tubes, fountain pumps, steel, and concrete
Courtesy of the artist
Major support for A Garden of Promise and Dissent is provided by The Aldrich Council. Generous support is provided by Diana Bowes and Jim Torrey, Michael P. and Linda M. Dugan, and the Further Forward Foundation. Significant support is provided by The Cowles Charitable Trust, Kristina and Philip Larson, and Julie Phillips. The catalogue is supported by the Eric Diefenbach and James Keith Brown Publications Fund. Preferred Art Logistics Provider: Crozier Fine Arts.
Have you ever looked at contemporary art and wished you knew what it meant? Have you ever entered a museum without knowing where to start? If you answered yes, this free, interactive, and judgment-free tour of our current exhibitions guided by a Museum Educator is perfect for you!
Join us for this in-person gallery tour of highlighted works from our current exhibitions, guided by Education and Access Specialist Holly Lapine, reserved specifically for senior adults ages 60 and above!
Join us for Care and Connection, an access program designed to provide a welcoming and engaging museum experience for visitors living with memory loss, and their care partners.
Are you curious about the world of contemporary art but unsure where to begin? When you view works of art in a gallery, do you question what you see or feel the need to go into deeper insight? If you answered yes, join Education Assistant Antonio Paone for a tour of the exhibitions designed to activate your curiosity and engage your attention.
Sensory Saturday at The Aldrich is a program designed for children (ages 4-12) with developmental disabilities, learning disabilities, those on the autism spectrum and their family members. The program includes exploration in the galleries in a relaxed environment and the discovery of contemporary art through touch, sound, and movement. In The Studio, participants will engage in a hands-on art project inspired by the Museum's current exhibitions.
Visit the Museum for FREE the third Saturday of every month as part of our Third Saturdays program. Participate in a Story Time at 10:30 am, a Discovery Tour of our current exhibitions at 1 pm, and drop-in to The Studio for art-making activities.
Bring your budding artists to The Aldrich for Story Time, in collaboration with the Ridgefield Library! Together, we will explore artwork by Gracelee Lawrence, who makes moving sculptures reflecting on food and health. Then, we will read Roll, Roll Little Pea by Cécile Bergame, illustrated by Magali Attiogbé, and move to The Studio to create our own tiny, spinnable optical illusions! Perfect for families with children ages 6 and under.
Have you ever looked at contemporary art and wished you knew what it meant? Have you ever entered a museum not knowing where to start? If you answered yes, this free, interactive, and judgment-free tour of our current exhibitions guided by a Museum Educator is perfect for you! All ages welcome, Family-friendly.
Join us for this in-person gallery tour of highlighted works from our current exhibitions, guided by Education and Access Specialist Holly Lapine, reserved specifically for senior adults ages 60 and above!
Are you curious about the world of contemporary art but unsure where to begin? When you view works of art in a gallery, do you question what you see or feel the need to go into deeper insight? If you answered yes, join Education Assistant Antonio Paone for a tour of the current exhibitions designed to activate your curiosity and engage your attention.
Join us for this in-person gallery tour of highlighted works from our current exhibitions, guided by Education and Access Specialist Holly Lapine, reserved specifically for senior adults ages 60 and above!
Visit the Museum for FREE the third Saturday of every month as part of our Third Saturdays program. Participate in a Story Time at 10:30 am, a Discovery Tour of our current exhibitions at 1 pm, and drop-in to The Studio for art-making activities.
Have you ever looked at contemporary art and wished you knew what it meant? Have you ever entered a museum not knowing where to start? If you answered yes, this free, interactive, and judgment-free tour of our current exhibitions guided by a Museum Educator is perfect for you! All ages welcome, Family-friendly.
Celebrating Governor Ned Lamont and the State of Connecticut and artist Maren Hassinger. Join us at the Museum for cocktails, a seated dinner, and live auction in our newly renovated Sculpture Garden.
Are you curious about the world of contemporary art but unsure where to begin? When you view works of art in a gallery, do you question what you see or feel the need to go into deeper insight? If you answered yes, join Education Assistant Antonio Paone for a tour of the exhibitions designed to activate your curiosity and engage your attention.
Top image: A Garden of Promise and Dissent (installation view), The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, October 31, 2024 to March 16, 2025. Photo: Jeffrey Jenkins Projects