Many Wests: Artists Shape an American Idea
Closes January 15
Smithsonian American Art Museum
8th and G Streets, NW

“An enthralling survey of 48 modern and contemporary artists.”—Angelica Aboulhosn, Smithsonian Magazine

Don’t miss your chance to explore one of America's most iconic regions through the perspectives of 48 modern and contemporary artists. Many Wests: Artists Shape an American Idea offers a broader and more inclusive view of the West, which too often has been dominated by romanticized myths and Euro-American historical accounts.

Many Wests highlights many voices—including artists who identify as Black, Indigenous, Asian American, Latinx, and LGBTQ+—who stake a claim in the American West. Working in various media, from painting and sculpture to photography and mixed media, featured artists including Laura Aguilar, Jacob Lawrence, Hung Liu, Wendy Red Star (Apsáalooke/Crow), Marie Watt (Seneca), and more bring a nuanced and multifaceted history to light.

These are the final days of a multi-year Art Bridges Initiative organized by SAAM. In an unprecedented collaboration, the museum partnered with four museums located in some of the fastest-growing cities in the Western region of the United States to bring together artworks from all five permanent collections.

Musical Thinking: New Video Art and Sonic Strategies
Closes January 28
Smithsonian American Art Museum

Explore the powerful resonances between recent video art and popular music. Musical Thinking: New Video Art and Sonic Strategies focuses on video art that employs the strategies of musical creation — scores, improvisation, and interpretation — as well as its styles, structures, and lyrics to speak to personal as well as shared aspects of American life.

The exhibition celebrates major new acquisitions to SAAM’s media art collection and pairs recently added video works by ADÁL, Raven Chacon, Mariam Ghani, Martine Gutierrez, Arthur Jafa, Erin Ellen Kelly, Christine Sun Kim, Liz Magic Laser, Simone Leigh, and Cauleen Smith with immersive installations and related photographs, sculptures, and prints.

The Smithsonian American Art Museum is able to create and share experiences like these thanks to funding from generous supporters like you. Thank you for ensuring that American art is available to all.