Christopher Y. Lew, whose offbeat exhibitions of younger up-and-comers have generated reward, will go away the Whitney Museum in New York after seven years there as curator.
In e mail despatched to his colleagues and obtained by ARTnews, Lew mentioned he’s “transferring on to positions at a brand new nonprofit and begin up.” He continued, “It has been an absolute honor to work with such a proficient museum workers and so many visionary artists throughout the first years of the Whitney’s new constructing.” Reached by ARTnews, Lew declined to remark additional.
ARTnews has reached out to a Whitney spokesperson for remark.
Lew had been on the Whitney since 2014, when he left his put up as an assistant curator at MoMA PS1. With Mia Locks, he organized the 2017 Whitney Biennial, which acquired consideration for its unconventional choices, amongst them images by Deana Lawson, an set up by rafa esparza, and a portray of Emmett Until’s open casket by Dana Schutz that grew to become the topic of protests.
Past that biennial, Lew had additionally been accountable for exhibitions for rising artists, lots of whom went on to search out even larger success after their reveals on the Whitney. In 2015, when the Whitney opened its present Meatpacking District constructing, Lew organized a present for Rachel Rose, who exhibited a video that mimicked house journey by the use of abstractions made by means of humble means. That presentation evinced the cutting-edge sensibility that has come to be related to Lew’s reveals.
Different exhibitions organized by Lew embrace a Sophia Al-Maria video targeted on shopper tradition within the Center East, a Kevin Beasley present that includes a sculpture crafted with a motor from a cotton gin, and work by Salman Toor.