"Taína Cruz, a 2025 graduate of Yale's star-making painting program, has said that she works with references to Tumblr, horror, and African American and Caribbean folklore. Ikezoe, a veteran of last year's Sharjah Biennial, hails originally from Japan, and is best known for paintings in which tiny figures and objects form patterns on flat colored backgrounds, with a style like a brainy children's book."
"Jonathan González, meanwhile, has gotten the nod from both the Whitney and the Carnegie. González is the author of Ways to Move: Black Insurgent Grammars (2025), and known for site-specific choreographic work based on research into Black history. For the Carnegie, expect a project called Strike Breakers, keyed to that museum's Grand Staircase."
""If the word we" is the title of the Carnegie International. It's meant to suggest exploration of "the first-person plural as an o[...]" indicating curatorial focus on collective identity and shared perspectives rather than individual artistic expression."
Three significant American art exhibitions opening in 2026—the Whitney Biennial, Greater New York at MoMA PS1, and the Carnegie International—showcase overlapping artist selections that indicate shared curatorial priorities. Artists appearing across multiple shows include Taína Cruz, known for work incorporating Tumblr, horror, and African American and Caribbean folklore; Akira Ikezoe, whose paintings explore boundaries between human and natural worlds; and Jonathan González, whose site-specific choreographic work investigates Black history. The Carnegie International's title, "If the word we," signals curatorial focus on collective identity and first-person plural perspectives. These patterns suggest 2026 American art will emphasize cultural narratives, historical research, and communal themes rather than purely thematic approaches.
#contemporary-art-surveys #curatorial-trends-2026 #black-history-and-choreography #folklore-and-cultural-identity #collective-identity
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