{"id":703642,"date":"2026-05-24T14:36:27","date_gmt":"2026-05-24T18:36:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/?p=703642"},"modified":"2026-05-24T14:36:27","modified_gmt":"2026-05-24T18:36:27","slug":"review-spring-2026-what-is-contemporary-art-timothy-peterson-703642","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/review-spring-2026-what-is-contemporary-art-timothy-peterson-703642\/","title":{"rendered":"The art of what\u2019s next"},"content":{"rendered":"

At the Memorial Art Gallery, Timothy Peterson is building a collection that reflects today\u2019s complexity while helping shape the canon that endures.<\/h2>\n

Timothy Peterson spends much of his time in places most people never see: under freeway overpasses, inside warehouse studios, in half-finished spaces where artists are still working out ideas and responding in real time to the zeitgeist. He is looking for what isn\u2019t settled yet, for concepts still taking shape.<\/p>\n

For the University of Rochester<\/a>\u2019s Memorial Art Gallery<\/a> (MAG), those instincts carry remarkable weight. As the inaugural Ann and Irving Norry Curator of Contemporary Art<\/a>, Peterson isn\u2019t just selecting artworks to acquire; he\u2019s helping shape how the future will understand the present\u2014building a collection that reflects today\u2019s bracing complexity while engaging with MAG\u2019s 5,000 years of holdings.<\/p>\n

Upstairs, one finds Egyptian mummies, a Baroque organ, and Monet\u2019s soft washes of color. Descend into the Modern and Contemporary Art Gallery, though, and the aesthetic shift hits immediately. \u201cI give a great deal of attention to sightlines,\u201d Peterson says. Dominating one wall is Erin Shirreff\u2019s Paper Sculpture<\/em>, a large-scale shadow box composed of magnified scans from vintage photography. From afar, its dots and rosettes coalesce into what appears to be plaster, stone, wood, and metal; up close, the illusion dissolves into curving planes and fragments of printed matter.<\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>When a museum as important as MAG selects what enters its contemporary collection, it is helping determine what artists and artworks enter what we call \u2018the canon.\u2019 Think of how important that is.\u201d \u2014Sarah Jesse<\/div>\n

\u201cI love that after the long walk to Paper Sculpture<\/em>, its shadow box format still provides further depth to consider up close,\u201d Peterson says. That layering lets the viewer observe both \u201cthree-dimensional forms in a culture mediated by still and moving images\u201d and aspects of collage, sculpture, and dye-sublimation printing\u2014all processes that figure in modern and contemporary art.<\/p>\n

Peterson\u2019s other important sightline, leading from an entrance used by local school groups to Wayne Thiebaud\u2019s River Pond<\/em>, shows how an artist famous for cakes and pies renders landscape with similar pastels and precision. Both works speak to Peterson\u2019s curatorial vision: conversation sparked and sustained through encounters with artists, materials, and ideas still cohering.<\/p>\n

It is a vision that extends far beyond Rochester, notes Sarah Jesse<\/a>, the Mary W. and Donald R. Clark Director of MAG.<\/p>\n

Curating the canon<\/h3>\n

\u201cContemporary art is different from all the other categories of art in an encyclopedic museum because every artwork\u2014baroque, impressionist, modernist\u2014was once contemporary,\u201d Jesse says. \u201cWhen a museum as important as MAG selects what enters its contemporary collection, it is helping determine what artists and artworks enter what we call \u2018the canon.\u2019 Think of how important that is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those high stakes animated the search that brought Peterson to Rochester in September 2024 as the museum\u2019s first contemporary art curator, a position endowed by local gallerist Deborah Ronnen in honor of her parents. \u201cTimothy\u2019s position isn\u2019t just important to MAG, or to the arts in Rochester,\u201d Jesse says. \u201cIt will have an impact on the art world.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
WHAT A BEAUTIFUL WORLD:<\/strong> Peterson is committed to acquiring more works by women, artists of color, and LGBTQ+ artists\u2014ensuring, as he puts it, that \u201ca wider world\u201d exists within the gallery\u2019s walls. (University of Rochester photo \/ J. Adam Fenster)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Peterson\u2014who grew up in Minnesota and earned a bachelor\u2019s in art history at St. Olaf College followed by a master\u2019s in art history at Williams College\u2014has curated more than 150 exhibitions and worked with artists ranging from emerging voices to internationally recognized figures. Over nearly four decades, he has held leadership roles at the Center for Maine Contemporary Art, the SCAD Museum of Art in Savannah, and Franklin Art Works in Minneapolis.<\/p>\n

Yet what distinguishes Peterson is not only experience\u2014it is orientation. Over an orange-flavored Celsius in the museum\u2019s pavilion, he speaks in a rhythm that mirrors his approach: connective, passionate, attentive. Even when discussing acquisitions or installations, he returns to the artists and their processes. \u201cYou\u2019re not just studying objects,\u201d he says. \u201cYou\u2019re trying to understand how something comes into being, and why it matters.\u201d<\/p>\n

That inquiry often begins in the studio\u2014many of which are in locations Peterson likens to \u201cno man\u2019s land\u201d\u2014or at gallery openings, where he tracks emerging directions in contemporary practice. It requires a particular kind of judgment: the ability to recognize significance before it is widely acknowledged. On a trip to New York City, for example, he was eager to view the work of Carmen de Monteflores, the mother of artist Andrea Fraser, who has exhibited works in the Whitney Biennial. Though de Monteflores never received widespread recognition, she exemplifies the often-hidden talent Peterson seeks out.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s able to separate the signal from the noise,\u201d Jesse says, \u201cwhich is arguably one of the most important skills a curator of contemporary art can have.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dialogue on display<\/h3>\n
\"Hugo
OUT OF THE BLUE:<\/strong> Underscoring the evolving nature of materials used in contemporary art, Hugo McCloud\u2019s Blue Zone is constructed from hand-cut and ironed single-use plastic bags. (University of Rochester photo \/ J. Adam Fenster)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The sensibility Jesse describes is immediately visible in Peterson\u2019s reimagining of MAG\u2019s contemporary gallery. One of his first acts upon arriving was to remove 13 interior walls, opening the space to natural light and continuous sightlines. Sculpture, photography, and painting now coexist in an environment that encourages visual and conceptual connections.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re leaning into openness,\u201d Peterson says. \u201cThe goal is to create an environment where works can speak to each other, and to visitors, without being confined by strict categories.\u201d<\/p>\n

Within that environment, materials become a starting point for conversation. Hugo McCloud\u2019s Blue Zone<\/em>, constructed from hand-cut and ironed single-use plastic bags, transforms a ubiquitous byproduct of global commerce into a monumental depiction of physical labor on a street in India. The work underscores both environmental degradation and the invisibility of manual work while posing a practical question for the museum: How will such materials endure?<\/p>\n

\u201cNo material is off-limits now,\u201d Peterson says. \u201cThe question is how it survives.\u201d That tension between experimentation and preservation reflects a broader shift in contemporary art, where artists increasingly work with unconventional materials that challenge traditional museum practices.<\/p>\n

In Paul Mpagi Sepuya\u2019s\u00a0Darkroom Mirror<\/em>, two partially unclothed men share a camera, their faces obscured. \u201cIn many ways, photography offers visitors the most immediate opportunity to see themselves reflected in an artwork,\u201d Peterson says. \u201cIn this case, the artist and his friend offer queer visibility, and animate Sepuya\u2019s notion of the artist\u2019s studio as a social and cultural space for interaction and artmaking.\u201d MAG\u2019s collection of more than 12,000 objects includes over 250 works in photography, the majority dating from 1950 and later.<\/p>\n

Expanding the frame<\/h3>\n

\u201cMy goal is to expand the conversation,\u201d Peterson says. \u201cTo create new ways of thinking, new points of entry.\u201d That means, in part, acquiring more works by women, artists of color, and LGBTQ+ artists\u2014ensuring, as he puts it, that \u201ca wider world\u201d exists within the gallery\u2019s walls.<\/p>\n

In Caroline Kent\u2019s Timely movements match hidden motivations<\/em>, abstract shapes and patterns glide across layered black backgrounds. Using cut-paper techniques, Kent treats abstraction as a form of visual language that resists fixed meaning while inviting viewers into the interpretive process. To extend Kent\u2019s sensibility beyond the canvas, Peterson will work with her to create a large-scale wall drawing in MAG\u2019s pavilion that he hopes will generate an immersive, chromatic energy.<\/p>\n

OFF THE WALL:<\/strong> Caroline Kent, whose Timely movements match hidden motivations is part of the MAG\u2019s permanent collection, will work with Peterson to design a large-scale wall drawing for the museum\u2019s pavilion. (University of Rochester photo \/ J. Adam Fenster)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Hanging across from Kent\u2019s piece and next to McCloud\u2019s Blue Zone<\/em>, Euphemism (Knot Stories)<\/em> gives sculptural form to tension and resilience. The black-glazed ceramic box by Paul S. Briggs is densely threaded with coiled, knotted tubes that push against and pierce its structure. Drawing on Black poetry and the realities of mass incarceration, the work transforms traditional ceramic techniques into a meditation on constraint and endurance\u2014historical form pressed into urgent contemporary service.<\/p>\n

A pink marble statue on a cedar plinth, Sanford Biggers\u2019s The Cantor<\/em> similarly layers histories and visual traditions. By combining a female ancestor mask from the African Chokwe people with a classical Greek maiden, Biggers connects three of MAG\u2019s collection areas\u2014classical sculpture, African art, and contemporary art\u2014while prompting new conversations about identity, materiality, and cultural inheritance.<\/p>\n

Louis Fratino\u2019s The young father<\/em>, meanwhile, offers \u201can exceptionally rare image of fatherhood in the museum\u2019s collection, as well as a rare male nude sculpture\u2014which were key points in acquiring it,\u201d Peterson says. The bronze figure expands the emotional and representational range of the collection, foregrounding intimacy, vulnerability, and care in ways that feel both timeless and newly visible.<\/p>\n

Collecting contemporary art means making decisions before consensus has formed and before an artist\u2019s place in history is secure. \u201cYou\u2019re making a judgment about what will last,\u201d Peterson says. \u201cAnd history shows us how unpredictable that can be\u2014Vincent van Gogh only sold one painting in his lifetime.\u201d<\/p>\n

An anchor for regional culture<\/h3>\n

Peterson\u2019s endowed position places him within a longer institutional history shaped by visionary women.<\/p>\n

\u201cUniquely among American museums, strong women have been instrumental at every point in MAG\u2019s history,\u201d Jesse says. \u201cEmily Sibley Watson founded the institution; Hannah Durand Gould created the first acquisition fund; the Herdle sisters built MAG into a nationally important encyclopedic museum. And now Deborah Ronnen has given us our largest gift and established an endowment that will make us a significant player in contemporary art.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>Our challenge is to show up not only for artists who have already proven themselves, but for those whose work will resonate when we look back.\u201d \u2014Timothy Peterson<\/div>\n

That foundation frees Peterson to do the work he considers essential: learning about the community, supporting other creative people, and nurturing vital relationships. Since his arrival, he has connected with institutions such as the George Eastman Museum and Visual Studies Workshop, a nonprofit organization dedicated to arts education. And he is conducting studio visits throughout the region, from Buffalo to the Finger Lakes, to build coalitions of regional artists.<\/p>\n

Because the endowment exists in perpetuity, so does the mandate. \u201cOur challenge is to show up not only for artists who have already proven themselves,\u201d Peterson says, \u201cbut for those whose work will resonate when we look back.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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