Sarasota Review

Sarasota Art Museum has unveiled its 2025-2026 exhibition schedule, which will feature eight exhibitions showcasing the works of notable artists such as Janet Echelman, Louise Bourgeois, Chuck Close, Ai Weiwei, Maria Guzmán Capron, and Sol LeWitt. The season begins on May 4, 2025, with Jillian Mayer's "Slumpies," a series of large outdoor sculptures designed to support technology users physically.

Following Mayer's exhibition is Lillian Blades' "Through the Veil," opening on June 1, 2025. This exhibition marks Blades' first solo museum show and explores themes of memory and cultural identity through mixed-media installations.

On August 31, 2025, the museum will celebrate the centennial anniversary of Art Deco with "Art Deco: The Golden Age of Illustration." This exhibition will display rare posters from the Crouse Collection and selected sculptural works that embody the design aesthetic of the era.

Virginia Shearer, Executive Director at Sarasota Art Museum stated: “Art Deco posters of this quality are now extremely rare and are highly valued works of art that one would expect to see at major American and European museums.”

Also beginning on August 31 is Selina Román's "Abstract Corpulence," which combines photography and abstraction to address beauty themes. Janet Echelman's retrospective "Radical Softness" opens on November 16, offering insight into her evolution from painting to monumental netted sculptures.

Shearer commented: “Janet Echelman is a globally recognized name in the contemporary art world...SAM’s exhibition is special because it goes deeper into Echelman’s creative journey than most exhibitions highlighting the artist.”

The museum will present "Something Borrowed, Something New" starting April 19, 2026. It features private collections from Southwest Florida alongside new pieces by prominent artists like Yoko Ono and David Hockney. On April 19 as well is Maria A. Guzmán Capron's solo exhibition exploring identity through textiles.

The season concludes with Sol LeWitt's print projects in "Beautiful Ideas: The Prints of Sol LeWitt," opening May 17, organized by the New Britain Museum of American Art.

The museum emphasizes its role as a platform for contemporary art appreciation through these diverse exhibitions.