JSE poster 2025

I love engaging with the work of emerging artists. It is exciting to experience the freshness of their poetry and sense the urgency of their creations. The best artworks in this exhibition could only be made at this time, in this place, by these artists. These works reflect their makers’ relationships with the world: their risk-taking, vulnerability, humor, joy, sorrow, enthusiasm, struggle, and perseverance.

I am refreshed and renewed by the high level of passion, commitment, and ambition demonstrated in these submissions. The sheer variety of media, quality of making, and breadth of expression made my job both difficult and exciting. It is my sincere hope that each of these artists finds time throughout their lives to maintain their creative practice despite the inevitable distractions.

These artists show us beauty and decay, transformation and growth. It is a wonder to see their world, to fully sense it — for a moment — through their eyes.

Susan Floyd Barnett

Margaret and Dick Scarlett Curator, Whitney Western Art Museum