Mar 27–Aug 25, 2025
MoMA
Opening her first solo museum exhibition at MoMA PS1, American artist Whitney Claflin presents a dynamic and multifaceted show that explores themes of infatuation, misrecognition, and waywardness. This exhibition navigates through a varied terrain of painting styles and subjects, seamlessly intertwining lyrical abstractions with casual sketches, fragments of text, and cultural signifiers. Claflin’s work evokes the layered texture of a mixtape or a poem, capturing fleeting moments of intensity through an associative logic that invites viewers into her creative thought processes.
Claflin’s art is richly infused with references drawn from a diverse array of cultural touchstones, including 1970s flower-power iconography, the nostalgic cartoons of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, cherished New York nightlife scenes, and the late-1990s DIY movement that shaped her adolescence in Providence, Rhode Island. These elements weave through her paintings, lending them a multifaceted legibility that oscillates between clarity and obscurity. This layering of symbols and subcultural motifs anchors her work in a tangible cultural memory while allowing for a broad interpretive scope.
Beyond painting, the exhibition also incorporates drawing, photography, video, and sculptural interventions, highlighting Claflin’s interdisciplinary approach and her willingness to push beyond traditional formats. This breadth of media enriches the exhibition’s narrative, providing varied entry points into the artist’s exploration of emotional and cultural states.
Born in 1983 in Providence, Rhode Island, Whitney Claflin now lives and works in New York. Her exhibition history reflects a solid engagement with the contemporary art world, including notable solo and two-person exhibitions in cities like New York, Cologne, and Mönchengladbach, Germany. Group exhibitions extend her reach globally, with recent shows in Shanghai, Leipzig, Vienna, Antwerp, Bonn, Berlin, and more.
This exhibition is thoughtfully organized by Jody Graf, Assistant Curator at MoMA PS1, and offers an insightful glance into Claflin’s artistic evolution and her distinctive visual language that entwines personal history with collective cultural narratives. For more detailed information, please visit the official exhibition page at MoMA PS1 Whitney Claflin Exhibition.
