Bethany Collins, Gladys Nilsson

Episode No. 747 of The Modern Art Notes Podcast features artist Bethany Collins and curator Edouard Kopp. Collins is included in "Monuments," at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. The exhibition juxtaposes decommissioned Lost Cause monuments with commissioned artworks that address the histories the Lost Cause aimed to whitewash. Collins' contribution to the project is Love is dangerous (2024-25), a sculptural installation that remakes the base of the Stonewall Jackson monument that was installed in Charlottesville, Virginia. The exhibition, which is on view through May 3, was curated by Hamza Walker, Kara Walker, and Bennett Simpson with Hannah Burstein and Paula Kroll. The museum says that a catalogue is forthcoming. On March 5 the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver opens "Bethany Collins: The Deluge," a presentation of Collins works that each address -- and navigate -- an existential storm. Across several media, Collins addresses major literary works such as Herman Melville's Moby Dick, and Sophocles' Antigone -- and the US songbook too. The exhibition was curated by Leilani Lynch and is on view through July 5. Among the many museums presenting solo exhibitions of Collins' work are the Seattle Art Museum, the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Mass., the Contemporary Art Museum Saint Louis, the Van Every and Smith Galleries at Davidson College, the Birmingham Museum of Art, and the Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art at Auburn University. Edouard Kopp is the curator of "Wall Drawing Series: Gladys Nilsson" at the Menil Drawing Institute, Houston. The site-specific exhibition features an enormous Nilsson drawing that features fantastical, hybrid beings surrounding one monumental figure engaged in the act of drawing. It's on view through August 9. Nilsson's work has been the subject of dozens of exhibitions, including a 1973 solo exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art. Her work is in the collection of museums such as the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Art Institute of Chicago. Instagram: Bethany Collins, Tyler Green.