Connecticut's artists have been quietly making waves, their works hidden in plain sight. The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum's inaugural decennial exhibition, 'The Aldrich Decennial: I am what is around me', showcases 40 artists based in the state, all made in the last decade. This exhibition is a testament to the state's thriving artistic community, which has produced renowned artists like Sol LeWitt, Louise Bourgeois, and Jasper Johns. But it also highlights the emergence of new generations of artists in the leafy college towns and suburban enclaves of Connecticut, often unbeknownst to their neighbors.
The museum's mission has always been to support artists at different stages of their careers, with a particular emphasis on feminism and public artworks. The Aldrich Decennial is no exception, with a focus on exploring how geopolitical events have infiltrated the lives of artists and ended up in their work. Chief Curator Amy Smith-Stewart wanted to share the spirit of discovery she experienced working on MoMA PS1's Greater New York in 2005 and observing the Hammer Museum's Made in LA series. An annual or biennial compendium did not seem appropriate for the Aldrich, but Smith-Stewart also wanted to assemble pieces that grappled with a volatile period of United States history.
The exhibition features a diverse range of works, from Enrique Figueredo's eight-foot outdoor piece, 'Una enfermedad que solamente el oro puede curar (A Sickness Only Gold Can Cure)', to Kristy Hughes' multi-colored sculpture, 'Portal: Hope as Practice'. Visitors will notice the art from the decennial well before stepping into the museum. Dan Gunn's scene of the gradations of a summer sunset radiating over a small Midwestern town, inspired by Grant Wood's 1931 painting, 'The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere', is a standout piece. Others explore life and culture in New England in the 19th and 20th centuries, such as Emily Larned's wall-length installation of risograph prints, 'Police Others As You Would Have Others Police You'.
Three romantic works by painter Grace O'Connor, who died in 2026 before the show opened, depict her childhood in working-class Waterbury and the surrounding Naugatuck Valley. O'Connor suffered from ALS and painted one of her works, 'Among Strange Silences', by holding the brush with her mouth. Lula Mae Blocton, who moved to the state when she got a job teaching art at Eastern Connecticut State University in Willimantic, incorporated patterns from her African American heritage with frog motifs in reference to an 18th-century myth. Jen Bervin created a cotton batting and muslin quilt based on one of Emily Dickinson’s poems but omitted most of the words, only sewing in the poet’s dashes and other variant markings with red silk thread.
The most compelling pieces are by immigrant artists grappling with their dual identities and their communities’ diaspora to the northeast. Nigerian-American artist Faustin Adeniran sourced scores of aluminum cans that he painstakingly cut up and assembled into a mosaic-like portrait to create 'Arewa (Elegance)'. Iranian-American artist Arghavan Khosravi’s acrylic paintings depict Iranian women grappling with oppression and struggling for freedom in an idyllic landscape. Sudanese-American artist Azza El Siddique made a 3-D stoneware mold of a statue of an Egyptian noblewoman from the Middle Kingdom and placed it on a steel base.
Some works are more playful. Scott Carrillo Azevedo, who grew up in Arizona, included two elaborate mixed-media pieces adorned with vintage glass flowers, costume jewelry, painted seat belts, and ceramic birds, resembling a Mexican altar, in honor of his Mexican-American heritage while also asserting his queer identity. Japanese-American artist Aki Sasamoto jerry-rigged a stainless-steel wire, silverware, an AC motor, and a speed controller and timer into two fishing-line contraptions that hang from the ceiling, snapping and jiggling every so often.
The Aldrich Decennial is a must-see for anyone interested in contemporary art and the diverse artistic community of Connecticut. It is a testament to the state's rich cultural heritage and the power of art to reflect and shape our world.
