The curatorial staff at the Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields receive a lot of questions about how we select art works to acquire for the museum’s permanent collection. While we are always looking for works of the highest aesthetic and art historical value, the present moment is not yet history, and the emergence of new artists ensures that the canon of contemporary art will remain forever in development. The works on view in the exhibition Bold: New Voices in Contemporary Art offer a look into the museum’s contemporary collecting. Dating from 2004–2025, almost all these pieces were acquired for the collection in the last five years, and three quarters are on view at the museum for the first time. Together, they reveal the themes and ideas that have emerged as the most relevant and compelling in recent art, and offer a preview of the IMA’s future direction for contemporary exhibitions and programming.

Global Perspectives

The artists in Bold represent many generations and nationalities, and their groundbreaking works collectively reflect the dynamic, global conversations shaping art today. There is a particular focus in the exhibition on artists from Africa. We were extremely fortunate to have Nigerian artist Wole Lagunju with us for the exhibition opening this past November. Lagunju’s painting in the exhibition, a portrait of British composer Benjamin Clementine titled The Adoration of Benjamin, combines the vivid patterns of traditional Yoruba textiles from West Africa with a hard-edge aesthetic that is influenced by his background as a graphic designer.

Artist Wole Lagunju with his painting in Bold. Wole Lagunju (Nigerian, b. 1966), The Adoration of Benjamin, 2023, oil on canvas, 75 × 57-1/4 × 1-1/4 in. Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields, Purchased with funds provided by David Phillips, 2024.6. © Wole Lagunju.

Esther Mahlangu is a member of the Ndebele people of South Africa, who are known for their vibrant geometric murals typically painted on the walls of houses. For the work in the IMA’s collection, Mahlangu translates the iconic Ndebele style to a large vessel made of fiberglass, a decidedly contemporary material.

What emerges from this diversity is not merely a geographical spread, but a shared sense of urgency about questions of identity, belonging, and cultural memory. Many of the artists featured in Bold use their work to explore how local traditions and post-colonial experiences shape contemporary life. Artists today are increasingly questioning who has the authority to define modernity or aesthetic value. In museums around the world, there is growing acknowledgment that the Euro-American narrative of modern and contemporary art is just one among many. The works in Bold acknowledge that aesthetic innovation can appear anywhere, as artists reimagine their cultural inheritance and use it to speak to universal themes of humanity and resilience.

Unconventional Materials: Rethinking Hierarchies of Value

Another important theme linking the works in Bold is the use of unconventional media and materials. Many of the pieces in the exhibition are displayed on a wall and resemble paintings, but upon closer inspection are composed of materials that are not paint. Indianapolis-based artist Samuel Levi Jones acknowledges that his work in Bold, Untitled, resembles an abstract painting, but it is actually assembled from the covers of books taken from the IMA’s own library. After soaking the books in water to remove their textile covers, Jones stitches them together with a sewing machine, making the work closer to a quilt than a painting in the traditional sense.

Samuel Levi Jones speaks in front of his art work. Samuel Levi Jones (American, b. 1978), Untitled, 2019, art book covers on canvas, 60 x 55 x 2-1/8 in. Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields, Purchased with funds provided by the Contemporary Art Society Fund, 2019.6. © Samuel Levi Jones, Courtesy Galerie Lelong & Co.

Similarly, American artist Shinique Smith combines multiple different kinds of paint and calligraphy ink in her work The Eye of the Storm, but also includes small pieces of fabric and found objects like mirror shards that are glued to the surface of the canvas. She is attracted to these thrifted and discarded objects for the ways in which they bear traces of use and wear, revealing the lived histories of the past.

Michael Vetter speaking about Shinique Smith’s The Eye of the Storm. Shinique Smith (American, b. 1971), The Eye of the Storm, 2022, acrylic, graphite, crayon, fabric, plastic, wood, metal, fabric, mirror, collage, and ribbon on canvas, 84 × 84 × 3 in. Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields, Henry F. and Katherine D. DeBoest Memorial Fund by exchange, 2023.157. © Shinique Smith.

Historically, art making that is considered “craft” or “decorative,” such as sewing, weaving, and pottery, has not been accorded the same level of respect and value as the “fine arts” of painting, sculpture, and printmaking. By incorporating craft traditions into their work, the artists in Bold seek to elevate and reclaim forms of artistic production that had previously been anonymous and confined largely to the domestic sphere. These artists also understand that there has typically been a gendered aspect to these categorical divisions, with techniques traditionally seen as “feminine” more likely to be deemed “merely” craft or decoration. Together, they prompt reflection on the expanding possibilities of artistic expression and the frameworks that shape our understanding of the world and its possibilities.

Through its richly varied works, Bold: New Voices in Contemporary Art demonstrates that the IMA’s curators are not merely choosing works that reflect current trends; they are engaging with the artistic pulse of a changing world. As guests move through the exhibition, they encounter a constellation of ideas that expand our shared understanding of creativity in the 21st century. The exhibition ultimately affirms that, at its best, contemporary art continues to push us toward empathy, curiosity, and a deeper connection with the world we inhabit together.

See Bold now through June 28, 2026.

Wangari Mathenge (Kenyan, b. 1973), Re-Membering V (Something Torn and New), 2025, oil on canvas, 76 × 72 × 2 in. Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields, Delavan Smith Fund, Lucille Stewart Endowed Art Fund, 2025.7. © Wangari Mathenge.

Installation view of Bold: New Voices in Contemporary Art in the June M. McCormack Forefront Galleries, November 7, 2025–June 28, 2026. Artworks © their respective creators.

Khalif T. Thompson (American, b. 1995), Garden Room, 2024, oil, pastel, acrylic, papyrus, fabric, handmade paper (abaca, cotton), pleather on canvas, 94-1/2 x 66-7/8 in. (canvas). Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields, Purchased with funds provided by Frank Curtis Springer & Irving Moxley Springer Purchase Fund and Leela Rao, 2024.18. © Khalif Tahir Thompson.

Bold: New Voices in Contemporary Art is organized by Michael Vetter, PhD, Associate Curator of Contemporary Art at Newfields. This exhibition was made possible with support from Eric Antoine Logan.