The Metropolitan Museum of Art has revealed the artists selected to take over its Fifth Avenue facade and rooftop garden, two closely watched sites at the institution that hosts contemporary art commissions.
Jeffrey Gibson, a Choctaw-Cherokee known for vibrantly colored abstract works that celebrate queer and Native identities, will be the sixth artist to transform the Met’s facade with new sculptures. His works—four figurative sculptures that he refers to as ancestral spirit figures—will take over the niches from South Korean sculptor Lee Bul; they will be on view from September 2025 through May 2026.
The prestigious Met commission follows another momentous career milestone for Gibson: he was chosen this past July to represent the United States at the 2024 Venice Biennale, becoming the first Indigenous artist in the 90-year history of the American Pavilion to do it alone.
Meanwhile, Jennie C. Jones will be the last artist commissioned to create sculptures for the museum’s rooftop garden before the outdoor space closes for renovations related to the construction of the Tang Wing, a $500 million, five-story-high gallery expansion. Jones, who was born in Cincinnati and works in Hudson, New York, uses sculpture, painting, and sound to probe the legacies of modernism and Black avant-garde music. In her minimalist sound installations, hearing supplements seeing.
For the Met rooftop, she will create her first multi-work outdoor installation; it will be on view from April 15, 2025, through October 19, 2025. She succeeds Kosovo-born artist Petrit Halilaj.
Max Hollein, director of the Met, said in a statement, “Though stylistically different, both Jones and Gibson see the potential for beauty and form to carry the potency of individual and cultural histories. We’re honored to have them join this important commission series and look forward to unveiling their works in 2025.”
