Nasher Mixtape Overview
Nasher Mixtape takes its title from a practice, born in the 1980s, of selecting a sequence of songs from different sources and recording them on a single audio cassette. Writer Nick Hornby compared making a mixtape to writing a letter: “[There’s] a lot of erasing and rethinking and starting again.” A labor of love and a versatile creative activity, the mixtape has survived into the digital era in many different forms.
Alongside favorites from the collection—Joan Miró, David Smith, Martin Puryear, and Nancy Grossman, among others—are a host of recent acquisitions as well as historical works making their debut here: nearly one third of the works on view inside the museum have never been shown at the Nasher, and others have not been exhibited for many years. The newest additions to the collection—by the likes of Judy Chicago, Melvin Edwards, Maren Hassinger, and Nicole Eisenman—take important strides in the ongoing work of diversifying the collection through the inclusion of more women and artists of color, as well as celebrating the endlessly inventive approaches artists take to sculpture.
Audio Guides
Hear more about the exhibition from Nasher Curator Catherine Craft.
Introduction to Nasher Mixtape.
Why Nasher Mixtape now.
The goal of Nasher Mixtape.
Whose stories are being told? Messages within Nasher Mixtape.
Remix
Create your own sculpture mix. Find bonus content like interviews with artists, inspiration playlists, and insights from curators, educators, and living artists.
The sculptures at the Nasher’s entrance reference nature in their materials and themes, inviting visitors to continue into the garden, which architect Renzo Piano described as “the museum without a roof.”
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Curator and scholar William B. Jordan organized the first museum exhibition of Raymond and Patsy Nasher’s sculpture collection; sculptures by John Chamberlain, David McManaway, and Joan Miró are part of a bequest from Jordan and his husband, Robert Dean Brownlee.
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This installation examines the legacies of Minimal art through the Nashers' support in the 1970s of artists including Siah Armajani, Martin Puryear, and Christopher Wilmarth, as well as the recent acquisition of a sculpture by Judy Chicago.
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Nature's example provided a powerful array of possibilities for artists working in the aftermath of Minimalism, even though the results may bear little resemblance to their source of inspiration.
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Taking its title from lyrics to “Never Catch Me,” a song by Flying Lotus, featuring rapper Kendrick Lamar, this installation brings together a video work by lauren woods with sculptures by Joel Shapiro and Manuel Neri to reflect upon how we interpret images of historical events and human actions.
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Subject of the Nasher Sculpture Center’s 2015 traveling retrospective Melvin Edwards: Five Decades, the artist Melvin Edwards recently made a generous gift of four sculptures and two drawings presenting a spectrum of the artist’s concerns, methods of working, materials, and themes.
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How do artists think about sculpture when it may not be feasible, or even desirable, to execute three-dimensional objects in lasting materials? Scrims have been installed in this gallery to block light, making possible the presentation of a greater range of objects.
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The Latin phrase, meaning “And in Arcadia [am] I,” implies that even in Arcadia—an idyllic, bountiful land of ancient legend—death is still present. The works in this installation consider other aspects of Mediterranean culture and its heritage beyond the more familiar values of classicism.
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On view through September 10. At a time when the formation and sustenance of our connections with others have become more crucial than ever, "Love and Delight" offers a selection of works, collected by the Nashers between 1967 and 1986, that trace unexpected links between artworks through the human bonds shared among artists, collectors, dealers, families, friends, spouses, lovers, and admirers.
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On view through September 10. A selection of posters from the 1980s and 1990s by the anonymous collective targets museums, galleries, curators, collectors, writers, and artists seen as either responsible for or complicit in the exclusion of women and non-white artists from mainstream exhibitions and publications.
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Browse the Calendar
Join workshops, artist talks, and virtual events inspired by Nasher Mixtape.
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Member-Exclusive Benefits
Members get more. Learn about benefits like FREE admission, FREE parking, as well as exclusive in-person and virtual events.
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Curatorial Statement
In keeping with the tradition of presenting a mixtape of songs to a friend, Nasher Mixtape is dedicated to the ones we love—and to those we have lost during this unprecedented time, including the Nasher’s own Barbara Cavitt and Donald Fowler.
As Nasher Curator Catherine Craft, who organized the exhibition, notes: “By the time Nasher Mixtape concludes at summer’s end, we hope that it already seems like a time capsule for a difficult period that has begun to recede. Until then, we share with our visitors its moments of joy, respite, and reflection.”
Nasher Mixtape is made possible by support from the Dallas Tourism Public Improvement District (DTPID).
