Now’s the Time brings together highlights from the Guggenheim Museum’s growing collection of contemporary art. On view at the museum for the first time, these works reflect recent developments in painting, sculpture, photography, and installation, representing works acquired since 2008 through the museum’s collection committees and the generosity of individual patrons. As a cross section of the diverse practices pursued by artists from around the world, this exhibition reaffirms the Guggenheim’s long-standing commitment to collecting and exhibiting the art of the present.

Although acquired independently of one another, the works on view share overarching formal and thematic concerns that cut across traditional aesthetic categories. Many of the artists represented foreground their working processes while exploring the material and conceptual possibilities of artistic mediums ranging from abstract painting, as in the work of Mark Grotjahn, to digitally manipulated photographs, exemplified by the work of Hank Willis Thomas. Whether embodying the fragmented modes of perception engendered by online worlds, or insisting on the meditative space of painting and the poetics of objects, the works on view map the contours of a rapidly changing contemporary art landscape. The exhibition features works by both established artists such as Ai Weiwei, James Casebere, Hans-Peter Feldmann, Anish Kapoor, and Barbara Kruger, as well as younger artists including Christiane Feser, Alexandre Singh, and Ryan Trecartin, among others.

Now’s the Time: Recent Acquisitions is curated by Lauren Hinkson, Assistant Curator for Collections, and Carmen Hermo, Curatorial Assistant for Collections.

Josephine Meckseper, Afrikan Spir, 2011 (detail). Taxidermy bird, jewelry, inkjet print, glass, scouring pads with feathers on steel pole, pedestal, mannequin leg with stocking, acrylic paint on mirror, acrylic paint on canvas, mirror on metal stand in steel and glass vitrine with fluorescent lights, 202.2 x 202.6 x 50.8 cm. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Gift, Theodor and Isabella Dalenson 2011.35. 2012 Josephine Meckseper. Photo: Genevieve Hanson