Exhibition Member-Only
Rory McEwen: A New Perspective on Nature Opening Program and Reception (MEMBERS ONLY)
Friday, May 16, 2025, 2025
To celebrate the opening of Rory McEwen: A New Perspective on Nature, Executive Director Lisa M. Key sits down with Guest Curator Ruth Stiff and Rory McEwen’s son, Adam McEwen, and daughter, Flora McEwen Brooks, to discuss the Museum’s new exhibition. They will delve into McEwen’s unique artistic vision, the process of curating the exhibition, and the significance of showcasing his work at the Museum. The program will be followed by a reception. Join us to raise a glass!
This event is for Members only, who will receive a separate link to register. If you are not a member, consider becoming one today!
Program:
5:30 Doors Open and Exhibition Viewing
6:15 Panel Discussion
7:00 Reception and Viewing
About the Speakers:
Adam McEwen received his B.A. in 1987 from Christ Church, Oxford, and then received his B.F.A. in 1991 from California Institute of the Arts, Valencia. McEwen’s work has been shown in major exhibitions around the world, including “Axis of Praxis,” Midway Contemporary Art, Minneapolis (2006); “Into Me/Out of Me,” P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, New York (2006); “Beg, Borrow and Steal,” Rubell Family Collection, Miami (2009); “The Reach of Realism,” Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami (2009); “Haunted: Contemporary Photography/Video/Performance,” Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (2010, traveled to Guggenheim Bilbao, Spain); “The Last Newspaper,” New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York (2010); “America Is Hard to See,” Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (2015); and “Progressive Praxis,” de la Cruz Collection Contemporary Art Space, Miami (2016). McEwen’s work was included in the 2006 Whitney Biennial. Recent solo exhibitions include The McAllister Institute, New York (2003); The Goss Michael Foundation, Dallas (2012); The Modern Institute, Glasgow (2013); Museo Civico Diocesano di Santa Maria dei Servi, Città della Piene (2015); “Tinnitus,” The Modern Institute, Glasgow (2016); and “Adam McEwen: I Think I’m in Love,” Aspen Art Museum, Colorado (2017). McEwen’s works are in the public collections of the Rubell Family Collection, Miami; Julia Stoschek Collection, Düsseldorf; The Brant Foundation Art Study Center, Greenwich; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Aberdeen Art Gallery and Museum, Scotland; Jumex Collection, Mexico City; de la Cruz Collection, Miami; and Arts Council Collection, England.
McEwen has curated various projects and exhibitions, including “Power, Corruption and Lies,” (with Neville Wakefield; Roth Horowitz, New York, 2004); “Interstate” (Nicole Klagsbrun Gallery, New York, 2005); and “Beneath the Underdog” (with Nate Lowman; Gagosian Gallery, 2007). In 2010, he curated “Fresh Hell” at the Palais de Tokyo, Paris, as the 2010 edition of the Carte Blanche series.
McEwen currently lives and works in New York City.
Flora McEwen Brooks, the eldest of Rory McEwen’s four children, grew up in London and Scotland, deeply influenced by her father’s love of art, music, and family. She began her career in fashion as Halston’s assistant in New York but transitioned in 1990 to become a successful addictions counsellor, working in highly regarded clinics in the UK and US for 30 years. After retiring in 2020, she organized a tribute to her father at Marchmont House, his birthplace in Scotland. This event motivated her and her siblings to collaborate with renowned curator Ruth Stiff on a long-anticipated American tour featuring his work. She now co-directs the Rory McEwen Archive alongside her siblings, dedicated to preserving and celebrating their father’s artistic legacy.
Ruth Stiff is the Curator of International Exhibitions at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (London), responsible for organizing, mounting, and traveling exhibitions throughout North America and Europe and hosted by such venues as the Smithsonian Institution, the Field Museum of Chicago, and the New York Public Library, among others. She has held this position since 1986.
A member of the Board of Trustees of the Mona Bismarck American Center for Art & Culture in Paris from 2007 to 2017, Ruth also served as the Center’s Curator of Exhibitions for a number of years, mounting such diverse exhibitions as: The Wyeths: Three Generations of American Art; The Robes and Gowns of the Last Queen of Italy (with Hubert Givenchy); and Buttons: Artistic, Historical and Cultural Phenomena from the Loïc Allio Collection
Ruth is the author/editor of numerous exhibition catalogues. She has served as guest curator with a number of North America’s major museums, and has lectured throughout the United States and Europe. She is a Fellow of the Linnean Society of London and holds a Master’s Degree in the Arts from Dartmouth College.