State of the Art

Ride alongside art curators as they embark on a road trip to 1,000 destinations across America to investigate what's happening in art today.

In 2013, the curators at the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Northwest Arkansas set out to create a diverse exhibition featuring artists from across the United States. For 10 months, they scoured the country with the goal of bringing contemporary art back to life and showcasing works of art that might otherwise go unseen.

Las Vegas artist Justin Favela explains how his Mexican-American heritage influences his work. He discusses his Latinx identity and how he brings that to life to tell stories through his large scale piñatas. The piece highlighted in this segment is a lowrider, which he says represents Latinos perfectly because the car is an American symbol for progress.

The curators travel to Pittsburgh and the Art House, home of artist Vanessa German. She presents her spoken word performance, “If My Hands Were Anything Other Than Hands.” She then takes the curators to her studio and explains her sculpting process – which involves reconfiguring dolls and wrapping them like mummies to create a solid figure – and the mindset that led to one of her sculptures.