Looking Back / The 15th White Columns Annual – Selected by Elisabeth Kley

January 17–March 1, 2025
A view of a white wall in a gallery. In the center of the wall hangs a large woven work of a man in a fedora and plaid pants sitting with his legs crossed on a pink chair. To the left is a smaller abstract work on a silvered pane of glass. Installed on the floor to the right is a sleek wooden chair and a tall, skinny lamp fashioned out of an oil can and other found materials.

Looking Back / The 15th White Columns Annual, installation view, 2025.

An angled view of the entryway to a gallery. On the left wall is a large woven artwork of a man in a fedora and plaid pants sitting with his legs crossed on a pink chair. Installed on the floor to the right is a sleek wooden chair and a tall, skinny lamp fashioned out of an oil can and other found materials. The wall to the right is made of brick, with an archway through which can be seen more of the gallery. A small square sculpture hangs on the brick to the right of the archway.

Looking Back / The 15th White Columns Annual, installation view, 2025.

A brick wall in a gallery with an archway, through which can be seen more of the gallery. Installed on the floor to the left of the arch is a sleek wooden chair and a tall, skinny lamp fashioned out of an oil can and other found materials. To the right is a cream-colored wall-mounted sculpture made of vinyl stretched over foam and rope.

Looking Back / The 15th White Columns Annual, installation view, 2025.

A large wall-mounted ceramic sculpture hangs on a white wall between two brick archways. It is made of long ceramic rods that overlap to form a checkered shape. Under the archway to the left is a black folding table with a white spiral-bound book set upon it. Through the archway to the right can be seen more of the gallery, with artwork installed on the walls and floor.

Looking Back / The 15th White Columns Annual, installation view, 2025.

A view of a corner of a gallery. Installed on the floor in front of a window with the blinds drawn is a sculpture made up of a mesh and metal dress hung off of a sheet music stand. To the left are two small rectangular ceramic sculptures, one mounted on each side of the corner. Under a brick archway to the left is a spiral-bound book on top of a black folding table, and furthest to the right is a large wall-mounted ceramic sculpture.

Looking Back / The 15th White Columns Annual, installation view, 2025.

A view of three walls in a gallery. Larger framed artworks and wall-mounted sculptures hang on the left and right walls, visible at an angle. On the rear wall, which can be seen head-on, are eleven smaller framed works hung salon-style, with several smaller sculptures interspersed on vitrines and shelves.

Looking Back / The 15th White Columns Annual, installation view, 2025.

A view of a freestanding wall in a gallery with two artworks hung on it. The artwork to the right is a framed photograph of a white wall and cement floor with a single set of blue handprints and footprints. To the right is a sculpture made of three wall-mounted boxes woven out of metal and found materials; the larger box is mounted at the height of a person’s head, and the two smaller boxes are mounted just off the floor, like feet.

Looking Back / The 15th White Columns Annual, installation view, 2025.

An angled view of two walls in a gallery. The walls are hung salon-style with a variety of artworks at various heights and small sculptural works on shelves. A small ceramic sculpture is installed on a plinth in front of the right wall.

Looking Back / The 15th White Columns Annual, installation view, 2025.

A straight-on view of a wall in a gallery. In the center of the wall is a tiny sculpture mounted on a shelf under a plexiglass display box. To the left of the sculpture are four abstract wall-mounted artworks. To the right are two more works. The topmost work has text that can be read as either “BLOCK OUT” or “BLACK OUT” in black on white paper. The work hung below it is a trompe l’oeil painting of a window at night.

Looking Back / The 15th White Columns Annual, installation view, 2025.

A straight-on view of a gallery wall hung salon-style with six framed artworks. In the middle is a sculpture of a chalice installed on a wall-mounted shelf. In front of the wall is a small gray ceramic sculpture resting atop a plinth.

Looking Back / The 15th White Columns Annual, installation view, 2025.

An angled view of a wall in a gallery hung salon-style with eight framed artworks of varying sizes and subject matter. To the left of the framed works, a sculpture of a chalice is installed on a wall-mounted shelf. In front of the wall is a small greyish ceramic sculpture atop a plinth. To the right in the corner is a sculpture of a lamp made out of a coat rack.

Looking Back / The 15th White Columns Annual, installation view, 2025.

An angled view of artworks installed in a gallery. Closest to the viewer is a stone sculpture of the head of a fanged mythical beast. On the walls behind hang several paintings and framed drawings flanking a large, weathered abstract painting on canvas and an assemblage sculpture of a lamp made out of a coat rack.

Looking Back / The 15th White Columns Annual, installation view, 2025.

A collection of artworks installed in a gallery. Two sculptures are each installed on plinths. On a freestanding wall in the center of the room is a large framed photograph, a wall-mounted sculpture and an open book installed on a shelf. On the rear wall furthest from the viewer six smaller framed works and paintings, as well as a large beige abstract painting on canvas.

Looking Back / The 15th White Columns Annual, installation view, 2025.

A straight-on view of a stone sculpture of a mythical beast’s head on top of a pedestal. On the wall behind the sculpture are five artworks in muted tones. Furthest to the left is an abstract beige painting, and to the right of this painting are two framed artworks interspersed with a small painting of a man’s head and a wall-mounted rectangular ceramic artwork.

Looking Back / The 15th White Columns Annual, installation view, 2025.

An art exhibition in a gallery. Hung on the freestanding wall in the center of the room are three small framed artworks and a larger abstract painting to the left. A stone sculpture is on a plinth to the right of this wall. Behind it on the rear, right wall are a variety of framed artworks hung salon-style. More artworks are visible to the left of the freestanding wall as well.

Looking Back / The 15th White Columns Annual, installation view, 2025.

A freestanding wall in a gallery is hung with four artworks. On the left is a large vertically-oriented checkered abstract painting with three smaller framed works on paper to the right.

Looking Back / The 15th White Columns Annual, installation view, 2025.

An art exhibition in a gallery. A small TV monitor and headphones are installed on the short edge of a freestanding wall. A variety of artworks are hung on the surrounding walls.

Looking Back / The 15th White Columns Annual, installation view, 2025.

Several white walls in an art gallery are hung with a variety of artwork. On the left wall are two artworks, a framed drawing hung above a painting. On the right wall are two wall-mounted sculptures, and through the gap between the two walls there can be seen a sculpture installed on a low plinth and two more framed artworks on the wall behind.

Looking Back / The 15th White Columns Annual, installation view, 2025.

A straight-on view of a wall in a gallery, positioned behind a half-wall with a handrail. On the left side of the wall, four 8 x 10 inch black and white photographs are hung in a row. On the left side of the wall, a colorful framed drawing of a woman in a voluminous pink and green gown is hung above a square painting of a woman lying on a bed next to a dark window.

Looking Back / The 15th White Columns Annual, installation view, 2025.

Three walls in a gallery hung with a variety of art. On the left wall are two textile works. On the right wall are a wall-mounted ceramic work, a small textile hung above a photograph and two framed drawings, as well as a small maquette installed under plexiglass atop a plinth. A small sculpture hangs from the ceiling. On the rear wall from left to right are a framed drawing, a sculpture installed on a small, low pedestal and two framed paintings.

Looking Back / The 15th White Columns Annual, installation view, 2025.

A gallery wall hung with a variety of art. From left-right: a small painting next to a slightly larger one, a small maquette installed under plexiglass atop a plinth, a silver paper sculpture hung from the ceiling, a wall-mounted ceramic work, and a small colorful woven work hung above a vintage photograph.

Looking Back / The 15th White Columns Annual, installation view, 2025.

A corner in a gallery installed with six pieces of art. On the left wall is a small abstract line drawing and a painting on paper of a snake. On the right wall is another abstract line drawing next to a multimedia sculpture installed on a low plinth. To the right of these works are two paintings; although one is of a green mimosa plant and the other is of fireworks over a road, they are formally similar.

Looking Back / The 15th White Columns Annual, installation view, 2025.

Two textile artworks installed on a white wall in a gallery. The work on the left is a quilt embroidered with images of people on a purple background, hung from a wooden dowel. On the right is an abstract work resembling a curtain, gathering at the midsection, with splotchy lines of dots in blue, red, yellow and white on cotton canvas.

Looking Back / The 15th White Columns Annual, installation view, 2025.

A bench in front of a television projecting an image of an abstracted human body with drawings of circles. The room looks pink and blue in the light from the television screen.

Looking Back / The 15th White Columns Annual, installation view, 2025.

A painting of a figure removing a cardigan. The figure’s body is nondescript; the frame ends right at the bottom of the chin so its face can’t be seen.

Christina Ramberg
Untitled (Torso Undressing), 1967
Acrylic on masonite
6 × 6 in.
Courtesy of the Estate of Christina Ramberg and Corbett vs. Dempsey, Chicago

Press Release

White Columns is pleased to announce the 15th edition of its Annual exhibition Looking Back, which has been selected by the New York-based artist Elisabeth Kley. The exhibition will be presented throughout all of White Columns’ galleries.

As with previous ‘Annuals’ an individual or a collaborative team (e.g. an artist, a curator, a writer, etc.) is invited to organize an exhibition based on their personal experiences and interactions with art in New York City during the previous year. In a very straightforward way, the ‘Annual’ exhibitions hope to reveal something of the complexities involved in trying to negotiate – and engage with – New York’s constantly shifting cultural landscapes. The format of the exhibition inevitably encourages highly subjective and personal responses to the realities of viewing art in New York City. The ‘Annual’ exhibition series hopes to illuminate aspects of the specific, yet highly idiosyncratic networks – historical, social, aesthetic, etc. – that individuals follow in an increasingly expansive and fragmented cultural environment.

Through the recontextualization of artworks encountered in other circumstances, the exhibition hopes to establish – albeit temporarily – a new ‘narrative,’ a conversation of sorts, amongst both artists and artworks that seeks to illuminate and/or explore certain underlying tendencies or connections that might otherwise have remained elusive or obscured. In rethinking aspects of the (fairly) recent past the exhibition hopes to provoke something akin to a sense of déjà vu, establishing a scenario that is at once both reflective and forward-thinking.

There are no restrictions as to what type of work can be included. The ‘Annual’ exhibitions seek to eliminate any categorical or hierarchical distinctions we might place upon artworks (e.g. based upon the circumstances in which they were originally seen, or the seniority of an individual artist, etc.). The works included in the exhibition might have originally been encountered in a variety of contexts such as exhibitions at galleries, not-for-profit spaces, art fairs, or during visits to artists’ studios, etc.

Writing in The New York Times in 2024 about the 14th Annual exhibition selected by writer and curator Randy Kennedy, critic Travis Diehl wrote:

“(…) since its inauguration in 2006, the nonprofit gallery’s “Looking Back” series has made an old-school proposition: to curate a group show around one person’s (or collective’s) taste, shorn of commercial or institutional impulses to either move product or capture a zeitgeist.

The Annual has one constraint. The curator must have seen the included work in New York City in the previous year. In this grass-roots way, the show offers a (very subjective, and therefore narrow) group portrait of an increasingly unwieldy scene. Those who see a lot of art might recognize a few pieces. But not everything.”

 

 

About Elisabeth Kley:

Elisabeth Kley (b. 1956, New York, NY) received her BA from Empire State College and studied at Hunter College. Her ceramics, watercolors, drawings and prints have been featured in an exhibition history spanning over 25 years; recent solo exhibitions include The Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia, PA (2021) and the Currier Museum, Manchester, NH (2024). Known for her black and white ceramic sculptures, vessels, drawings, and site-specific paintings inspired by modernist theater sets and costume designs, Kley also worked as an art writer from 1996 to 2015, publishing reviews and features in art publications including ARTnews and Art in America. She is represented by CANADA, NY and a monograph on her work was published by Pre-Echo Press in 2019.

 

 

The curators of the previous White Columns Annual exhibitions were: White Columns’ Director Matthew Higgs (2006, 2016); Clarissa Dalrymple (2007); Jay Sanders (2008); Primary Information (Miriam Katzeff and James Hoff, 2010); Bob Nickas (2011); Ken Okiishi and Nick Mauss (2012); Richard Birkett (2013); Pati Hertling (2014); Cleopatra’s (Bridget Donahue, Bridget Finn, Colleen Grennan, and White Columns’ Deputy Director and Curator Erin Somerville, 2015); Anne Doran (2017); Mary Manning (2022); Olivia Shao (2023); and Randy Kennedy (2024).

White Columns and Elisabeth Kley would like to thank all of the participating artists and galleries for their enthusiasm and support for Looking Back.

For further information about this exhibition contact: violet@whitecolumns.org

Gallery hours: Tuesday – Saturday, 11am to 6pm.

Participating Artists

Eileen Agar, Manuel Herreros de Lemos and Mateo Manaure Arilla, Andrés Bedoya, Heidi Bucher, Brian Buczak, William S. Burroughs, Cameron, Mary Helena Clark, Gregory Corso, Beau Dick, Mestre Didi, John Duff, Darrel Ellis, Jerry the Marble Faun, Charles Henri Ford, Terry Fox, Tina Girouard, Leon Golub, Nancy Grossman, Zina Hall, Josephine Halvorson, Sylvie Hayes-Wallace, Candace Hill-Montgomery, G. Peter Jemison, Steffani Jemison, Jess, Běla Kolářová, Thomas Lanigan-Schmidt, Amadeo Luciano Lorenzato, Robert Mapplethorpe, Kazuko Miyamoto, Lady Shalimar Montague, Ulrike Müller, Kayode Ojo, Genesis P-Orridge, Otto Piene, Norbert Prangenberg, Lucy Puls, Ronny Quevedo, Elizabeth Radcliffe, Christina Ramberg, Kay Rosen, Cameron Rowland, Simona Runcan, Resia Schor, Leon Polk Smith, Wadada Leo Smith, Maybelle Stamper, Simon Starling, Wacław Szpakowski, TARWUK, Lenore G. Tawney, Vincent Tiley, Kiyoshi Tsuchiya, Fredrik Værslev, Stan VanDerBeek, Melvin Way, Susan Weil, Jack Whitten, Steve Wolfe, Martin Wong, Jimmy Wright, He Xiangyu, Carey Young, Marian Zazeela and Bibi Zogbé.

Checklist

Related Press

Events

Looking Back / The 15th White Columns Annual – Exhibition Walkthrough with curator Elisabeth Kley
Saturday March 1, 2pm
Exhibition walkthrough with curator Elisabeth Kley on/about/around her exhibition Looking Back / The 15th White Columns Annual, on view at White Columns from January 17 – March 1, 2025.
A view of a white wall in a gallery. In the center of the wall hangs a large woven work of a man in a fedora and plaid pants sitting with his legs crossed on a pink chair. To the left is a smaller abstract work on a silvered pane of glass. Installed on the floor to the right is a sleek wooden chair and a tall, skinny lamp fashioned out of an oil can and other found materials.
An angled view of the entryway to a gallery. On the left wall is a large woven artwork of a man in a fedora and plaid pants sitting with his legs crossed on a pink chair. Installed on the floor to the right is a sleek wooden chair and a tall, skinny lamp fashioned out of an oil can and other found materials. The wall to the right is made of brick, with an archway through which can be seen more of the gallery. A small square sculpture hangs on the brick to the right of the archway.
A brick wall in a gallery with an archway, through which can be seen more of the gallery. Installed on the floor to the left of the arch is a sleek wooden chair and a tall, skinny lamp fashioned out of an oil can and other found materials. To the right is a cream-colored wall-mounted sculpture made of vinyl stretched over foam and rope.
A large wall-mounted ceramic sculpture hangs on a white wall between two brick archways. It is made of long ceramic rods that overlap to form a checkered shape. Under the archway to the left is a black folding table with a white spiral-bound book set upon it. Through the archway to the right can be seen more of the gallery, with artwork installed on the walls and floor.
A view of a corner of a gallery. Installed on the floor in front of a window with the blinds drawn is a sculpture made up of a mesh and metal dress hung off of a sheet music stand. To the left are two small rectangular ceramic sculptures, one mounted on each side of the corner. Under a brick archway to the left is a spiral-bound book on top of a black folding table, and furthest to the right is a large wall-mounted ceramic sculpture.
A view of three walls in a gallery. Larger framed artworks and wall-mounted sculptures hang on the left and right walls, visible at an angle. On the rear wall, which can be seen head-on, are eleven smaller framed works hung salon-style, with several smaller sculptures interspersed on vitrines and shelves.
A view of a freestanding wall in a gallery with two artworks hung on it. The artwork to the right is a framed photograph of a white wall and cement floor with a single set of blue handprints and footprints. To the right is a sculpture made of three wall-mounted boxes woven out of metal and found materials; the larger box is mounted at the height of a person’s head, and the two smaller boxes are mounted just off the floor, like feet.
An angled view of two walls in a gallery. The walls are hung salon-style with a variety of artworks at various heights and small sculptural works on shelves. A small ceramic sculpture is installed on a plinth in front of the right wall.
A straight-on view of a wall in a gallery. In the center of the wall is a tiny sculpture mounted on a shelf under a plexiglass display box. To the left of the sculpture are four abstract wall-mounted artworks. To the right are two more works. The topmost work has text that can be read as either “BLOCK OUT” or “BLACK OUT” in black on white paper. The work hung below it is a trompe l’oeil painting of a window at night.
A straight-on view of a gallery wall hung salon-style with six framed artworks. In the middle is a sculpture of a chalice installed on a wall-mounted shelf. In front of the wall is a small gray ceramic sculpture resting atop a plinth.
An angled view of a wall in a gallery hung salon-style with eight framed artworks of varying sizes and subject matter. To the left of the framed works, a sculpture of a chalice is installed on a wall-mounted shelf. In front of the wall is a small greyish ceramic sculpture atop a plinth. To the right in the corner is a sculpture of a lamp made out of a coat rack.
An angled view of artworks installed in a gallery. Closest to the viewer is a stone sculpture of the head of a fanged mythical beast. On the walls behind hang several paintings and framed drawings flanking a large, weathered abstract painting on canvas and an assemblage sculpture of a lamp made out of a coat rack.
A collection of artworks installed in a gallery. Two sculptures are each installed on plinths. On a freestanding wall in the center of the room is a large framed photograph, a wall-mounted sculpture and an open book installed on a shelf. On the rear wall furthest from the viewer six smaller framed works and paintings, as well as a large beige abstract painting on canvas.
A straight-on view of a stone sculpture of a mythical beast’s head on top of a pedestal. On the wall behind the sculpture are five artworks in muted tones. Furthest to the left is an abstract beige painting, and to the right of this painting are two framed artworks interspersed with a small painting of a man’s head and a wall-mounted rectangular ceramic artwork.
An art exhibition in a gallery. Hung on the freestanding wall in the center of the room are three small framed artworks and a larger abstract painting to the left. A stone sculpture is on a plinth to the right of this wall. Behind it on the rear, right wall are a variety of framed artworks hung salon-style. More artworks are visible to the left of the freestanding wall as well.
A freestanding wall in a gallery is hung with four artworks. On the left is a large vertically-oriented checkered abstract painting with three smaller framed works on paper to the right.
An art exhibition in a gallery. A small TV monitor and headphones are installed on the short edge of a freestanding wall. A variety of artworks are hung on the surrounding walls.
Several white walls in an art gallery are hung with a variety of artwork. On the left wall are two artworks, a framed drawing hung above a painting. On the right wall are two wall-mounted sculptures, and through the gap between the two walls there can be seen a sculpture installed on a low plinth and two more framed artworks on the wall behind.
A straight-on view of a wall in a gallery, positioned behind a half-wall with a handrail. On the left side of the wall, four 8 x 10 inch black and white photographs are hung in a row. On the left side of the wall, a colorful framed drawing of a woman in a voluminous pink and green gown is hung above a square painting of a woman lying on a bed next to a dark window.
Three walls in a gallery hung with a variety of art. On the left wall are two textile works. On the right wall are a wall-mounted ceramic work, a small textile hung above a photograph and two framed drawings, as well as a small maquette installed under plexiglass atop a plinth. A small sculpture hangs from the ceiling. On the rear wall from left to right are a framed drawing, a sculpture installed on a small, low pedestal and two framed paintings.
A gallery wall hung with a variety of art. From left-right: a small painting next to a slightly larger one, a small maquette installed under plexiglass atop a plinth, a silver paper sculpture hung from the ceiling, a wall-mounted ceramic work, and a small colorful woven work hung above a vintage photograph.
A corner in a gallery installed with six pieces of art. On the left wall is a small abstract line drawing and a painting on paper of a snake. On the right wall is another abstract line drawing next to a multimedia sculpture installed on a low plinth. To the right of these works are two paintings; although one is of a green mimosa plant and the other is of fireworks over a road, they are formally similar.
Two textile artworks installed on a white wall in a gallery. The work on the left is a quilt embroidered with images of people on a purple background, hung from a wooden dowel. On the right is an abstract work resembling a curtain, gathering at the midsection, with splotchy lines of dots in blue, red, yellow and white on cotton canvas.
A bench in front of a television projecting an image of an abstracted human body with drawings of circles. The room looks pink and blue in the light from the television screen.
A painting of a figure removing a cardigan. The figure’s body is nondescript; the frame ends right at the bottom of the chin so its face can’t be seen.

Looking Back / The 15th White Columns Annual, installation view, 2025. (A view of a white wall in a gallery. In the center of the wall hangs a large woven work of a man in a fedora and plaid pants sitting with his legs crossed on a pink chair. To the left is a smaller abstract work on a silvered pane of glass. Installed on the floor to the right is a sleek wooden chair and a tall, skinny lamp fashioned out of an oil can and other found materials.)

Looking Back / The 15th White Columns Annual, installation view, 2025. (An angled view of the entryway to a gallery. On the left wall is a large woven artwork of a man  in a fedora and plaid pants sitting with his legs crossed on a pink chair. Installed on the floor to the right is a sleek wooden chair and a tall, skinny lamp fashioned out of an oil can and other found materials. The wall to the right is made of brick, with an archway through which can be seen more of the gallery. A small square sculpture hangs on the brick to the right of the archway.

Looking Back / The 15th White Columns Annual, installation view, 2025. (A brick wall in a gallery with an archway, through which can be seen more of the gallery. Installed on the floor to the left of the arch is a sleek wooden chair and a tall, skinny lamp fashioned out of an oil can and other found materials. To the right is a cream-colored wall-mounted sculpture made of vinyl stretched over foam and rope.)

Looking Back / The 15th White Columns Annual, installation view, 2025. (A large wall-mounted ceramic sculpture hangs on a white wall between two brick archways. It is made of long ceramic rods that overlap to form a checkered shape. Under the archway to the left is a black folding table with a white spiral-bound book set upon it. Through the archway to the right can be seen more of the gallery, with artwork installed on the walls and floor.)

Looking Back / The 15th White Columns Annual, installation view, 2025. (A view of a corner of a gallery. Installed on the floor in front of a window with the blinds drawn is a sculpture made up of a mesh and metal dress hung off of a sheet music stand. To the left are two small rectangular ceramic sculptures, one mounted on each side of the corner. Under a brick archway to the left is a spiral-bound book on top of a black folding table, and furthest to the right is a large wall-mounted ceramic sculpture.)

Looking Back / The 15th White Columns Annual, installation view, 2025. (A view of three walls in a gallery. Larger framed artworks and wall-mounted sculptures hang on the left and right walls, visible at an angle. On the rear wall, which can be seen head-on, are eleven smaller framed works hung salon-style, with several smaller sculptures interspersed on vitrines and shelves.)

Looking Back / The 15th White Columns Annual, installation view, 2025. (A view of a freestanding wall in a gallery with two artworks hung on it. The artwork to the right is a framed photograph of a white wall and cement floor with a single set of blue handprints and footprints. To the right is a sculpture made of three wall-mounted boxes woven out of metal and found materials; the larger box is mounted at the height of a person’s head, and the two smaller boxes are mounted just off the floor, like feet.)

Looking Back / The 15th White Columns Annual, installation view, 2025. (An angled view of two walls in a gallery. The walls are hung salon-style with a variety of artworks at various heights and small sculptural works on shelves. A small ceramic sculpture is installed on a plinth in front of the right wall.)

Looking Back / The 15th White Columns Annual, installation view, 2025. (A straight-on view of a wall in a gallery. In the center of the wall is a tiny sculpture mounted on a shelf under a plexiglass display box. To the left of the sculpture are four abstract wall-mounted artworks. To the right are two more works. The topmost work has text that can be read as either “BLOCK OUT” or “BLACK OUT” in black on white paper. The work hung below it is a trompe l’oeil painting of a window at night.)

Looking Back / The 15th White Columns Annual, installation view, 2025. (A straight-on view of a gallery wall hung salon-style with six framed artworks. In the middle is a sculpture of a chalice installed on a wall-mounted shelf. In front of the wall is a small gray ceramic sculpture resting atop a plinth.)

Looking Back / The 15th White Columns Annual, installation view, 2025. (An angled view of a wall in a gallery hung salon-style with eight framed artworks of varying sizes and subject matter. To the left of the framed works, a sculpture of a chalice is installed on a wall-mounted shelf. In front of the wall is a small greyish ceramic sculpture atop a plinth. To the right in the corner is a sculpture of a lamp made out of a coat rack.)

Looking Back / The 15th White Columns Annual, installation view, 2025. (An angled view of artworks installed in a gallery. Closest to the viewer is a stone sculpture of the head of a fanged mythical beast. On the walls behind hang several paintings and framed drawings flanking a large, weathered abstract painting on canvas and an assemblage sculpture of a lamp made out of a coat rack.

Looking Back / The 15th White Columns Annual, installation view, 2025. (A collection of artworks installed in a gallery. Two sculptures are each installed on plinths. On a freestanding wall in the center of the room is a large framed photograph, a wall-mounted sculpture and an open book installed on a shelf. On the rear wall furthest from the viewer six smaller framed works and paintings, as well as a large beige abstract painting on canvas.)

Looking Back / The 15th White Columns Annual, installation view, 2025. (A straight-on view of a stone sculpture of a mythical beast’s head on top of a pedestal. On the wall behind the sculpture are five artworks in muted tones. Furthest to the left is an abstract beige painting, and to the right of this painting are two framed artworks interspersed with a small painting of a man’s head and a wall-mounted rectangular ceramic artwork.)

Looking Back / The 15th White Columns Annual, installation view, 2025. (An art exhibition in a gallery. Hung on the freestanding wall in the center of the room are three small framed artworks and a larger abstract painting to the left. A stone sculpture is on a plinth to the right of this wall. Behind it on the rear, right wall are a variety of framed artworks hung salon-style. More artworks are visible to the left of the freestanding wall as well.)

Looking Back / The 15th White Columns Annual, installation view, 2025. (A freestanding wall in a gallery is hung with four artworks. On the left is a large vertically-oriented checkered abstract painting with three smaller framed works on paper to the right. )

Looking Back / The 15th White Columns Annual, installation view, 2025. (An art exhibition in a gallery. A small TV monitor and headphones are installed on the short edge of a freestanding wall. A variety of artworks are hung on the surrounding walls.)

Looking Back / The 15th White Columns Annual, installation view, 2025. (Several white walls in an art gallery are hung with a variety of artwork. On the left wall are two artworks, a framed drawing hung above a painting. On the right wall are two wall-mounted sculptures, and through the gap between the two walls there can be seen a sculpture installed on a low plinth and two more framed artworks on the wall behind.)

Looking Back / The 15th White Columns Annual, installation view, 2025. (A straight-on view of a wall in a gallery, positioned behind a half-wall with a handrail. On the left side of the wall, four 8 × 10 inch black and white photographs are hung in a row. On the left side of the wall, a colorful framed drawing of a woman in a voluminous pink and green gown is hung above a square painting of a woman lying on a bed next to a dark window.)

Looking Back / The 15th White Columns Annual, installation view, 2025. (Three walls in a gallery hung with a variety of art. On the left wall are two textile works. On the right wall are a wall-mounted ceramic work, a small textile hung above a photograph and two framed drawings, as well as a small maquette installed under plexiglass atop a plinth. A small sculpture hangs from the ceiling. On the rear wall from left to right are a framed drawing, a sculpture installed on a small, low pedestal and two framed paintings.)

Looking Back / The 15th White Columns Annual, installation view, 2025. (A gallery wall hung with a variety of art. From left-right: a small painting next to a slightly larger one, a small maquette installed under plexiglass atop a plinth, a silver paper sculpture hung from the ceiling, a wall-mounted ceramic work, and a small colorful woven work hung above a vintage photograph.)

Looking Back / The 15th White Columns Annual, installation view, 2025. (A corner in a gallery installed with six pieces of art. On the left wall is a small abstract line drawing and a painting on paper of a snake. On the right wall is another abstract line drawing next to a multimedia sculpture installed on a low plinth. To the right of these works are two paintings; although one is of a green mimosa plant and the other is of fireworks over a road, they are formally similar.)

Looking Back / The 15th White Columns Annual, installation view, 2025. (Two textile artworks installed on a white wall in a gallery. The work on the left is a quilt embroidered with images of people on a purple background, hung from a wooden dowel. On the right is an abstract work resembling a curtain, gathering at the midsection, with splotchy lines of dots in blue, red, yellow and white on cotton canvas.)

Looking Back / The 15th White Columns Annual, installation view, 2025. (A bench in front of a television projecting an image of an abstracted human body with drawings of circles. The room looks pink and blue in the light from the television screen.)

Christina Ramberg, Untitled (Torso Undressing), 1967. Acrylic on masonite, 6 × 6 in. Courtesy of the Estate of Christina Ramberg and Corbett vs. Dempsey, Chicago. (A painting of a figure removing a cardigan. The figure’s body is nondescript; the frame ends right at the bottom of the chin so its face can’t be seen.)