Clyfford Still Museum Explores Competing Desires in Guest-Curated Exhibition Held Impermanence

Katherine Simóne Reynolds’s guest-curated exhibition, Held Impermanence, aims to illuminate competing desires held in constant tension and draws deeply upon the Clyfford Still Museum collections. Still’s ambitious attempt to keep his entire corpus intact allows viewers to see his acclaimed masterpieces, paintings made in painful transitions, and others that bear the scars of time. 

Artworks change over time; their materials carry the stain of what conservators describe as inherent vice. Viewers see paintings that need to rest, bearing marks that suggest metaphors of viscera and wounds through their surfaces, condition, and textures. Reynolds’s exhibition asks viewers how they gaze upon healing over time, respond with their bodies to this corpus, and approach Still’s achievements from a perspective that contends with a sense of mortality and a shared desire to hold impermanence.

For the show, Reynolds chose several paintings with condition issues to highlight the impact of conservation on Still’s art. She also selected works on paper to be displayed behind curtains to protect them from excess exposure in the museum’s skylit galleries. Visitors may carefully lift the curtains for an intimate viewing experience of the works on paper. The exhibition also includes archival photographs, letters, notes, and objects to demonstrate the themes and emotions. Held Impermanence is on view until September 14, 2025.

Reynolds is an artist, scholar, and curator who investigates the emotional dialects and psychogeography of Blackness within the Black Midwestern landscape. Her art physicalizes emotions and experiences through photo-based works, film, choreography, sculpture, and writing practice.

Designed specifically to display Still’s art, the Clyfford Still Museum in Denver, Colorado, is home to approximately 3,125 pieces, representing 93% of his lifetime of work. At the Still, visitors will find a world-class collection gifted to Denver, award-winning architecture, cross-disciplinary programs, and opportunities to explore creativity. 

To learn more, visit clyffordstillmuseum.org