Brandywine Museum of Art to present contemporary still life exhibition
On view March 15–June 7, 2026
Chadds Ford, PA, February 3, 2026 — On view at the Brandywine Museum of Art this spring, Abundance/Excess: A Contemporary Eye on Still Life considers bounty, accumulation, and waste in 21st century American culture through the work of 10 contemporary artists. The featured artists include Kate Abercrombie, Sungho Bae, Katie Butler, Ilana Harris-Babou, artist collaborators Nadia Hironaka and Matthew Suib, King Cobra, Tamara Kostianovsky, sTo Len, Cara Romero, and Misha Wyllie. The exhibition will be on view at the Brandywine from March 15 through June 7, 2026.
Still life, at its core, is the artistic depiction of things, which is explored through a contemporary lens in more than 45 works across a variety of mediums, ranging from paintings to sculptures to mixed media and video. The works included in Abundance/Excess frequently reflect each artists’ cultural attitude toward that which they acquire, consume, and live amongst. Many of the artworks in the exhibition utilize the same subject matter as historic still lifes, with flowers, fruit, meat, fish, matches, and skulls making frequent appearances. The artists also revisit conceptual tropes and techniques from historic still life including decaying food, indications of the passage of time, and symbolic juxtapositions to consider where wealth comes from, who holds it, and how we find and create it in our own lives.
In the first section of the exhibition, titled Abundance, six of the featured artists explore some form of plenty, either historically or in the present. Artists Katie Butler and King Cobra interrogate the moral hazards of wealth, including how it is often accumulated at the exclusion or expense of others. Ilana Harris-Babou and Misha Wyllie both draw on the aesthetics of contemporary advertising, satirizing and abstracting the techniques that compel us to buy. In contrast, artists Kate Abercrombie and Cara Romero offer visions of abundance that center family and personal history as sources of grounding and pride.
The artists included in the second section of the exhibition, titled Excess, consider the environmental and social impacts of overconsumption through their works. Artists Sungho Bae, Tamara Kostianovsky, and sTo Len all use discarded and repurposed materials in their practice. Bae and Len explicitly focus on trash sourced from landfills or pulled from rivers in order to confront the lifespan of many contemporary materials, including plastics and other materials that do not biodegrade. Kostianovsky directly confronts her personal waste, stitching her worn-out clothing and fabrics into her sculptures. Artist collaborators Nadia Hironaka and Matthew Suib consider excess more broadly, as a negative force on America’s political and social fabric, through an immersive video installation.
Abundance/Excess: A Contemporary Eye on Still Life is curated by Kerry Bickford, Associate Curator at the Brandywine Museum of Art. Support for this exhibition is provided by the Every Page Foundation and the Tuttleman Family Foundation.
About the Brandywine Museum of Art:
The Brandywine Museum of Art features an outstanding collection of American art housed in a 19th-century Mill building with a dramatic steel and glass addition overlooking the banks of the Brandywine Creek. The Museum is located on Route 1 in Chadds Ford, PA. Current admission rates and hours of operation can be found at www.brandywine.org/hours. Guided tours of the Andrew Wyeth Studio, N. C. Wyeth House & Studio and the Kuerner Farm—all National Historic Landmarks—are available seasonally (for an additional fee); advance reservations are recommended. For more information, call 610.388.2700 or visit brandywine.org/museum. The Museum is one of the two programs of the Brandywine Conservancy & Museum of Art.
About the Brandywine Conservancy & Museum of Art:
The Brandywine Conservancy & Museum of Art preserves and promotes the natural and cultural connections between the area’s beautiful landscape, historic sites and important artists. The Conservancy protects the lands and waters throughout the Brandywine Valley and other priority conservation areas, developing sustainable approaches to emerging needs and assuring preservation of majestic open spaces and protection of natural resources for generations to come. The Museum of Art presents and collects historic and contemporary works of American art, engaging and exciting visitors of all ages through an array of exhibitions and programs. The Brandywine unites the inspiring experiences of art and nature, enhancing the quality of life in its community and among its diverse audiences.
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