UK Art Museum announces Spring ’26 exhibitions and photography lecture
LEXINGTON, Ky. (Jan. 12, 2026) — The University of Kentucky Art Museum’s Spring 2026 exhibitions will be on display Feb. 3-June 27, alongside the first Robert C. May Endowed Photography Lecture of the semester.
The season features “Ecstatic Personas,” a group exhibition exploring joy as a radical, transformative force, and “Harry Gamboa Jr.: The Early, The Late, The Lost,” a career-spanning presentation of the influential artist’s photography, performance and writing.
“Ecstatic Personas” brings together works by Carlos Rosales-Silva and Shannon Alonzo, whose paintings, sculptures and ceramics create characters imbued with mythical and emotional intensity. Across the exhibition, “exuberant happiness expressed by personas” in the works on display blur boundaries between satire, defiance and transcendence, inviting viewers into spaces of collective celebration and freedom.
Rosales-Silva’s paintings, composed of glass beads, crushed stones and acrylic, evoke nahual-like spirits that animate the canvas. Alonzo’s abstracted figures honor female carnival masqueraders, highlighting performance and reinvention rooted in Caribbean ancestry.
“While all the artists are interested in the radical potential of joy, their work varies widely — from Carlos Rosales-Silva’s abstract paintings of different sizes to Shannon Alonzo’s gigantic fabric figure, whose face is over 5 feet tall and whose arms will reach up and grab the upstairs balcony,” said UK Art Museum curator Rachel Hooper. “We are thrilled to bring these artists to Kentucky to install their work and share their creations with our visitors.”
A preview of “Ecstatic Personas,” including an artist panel, will be 5:30-6:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 29. For more information, visit finearts.uky.edu/art-museum/events/meet-artists-ecstatic-personas.
Also on view this spring, “Harry Gamboa Jr.: The Early, The Late, The Lost” examines more than five decades of work by the fearless and influential artist known for challenging conventions in photography, performance and literature. Rooted in activist communities and the cultural landscape of East Los Angeles, Gamboa co-founded and organized numerous collectives, including Asco (1972-85) and Troupe Non Grata (2022-present).
The exhibition weaves together photographs, documentation of performances and selections of Gamboa’s prose and poetry, offering a layered portrait of his expansive practice. Gamboa is a longtime faculty member in the Photo/Media Program at California Institute of the Arts and has exhibited internationally at institutions including the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery.
As part of the museum’s Robert C. May Endowed Photography Lecture Series, Gamboa will speak 4-5 p.m. Friday, March 27, in the Singletary Center for the Arts Recital Hall. Gamboa’s lecture will focus on his collaborative approach to photography and performance, including his work with Asco, Troupe Non Grata and Virtual Vérité. Gamboa is also the subject of the documentary “ASCO: Without Permission,” recently screened at the South by Southwest and Chicago International Film Festivals.
All exhibitions and programs are free and open to the public. For more information, visit finearts.uky.edu/art-museum.
As the state’s flagship, land-grant institution, the University of Kentucky exists to advance the Commonwealth. We do that by preparing the next generation of leaders — placing students at the heart of everything we do — and transforming the lives of Kentuckians through education, research and creative work, service and health care. We pride ourselves on being a catalyst for breakthroughs and a force for healing, a place where ingenuity unfolds. It's all made possible by our people — visionaries, disruptors and pioneers — who make up 200 academic programs, a $476.5 million research and development enterprise and a world-class medical center, all on one campus.