THE PARRISH ART MUSEUM ANNOUNCES LATEST FRESH PAINT EXHIBITION WITH ARTIST EMMI WHITEHORSE
June 4–September 28, 2026
Water Mill, NY | May 21, 2026 – For the seventh iteration of the collaborative FRESH PAINT exhibition series, the Parrish Art Museum and The FLAG Art Foundation are pleased to present work by artist Emmi Whitehorse (Diné, b. 1957 in Crownpoint, NM). For her FRESH PAINT presentation, Whitehorse has created a new diptych painting, titled Reseeding Chaco (2026), that will be exhibited for the first time at the Parrish.
Whitehorse’s atmospheric abstract paintings emerge from her experience of “the vastness of northern New Mexico, with the light of the sky above and the dark of the Earth below.” In her work, Whitehorse translates the high desert landscape into her distinctive approach to color and line; clouds of pigment intermingle with layers of hand-drawn symbols and abstract markings, the visual effect like deciphering forms through the depths of water or the haze of dust kicked up on a dirt road. “My visual symbology are ambiguous and created to be at once Illuminating and obscure,” Whitehorse explains, “Much like my memory, which comes back in bits and pieces.”
Whitehorse’s paintings reflect the Navajo worldview of Hózhó, which the artist describes as “a harmonious balance of beauty, nature, humanity, and the whole universe.” While her works evoke a sense of stillness, it is the fleeting and minute events of nature that speak to Whitehorse: ripples on water, insects moving across the ground, grasses shifting in the wind. The constellations of forms that emerge from and recede into her painted surfaces serve as a reminder of the transitory, ever-shifting nature of life.
Our interconnection with the non-human world also drives her work, as well as the politics of land use and the extractive processes of oil drilling and fracking, which have had historic and ongoing impact on Indigenous homelands in the Southwest. “What we do to the land comes back to us,” Whitehorse explains. “The calm and beauty that is in my work I hope serves as a reminder of what is underfoot, of the exchange we make with nature.”
FRESH PAINT is a rotating series of single-artwork exhibitions at the Parrish that spotlight new or rarely exhibited works by both emerging and established artists. By circumventing traditional exhibition planning timelines—which can extend years into the future—FRESH PAINT provides a platform for artists to promptly showcase freshly created artworks and ideas, allowing for a more direct response to current issues and cultural movements. This approach fosters a timelier dialogue between the Museum, visitors, and our surrounding community. Presented in the Parrish’s Creativity Lounge located in the Lobby, FRESH PAINT is open to the public at no charge during regular Museum hours. Each FRESH PAINT installation is also accompanied by a commissioned interpretative text by an invited author, critic, poet, or scholar. This iteration of FRESH PAINT features an interview between Whitehorse and the writer and art historian Susie Kalil. Their conversation ranges from the artist’s family history and childhood in New Mexico to her fascination with Chaco Canyon, a sacred site for which Reseeding Chaco is named.
FRESH PAINT: Emmi Whitehorse is organized by Scout Hutchinson, The FLAG Art Foundation Associate Curator of Contemporary Art at the Parrish Art Museum, in collaboration with Jon Rider, Director; Caroline Cassidy, Deputy Director; and Madeline DeFilippis, Exhibitions and Programs Manager, at FLAG.
Exhibition Support
FRESH PAINT: Emmi Whitehorse is made possible, in part, thanks to the generous support of The FLAG Art Foundation.
Image caption: Emmi Whitehorse. Reseeding Chaco, 2026, mixed media on paper mounted to canvas, two panels, each 59 1/2 x 89 1/2 in. Courtesy of the artist and Garth Greenan Gallery, New York. Photograph by Addison Doty, 2026.
