Featuring new and never-before-seen works, Cary Leibowitz: Museum Showmarks the first comprehensive survey and solo museum exhibition of Leibowitz’s work to date. Organized in close coordination with the artist, the exhibition brings together nearly 350 works that span the breadth of his career, featuring paintings, fabric works, multiples, installations, documentation, photography, and ephemera created between 1987 and the present day. Cary Leibowitz: Museum Show is on view from February 2 through March 25, 2018.

Widely known under the moniker “Candyass” since he rose to prominence in the 1990s, Leibowitz creates bold, brightly colored, and comically self-effacing text-based works, which draw on both a gay and Jewish perspective in order to address issues of identity, kitsch, modernist critique, and queer politics. Leibowitz explores his own anxieties, neuroses, and insecurities as he attempts to expose truths about contemporary society by fearlessly mixing popular culture and profane sentiments into works that challenge traditional definitions of fine art. Cary Leibowitz: Museum Show will feature a range of Leibowitz’s idiosyncratic approaches, including singular paintings, ceramics, paper umbrellas, trash cans, banners, repurposed stock photography, and beanies.

The presentation at ICA will build off the exhibition’s first iteration at The Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco, creating a unique experience that features additional objects, never-before-seen pieces, and a series of events specifically designed for ICA audiences.

Cary Leibowitz: Museum Show is organized by The Contemporary Jewish Museum, San Francisco and is curated by former Associate Curator Anastasia James. Accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue. Organized at ICA by Chief Curator Anthony Elms.

Support for Cary Leibowitz: Museum Show has been provided by Arthur Cohen & Daryl Otte, Marjorie & Michael Levine, Patricia & Howard Silverstein, Bryan & Meredith Verona, and Caroline & Daniel Werther.

Major support for The Contemporary Jewish Museum’s presentation is provided by Gaia Fund, Dorothy R. Saxe, Wendy and Richard Yanowitch, and The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.