Whitney Names Meg Onli Curator at Large

New York’s Whitney Museum of American Art has appointed Meg Onli curator at large, the first person to occupy the role in more than fifteen years. Onli, who with Chrissie Iles iscocuratingthe 2024 Whitney Biennial, most recently servedas codirector and curatorof the Underground Museum in Los Angeles. In her new role at the Whitney, she will curate exhibitions, suggest acquisitions, and advise on special projects. With artist Alex Da Corte and Scott Rothkopf, the museum’s chief curator and incoming director, she will cocurate the Whitney’s 2026 Roy Lichtenstein exhibition, the first retrospective of the artist’s work to appear at a New York institution in more than thirty years.RelatedHELEN FRANKENTHALER FOUNDATION SUED FOR “DESTROYING” PAINTER’S LEGACYBMA CREATES PAID INTERNSHIPS HONORING VALERIE MAYNARD “Meg is that rare innovative thinker who glimpses the future while respecting the past,” said Rothkopf.

“I’ve already been dazzled by Meg’s thinking on the Biennial and know she has even more to contribute as the Whitney’s first curator at large in over a decade.” Onli spent less than a year at the Underground Museum following her 2021 arrival there,departingas the family of the late Noah Davis, the nonprofit’s founder, struggled to cede control. Since 2019, she had previously served asassociate curator of contemporary artat the Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, where she curated the well-received tripartite group exhibition “Colored People Time” and a survey of the work of painter Jessica Vaughn, and co-curated a retrospective  of the work of pathbreaking video artist Ulysses Jenkins. Onli was the inaugural winner of the Figure Skating Prize established by Virgil Abloh’s Art Space, a former Warhol Foundation Curatorial Fellow, and a former fellow at the Getty Research Institute. “This is truly a dream job,” said Onli.

“I have always admired the Whitney’s long-standing history of field-defining exhibitions and support for emergent artist practices. I am very excited to be part of the life of the Whitney, and to collaborate and explore with the incredible team here. I am also so appreciative of the flexibility of the role, which affords me the opportunity to focus on the creative and bring new ideas and perspectives to the Museum. It is humbling to represent my hometown of Los Angeles, and its leading art scene.

I look forward to being an ambassador and building bridges between emerging and overlooked voices in the art world and the Whitney.” The Whitney additionally announced the promotion of assistant curator Laura Phipps to the role of associate curator. Phipps is the curator of the landmark retrospective “Jaune Quick-to-See Smith: Memory Map,” on view at the Whitney through August 13..