Does any artist do nostalgia better than Alex Da Corte? His dreamlike environments—like his Big Bird installation on the roof of the Met—are sophisticated, uncanny, and deeply pleasurable. This year, he’s taking on the role of curator, co-organizing the Whitney Museum’s Roy Lichtenstein show.
What’s one work of art that got you through an important moment in your life?
The revolutionary Venezuelan poet Miyó Vestrini’s collection Grenade in Mouth reliably gets me through.
What do you want to see more of in your industry? Less of?
More heart, more hand, more action; less signaling.
What question do you ask yourself most often while you’re making work?
What is at stake?
What are you looking forward to this year?
The Roy Lichtenstein show I am co-curating with Meg Onli at the Whitney Museum of American Art, the biggest of its kind in New York since 1993. It will, I believe, provoke 21st-century discussion around this immovable icon of the 20th century. I have been working on it for six years.
What’s your biggest vice? Your greatest virtue?
My biggest vice is hot, terrible impatience. My biggest virtue is cool, saintly patience.
What would you be doing if you weren’t working in your field?
I’d be a farmer. If I wasn’t working in my field, I’d be working in a field.
Name an influence of yours that might surprise people.
Len Lye and Todd Haynes are very big influences on me, as are Bertolt Brecht and Gregg Araki.
What keeps you up at night?
The world.
Where do you feel most at home?
In my studio.
What grounds you, and what invigorates you?
My family; my family.
To read more from the 2026 CULT100 honorees, see the full list here.
in your life?
