Jack Pierson to curate exhibition of John Waters' collection at the Baltimore Museum of Art

5 August 2022

Jack Pierson and Catherine Opie have selected 90 works from the collection that cult filmmaker, writer and artist John Waters gifted to the Baltimore Museum of Art in 2020. The show, “Coming Attractions: The John Waters Collection", includes works by Diane Arbus, Cindy Sherman, Cy Twombly, and Andy Warhol, and will open at the museum on November 20, 2022.

"Our hope is to share with audiences another aspect of John's creative vision by offering a glimpse into what he values: artists who are unafraid to take risks, who do not compromise, and who create their art on the margins," said Pierson and Opie.

"The first art I ever bought was a two-dollar Miró poster at The Baltimore Museum of Art gift shop back in the '50s when I was a child. After taking it home and hanging it on my bedroom wall at my parents' house, I realized from the hostile reaction of my neighborhood playmates that art could provoke, shock, and cause trouble," said Waters at the time of the donation. "I became a collector for life. It's only fitting that the fruits of my 60-year search for new art that could startle, antagonize, and infuriate even me, ends up where it all began-in my hometown museum."

Read the full announcement in CBS News here.

Image: Tadashi Kawamata, Destruction (2019)