If a desire for interpersonal connection and broadened perception powered the artistic practice of the late Bobby Anspach, then his kaleidoscopic solo show at the Newport Art Museum yields the desired results. Orchestrated by the Bobby Anspach Studios Foundation and curated by Anspach’s MFA sculpture professor and advisor at RISD, Taylor Baldwin, with guidance from River House Arts gallery owner Paula Baldoni, the exhibition isn’t simply a presentation of compelling work. Entitled “Everything is Change,” it’s the harmonizing of voices who care about the artist’s legacy and stewarding his sculptural pieces into dialogue with new people and places—like the historic American Stick-style museum, which was initially constructed in 1864 as a private residence.
Step into the Sublime Sculptures of Bobby Anspach at the Newport Art Museum
Curated by Taylor Baldwin, the late artist's first solo museum exhibition, "Everything is Change," plays with perception to open participants up to connection with each other—and themselves. The kaleidoscopic art immersion is complemented by a restorative space, entitled "The Nature of Choice," envisioned by architect and interior designer Lauren Rottet.
BY DAVID GRAVER June 18, 2025
The exhibition encompasses five rooms across two floors. Two of Anspach’s sculptural installations, from his Place for Continuous Eye Contact series, received dedicated rooms—complete with carefully trained guides to walk guests into and out of the experience. One of those sculpture centers a solo excursion; the other, in a pom-pom lined tent, is shared with one other person. A third room hosts Anspach’s Seussian sculptures, two shimmering wall-hung sculptures, and more. And a fourth hosts a ten-minute documentary from Julia Barrett Mitchell, which includes segments from Anspach’s imaginative stop-motion film. It is an undeniable highlight—and worth observing in its entirety.
The final room is a restorative space for reflection and meditation, imagined by architect and interior designer Lauren Rottet. Entitled “The Nature of Choice,” Rottet’s carefully considered room acts in response to Anspach’s pieces while offering reprieve—something the artist always envisioned for his exhibits. Rottet imbues the room with a sense of calm and comfort though offers visual intrigue, as well, thanks to the inclusion of a cubist curve sofa, dark and stormy tables, and two wood float chairs that she designed for Rottet Collection. Two of Rottet’s split face planters enhance the room’s artistic undercurrent—not only for their alchemical aesthetic, but also because one contains 100,000 pennies, and the other spools of colorful yarn.
Immediately evident throughout the exhibition is a beneficial contrast between the DIY futurism of Anspach’s installations—the draped cables and glowing lights—and the historic interiors of the wood-frame building. “There is an intense character to the museum that any artist who shows here has to contend with,” Baldwin tells Surface. “It’s not every artist that you can put in this space and have not only a super-coherent visual relationship but also a conceptual connection between the space itself and the viewership that Bobby was intending his work to connect with.”
Baldwin developed the flow through the rooms, looking toward his personal relationship with the artist for guidance. “I have never worked with a student who was as focused or as driven as Bobby,” he adds. “When he came into the program, he only had one sculpture and he told me that ‘I am only trying to make one sculpture. Once I make it perfectly, I will never need to make another sculpture again.’ He kept making that sculpture over and over, refining it and iterating it.” The two versions of Place for Continuous Eye Contact are products of this endeavor.
It is necessary to dedicate time to enter into Anspach’s installations and to experience his intention. “He was a true believer in the fact that there was a profound transcendental experience that could be had—that he himself had. He wanted to build a sculptural experience that could deliver that to any viewer and give them a profound sense of presentness and reunion with other people and the world around them.” Colors melt into one another, sound transports, and discomfort and vulnerability become connection.
This marks Anspach’s first museum solo show. It follows seminal moments at New York City’s Spring/Break Art Show in 2018 and 2020, as well as the 2019 BRIC Biennial—but, perhaps more importantly, pop-up moments for outside of the art world (one of which led to virality). Though the works are eye-catching, Baldwin finds subtlety in the messages within. “The core of this experience, which is most important to Bobby, didn’t need any of these sculptural machines,” he says. “Bobby was convinced that you could achieve the same sort of consciousness-based experience by staring deeply and with intention into someone’s eyes. In a way, these sculptures are meant to heighten and entice people into that experience, but really the experience of sitting with yourself and staring into your own eyes is what these are built around.”
The exhibition offers one final wink to attendees. Outside the museum, Rottet placed two more of her towering split face planters. Within, she planted pom-pom trees—actually visible outside the window of her restorative place. It binds the inside experience to the outside world—and the reflective surface of the planters provides one final opportunity for self-reflection.
