Vielmetter Los Angeles congratulates Rodney McMillian for being named a 2026 MacArthur Fellow and recipient of the ‘Genius’ Grant. Each year, the MacArthur Fellowship is awarded to talented individuals in a variety of fields who have shown exceptional originality in and dedication to their creative pursuits.

Working across a wide range of media, Rodney McMillian has devoted decades to observing the intersections of race, class, and power, and to tracing the imprint these social constructs leave on the body and on the landscape. McMillian recognizes that history leaves a mark on the physical world, and his practice is centered around objects that carry indexical records of the past. His work masterfully recontextualizes found materials, from thrifted household items and worn bedding to political speeches and historical texts, exposing buried meanings. Like a ghostly presence, history pervades McMillian’s work – a secondhand quilt becomes the ground for a painterly landscape, a cast iron piggy bank is nearly subsumed by malignant sculptural accretions, a president’s speech is reiterated by a different body, in a different time, for a different audience. Each of these maneuvers creates a dramatic shift in context and makes conspicuous what was previously unseen.

Image: Rodney McMillian, Artist, 2026 MacArthur Fellow, Los Angeles, CA. Courtesy of John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

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