Ed McGowin

On view October 1–25, 2025

Ed McGowin (b. 1938, Hattiesburg, MS) is a pioneering conceptual artist whose career spans more than six decades. Best known for his groundbreaking Name Change Project (1970–72), McGowin legally changed his name twelve times and created distinct bodies of work under each persona. As he explained, the project freed him from the expectation of linear development, allowing his art to grow “like a three-dimensional sphere getting larger over time.”

After earning degrees in Mississippi and Alabama, McGowin moved to Washington, D.C., and later New York City, where he has lived and worked for decades. His practice ranges from painting and sculpture to large-scale public commissions, often combining narrative, humor, and Southern roots with a conceptual edge.

His work is held in major museums including the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Guggenheim, the Hirshhorn, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum, as well as numerous corporate and private collections worldwide.