6 Must-See Exhibitions at Phoenix Art Museum this Fall
Downtown Phoenix boasts one of the largest art museums in the Southwest, the Phoenix Art Museum. For over 60 years, since its opening in 1959, this museum has inspired desert dwellers and visitors from all over the world with its astounding array of both Southwest-specific art and international works.
This oasis of creativity features over 20,000 paintings, sculptures, photographs, archival fashion pieces, and more works of art. With such a wide variety of incredible artworks to explore, it can be hard to decide what to see first.
As a helpful guide, here are six must-see exhibits opening this autumn at Phx Art. From Arizona’s next generation of emerging artists, to an immersive swarm of black paper-crafted butterflies, radical works of clay by Japanese women artists, humorous photography, fashion and more.
As part of its mission to make art accessible to all and provide a free creative space for the community, the museum offers Pay What You Wish Wednesdays, where admission is free to all after 3 p.m. every Wednesday.
2024 Arizona Artist Awards
Representing Arizona’s next generation of emerging artists, the winners of the 2024 Arizona Artist Awards, Safwat Saleem, Elizabeth Z. Pineda, and Omar Soto blend themes of identity, migration, and human condition in this exciting group exhibition. Saleem’s interactive and immersive work invites viewers to walk through a surreal office space, designed to be the fictional headquarters of The Unrequited Love Institute. This merges with Pineda’s work, which centers on migration stories, with vast white sheets hanging from the ceiling, and lined with hundreds of names of migrants who have perished in the Arizona desert, among other startling and thought-provoking artworks. In contrast, Soto displays vividly colorful and glamorous photographs, which center queer, trans & non-binary people of color in dreamlike tableaus, referencing religious iconography and classical artworks. This exhibition sends a powerful message of visibility, celebrating the richly diverse cultures of Phoenix. On view through January 25, 2026.
Radical Clay: Contemporary Women Artists From Japan
Featuring astounding works of clay from 36 Japanese women artists who revolutionized this often male-dominated medium. From hyper-realistic clay sculptures to abstract organic-shaped works inspired by geology and human anatomy, this stunning exhibition features forty avant-garde ceramic and clay pieces designed in post-World War II Japan. On view through September 13, 2026.
Funny Business: Photography and Humor
Since the earliest daguerreotype photos in the mid-1800s, photography has changed the way humanity both sees and expresses itself. Spanning nearly the entire history of this medium, Funny Business presents seventy photographs which capture humor, surrealist absurdity, comic collage and more. This exhibition celebrates humor as joyful creative expression, and an antidote to an often harsh world, on view through January 4, 2026.
The Collection 1960-now
This ongoing exhibition highlights some of the museum's most iconic contemporary art pieces in a vast and dazzling collection. From abstract expressionist paintings to sculptures made of light, to bold Pop Art, and video installations, this comprehensive exhibition offers art for all tastes. Focusing on artists who have been historically overlooked, including women and artists of color, the galleries are full of contrasting and complementary artworks that invite viewers to ponder themes such as land conservation and materialism and how artists across generations explore our ever-changing world and the human condition.
The Collection: Greatest Fits (Vol. 1): The Art of Archiving Fashion
This exciting “living” exhibition features rotating garments and innovative designs from legendary fashion designers throughout the centuries. Spanning the 18th century through the present day, this collection reminds viewers how fashion can be elevated to a high art form. With works from Schiaparelli and Dior, to Balenciaga, Alexander McQueen, Diane von Fürstenberg, Tom Ford, and more, this is a fantastical couture treasure trove of inspiring glamour. On view through March 2026.
Carlos Amorales' "Black Cloud" installation
Inspired by the annual migration of monarch butterflies, this immersive installation welcomes visitors, beginning in the museum’s lobby. Composed of 25,000 black paper moths and butterflies of 30 different species, these crafted creatures adorn the walls of the museum en masse, giving the illusion of flight and immersing viewers in a literal swarm of fanciful insects. This is an ongoing installation.
Royal Young is a non-binary poet and author from downtown New York City, who now lives and creates in the desert. Their work has appeared in Interview Magazine, New York Times, The Rumpus, Phoenix Magazine, Phoenix New Times, LOOKOUT, and DTPHX, among others.