Los Angeles County Museum of Art Acquires Ladd Brothers’ Innovative ‘Wetlands’

Savas Abadsidis July 13, 2022

Los Angeles County Museum of Art Acquires “Wetlands.”

Above: Wetlands, 2018

Archival board, fiber, trinkets, pins, papier-mâché, dye, wood frame

LWD 60 1/8 x 40 3/8 x 3 inches

Steve and William Ladd:
“As brothers growing up in Missouri, our childhood included many experiences in nature and we’ve dreamed of building a studio in the woods of upstate New York. Our acquisition of 19 acres of wooded, raw land in the Hudson Valley is transforming our work and our lives. Discovering giant anthills, building bonfires, clearing trees with a chainsaw, destroying lawn equipment and camping in freezing temperatures are all a part of the dream we call Santo Poco. It has shifted every part of our lives, including how we work in the city. Often our artwork has dealt with past memories; but late one night sitting around a bonfire we started to look to the present and the future as the inspiration for our work.
Our property includes about five acres of National Wetlands, where water pools around thousands of mossy-mounds. We hopscotch on these mounds, moving through the amazing topography, and in the winter, the water freezes and you glide on ice through them.
We are thrilled to have our work be part of the permanent collection at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art!”

On background: Steven and William Ladd

Steven 1977-

William 1978-

Nationality: American

New York based artists Steven Ladd and William Ladd have been making art together since 2000. Steven makes all of his own clothing and loves textiles— especially those passed down with embedded memories. He loves drawing, making books and proposals, anything that can help to communicate his wild imagination. William is the builder and the head of production who sets his mind to a project through completion. In a day he can spend a few hours beading beautiful intricate objects, then move to constructing life-size spaces for immersive exhibitions. He is a dedicated husband and father. Together, Steven and William have forged the foundation for a rich and productive creative practice from their common memories, experiences and close familial bond.

Born in St. Louis, Missouri, the brothers have developed an expanded practice consisting of text, drawing, sculpture, installation, performance and design. They have combined a range of techniques, forms and practices, forging a unique aesthetic vocabulary. Steven and William have had major solo museum shows at The Contemporary Museum, Honolulu, Mingei International Museum, San Diego, Parrish Art Museum, Watermill, NY, Saint Louis Art Museum and their works are included in private and museum collections internationally, including Musée des Arts Décoratifs, LACMA, the Kennedy Center, Agnes Gund Collection, Beth Rudin DeWoody and Shelly and Philip Aarons. They have received awards from The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, The Pollock-Krasner Foundation, Brooklyn Arts Council and the Barbara and Donald Tober Foundation.

The Scrollathon was founded in 2006 out of the brothers belief in the extraordinary capacities of every human being and the awesome power of community. Empowering and engaging underserved communities through artistic collaborations, Scrollathon has served over 10,000 people from diverse ages, backgrounds and abilities to create public artworks at locations including the commercial development City Point in Brooklyn, NY, the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, GA and The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C. Through partnerships, the program has received funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, Knight Foundation and Bloomberg Philanthropies.